Ivy puts her hand on my stomach, and I place one of mine on top of it. Her skin is cold, but her words are warm, and the tears that have been threatening to spill burn as they pool behind my eyelids.
“We have to stop saying ‘father figure’ or I’m going to have George Michael stuck in my head allday. But if you want me to call you ‘Daddy’, you just have to ask. You don’t have to promise to shackle yourself to me and my kids.”
“Lilah, be serious.”
“I am being serious. It’s not the same as Sadie. You hadn’t moved to Nashville full time the last time I was pregnant, and I wasn’t actively separating from my husband. You can’t drop everything to be with me.”
“Oh my god, you’re like a broken record. Have you listened to a word I’ve said since I got here? I didn’t drive to Fox Hole for an impromptu little visit; I came here to help you through this phase of life. Did you think I was just staying here at Grandma Millie’s for a week or two and then leaving you and Sadie alone with a stack of cash to pay a divorce lawyer? No, Delilah. I’m here for you. I’m here for good. The only difference between this morning and now is that now we know we’re going to have another baby.”
I sit up, suddenly feeling too close, too hot.
“So what, you’re going to see me through this pregnancy? That’s a much longer time commitment than we discussed. You’ve got Lilith & Lace to think about.”
Ivy sighs as she sits up, her longer legs hanging off the edge of the bed.
“Technically, we never discussed a time commitment. Lilith & Lace will be fine without me; I already told you that. Devi has everything under control.”
“What about your life? Your friends?”
“Delilah. You’re my most important friend. And it’s not like we live in the Stone Age. I have a phone, I can call and text anyone I miss. I can check in on the team at L&L as often as I like. Nashville isn’t far, either. Maybe when you’re further along, we can take Sadie on a road trip, show her the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame. I’ll get her a pair of purple cowboy boots. She’ll love it.”
Ivy smiles, and an invisible fist takes hold of my heart, gripping tight. I’ve never known what I did to deserve Ivy Crowe in my life, but I couldn’t be luckier to have someone so steady and strong to catch me every time I fall.
“Why are you doing this, Ivy?”
She tilts her head, shooting me a soft smile.
“You’re my person, Lilah. I’d do anything for you.”
Maybe it’s her words, or the pregnancy, or the emotional roller coaster that the last few days have been, but I find myself zeroing in on Ivy’s lips. They’re pink, plump on the bottom and tipped with a perfect cupid’s bow on top. They’re so aggressively soft and feminine, they serve as a stark contrast tosome of her more androgynous features. Her tongue peeks out, swiping at that bottom lip, and I wonder if she tastes like she smells. Like cherry blossoms, and nostalgia, and home.
“So,” she says, breaking through my trance. “Are we having a baby?”
My hands are shaky, my breath stuttering, but butterflies take flight in my stomach.
“Yeah, Ivy. We’re having a baby.”
Stoic Ivy cracks, tears streaming down her face as she pulls me into a hug.
“Oh my god, Delilah! We’re having a Little Bean!”
“We are, but…there’s just one thing.” My less-than-excited tone tamps down some of Ivy’s squealing. “I have to tell the Earl.”
5
MY FAVORITE PURPLE PRINCESS
IVY
No amount of bitching and moaning from me could convince Delilah that, no, she doesn’t actually have to tell her soon-to-be ex-husband that she’s pregnant with his kid, especially when he has a history of not giving a flying fuck about the daughter they already share. I know that I’m right, and I know that telling the Earl about the pregnancy is bound to blow up in Delilah’s pretty face, but she wouldn’t listen to reason.
Eventually, I had to concede, something that doesn’t come easily to me. But for some reason, I’ve always been helpless against my need to make Delilah happy every second of every day. I did, however, try to insist that I go with her to the autoshop to confront the Earl, but Delilah told me my presence would only make things more difficult. Probably not untrue, considering the Earl and I could never exist in the same space without trying to tear each other’s throats out.
I think he is a piece of shit, lazy, worthless crap weasel who has spent his life skating by on his father’s name and by ripping people off as the only mechanic in Fox Hole, and he thinks I’m a man-hating lesbian who thinks she knows his wife better than he does, and we’re both right.
Although I don’t hate all men. There are plenty of men in the world that I’m sure are just fine. I even love a few of them, like Henry and Stephen Hudson and Cliff from The Inkwell. I only hate the piece of shit, lazy, worthless crap weasel variety, of which the Earl is the king.
So, against all my better instincts, Delilah is on her way to the other side of town while I wait outside Fox Hole Elementary School to take Sadie home for the day. Every year, Delilah adds me as an approved pickup adult with the school just in case I’m in town and she needs help with Sadie, so I’m familiar with the routine. Grown-ups wait in the playground—which has improved drastically in the twenty or so years since I was a student here—and the kids get sent out in waves according to grade andwhether they are being picked up or riding home on the bus.
