It is now the end of May. Emma has now been cleared to start physical therapy for her knee. The doctor said her ribs have healed nicely. All of her scars have healed as well. She is moving around without crutches and is off her pain medications, but still has to wear her knee brace that doesn't allow her to bend it. She is basically back to her normal self. It is really amazing to see her finally be happy and not in pain.
Emma has her first physical therapy appointment this morning. I'm taking her and Karen is staying back with Elijah and they are going to have some time together. If Elijah had it his way, he would be going with Emma to see the physical therapist, but we told him he would be really bored.
It's about 8:30 and Elijah had just finished eating breakfast and was sitting on the couch with me watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Karen went upstairs to get Emma up and moving. At 9:30, Emma made her way downstairs.
"Are you about ready to go kiddo?" I asked her when she walked over to the couch.
"Yeah" she said.
"Alright, let's go" I said.
We headed out to the garage and climbed in the truck and headed to the physical therapy office.
"When we get home, can we finish that song we started a few weeks ago?" she asked.
"Yeah, sure" I said and smiled at her. We listened to the radio the rest of the way there.
We pulled up to the office and I parked the truck. We climbed out and walked in. I checked her in and we waited in the chairs in the waiting room until they called her back. When they did we followed the doctor back and he started with explaining how it was going to work.
"So today's appointment is just going to be a consultation. I'm going to take x-rays of her knee and discus what we're going to do" he started.
We followed him back to get an x-ray. She put on the apron and he took a few of them. Then we followed him back to the office.
"Her x-rays are about what I thought they were going to be, which is good, she will need therapy every day for ten days and then we will see where she is. If everything is going as planned, we can switch it to twice a week for five weeks. Hopefully in six weeks she will have full range of motion" he said.
"That sounds good, thank you" I said.
We walked out of the office and up to the front desk. I made appointments for the next ten days at 10:30. Once I was done, we headed out to the truck.
"Do you want to get something for lunch?" I asked Emma.
"Yeah, sure" she said with a smile.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"I could go for pizza" she said and I nodded. We stopped and picked up a pizza then went home. We headed inside and I set the pizza on the coffee table. We sat on the couch and ate the pizza and talked.
"So, tomorrow is mine and Mom's anniversary and I want to take her away for a night" I said and she smiled.
"So, Maggie is going to come over tomorrow afternoon when you guys are done hanging out with Kimberly and spend the night here with you and Elijah" I added.
"Okay" she said and nodded.
"So, you've done all of this without Mom finding out?" she asked.
"I've made it this far haven't I" I chuckled.
"How long ago did you book the hotel?" she asked.
"A few months ago" I said.
"And she hasn't found out yet, I'm impressed" she said.
"Well, I kind of lucked out because they don't charge the credit card until you actually stay there" I said with a chuckle.
"Otherwise, she probably would have found out" I added.
"Probably" she said.
"So why didn't you just have Maggie come over instead of sending us with Kimberly?" Emma asked
"That was the original plan, but Maggie had something going on and couldn't be here until four. Kimberly knows about my plans with Mom, that's why she is taking you guys for the afternoon so you two are gone when she gets home from having lunch with Becky" I said.
"You really thought this out, did you luck out with Mom having plans with Becky or did you plan that too?" she asked.
"I had kind of lucked out but kind of didn't. When I talked to Becky, she said that her and Karen were planning on going out to lunch to catch up, but hadn't set a date yet" I said.
"I guess you did get lucky" she said.
"So, why do we have to be gone when Mom gets home?" she asked.
"Because I know your mother, she won't want to leave if you two are home. She will come up with an excuse to stay" I said with a chuckle.
"Good point" I said.
When we were done eating, we cleaned up and put the leftover pizza in the fridge. Emma said she wanted to finish our song that we started when she first came home from the hospital, so we headed downstairs to the music room. We grabbed our guitars and sat on the couch. I grabbed the notebook that I had the song written in. We played what we had and added a few things. Emma had an entire verse worked out in her head and it was really good. We added some music to the words she had and she ended up writing most of the song. The words were spilling out of her. It was incredible to watch. She is really good and I can't wait for Karen to hear this song. I really think that Emma could be a successful songwriter one day. She has so much to say and I think the world should hear it.
About an hour later we finished our song and we heard Karen and Elijah come home.
"Can we play Mom the song?" Emma asked.
"Sure" I said.
"Hey babe, come down here!" I yelled.
Karen made her way down by us. "What are you two up to?" she asked.
"We finished our song" Emma said.
"That's great, can I hear it?" she asked and Emma nodded.
We played the song for her. Emma sang the verses and I came in at the chorus. Karen had a big smile on her face.
"That was amazing guys" she said.
"Emma wrote just about all of it" I said.
"Wow Em" she said and gave her a hug. I put the guitars away and we headed upstairs.
"How was physical therapy?" Karen asked when we made it to the living room where Elijah was asleep on the couch.
"It was good. It was just a consultation appointment so he took x-rays. He said that she needs therapy for two hours for ten days and then switch to twice a week for five weeks" I said.
"Did you set up the appointments?" she asked.
"Yeah, for 10:30" I said.
"Okay" she said.
"What did you and Elijah do today?" I asked.
"We went to the trampoline park then went to McDonalds for lunch and we stopped at the park on the way home and fell asleep in the car" she said.
"Sounds like you guys had fun" I said.
"It was" she said with a smile.
"Oh, Em, I got a text from Sara and she wants to get lunch next week with you. I told her I would have to talk to you when I got home" Karen said.
"Can you go with me again?" she asked.
"Yeah, of course" Karen said.
"Okay, I'll go" Emma said and Karen nodded.
We hung out at home the rest of the afternoon. Emma helped me get Karen's stuff ready for our night away. I talked to Maggie to see if she could pick Emma up from Kimberly's and take her to physical therapy and she agreed. Once all the bags were packed, everything was ready to go.
The next morning, I woke up around 6:30. I was facing away from Karen, so I rolled over. She was on her stomach with her arms around her pillow. I scooted closer to her and wrapped my arm around her back and nestled my face in her shoulder and fell back asleep.
Around 7:30, I felt Karen start to move around, I opened my eyes and looked down at her. I kissed her cheek and her eyes fluttered open.
"Happy anniversary" I whispered with a smile.
She looked up at me and smiled. "Happy anniversary" she said. I leaned down and kissed her. I rolled on my back and she rolled over and rested her head on my chest and wrapped her arm around my stomach. I had my arm wrapped around her back. We laid there in a comfortable silence.
Karen lifted her head and looked at me. "It's almost 8:00, why is the house so quiet?" she asked. It is awfully quiet for it being 8:00 in the morning. Usually Elijah is up and running around by 7:00.
"You know, that's a good question" I said. We both rolled out of bed and walked out of the bedroom. Both Elijah and Emma's room doors were open. We walked downstairs and we saw them in the kitchen. They were making breakfast. Emma had already made a plate of bacon and eggs and was working on pancakes.
"What's gotten into you two?" Karen asked.
"We wanted to make you breakfast" Elijah said.
"Well it looks great" I said.
"Thanks" Emma said.
They finished up breakfast and we sat down and ate. The kids even offered to clean up the kitchen when we were done eating. After we were done eating, Karen and I went upstairs to get dressed for the day.
"So, I was thinking that we could get Emma to watch Elijah tonight and we could go out to dinner" Karen said.
"Yeah, sure. Is there anywhere you want to go? I can call and make reservations" I asked, trying to keep a straight face. We also decided that we weren't going to do gifts this year since things have been crazy except I booked everything months ago before we made this decision.
"It doesn't matter to me" she said with a smile.
"Alright, I'll surprise you" I said. It wasn't a lie because it will definitely be a surprise. I had already made reservations at a restaurant in Knoxville where we are staying.
Around 11:30, Kimberly came and picked up the kids for the afternoon. Karen got ready to go to lunch with Becky and left at noon. Once everyone was gone, I got everything ready to go. I loaded up the truck with everything we would need. I went to the flower shop and picked up the bouquet of her favorite flowers that I ordered.
A little after 2:00, I saw Karen pull up the driveway. I grabbed the bouquet of flowers and walked to the door to the garage. She walked in the house and set her stuff down.
"Happy anniversary babe" I said with a smile. She smiled and walked up to me.
"Happy anniversary" she said and kissed me. I handed her the bouquet and she smelled them.
"Jimi, these are beautiful" she said.
"I have another surprise for you" I said.
"And what would that be?" she asked with a smile.
"Well, it involves you and me and a four start hotel in Knoxville" I said.
"Oh does it" she said with a smirk. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her to my chest and she wrapped her arms around my neck.
"What about the kids?" she asked.
"I've got it all taken care of, I promise. Maggie is coming over at four and is spending the night and will take Emma to her appointment tomorrow too" I said.
"You thought of it all" she said and kissed me.
"All you have to do is get in the truck" I said. I stepped away from her and grabbed her hand and walked her out to the truck. I helped her climb up and then I climbed in and drove towards Knoxville.
"So, what do you have planned?" she asked.
"You'll have to wait until we get there" I said.
"Of course" she said sarcastically. I smiled at her and reached across and grabbed her hand. She intertwined her fingers in mine.
We talked and listened to the radio the rest of the way there. It was really nice to be able to have some alone time with her especially with all the stuff going on with Emma. She has been running herself thin and I feel bad. It's nice that Emma is getting back to herself and it is taking some stress off of Karen. But now there is all new stress put on her now that Emma is seeing Sara. It's not a bad thing that Emma is seeing her, but we're just worried that Emma is going to get hurt again like she did when Sara first came around. It's hard to see your kid hurting and there is nothing you can do about it. It's nice to get Karen's mind off of everything and have a night that's just the two of us and we can celebrate our eight year anniversary.
A few hours later, we finally made it to our hotel. I pulled up to the doors and checked us in and Karen stayed in the truck. I came back out once I got our room keys and found a parking spot. We unloaded our bags from the truck and went inside.
"Jimi, this is a beautiful hotel" she said as she looked around. It was a waterfront hotel along the river. The lobby had a high arched ceiling with lots of colored lights pointing towards the center of the arch. There were artificial trees decorated with white icicle lights.
We made our way to the elevator to head to our room. We were on the third floor room 312. We found our room and I unlocked it and set our stuff down. I got us a suit style room. It had a queen size bed, a full size kitchen and huge couch and TV. There was a huge window that over looked over the river with a balcony.
"Wow babe, this room is amazing" she said and walked towards the window.
"I know, that's why I picked it" I said and wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed her cheek.
"So we have reservations at seven at Fleming's Steakhouse. Emma packed you a formal outfit and everything you needs so you're all set" I said. She turned around in my arms and kissed me.
"You really thought everything out. Thank you" she said and I nodded.
"What time is it?" she asked.
"A little after five" I said.
"I'm going to take a shower and get ready" she said and grabbed her suitcase and dug out her outfit and shower stuff and went into the bathroom. While she was getting ready I decided that I would go to the store so we can have a big breakfast tomorrow and use the full size kitchen.
I walked over to the bathroom door and knocked on it.
"Yeah?" I heard her say from the shower. I peeked my head in the door.
"Babe, I'm going to run to the store and get some food for breakfast tomorrow" I said.
"Alright" she said. I closed the door and grabbed the keys for the truck and a room key and left.
The closest store was Walmart so I pulled into the parking lot and parked the truck. I walked into the store and grabbed a cart. I found a half a dozen carton of eggs, some orange juice, and a package of bacon and a bag of frozen hash browns. I also found a bottle of Karen's favorite wine. Once I had everything, I went to the checkouts and paid for the food. I loaded up the truck and drove back to the hotel.
I went back to the room and put the groceries away. Karen was still in the bathroom getting ready. The water in the shower was off, so I'm assuming she's getting dressed. I dug out my clothes for tonight. I had a black suit with a white button up shirt. I decided to get changed since it was about 6:15. Once I was dressed I sat on the couch and flipped through the channels on the TV while I waited for Karen to finish getting ready.
About fifteen minutes later, Karen came out of the bathroom. She looked absolutely gorgeous. She was wearing a form fitting black dress that had a neckline that came up just under her collar bone and a partially open back. She had loose curls in her hair and her makeup was done. My jaw dropped when she walked out of the bathroom. She wasn't looking at me so she didn't notice my staring. I watched her walk around the room putting her stuff away and slip on her shoes. She looked up and made eye contact with me while she was putting on her shoes.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing" I said with a smile.
"You're starting at me. Do I look okay?" she asked, getting self-conscious.
"You look gorgeous, perfect actually" I said and stood up. I walked up to her and gently put my hands on her cheeks and slowly pulled her in for a kiss. She smiled when we pulled apart. Our foreheads were just barely touching.
"I love you" she whispered.
"I love you too" I replied.
"Are you ready to go?" I asked and took a step back.
"Yeah" she said and grabbed her purse. I grabbed the keys and she looped her arm in mine and we left. We walked down to the truck and I drove us to the restaurant. Once we got there, I helped Karen out of the truck and she looped her arm in mine again and we walked inside.
The hostess checked our reservation and then seated us. I pushed Karen's chair in as she sat down and sat down across from her. We ordered our drinks and looked at the menu. I couldn't help but stare at her. I just cannot believe how lucky I am to be able to spend my life with this amazing, gorgeous woman in front of me. She has a wonderful heart and is an amazing mother to our children. She looked up from her menu and met my eyes.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing" I said with a smile.
"You're staring at me again" she said with her eyebrows raised.
"I can't help it, you're gorgeous" I said softly with a smile.
"I just can't help but think about how lucky I am to be your husband. You are the most amazing woman I have ever met and I get to call you my wife and the mother of my children. I just love you so much" I added and reached across the table for her hand and kissed it.
"I love you too" she said with a smile.
"These last eight years have been so amazing and I wouldn't have wanted to spend them with anyone else" she said.
We sat there and talked until the waiter came back and we ordered our food. We spent another forty-five minutes at the restaurant. The waiter came back with the check and we paid. Then we went back to the hotel.
We walked up to our room and unlocked it. We walked in and she slid her shoes off. Karen walked out to the balcony. I walked over to the kitchen and got out the bottle of wine and two wine glasses. I filled them and joined Karen on the balcony.
She had her arms resting on the rail and was looking towards the river. I handed her a glass. "Thanks" she said and smiled.
"It's your favorite" I said and put my arms the same way Karen was. She leaned closer to me and kissed me.
"Jimi, this has been absolutely amazing. Thank you so much" she said.
"I wanted to do something special with you for our anniversary because you have been so stressed lately with everything that has happened and you need a night away to unwind" I said.
She stood up straight and I did the same. She turned her body to face me. "This definitely got my mind off things" she said with a smile.
"I'm glad it did" I said and moved closer to her. I leaned in and kissed her again. Then I grabbed her empty hand and gently pulled her back in the hotel room. I pulled her over to the couch and we sat down.
We finished our glasses of wine and set them on the table. She scooted closer to me and I wrapped my arm around her. She looked up at me and kissed me. The kiss got deeper and I gently pushed her back on the couch. She wrapped her arms around my neck and I kissed down her neck. Then I sat up and pulled her with me. She climbed on my lap so she was straddling me and her arms were still wrapped around my neck. We continued our make out session for a few minutes and it got really heated. I stood up and picked her up with me. She wrapped her legs around my waist and I carried her to the bed. I unbuttoned her dress and she slid out of it. Then she unbuttoned my shirt and pulled it off and things escalated quickly.
The next morning we were wrapped up in the blankets. She had her head resting on my chest and her arm around my waist. I woke up and she was still sleeping. I started running my fingers through her hair. It was around 8:30 and her eyes fluttered open.
"Good morning beautiful" I said and kissed her.
"Good morning" she said with a smile.
I wrapped my arms around her tighter and we laid in bed for another hour before we started getting hungry. We climbed out of bed and got dressed and started breakfast. Karen made the eggs and bacon while I made the hash browns. When we finished breakfast, we grabbed our plates and ate on the balcony since it was so nice out.
We hung out at the hotel room until it was time to check out at noon. Karen checked us out while I loaded the truck. It was a little under a three hour drive back to Nashville so we hit the road. We got back a little after three.
We walked through the door and we were greeted by Elijah. "Hey bud" I said. Karen leaned down and picked him up.
"Hi guys I missed you" he said.
"We missed you too" Karen said and kissed his cheek.
"Where's Emma?" Karen asked Maggie as she walked in the kitchen.
"She's asleep on the couch. She fell asleep about an hour ago. She was pretty tired after physical therapy" Maggie said.
"Okay. How did it go?" Karen asked.
"It was good. The doctor said she is already making progress" she said.
"That's good and you're still okay with taking Emma to physical therapy next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday since it's the CMT awards and CMA Fest?" Karen asked.
"Yep, that will be no problem" Maggie said.
"Great, thank you so much" Karen said and walked Maggie out.
I took our bags upstairs and put them away. I came back down and Emma was just waking up.
"Hey kiddo" I said and sat down next to her.
"Hey" she said and yawned.
Karen and Elijah joined us on the couch and we spent the rest of the afternoon together.
A few days later it is Tuesday. It is about 10:00 in the morning and Karen and Emma just left for physical therapy then they are meeting Sara for lunch. So now it's just Elijah and I. We were sitting on the couch watching Bubble Guppies. The show had just ended and I turned the TV off.
"What do you want to do today?" I asked him.
"Can we go to the park?" he asked. I looked outside and it was pouring rain.
"We can't do anything outside because it's raining. We can either stay here and do something or go somewhere else that's inside" I suggested.
"Can we go to that place with the glow in the dark mini golf?" he asked.
"We can definitely do that, but first you have to get a bath. Mom said she wanted you to take a bath while she was gone" I said.
"Okay. And then we'll go?" he asked.
"Yes, then we'll go" I said with a laugh.
We headed upstairs and to the bathroom. I started the water and poured some bubbles in. Then he got undressed and climbed in. I washed him up and let him play for a few minutes. Once he was done, I drained the water and rinsed the bubbles off him and wrapped his towel around him. We walked across the hall to his room and I handed him the clothes Karen laid out for him to wear today. Once he was dressed, we headed to the arcade with glow in the dark mini golf.
We got there and ran inside because it was still raining pretty heavy. We got inside and I paid for a round. Elijah grabbed his putter and ball and I grabbed mine. We headed towards the course and I had Elijah go first. He set the ball down and hit it. He didn't hit it hard enough so it didn't go very far. He hit it two more time before it went in the hole.
"Daddy I did it!" he said excitedly.
"Good job" I said and gave him a high five.
Then it was my turn. I hit it twice before it went in. We moved along to the next hole. We don't really play by the rules since Elijah is only four and we don't keep track of the score either. Elijah hits the ball until he makes it in and some times that take six or seven tries.
We made it through the course in a little over an hour. Elijah wanted a hot dog from the concession stand so we got some lunch before heading home.
Once we got home, Elijah went to his room to play his drums and I hung out downstairs to wait for Karen and Emma to get home. I really want to know how this lunch was with Sara. I know Karen doesn't really like her that much especially with everything that happened with Emma and I don't blame her. She's not really on the top of my list either, but she is the person who gave birth to Emma. She is the reason we have her so we have to at least like her a little bit. This whole thing would be easier if Sara was a drug dealer or something because then we would have a perfectly good reason not to allow her to see Emma.
A half an hour later I heard Karen and Emma walk through the door.
"Hey guys, how was it?" I asked.
"Which part?" Karen asked.
"Both" I said.
"Physical therapy was good, she's already improving the strength in her knee and the doctor said she should be able to walk without her knee brace by next week and lunch was fine" Karen said.
"That's great kiddo" I said.
"Where's Elijah?" Emma asked, then we heard him start banging his drums again.
"Never mind" Emma said with a giggle and headed upstairs.
Karen came and joined me on the couch.
"Was lunch really fine?" I asked.
"It started off fine and then Sara dropped the bomb that she is engaged" she said.
"Is that a bad thing?" I asked.
"No it's not. She marrying the guy that was waiting with her at the hospital while Emma was in surgery. His name is Luke" she said.
"So what's the problem?" I asked.
"She invited Emma" she said.
"Oh" I said slowly.
"What did Emma say?" I asked.
"She said nothing. She had no idea what to say to her. I told her that we would have to think about it. But Emma did ask her if her parents were going to be there and Sara said they would be. Then Emma kind of just shut down" She said.
"Do you think she wants to go?" I asked.
"I don't know. Honestly, I hope she doesn't want to because there are going to be a lot of people who are biologically related to her there and I think it's going to be overwhelming and not to mention Sara's parents, the ones who put Emma in the foster system and I think Emma knows that if she goes she's going to see them" She said.
"How is Emma?" I asked a little worried.
"She seems okay, she completely avoided the subject all the way home. I think I'm going to try and talk to her about it later. I think she needs some time to process everything before she makes a decision." She said.
"That's probably best" I said.
"I just hope she's not going to go back to where she started when Sara first showed up. I think her getting to know where she came from is good for her. I know she has questions and I think it will be good for her to get to know Sara a little bit" she said and I nodded.
I agree with Karen about it being a good thing that Emma gets to know Sara a little bit because I know she wonders where she gets certain qualities from and she has been in the dark her whole life. After today, I'm feeling better about the whole Sara thing. I think this could be good for Emma as long as Sara respects her boundaries.