Their Beautiful Broken Queen

Chapter 2

Tulip

When I left the break room, I headed upstairs to my boss's office. I had to talk to her about needing time off. I knew she'd give it to me, considering the circumstances that were going on. But I wasn't all about going home.

Don't get me wrong, I want to be there to help my parents with my grandparents. But I'm not looking forward to seeing certain people. Or to have them find out my secrets. And it would be harder to hide the fact that I lost my legs than it would be to hide the fact that I lost my baby. That's why I want to get a temporary rental. So that they don't find out.

When I got upstairs to Avery's door, it was open, so I peeked my head in and knocked when I saw her sitting there. She was talking to her secretary as they ate lunch.

"Hey Tulip, what's up?" she asked me.

"Hey, I'm sorry for disturbing you while you're on lunch. But I need to talk to you about something, it's important," I told her.

"Sure, come on in and sit down. We're just finalizing the touches for the show and the new clothing launch. Do you need to talk to me alone? You can shut the door if you need to," she said.

I walked into her office and shut the door. Then I went and sat on a chair by the couch since that's where they were sitting.

"No, Lucy can stay. Remi and I went downstairs and got subs from the sandwich shop for lunch. When we got to the break room, I had just started to eat mine when my phone rang. It was my oldest brother, Stone, calling me. You know the deal with him and the issues that we've had. So I hit the f-you button twice before finally picking up on the third ring. Turns out that he was calling me for our mom. My mom and her parents were in a car accident. Mom was taking them to the doctor's office for my grandpa's appointment when they were hit. Mom's ok, but Grandma broke her arm, and Grandpa broke his leg. They are still in the hospital for right now and will be for a few days. But when Mom gets them home, she's going to need help with them. And she wants me to come down there and stay with her for a month or so to help. She has my dad and brothers to help, but my dad's parents are not in the best of health either. So, they are also taking care of them. I know that part of the reason that they want me down there is to try to get me to move back. But I also know that Mom could use the help. As much as I don't want to, I think that I need to go. At least for a month. I told my brother that I'd call Mom tonight because I had to talk to you. But that it would be at least a week before I could get down there. I won't leave until after the launch," I told her.

"Ok, let me start by asking this: are you ok? I know that it couldn't have been easy to hear about them being in a car accident after what you went through. That had to be hard," she said.

"It was very hard. I managed to get through the call with him. And when I got off the phone, I started to have a panic attack, but Remi helped me through it. I wasn't able to finish my lunch, but I'm ok now. I'll feel better after I talk to Mom. But I know that they are alive and ok and that's the main thing," I said.

"Ok. You can take the month off. And if you need more time, just let me know. You can work while you're down there. We can do video calls and emails back and forth. And if you decide to stay down there, then we'll go from there. I know that you want to open your own business designing clothes. And if you decide to do that, then I will support you a hundred percent. You know how I feel about family. They always come first. Work the next four days so that you're here for the show and launch, and then for after. And then you can leave and head down there. Are you planning on flying down or driving?" she asked me.

"I'm going to drive that way, I have my own vehicle. It's made so that I can use the hand or foot controls for the brake and gas. So if I have to take my prosthetics off, I can still drive it. I couldn't get a rental like that. And I don't want to depend on my family to get me around. The drive down there is only around twenty-seven hours. I'll stop about halfway to sleep and rest. And I'll also be stopping often to take breaks and rest. I'm also thinking about getting a rental to stay in while I'm down there. I'd rather not stay with my family. If I do, then they'll find out about my legs, and I'm not ready for that. I know that they'll find out eventually, but with everything going on, that doesn't need to be now. And I'll have to take my travel shower chair and my extra prosthetics. I'll only be in the rental at night. And I'll definitely keep working while I'm down there. I'll log on and do as much as I can every day. And I'd love to have my own company. But I'm still not all about moving back down there permanently. I plan to stay away from the club. But I know that I'll end up running into my ex. And I'm not all about that," I told her.

"Yeah, I don't blame you for that. But the two of you will end up having to sit down and have a conversation sooner or later. He needs to know what happened and why you really left. I know that you said he thinks that you left because of that woman claiming to be pregnant with his kid. But he needs to know what the truth is. I have a feeling that when you go down there, things will work out for you. And the only reason that you'll be back up here is so that you can pack your stuff up. If you need anything while you're gone, just call me. No matter what happens, I'll always be here for you, we all will. We'll talk again before you leave. But know that we are here if you need us. And I hope that your grandparents have a speedy recovery," she said.

"Thank you so much. I'm going to leave you to the rest of your lunch. I have a few things to double-check before the show and launch. I'll call my mom when I get home and let her know that I'll be home in a week to help her. Thank you so much, Avery," I said.

I left her office and headed back to mine. I went over the last-minute stuff that needed to be done before the show. And then I packed up what stuff that I would need while I was gone. I won't be in the office tomorrow. We had to go to the building where the show would be and make sure that everything was ready there. So, I wouldn't be back here tomorrow. And I wasn't sure about the two days after the show.

Before I left for the night, I went to the break room to grab my lunch from today. Then, I went back to my office to grab my stuff. Once I had everything, I clocked out and headed to my car. On my way home, I stopped and picked up dinner for me and Riley. I texted her earlier and told her what was going on, so she promised to be home early.

Riley is from South Carolina, and she started going to college down there. She's older than I am and has been in college forever. She wanted to be a doctor, and now she's doing her residency at a hospital here in New York. She'd had to pull a double last night, so she'll be home tonight.

I had just gotten home and got all of my stuff and our food inside when she got here. I went and changed into a pair of shorts and then fixed our plates. We sat down on the couch, and after I took my prosthetics off, I told her about my day as we ate.

She, more than anyone, knew how much I didn't want to go home. She knew the reasons why, and if she were able, I know that she'd go with me. But I told her that I'd be ok going alone. And that I'd stay in touch every day so that she doesn't worry about me.

After we ate, she was heading to her room to take a shower and get to bed. She was exhausted from the double that she pulled. I put my prosthetics back on and then headed to my room to start packing. I also had to call my mom.

Before I called Mom, I grabbed a suitcase and put it on my bed. And then I started to grab clothes that I would be taking with me and tossing them on the bed. While I was on the phone with Mom, I'd get them folded and put in my suitcase. That way, I could sit down and do it and take my prosthetics off. After wearing them all day, I needed a break from them.

Once I had everything ready, I sat down and took my legs off, and then called Mom. When she answered, I could tell that she was at the hospital from the background noise.

"Hey, Mom, are you busy?" I asked her.

"Hey, baby girl. No, I'm not busy. I'm just leaving the cafeteria, I was getting dinner. Your dad had to go check on his parents, so I'm here alone. One of your brothers is supposed to come stay the night with your grandparents so that I can go home and get some sleep. I'm exhausted. Did your brother call you? He told me he would," she said on a yawn.

"Yeah, Mom Stone called me. I hit ignore the first two times that he called, but answered on the third. He told me about you, um, aacciiident," I said on a stutter. "He said that you guys were fine, but that you were going to need help for a month or so. He asked me to come down there to help you. I talked to my boss, and she agreed to give me a month off work. Well, I'll still be working, but it'll be remotely. I'll be doing video calls and stuff while I'm down there."

"Ok. It means a lot that you're coming to help me. We're moving your grandparents into our house. All of them so that we can take care of them. But with having all four of them here and my parents having to use casts, extra help will be nice. When will you be down here, and do I need to pick you up from the airport or have one of the boys do it?" she asked me.

"We have a show and a new clothing launch in two days. I have to be here for that and the two days after that. Once that's all done, I'll be on my way down. No one will have to pick me up, I'm not flying down. I'm going to drive my car down, I need to have it. With breaks and stopping to sleep, it'll take me almost two days to get down there. I've already started to pack. If the grandparents are all moving in with you, would they mind if I stay in one of their houses while I'm down there? Then I won't have to find a rental house," I told her.

"You know that you can stay here with us. You don't need to get a rental," Mom told me.

"I know, but I'd rather have my own space. It has nothing to do with you guys. I've got stuff that I'm not ready to talk to you about. And honestly, you don't need it on top of everything else right now. And I'll be working in the evening, so I'll need quiet," I told her while trying not to hurt her.

"Ok, baby, I understand. Both of their houses are empty right now. We're still in the process of going through their stuff as we move them in. We just started to move your dad's parents in this past month, and then this happened. And we had been talking to my parents about them moving in with us. And they had finally agreed. We've been talking about what to do with their houses. Stone has his own, and so does Rubble. Rock still lives here with us when he's not in his room at the clubhouse. So we were thinking about giving the houses to the two of you. The older boys agree with it. And you've always loved my parents' big farmhouse. And Rock loves your dad's parents' place. So it would work out. Like I said, we still need to go through everything in the house, but you can stay there while you're here. The master bedroom on the second floor is a guest room now. We moved Mom and Dad downstairs to that bedroom a few years ago," Mom told me.

"That works for me, Mom. I don't have to look for a rental now, so that's one less thing for me to do," I told her. I talked to her for a little bit longer and even talked to my grandparents when she got back to their room. Thankfully, they put them in the same room, so it made it easier on Mom.

When I got off the phone, I took a shower and got ready for bed. After I was in bed, I put my nubbin socks that a friend made me on. They made it look like I had chicken legs. They came up over my nubs and then had the chicken legs and feet crocheted on the bottom of them. They were cute.

Then I lay down. The next few days were going to be busy and exhausting.