Sisterchicks Say Ooh La La! Read Online Free

armed with an outrageously large gift basket brimming with the cutest baby girl items I could find and a few treats for Amy. She was sleeping each time so I tiptoed out with my basket, wondering if I’d see her before they drove home.
    On Monday she was discharged from the hospital, and Mark insisted they stay at the hotel a few more days before driving home. I took the afternoon off of work and arrived at the hotel, toting my oversized gift basket and feeling strangely shy.
    Did I overdo the presents? Would a simple boxed sleeperset have been a better way to go? Maybe I should have bought Amy a single bottle of lotion instead of the six-piece home spa set.
    Too late to change my mind. Mark opened the hotel room door with his daughter cradled in his free arm. Amy called to me from the bed, “Lisa, you came!”
    I gave her the audaciously brimming basket of gifts and confessed to my clandestine hospital visits. Amy gave me a scolding for not waking her on my visits, but her hands already had untied the bow, and she was pulling out all the fun gifts.
    Her favorite was a stuffed giraffe with a polka-dotted bow around its neck. She practically squealed when she found the extravagant spa set of lotion and bath oils for her. In a way I felt as if I’d finally made up for the birthday when her only gift from me had been a Bible.
    My mother was the one who insisted I give Amy a Bible for her twelfth birthday, which Amy graciously thanked me for when she opened it. All the other girls at the party gave Amy gifts like Bonne Bell frosted lip gloss and Jean Naté cologne.
    I was so embarrassed that I announced in front of everyone I had another present for Amy at home, but I’d forgotten to bring it. The guilt of my lie made me sick to my stomach. I couldn’t keep down the piece of strawberry cake and Neapolitan ice cream, which I urped up in the bathroom. I left Amy’s party in quiet humiliation.
    The next day I confessed my lie to Amy, and she said, “I know.”
    “Aren’t you mad?”
    “No, why would I be mad?”
    “Because I just told you. I lied. I don’t have another present for you. All I gave you was a Bible.”
    “I know. I always wanted my own Bible. It’s even more special because it came from you. Everyone else gave me stuff I’m going to use up. You gave me something I’m going to keep for the rest of my life.”
    I was absolved that day and immediately stopped punishing myself.
    Standing by Amy’s hotel bed now, watching her delight in all the gifts for her and Jeanette, made me feel absolved once again.
    Jeanette began to squirm in her daddy’s arms. I couldn’t take my eyes off the beautiful infant.
    “May I hold her?” I asked eagerly.
    Mark handed off his precious cargo and reached for the list of baby supplies Amy had prepared for him. “You sure you’ll be okay if I go to the store?”
    “Of course!” She looked up at me with a bright smile. “We’re going to be fine.”
    I took Amy’s words to heart, as if she were uttering a blessing for the next season of our friendship. We were going to be fine. I just knew it. I also dearly hoped that, after all my moves and job changes, things were about tobe fine for me in every way. If nothing else, I’d have Amy to stand beside me while I tried to put together the pieces of my erratic life. That possibility brought me great comfort.
    Mark slipped out the door as I rocked the baby back and forth.
    “Lisa, I love all these gifts.” Amy arranged them on the bed for further viewing. “I haven’t even had a baby shower yet! It’s supposed to be this Friday. Won’t they be surprised when I show up with a baby! These are the first presents anyone has given us. Thank you so much.”
    “You’re welcome. I was worried that maybe I overdid it.”
    “Are you kidding? Overdoing it with gifts? Never! Look how cute this is!” She held up a bib that was trimmed with yellow ducklings. “Thank you again. Really. Thank you for being at the hospital on