Page 60 of An Investigator For Ivy

“In her playpen,” Jasmine said. “She just had her bottle. Chase is in the shower, and Wesley and I are making breakfast.”

She was thrilled their youngest brother made the trek from New York City yesterday. He’d be leaving later today.

If she was annoyed he only came because her parents wanted to call and have them all together to open gifts, she pushed it off.

Ivy knew that her parents hadn’t planned on being on a video call with them today until Chase said he was going to visit. Then things changed.

Like it always did.

She just had to get over it, she knew.

Maybe she was still raw over the interaction with Brooks a few days ago. Still no word from him either. Guess she knew where she stood. He didn’t want her but didn’t want anyone else to have her either.

“You can go see her once we get the gifts out,” Dahlia said.

“I don’t know why you and I couldn’t exchange gifts with each other this morning,” she said.

“Because we are doing it all here,” Dahlia said. “This is the first Christmas four out of five of us have been together since the year before I left.”

She hadn’t realized her sister was right. Mark could have flown to wherever they were located. Her parents would have paid for it, but he opted not to and was spending the time with their grandparents.

They got the gifts all under the tree. It was overflowing and she found it funny since their family was never one for going all out on holidays. She’d bet most were for Cori from Wesley and Jasmine. Though she and Dahlia bought a bunch for Cori too.

Not that Cori would have any idea of the loot she got, but Ivy was thrilled her niece was going to get the childhood she and her siblings never had.

“When are Mom and Dad calling?” she asked. “And it smells good in here. Anything we can do to help?”

“We’ve got it,” Wesley said. “I had the restaurant make a few dishes and we are just warming them up. Then we’ve got fruit and muffins and donuts.”

“Donuts,” Chase said, coming into the kitchen. “Right up there with pastrami.”

She found that funny. Jasmine loved anything Italian, mainly pizza, but sauce was her thing when she came to America. Dahlia was all about tacos. Ivy loved ice cream. The three of them liked something that could be any number of flavors.

Not Chase. He wanted pastrami. Jasmine made sure there was some on the charcuterie board last night and her brother ate it all.

She’d bet Chase ate most of the donuts too.

“Do you think they make a pastrami donut?” Jasmine asked.

“If they do, I’ll find it,” Chase said.

She walked over to see Cori once the gifts were all laid out. She never really saw herself as a baby person, but she did love her niece and found it was nice to have someone that relied on her and wanted cuddles.

She’d always felt like she needed someone else and it’d be scary to be needed, but the truth was, she wanted to be needed by someone.

“Let’s eat,” Jasmine said. “When Mom and Dad call we can open up gifts together.”

“Do you think they got everything we sent them?” Ivy asked.

“Mom said she did,” Jasmine said.

The three of them had sent their gifts over together in one shipment. Jasmine took care of it. Ivy liked to send her mother some pretty things though her mother was on the simple side. They threw in a bunch of Blossoms products too. A luxury her mother would get no matter where she was in the world.

They sat at the table and helped themselves to a French toast casserole, a few different quiches, along with the fruit and donuts that her brother went right after.

Right when they were finishing up, she heard the phone ringing and realized it was on Jasmine’s computer.

She jumped up as she wanted to answer, but Dahlia held her back. “It’s Jasmine’s computer, let her get it.”

---