The Sage After Rain A love story

by Hawkes, Jaclyn

  The sun in his face didn't even wake him and when the alarm went off at six-thirty Matt wanted to keep on sleeping. He got up and gave her some more medicine and made sure his three helpers headed out on the chopper. Hopefully the two who had been here helping would continue to progress with the new guy like they had. He had them plan to work without him for at least the next couple of days. Zan and Joseph had the sheep under control, so Matt took her temperature again and went back to bed for another hour and some.

  At eight thirty her temperature had gone up again and Matt woke her and helped her get to the shower. She took a change of clothes this time and a gear bag that must have contained her toiletries, because when she emerged ten minutes later, her hair smelled like fruit again. She was still incredibly sick and collapsed onto her swing in a limp heap with her old clothes and toiletries beside her. Matt took her things and got a hair brush and elastic out and put the rest of them just inside her trailer door and then sat on the swing beside her to help her comb her long dark hair out before it dried in a tangle. Once it was relatively snarl free, he had her sit up just long enough to pull it into a rough braid that he caught with the elastic, and then let her lay back down.

  The shower and the medicine helped and by the time Zan and Joseph pulled out at nine-forty-five she was only at one-hundred-two point three again. Matt brought his sleeping bag and pad over to the trailer and tossed it out on the ground in the sliver of shade from the sheet that was still draped over her swing and stretched out to wait until her next dose at ten-thirty. He'd only been at this for just over twelve hours and already he was tired. She'd taken care of him alone for more than four days, and she had had her sheep to care for on top of everything else.

  It was no wonder Zan had teased her about looking awful. He felt guilty knowing that her taking such good care of him was probably what had made her get it as well. At least he knew what to expect and could work to make her as comfortable as possible.

  When his alarm went off, he got up and got her medicine and tried to get her to eat something. She didn't really want anything and finally he just began to poke a banana in and she automatically kept taking bites. The fever was creeping back up and he sat with her again to bathe her face and neck and arms with the nasty smelling alcohol mixture. Once it was somewhat lower, he gathered her up onto his lap again and began to gently, but firmly rub her low back. He assumed her whole body was aching the way his had and when she smiled tiredly and thanked him, he knew he'd been right.

  The fever had made his head pound and his body ache all over and he had alternated between freezing and roasting, so he assumed she was the same and rubbed her head where it lay on his lap that afternoon. Then, he turned her over and rubbed her back again and then pulled her back up into his arms when she was cold. He napped between doses when she did and toward evening he got up and made real food for her.

  Another herder showed up to take over for her for a few days and Matt was glad to not have to worry about her sheep the whole time. He got her to eat better with her medicine and then he thought she had gone right back to sleep until she opened her cloudy blue eyes and asked him if he would play for her for a little while. He went back to his camp and got his guitar and came to sit in a camp chair beside her with it. He began to play and he could almost see her relax with the music. The guitar even seemed to help her body fight the fever and it stayed at under one-oh-two until her next dose.

  Either his alarm didn't go off, or he slept through it and missed a dose late in the night. When he awoke she was searingly hot again. The thermometer showed over one-hundred-six, and Matt felt terrible. He carried her to the shower and actually had to help her to stand there under the water. He just let it soak her clothes again and then took her back to the swing and spent the rest of the night working to get the fever back down. It felt like a task that couldn't be accomplished no matter what he did, until finally just as the sun began to brighten the sky in the east it eased.

  The helicopter picked his guys up clear up by the highway, and Matt had no idea where the Indian with the sheep had gone. He gave her another dose of medicine and gratefully stretched out on his bag to get as much sleep as he could before she needed him again. Several times as he napped he reached up to touch her hand and make sure her fever hadn't shot back up, and when the alarm went off, he got up and gave her some Tylenol and it hardly even woke her up. He decided to let her sleep until the next dose before making her eat something, and went back to sleep himself.

  He was back in the swing with her that afternoon, bathing her face and rubbing her back to try to help with the ache he knew she was fighting. As he rubbed her she sighed and leaned right into him and a few minutes later he knew she had gone to sleep again. He pulled her up into his arms and gently rocked the swing from time to time.

  In a way, he hated the fact that she was so terribly sick and miserable, and in a way, he loved the fact that he could hold her and help her feel better. Holding her like this was a wake up call for him. He'd known she was fascinating from the first, but he'd thought it was just the intrigue of this whole situation. He didn't truly think he would come to like her even as beautiful as she was. But he hadn't figured on how that one little kiss when he was so sick would make him feel. It had only been a gentle, almost motherly kiss like she would have given a sick baby, but it had felt wonderful to be cared for that way.

  And holding her now on his lap was incredibly nice. Right now she wasn't the sharp, brave, competent friend she'd been. She was just a sick, helpless, sweet girl who needed him to be there to take care of her, and it made him feel like a white knight. A knight who had just been taken care of by the damsel of course, but holding her and helping her felt so right.

  Getting to know her had been like peeling back the layers on a flower. She was so much more than she appeared on the surface, but then at that she was refreshingly simple. He knew from her background that she must have been used to a life of relative luxury, but she dealt with the primitive life here like she was born to it and she never complained no matter how inconvenient things got. And now when she was so sick, she was still sweet and patient and grateful.

  He had never known a woman who was this beautiful to be unselfish and hard working. Actually, he had never known a woman this beautiful at all. She was exquisite physically, and the more he got to know her the more he realized she was that way to the core. There was nothing superficial or fake about her. How in the world had her congressman not recognized how precious she was and guarded her rather than harming her?

  Matt knew he wasn't worthy of her, but the last two days had made his feelings for her very clear, and he was going to do everything he could to somehow get to where he was worthy of her. It might take him years, but maybe she would be patient enough to wait for him. At least he was going to give it his best shot. He did recognize how precious she was and he was going hang on to her just like Joseph had suggested, if she'd let him.

  Zeus came up to them and sniffed at her for about the thousandth time. Matt leaned to pet his curly, white head. "Did you finally figure out that we're on the same team here, buddy? I want to watch over her too, ya know." Zeus wagged his tail and flopped down in front of the swing. He seemed to know she was gravely ill. Matt cuddled her to him again. He was going to have to work his tail off when she was on her feet to make headway on his contract, but he wouldn't have traded being able to hold her for anything.

  Three times over the next couple of days when he was at his wits end, she asked him to play for her and it helped her to rest easier. Something in the music strengthened her body or her will or he wasn't even sure what. He just knew his music was helping her to fight this thing.

  Zan and Joseph came back to check on her again and then Zan called her phone everyday to see how she was.

  Chapter 19

  On the fifth day the fever didn't show any signs of letting up and Matt wondered again if he should take her in to the doctor. She looked like a ghost of her usual self. Sh
e was so pale and had lost weight and he felt like a total failure as a care giver as he carried her back to the shower when the fever spiked again.

  He had just about decided to run her in to town to see someone when he got a call on his cell phone. He looked down at it almost in a stupor he was so tired. It was his mother's cell number and he answered it gladly. Her voice was exactly what he needed to hear right now. He was even more grateful for such a wonderful mom when he understood that she was calling from just down the road at the motel and wanted directions to his camp. He told her how to get there and was basically given a new lease on life when she pulled over the hill in her dusty Trailblazer.

  The sun felt like it started to shine brighter as she got out and walked over to him. She'd called him a couple of times that week, so she knew what he'd been up against to a certain extent, but she was still dismayed when she felt the heat of Taya's head. "Poor girl. Has she been this bad the whole time?"

  "This bad or worse. Hi, Mom.” He hugged her. “I've never been as glad to see someone as I am to see you right now. I'm just wondering if I should take her in to a doctor. She hauled me in and they told her it was viral and that there was nothing they could do except try to keep the fever down. I've been giving her the medicines every two hours like they said, and it does bring it down some, but I'm so worried about her. My fever broke on the fourth day, but we're going on the fifth here with no change."

  Taya opened her eyes at the sound of his voice and looked up at him and around blankly. Matt tried to introduce his mom to her, but she was still pretty out of it. He turned back to his mom. "And, Mom, I'd like you to meet Taya Kaye. You can't tell it right now, but she's the most beautiful and nicest girl I've ever met in my life. You're going to love her. If we can get her better that is. At this point I'm pretty much a failure at that."

  Taya opened her eyes again and said tiredly, "You've been wonderful, Matt. I’m fine. It’s not like you to be negative."

  She closed her eyes again, and Matt looked up at his mom with a grin. "See what I mean?"

  Sue Maylon raised her eyebrows. "Yes, I believe I do." She rolled up her sleeves. "I brought real food. What else can I do to help you?"

  "Honestly, just let me sleep for more than two hours at a shot and I'll be a new man."

  "All right, I'm good with that. Uh, but am I safe or is that dog going to eat me if I touch her?"

  Matt looked over at Zeus. "That’s a good question. Come, Zeus." The dog obediently padded over to him and Matt petted his head and then stood up and hugged his mom. Zeus came over and sniffed at her. When she leaned down to pet him, he wagged his tail Matt said, "He likes you. It took me days to be able to make friends with him. Days and several steak bones. He's actually wonderful. He watches over her like a canine secret service agent. He makes me feel a lot better knowing he's around. Remind me when I get up to tell you what's going on with her."

  He nodded at Taya. "But in the mean time just know that if you see anyone coming get me up immediately. She needs Ibuprofen and enough food that it won't make her sick at four o'clock. In the mean time. Make your self at home. It's a little rough right now, but it's peaceful."

  Matt rolled off the swing to stretch out on his sleeping bag that he'd never moved from beside the trailer and was asleep within less than a minute.

  ****

  Sue leaned and felt Taya's forehead again, and then seeing the scan thermometer there she took her temperature. One-hundred-three point five. She shook her head. This was a nasty virus. Matt looked terrible and he looked great compared to this poor girl, although even sick she was amazingly pretty. Sue didn't think she'd ever heard Matt talk about a girl the way he just had.

  She went around camp straightening and picking up. She ventured into Taya's trailer and straightened it too and washed the dishes that had piled up, after adding a few drops of bleach she found to the wash water to hopefully stop the spread of the bug. She looked around the trailer as she worked. From the outside it just looked like a sheepherder’s trailer. Inside it looked like a miniature office. There was a laptop and a cell phone on the table and an oversized printer on the top bunk with rolls and rolls of paper and what looked like house plans piled nearby with a stack of card board mailing tubes.

  Matt hadn't said much about this girl, but this was not what Sue had expected. For some reason, she had been expecting a Native American girl who was maybe a bit socially backward. Even deathly ill this girl wasn't a bit backward. Sue sighed, hoping he hadn't gone from living with one girl to living with another, but even she would have to admit that the beauty lying out there with the raging fever would be hard to resist.

  ****

  Taya knew that whoever was trying to wake her wasn't Matt and it made her almost afraid for a moment until she was able to wake up enough to realize that no, it wasn't Matt, but it had to be his mother. She looked amazingly like him, just older and female. Her voice and her touch were gentle as she encouraged Taya to wake up and take some more medicine. Taya took it gratefully and then pulled herself to sit upright and eat the plate of food she was handed. It was some kind of casserole and it was hot and homemade and she thought she had gone to heaven.

  She knew his mom was watching her but she honestly didn't have the energy to visit right now. Silently, she worked her way through the whole plate before she decided she was going to get up and shower. Matt had made her get wet to try to cool her down several times in the last few days, but now she just wanted to wash her hair and brush her teeth.

  Matt's mom took her plate and she struggled to her feet and pulled herself into the trailer to find some clean clothes and her shower bag. Back outside, she felt like she had had too much to drink as she walked to the shower for the first time without help in days. She tripped over a branch of a sage brush and almost went down on her face, and decided she’d better take it easier.

  The shower felt wonderful, but she must have been moving slow because she almost ran out of water before she had her hair rinsed all the way. Clean felt better and she wended her way back to the swing wondering if she was finally maybe going to kick this thing. She sat in the swing and combed her hair out and French braided it wet.

  Matt had been so good to help her with it while she felt so awful. He must have known it was uncomfortable to have it tangled around her when she was laying there. He had been so sweet to her the whole time. She set her brush aside and lay back down and dangled one arm over the side of the swing to rest on his shoulder as he slept there below her. The days had all run together in the muddle of her fever and dreams, but he had been there for her the whole time, through it all. Even in the deepest feverish stupors she had known he was there with her.

  He was incredibly reassuring. He always had been. She didn't think she wanted him to go away at the end of this summer.

  ****

  Sue had been over to straighten up Matt's tent and she checked out their shower set up. She had no idea how it worked, but Taya had gone into it a mess and came out looking clean. Walking back over to the trailer, she saw the two of them laying there with Taya's hand on Matt's shoulder. She prayed for him everyday and part of that prayer was that he would find the right girl. It would be interesting to hear what Matt was going to tell her about Taya when he got up.

  She let him sleep until eight o'clock, and then woke him because she worried he wouldn't sleep that night if he didn't get up. He made such a big deal of her cooking that she wished she had brought more of something else for the next day. These two must have had a rough couple of weeks. He sat up and leaned back against the swing as he ate and finally he began to tell her about what Taya had been through and was still dealing with. He ended with, "Hopefully, when the trial's through in October and the election is over in November, she'll be safe again and will be able to have her life back. Although, I'm going to try to talk her into staying out here somewhere if I can."

  Sue didn't want to offend him, but she felt like she needed to voice her concerns. "Matt, honey. You di
dn't jump out of the frying pan with Stacy and into the fire with this girl, did you?"

  He looked at her. "What do you mean, Mom?" She saw what she was asking dawn on him. "Oh, heavens no, Mother. Taya would never live like that. I'm sure the only reason she even let me come here was because she was afraid and knew she could trust me. She's a nice girl, Mom. She's been taking me to church with her for weeks now."

  Sue perked right up at this and he continued, "You're probably not going to be very happy to know that I've been going to a Mormon church with her. But it's helped me, and I've grown to love it. She's been wonderful for me. She has a way of encouraging me that I don't think she even realizes she does, but she makes me feel like I'm capable of anything. I've never been around another girl or even another person, other than you maybe, who makes me such a better person just by being with them. She does that for me. I wish I deserved to be with her. I'd be around her forever if I could."

  "Why would you not deserve to be with her?"

  "She knows about Stacy. In fact, she met Stacy one day, but I haven't told her yet that I was living with her. She's a much better person than that."

  "Aren't Mormons Christian? Doesn't she believe in forgiveness and God's grace?"

  "Yes, they're Christian. And I'm sure they believe in forgiveness and grace, but she's still a much better person than me."