by Fiala, PJ
Joci’s shoulder and arm hurt like a bitch. The throbbing wouldn’t stop, and she couldn’t sleep with the pain. She didn’t want to put the baby in any more danger than she already had. The nurse told her that if she couldn’t get any rest because of the pain, that was worse for the baby than taking a mild pain reliever. Joci finally agreed to take something.
She hadn’t heard from Jeremiah since he left the hospital hours ago. Her heart hurt more than her arm and shoulder. On top of that, she might lose the baby. Joci broke down in a hard cry. It hurt, but then, everything hurt right now.
“Hey. Aww, baby, don’t cry. I’m here now.” Jeremiah’s voice was cracking.
Joci looked at him, trying to compose herself. “I don’t want to lose the baby. I don’t.”
“I know you don’t, honey. Please don’t cry.”
Jeremiah leaned down and laid his forehead against Joci’s. He wasn’t sure where he could touch her. He didn’t want to hurt her in any way. She had enough aches and pains.
Jeremiah placed his hand on her belly and lightly rubbed back and forth. He leaned down and kissed the place where his baby rested, fighting to live. Joci started crying hard again.
The nurse walked in with a syringe and injected something into Joci’s IV line. In a calm voice, she said, “OK, sweetheart, you have to settle down. This should help calm you. I promise it won’t hurt the baby. You’re doing well, you know. It’s been several hours now and you’re still pregnant. Every hour that passes is good. Try and stay positive, okay, honey?”
Joci nodded and calmed as the medication hit her veins and made her feel drowsy. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. The nurse looked at Jeremiah and raised her brows.
“I’m staying,” was all he said.
The nurse nodded, then turned and left the room. Jeremiah pulled the recliner next to the bed and sat down, holding Joci’s hand in his. His mind was reeling over today’s events. He prayed that God wouldn’t let them get pregnant only to take the baby away. That would be worse than never being able to have another baby. Having a baby so close, only to be lost, would be unbearable. He drifted off to sleep about a half hour later, still holding Joci’s hand.
Jeremiah jerked awake at the sound of a nurse coming in to check on Joci, but didn’t open his eyes all the way. He looked to see who was in the room and then closed his eyes again. He listened to the nurse monitor the IVs. She checked Joci’s vitals, straightened the blankets on the bed, and left. He then realized that someone, at some time during the night, had put a blanket over him. He fell back asleep quickly.
Joci woke to see Jeremiah sleeping alongside her bed. She looked at his beautiful face. She could see the lines that had formed over the past day. Poor man, she must have given him a fright. She noticed dark circles under his eyes. He had stubble on his face, and he was still wearing clothes with her blood on them. A blanket covered his lower chest and legs, but she could see the blood on his upper shirt.
She closed her eyes and sighed. Relationships were hard. She had never had a normal relationship with a man one on one. Keith had been distant and obviously otherwise involved. Derrick had been in a band and traveled around a lot to be where money could be made. He hadn’t known how to do a one-on-one relationship either. He had a different woman in every city. Joci found out after a few weeks with him. She looked back on it now and thought what an idiot she had been.
Jeremiah was the very first man she had been in an honest and close relationship with. She had a lot to learn.
Joci rubbed her hand over her belly. She opened her eyes to look at the spot where their baby was resting. She looked over at Jeremiah. His eyes were open, watching her. “I love you.”
Joci took a deep breath. “Jeremiah…I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, honey. We’ll get through this.”
After a moment of silence, Joci grinned. “I’m pregnant.”
Jeremiah looked at her and smiled. “I’m thrilled beyond belief. I already knew it before you went to the doctor. I just knew we were having a baby.”
Joci nodded. She knew he felt strongly about it. She took a huge breath.
“Jeremiah. What happened after I left yesterday?”
Jeremiah leaned forward and grabbed Joci’s hand.
“You know, I really thought LuAnn would adjust and realize how much I love you and leave us alone. I wanted to honor Lance by giving her a chance, but I now know I’m not responsible for Lance’s decisions. You made me realize that. I’m so sorry, honey.” Jeremiah scratched at the stubble on his chin. “After I fired her, Chase came in and tried talking her down. She was starting to listen to him, then the cops came in. Janice had called them when LuAnn started screaming and yelling. She knew I was going to fire LuAnn, and was on alert that it might not go well. They arrested LuAnn for the damage she did in the shop and took her in. They released her a few hours later.”
Jeremiah stood up and kissed Joci gently on the lips. He touched her hair and her jaw. He gently touched where she was bruised on the right side of her face.
“How do you feel this morning, baby?”
“Sore. Tired. Hurt. Unbelievably lucky.”
Jeremiah sat back down, never letting go of her hand. He took a deep breath and looked at Joci.
“Joci, I need to explain what happened. Do you think you can deal with that now without getting too upset? I don’t want you to hurt yourself or the baby. But the police may be coming in to speak with you and you need to know what happened.”
Joci looked worried. She swallowed hard. She tried to adjust herself and gasped at the pain that shot through her arm and hip as she moved. She looked down at her hip and noticed the bulge of bandages there.
“I don’t even know what my injuries are. Can you tell me that, too?”
“I can tell you in layman’s terms. The doctor will need to tell you the medical version.”
Jeremiah listed her injuries and sat still waiting to see how she would react to that news before he continued on. What he was going to tell her next was going to be more unnerving than her health update. He watched her eyes, needing to make sure she was okay. She never wavered from his stare. Jeremiah took a deep breath. Here goes. “It appears that the reason your brakes didn’t work was that LuAnn cut your brake lines.”
Joci sucked in a breath and closed her eyes. LuAnn, once again, was trying to destroy her life. That woman was a fucking menace. Joci opened her eyes to look at Jeremiah. He was sitting there, holding her hand and watching her closely.
“How do you know?” Joci wanted to hear it all. “Let’s get it out and move on.”
“Deacon swore he didn’t see you touch your brakes. Your brake lights never went on. He was behind you the whole time. He saw that you were coming into Benson’s Bend, and he kept waiting for you to hit your brakes. When you didn’t and hit the tree, he freaked out.”
“I did…I tried to brake. Nothing was there.” Her heart was pounding so quickly, she thought it would beat right out of her chest.
“Yes. I went back to the shop with Tommy, Frog, and two police officers. The officers watched Frog examine the bike. He showed them where the brake lines had definitely been cut on the top. That kept the brake fluid from dripping out completely and leaving evidence on the floor. We checked the video footage and saw LuAnn clearly cutting the brake lines on your bike. It was Thursday morning.
“Deacon told me he had sent LuAnn home the day we told everyone we were engaged. The boys had gone to the shop and told everyone the news, and she didn’t take it well. She was acting terrible, throwing things, being bitchy to everyone. Then, of course, Milwaukee. I had words with her when we got back. I told her that was it. One more incident and she was gone. Thursday afternoon, all the guys were taking a lunch break. That’s when she did it.”
Joci sat staring at Jeremiah. He was having a hard time telling her all of this. His voice cracked and his breathing was ragged. LuAnn had wanted to kill her. Of course, LuAnn didn’t know about
the baby. At that time, she and Jeremiah hadn’t even known about the baby.
“Are you okay, honey?”
Joci nodded once. “Just trying to process all of this.” Her voice was soft. Jeremiah knew what she meant. He had spent yesterday trying to grasp everything that had happened in such a short period of time. It was never easy finding out someone tried deliberately to hurt you.
“Are you okay?” Joci asked.
Jeremiah blew out a breath. “Even during Desert Storm, I didn’t feel as murderous as I felt yesterday. If she walked in this door right now, I would strangle her with my bare hands and smile as I watched the life leave her body. She tried to kill you. That almost killed the baby. Our baby. I will never forgive her for that.”
Joci nodded and swallowed. “Where is she now?”
“I’m hoping in jail. I was going to call Tommy before you woke up. I left Tommy and the police after we straightened out the video exchange. I wanted to get back here to you. They were arranging the arrest warrant and then going to pick her up.”
Joci nodded. Okay, wow. She didn’t know how to feel: angry, scared, bewildered. She had so many emotions racing through her body, but mostly, relief. Relief, that Jeremiah knew without a doubt that she hadn’t tried to hurt the baby. And, relief that she knew that no matter what LuAnn said or did, Jeremiah would never let her near him again.
“Are you okay while I call Tommy?”
Joci nodded. “I need some more pain medication and some rest,” she told Jeremiah. He went out to get a nurse to take care of her. Joci faded off to sleep a few minutes later.
When she woke up, Gunnar, Jackie, Emily, and Thomas were in her room, along with Jeremiah. They were talking softly. Joci immediately found Jeremiah looking at her. She smiled softly, and he got up and walked to her bedside. He leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. He had a hand resting on the top of her head and one resting on their baby.
“How do you feel, Mom?”
Joci looked over at Gunnar. “Better. Thank you. How are you doing?”
He looked worried and tight. His body language was something Joci could always read.
“I’m trying to process everything. I’m worried about you. Are you sure you’re all right? How about my little brother?” Gunnar smiled.
“Sister.” They all looked at Jeremiah with puzzled looks on their faces.
“We’re having a little girl.”
Joci giggled. “When did you become a fortune teller?”
Jeremiah smiled, “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me, darling. If you ask anyone in my family,” he gestured wide towards his family sitting around the room, “you will hear that I have correctly determined the sex of each of my brothers’ babies before they were born.”
Joci and Gunnar looked at Thomas and Emily for confirmation. Thomas nodded and Emily smiled.
“He currently holds the Sheppard record for the most correct guesses, although we still argue over Bryce and Angie’s Daniel. Jeremiah wavered back and forth on that one.”
Jeremiah shrugged. He was holding firm that he was one hundred percent correct.
Jackie came over and touched Joci’s feet. “I would love a little niece to spoil. All I got was boys.”
Jackie had spoiled Gunnar as a baby. When she and David married and had babies, they had two boys, Jeremy and Dean. Jackie leaned over and hugged Gunnar with one arm.
“But they’re great boys.” She smiled at Gunnar and Gunnar blushed.
“Did they put LuAnn in jail?” Joci needed to know.
Jeremiah took a deep breath and looked at Gunnar and then back to Joci.
“Not yet. They’re looking for her. She must have heard about the accident and then took off. Police are looking everywhere for her.”
David walked in just then. “Hey, there, girl. Are you feeling better?”
Joci looked at him and smiled. “I’m better. How about you?”
David laughed. “Well, you made my hair grayer. My wife is now married to an old man.”
He kissed Jackie on the temple and hugged Gunnar with one arm. “What about you, Gunnar?”
Gunnar grinned. “I’m going to have a little sister.”
David looked at Joci and Jeremiah with a stunned look on his face.
Joci giggled. “Jeremiah thinks he’s the baby whisperer.”
“Hey, I know some things,” Jeremiah said with a grin and a fake defensive tone.
David asked how things were with everyone else and they all talked with each other. Joci closed her eyes and fell back to sleep. She had only been awake for a few minutes, and she was exhausted again.
Some time while later, Joci woke to David’s voice, low and menacing. “Get out.”
Joci opened her eyes to see Connor and an older man standing in her room. Jeremiah looked at David and then at Joci. Gunnar was watching David as well. Jackie’s mouth had dropped open, but not a sound came out.
“I said get out,” David said again as he stood up.
Connor stepped forward and looked at Joci. “Joci, he demanded I bring him here when he heard about your accident.”
Joci looked at the older man again and then gasped. It was Keith. He looked horrible, like he was twenty years older than he was.
Jeremiah looked at Joci with a question in his eyes.
“Keith,” was all Joci could say.
Jeremiah stood to his full height. “Now I’ll tell you. Get the fuck out.”
Keith looked at Gunnar. Gunnar stared at him for a long moment. He was trying to get his mind around what was happening. This man was his biological father. He wasn’t sure what to feel.
Keith looked at Joci. He stepped forward, and Jeremiah moved to block him from getting any closer. Keith stopped and looked at Jeremiah and then Joci.
“I just needed to say I’m sorry. I didn’t know how badly you were injured. I’m sorry about your accident. But in case you didn’t make it out of the hospital before I died, I really wanted to say I’m sorry. That’s it.”
Keith’s voice was barely audible. He was struggling to breathe. It must have been hard for him to make it here today. He was clearly very sick. His skin was ashy and gray.
Keith looked at Gunnar and nodded slightly.
“Why?” Gunnar asked.
Keith looked at him. “Connor told me what your mom said.” Keith looked over at Joci. “It isn’t true, Joci. I’m not worried about my mortality. I’m ready for any punishment God thinks I deserve. I wanted you to know that I do realize how badly I treated you…and Gunnar.”
His eyes flicked to Gunnar and back to Joci. In a soft, breathy voice, he said, “I’ve thought about it so many times over the years. Dianna has told me so many times to try and touch base, but I was scared. When I was diagnosed with cancer, I worried that I wouldn’t get the chance to tell you.
Keith took a short, trembling breath, then went on. “You were a wonderful girlfriend, Joci. You’re a great person. Connor has kept me up to date with you and Gunnar all these years. I’m sorry I was such a dick-head. I have no excuse for my horrible behavior. I hope someday you’ll be able to forgive me. I treated you terribly, for no reason whatsoever. I really am sorry.”
Keith looked at Gunnar. “I’m sorry, Gunnar. I really am.”
Gunnar bobbed his head once and held Keith’s gaze.
“I hope, with my whole heart, that you’re happy, Gunnar.”
“I am. Dog is my dad. I now have brothers.” He nodded to JT and Ryder sitting across the room with them. “I have a great mom and a great life.”
Keith nodded, tears glistening in his eyes. “Good.”
Keith turned to leave. Connor helped him out the door. That was it. He just said what he needed to say.
Connor looked back at Joci. “I’ll call you later.” And they left.
They were all quiet for a long time. Things just couldn’t get any more surreal than this week.
Joci looked at Gunnar. “Gunnar?”
Gunnar looked at h
is mom, “Yeah, I’m good, Mom. I don’t feel anything really, other than sorry for him. He looks like hell…how about you?”
Joci shrugged her left shoulder a little. “I would say stunned.”
David walked over and put his arm around Gunnar. “I’m sorry, Gunnar.”
Gunnar shrugged. He had a lot to think about today. Joci was watching Gunnar very closely. She would have given anything for that meeting to not have happened on the heels of her accident. Poor guy had enough to deal with.
Gunnar looked at Joci again. “I’m okay, Mom. Please don’t worry about me.”
Then Jeremiah walked over to Gunnar and wrapped him in a hug.
Joci leaned her head back against the pillow and closed her eyes. She was tired again. Her arm and shoulder hurt. She was grateful, though. For some strange, weird reason, it did help to hear Keith say she hadn’t done anything to make him cheat on her. For so many years now, she thought maybe she wasn’t good enough. In bed, out of bed, it didn’t matter, to keep a man happy. It was one of her biggest fears with Jeremiah. How could she make him happy when she didn’t know what she had done to make Keith unhappy? Now, she knew it really wasn’t anything she had done or hadn’t done. It was him. It felt good to know that.
The nurse walked in. Joci opened her eyes when the nurse asked her to open her mouth so she could take Joci’s temperature. Joci chuckled a little and the nurse looked at her with a funny expression on her face.
“I was just thinking you must be psychic. I hurt again and in you walk. You and Jeremiah must both have crystal balls hidden somewhere.”
The nurse looked at Jeremiah with a funny look on her face.
Jeremiah smiled. “We’re having a baby girl.”
The nurse nodded. She gave Joci something for pain and Joci floated off to fairy land one more time.
Chapter 36
It’s All Good
The next time Joci woke up, she heard female voices speaking softly. She opened her eyes to see Staci, Jackie, Sandi, and Emily sitting in her room talking. Sandi looked up and noticed that Joci was awake. She got up and walked over to the left side of the bed. She leaned down and kissed Joci’s forehead.
