by Sharon Sala
“Right now, I’d say serious, but if she doesn’t improve, that could change.”
“Are you going to move her now?” Jake asked.
“Yes, she’s going to the ICU.”
“Will you let Laurel see her in there as soon as they get her bandaged up, even if it’s not visiting hours?”
The doctor’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “You are quite the advocate in her mother’s absence. Yes, you can tell her that I’ll waive the visiting restrictions so that her mother can briefly see her.”
“Thank you,” Jake said, and then gave Bonnie’s leg a brief pat. “You need to wake up soon, little girl. Who’s gonna take care of Lavonne?”
“Who’s Lavonne?” Dr. Quick asked.
“Her pet chicken,” Jake said.
Dr. Quick looked back down at the child on his examining table. “What a cool kid—a chicken for a pet. I have a good feeling about this. She feels like a fighter to me.”
“She is a special little girl,” Jake said, and went to give Laurel the news.
Chapter 19
By the time Jake got back to Laurel, her back had been treated and bandaged and she was wearing the clean sweatshirt he brought. Some of the Payne family was there also, and looked about as uncomfortable around Benny and Pansy as he felt.
Laurel was still sitting up on the exam table, her legs dangling off the side. There weren’t any bandages on her head, which meant no stitches, but he could see a couple of places that appeared to have had the hair clipped back and, when he got closer, saw little butterfly patches on the wounds.
“Jake! What did they say?” Laurel asked, and pulled him down beside her.
“Dr. Quick said her condition is serious, not critical, but if she doesn’t improve in the next few hours that could change.” He took Laurel’s hand. “They X-rayed her. She has no physical injuries at all. All of her problems are related to the hypothermia.”
Laurel moaned. “Can I see her? I want to see her now.”
“They are moving her to the ICU, but Dr. Quick said he’ll make an exception for you about visiting hours so that once you leave here they will get you into the ICU to see her, regardless of the time. They have warming blankets on her. I saw an IV in her arm. He said pray. The rest of it is wait and see.”
Laurel kept looking at his face, searching the now familiar landscape of his features and thinking what a gift his presence was in their lives. “Forever, Jake Lorde. That’s how long I’ll love you for what you’ve done.”
The emotion that bubbled up in Jake was so sudden he couldn’t speak. He had to take a deep breath, and even then barely managed a wobbly smile. “That’s pretty public, honey. I have a whole lot of witnesses who are going to help me hold you to that.”
Pansy slipped up beside them and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry, and so is Benny.”
Happy the hard feelings had passed, he gave her a quick hug. “Thank you.”
Laurel slid off the exam table, holding on to Jake to steady her legs. “I don’t know what’s taking them so long, but I’m going to see my girl.”
“Wait, I’ll go with you,” Jake said, which set the exodus from ER into motion.
The Payne and the Joyner families walked out of the ER with them to an elevator, then up to the critical care unit.
Laurel’s back felt like it was on fire, but she didn’t say a word. It had hurt like hell giving birth to Bonnie. A little more pain along the way was nothing compared to the joy of still having her daughter in her life.
When they got to the ICU waiting room, everyone else took a seat, while Jake took Laurel up to the desk. As soon as she identified herself, the nurse walked her inside.
Jake went back to the waiting room and sat in the first empty chair, leaned back, and closed his eyes. He couldn’t remember how this day had started, but he would never forget how it was coming to an end. God willing, every day forward would be better than the last.
The power came back on in town just as the sun was setting, and it was just after midnight when they learned Bonnie was waking up. At that point the whole waiting room erupted in a cheer.
The Paynes left their blessings and went home.
Benny and Pansy were exhausted by the whole ordeal, but so grateful to be back in their daughter’s good graces and forgiven by Jake that they deemed their discomfort had all been worthwhile.
Laurel came out of ICU with happy tears and fell into Jake’s outstretched arms. The worst was finally over.
* * *
The next five days were a steady mix of ups and downs, of chaos and calm, but on the fifth day, Laurel took her baby home. She was so glad to be leaving that hospital she could hardly think. She hadn’t spent a night in her own bed since it had happened. She’d missed a whole week’s worth of work and even more weight she could not afford to lose.
There was so much catching up to do and not a lot of money to do it with, but none of that mattered because Bonnie was okay. Today was Saturday. If everything went as planned, Bonnie would be back in school on Monday, and their world would get back to normal.
Now she and Bonnie were in the backseat of Jake’s truck, trusting him to get them home. She looked down at her sleeping daughter, at the dark eyelashes shadowing babyish cheeks, still unable to get past the horror Bonnie must have gone through.
When questioned, Bonnie couldn’t remember anything of what had happened. She didn’t even remember running away or falling through the ice into the water or being lost.
Laurel was glad Bonnie didn’t remember it, but she would never forget. What had Bonnie been thinking when she’d crawled into that crevice? How scared had she been? Had she called out for her mommy and wondered why she never came? The whole thing broke her heart, and if not for Jake, the ending would have been fatal.
She looked up from her daughter’s face to the man in the driver’s seat. She had a partial view of his profile and a good view of the back of his head. There were no words to describe how dear he had become to all of them or how he’d picked up the slack over and over during the past five days, doing everything from taking care of Bonnie’s little black hen to bringing in Laurel’s mail. There were so many things she’d been concerned with, and each time he’d made the worry go away. He made falling in love so easy.
As they took a turn in the road to leave Blessings, sunlight was suddenly in her eyes. She turned her head against the glare and quietly fell asleep.
* * *
Jake was driving, happy that Laurel was in the backseat with Bonnie in her lap and Brave Bear tucked beneath Bonnie’s chin. Getting to take them home was like writing The End to a horrible tale.
He was almost out of town when he realized it had become noticeably quiet. When he looked up in the rearview mirror and saw that they were both asleep, he smiled. The last vestige of the nightmare fell away.
They slept until he reached her house. It was the sudden silence that woke them both.
“Mommy, are we home?” Bonnie asked.
“Yes, ma’am. We sure are,” Laurel said.
“I want to see Lavonne,” Bonnie begged.
“As soon as we get our stuff in the house, we’ll both go see Lavonne,” Laurel said.
“She’ll be glad to see the both of you,” Jake said. “I am definitely too big for that coop. I kept getting in her way, and she didn’t like that a bit.”
“How do you know she didn’t like it?” she asked.
Jake reached over the seat and lightly tweaked her nose. “Because she kept pecking my boots with her little beak.”
Bonnie giggled, which made him smile. He was falling in love with that sound and with her.
He unlocked the doors to the trailer as Laurel and Bonnie got out. Bonnie was so ready to run, and Laurel was afraid to let her go.
“Let’s take it easy for a bit,” Laurel said, as
Bonnie walked into the house with Brave Bear under her arm.
“Good luck with that,” Jake said, and set the suitcase with all their stuff down.
Laurel took the moment to hug him. “Don’t think I haven’t missed you and snuggling with you and all that other stuff,” she whispered.
He kissed her. “About that other stuff…I miss it, too.”
“Soon,” Laurel said.
“It’s okay,” Jake said. “I’m not keeping score. The fact that we’re not going anywhere is good enough for me. Now, do you need anything before I head for home?”
“You already stocked my refrigerator, so we’re good to go on food, and the rest of it can wait. I’m just glad to be home.”
“I’m glad you’re home, too,” Jake said, and then when she would have moved away, he held her for a moment more. “There’s something I want to tell you.”
She smiled. “I’m listening.”
“First thing I want to say is that I’m so in love with you I can’t think straight.”
Laurel sighed. “Oh, Jake, I love you so much.”
He slid his hands on either side of her face. “I don’t know how you feel about yourself, but I think you rock. You went in after Bonnie at your peril and suffered greatly without comment. I don’t know many women who are that courageous, and I am so proud that you are mine to love.”
“It’s not courage that leads us to such things. It’s love. At those points, there are no other decisions to be made.”
He hugged her again, still careful about not hurting her back. “Promise you’ll call if you need me?”
“I will,” she said.
“And don’t worry about cooking tomorrow. I’m bringing Sunday dinner from Granny’s.”
“Thank you again,” Laurel said.
“Sleep when she sleeps,” he said. “I love you, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
* * *
Truman and Nester were hanging out in the cereal aisle at the Piggly Wiggly, arguing the merits of two different choices of cereal, when they both keyed in on the conversation in the next aisle.
“I heard the little Payne girl went home yesterday,” one woman said.
“Yes, they did. I saw Jake Lorde driving them home. What a nightmare they’ve all endured.”
“Yes, and isn’t Jake Lorde just the handsomest thing ever? He’s such a nice man, and now a true hero to Laurel Payne and her girl. I heard the little girl was minutes away from dying when he found her.”
“I know. Just like in the movies, right? What a hero!”
They kept talking as they moved out of hearing distance, but as soon as they were gone, Nester eyed Truman. He knew there was no love lost between them and guessed anything that made Jake Lorde a hero was bound to piss Truman off, and he was right.
“That just makes me sick,” Truman said. “He got my ass thrown in jail, got hisself nearly blown up in the war and comes home a hero, and then turns himself into a hero all over again. Someone needs to take him and his ego down.”
Nester frowned. “Technically, he didn’t do anything to get your ass thrown in jail. He just happened to witness you doing that to yourself. If you hadn’t committed a robbery, you wouldn’t have gone to prison.”
“Shut up,” Truman muttered. “I got my own outlook on stuff, and in my world, he fucked me up.”
Nester frowned again. “Sssh, dang it, Truman. We’re not in some bar. We’re in the grocery store. There’s women and kids all over the place. You can’t go talking rough like that around here.”
Truman glared. If he hadn’t needed a place to stay so bad, he would have parted company with Nester on the spot.
“Fine. He’s a damn hero. Are we gonna get sugar-coated Bunny Pops or cinnamon-coated Apple-O’s?”
“The Bunny Pops,” Nester said. “Cinnamon gives me heartburn.”
They tossed the cereal in their basket and headed up the aisle toward checkout. But Truman had plans, and they didn’t involve eating kiddy cereal. He wasn’t going to be satisfied until he found a way to hurt that man.
* * *
By a week later, life had settled back into a regular rhythm, and Thanksgiving was approaching.
Jake had contacted Peanut Butterman and told him he was no longer interested in purchasing Ralph’s station, then explained that he was starting work with the Atlanta ad agency on the first of December and would be working from home. Peanut made note of the decision, congratulated him on the new job, and went to The Curl Up and Dye to get his bimonthly trim. It wasn’t so much that he liked his hair consistently neat as it was that he liked watching Ruby Dye cut it. She was, in his opinion, one fine woman, even if she did change her hair color with the seasons.
That evening, Laurel was talking on the phone with Jake, and she brought up Thanksgiving. “I’m making Thanksgiving dinner. You are, of course, officially invited to sit at the head of the table, to be the carver of fine turkeys and all-around good-looking host.”
Jake beamed. It was nothing short of a fantasy life. “If I’m to garner all of those positions, why don’t we have the dinner at my place? There’s more room, and it will be family and friends introduction to us.”
Laurel sighed. “We are an us, aren’t we?”
“We are in my world,” Jake said. “I was counting on you and Bonnie being on the same planet.”
She laughed. “Okay then. At your place, but I will clean the house ahead of time for you and do the cooking.”
“And if you will make a shopping list, I will buy the groceries.”
Laurel was so elated about the way their future was going that she had to remind herself it was real. Being in his house making meals felt like playing house. She was so ready for their life together to officially begin.
* * *
So as they’d planned, on the weekend before Thanksgiving, she and Bonnie went to Jake’s house with her cleaning gear on, and she did to his home what she did to all of her customers’ places. She’d not only cleaned it from top to bottom, but also, as her daddy would say, put a spit-shine on the floors to boot.
Bonnie was outside playing around the barn where Jake was working when he ran out of nails and called a temporary halt. “You need to stay in the house with Mommy while I go get some more supplies, and then we’ll get busy again, okay?”
“Okay,” Bonnie said, and grabbed on to his hand as they walked toward the house, chattering with every step that they took.
Laurel was on the back porch shaking out throw rugs when she saw them coming toward the house. It was such a sweet sight to see Bonnie clinging to Jake’s hand. There was a moment when she regretted Bonnie would never remember her father, and then she decided to let it go. Better Bonnie forget everything than remember what he’d turned into before he died.
Jake saw her watching, saw the thoughtful expression on her face, and guessed she was having a momentary struggle with her past. He didn’t begrudge her a minute of it, because his own past was a daily struggle in itself.
“Are you finished?” she asked, as Bonnie bounced toward the back steps.
Jake shook his head. “No. I just ran out of supplies. I’m going into Blessings. Be back shortly. I brought Bonnie to the house because I didn’t want her playing out there by herself. There are still too many things needing to be fixed before I’ll call it safe. Do you need anything?”
“No, but thank you for asking. If I finish before you get back, we’ll go home.”
“Then I better have a good-bye kiss from both of you, just in case,” Jake said.
Bonnie threw herself into his arms and smacked him soundly on the cheek. He returned the favor and sent her on her way, then turned to Laurel and put his arms around her. Their kiss was slow and measured enough to ensure he was leaving the lady with more than a fluttering heart.
“Love you,” he said softly.
Laurel sighed. “Love you more.”
“Impossible. Both of you be careful. I’ll call when I get back,” Jake said.
She watched until he was gone and then went back inside, unaware that Truman Slade had not only witnessed their lingering good-bye, but that he was about to set that barn ablaze.
Truman had thought long and hard about what he could do to make Jake’s life miserable. He’d spent the past few days watching Jake fixing things and making improvements to the property and thought the surest way to upset Jake’s world was to destroy part of it. He already had it all planned out. Set fires to both sides of the barn at once. He couldn’t hang around long enough to watch it burn, but since Jake had just left the property, even if the woman spied the smoke early on, there was no way she could put out both fires.
He began gathering up the rags and the gasoline he’d brought with him and slipped out from the trees into the barn.
* * *
Bonnie was about to take off her coat when she let out a groan.
“Oh no, Mommy! I left Brave Bear in the granary. Can I go get him? I’ll run fast.”
“Want me to go with you?” Laurel asked.
“No, Mommy, I can do it.”
“Okay,” Laurel said, “but come right back, or I will worry.”
“I know. I will hurry so fast you won’t believe it,” Bonnie said, and ran out the back door and headed toward the barn as fast as her little legs could carry her.
Truman didn’t hear the kid coming until she was already in the barn. He watched her grab a toy from the doorway of a grain bin and then just when he thought she was going to leave without seeing him, he backed into a rake leaning up against the wall and groaned. He’d been made.
* * *
Bonnie heard the sound and turned to look, then saw a man standing in the shadows. His face was all frowns, and his smile looked mean. She was scared. It was a stranger, and Mommy told her over and over not to talk to strangers, but he was in Jake’s barn. She pulled Brave Bear close against her chest.
“What are you doing?” she asked, staring at the rags and a red plastic can at his feet.
