They fell in to a routine over the next several weeks. Each day, they would start the morning in each other’s arms. They made love with almost a desperate ferocity simply because neither knew if it would be the start of forever or the last time. Each night, they fell asleep together. John curled around her protectively.
Riley had become quite adept at removing any and all curse words from her vocabulary because she didn’t want to have any sort of run-in with Eve. There was a healthy respect for her, almost fearful, and it kept her on edge. Riley was tempted to ask if this was permanent but she didn’t want to know the answer. She was beginning to care for John and he had told her as much this morning.
“Riley, I love what is between us,” he had told her as he cradled her in bed. “I love you,” he breathed against her throat. Like a chicken, she hadn’t responded but pretended to be asleep. She knew what it had done to him to have Lily leave and Riley didn’t want to hurt him that way. John never said whether or not they were in love, but she assumed so.
The idea of telling someone that you love them and being torn from them made her physically ill. Riley had been so stressed by the idea of having to leave if she got the chance, that it was starting to take a toll on her. She had thrown up this morning and felt sick to her stomach again as they lay there in bed.
For a moment, she thought she might be pregnant but she had her period two weeks ago. That was an awful experience, too! They could not invent a tampon or maxi pad fast enough for her. For Riley, being on the rag (literally) was terrible. The cramping, the lack of chocolate and Midol? Combined with having to wash her own menses out of crude fabric? Yeah, it was the stuff of nightmares for a modern woman who used Tampax, coin laundromats and dry cleaners.
After John left this morning to work in the field, Riley began boiling water for the ever-dreaded laundry day. Society could not invent the washer fast enough for her! She grabbed the pile of clothing, a large wooden tub and a washboard. She stared at it hatefully, thinking of all the Pinterest designs with vintage washboards. Complete bull hockey if they had to use one, she thought. No flowers and ribbons on this ancient relic, only soap residue.
“What if you didn’t have to use it?” she heard Eve’s voice suddenly ask out of nowhere. Riley looked up from the washboard she was getting ready to use, seeing Eve walk out from the side of the house like nothing out of the ordinary was going on. Weird magic woman appears out of thin air to play with your life and emotions? Yeah, nothing odd here.
“Oh hey, funny seeing you,” Riley quipped aloud. “No more mental pep talks about shagging my new husband? No big, looming clouds of evil, poofy smoke?”
“What’s that?” Eve questioned with a tone that brooked no argument. That cold tone shut Riley up instantly. “Nothing, never mind. Just getting ready to do laundry over here.”
“I see that. You know Pinterest won’t be a thing for at least one hundred and sixty-five years.”
“So, what? I never made any of that stuff anyways. No time,” Riley answered evasively. I wouldn’t have made it, but the option to be able to was nice. I love the internet, with big, puffy hearts and kisses… and now it’s gone.
“And now you have all the time in the world,” Eve acknowledged, pulling an apple from the pocket of a weird-looking dress she had on. A large, poofy, white hat was tucked neatly on her head.
“What’s with the Martha Washington look there?” Riley asked candidly. She looked almost as out of place as Riley felt sometimes. “Don’t answer that. I’m actually, I’m pretty busy,” she said as she put the washboard into the tin washbasin that was filled with steaming water. Lye soap versus Lush soaps… there was no comparison!
“Pretty busy missing modern conveniences, Miss Maytag?”
“So?” she answered defensively and dragged the bar of lye soap across the washboard angrily. Grabbing John’s shirt, she began to rake it painfully across the board to create suds.
“So, what if I said you didn’t have to die?”
“That’s good. Dying wasn’t my thing from the get-go,” Riley answered blankly and slammed the shirt down in the water. Shaking it out, she winced at how hot the water was against her skin.
“No, it wasn’t. Neither is humility or a cultured mouth,” Eve countered smoothly.
“Hey, let’s not get rude now. I’m working on it,” Riley retorted as she grabbed the next shirt and began to wash it vigorously. Wash days, yes, we hate them, she thought humorously.
“Yes, you are,” Eve said proudly. “You’ve come a long way and earned a boon.”
“A what?” Riley stopped in her tracks. Gifts from Eve were setting off her internal alarm system. Eve placed her with a husband and, so far, that was a plus. Eve took her voice when Riley cursed, a negative. Eve dropped her in the middle of nowhere so she could rough it, undecided if that was a positive or a negative. Now, how was Eve planning on stirring the cauldron?
“A boon. A gift. A treat for my little friend,” Eve said mockingly and pretended to pat Riley on the head, causing her to jerk backwards away from the woman.
“I’m not your plaything or puppy!”
“No, you are my project,” Eve announced proudly. This was a first for her! She had never heard of her being Eve’s project before.
“I’m not your project,” Riley countered hotly. “I am no one’s project.”
“Maybe project isn’t the word to use. How about client?” she answered, shrugging at Riley.
“You’re fired,” Riley said flatly and picked the shirt back up to finish washing it.
“You can’t fire me,” Eve smirked. “No death and no pain, if you want to go back.”
“How? I thought you said I died?”
Eve shrugged, noncommittally.
“Really? That’s it? You show up after weeks of me playing pioneer girl to tell me that I can – poof – go back just like nothing happened?” Riley demanded angrily and threw the shirt in the steaming water. This was not funny. Either it was death or it wasn’t! Either it was painful or it wasn’t! She was tired of being toyed around with by someone who was effectively laying traps every which way she turned. What was going to be next?
“Yes. Poof,” Eve said with a snap of her fingers, which caused Riley to flinch expecting the worst. “Don’t be scared,” she admonished gently. “You have a choice and your body is intact. You can stay here and play Farmville with Hunkzilla. Or you can go back to the modern world. You know what? I will even give you a glimpse,” she offered, picking up a stick.
Riley cautiously backed away, watching with a leery eye as Eve drew a large circle in the dirt that had been turned recently to plant a fall crop. Eve them drew two lines in the dirt. As the two lines met, there was a crackle and the circle resembled a television screen.
“Days of Our Lives?” Riley mocked. “One Life to Live? Guiding Light? Oh! Oh! The Young and the Restless?”
“Days of your life,” Eve countered. “Take a little peek.”
Riley stepped forward and peered at the projection from a distance, seeing an outline in a hospital bed. It was her! She looked like she was asleep and faintly bruised on her cheek. A scar ran down the side of her jaw but looked to be healing well. Riley saw an I.V. was in her arm and the chart was at the end of her bed. Her hands itched to read it and see what it said.
“Am I brain dead?” she questioned, staring at the “screen” in the dirt. There has to be a catch, she thought.
“No, coma,” Eve said simply, filing her fingernails and looking away from Riley.
“And if I want to go back? I will wake up from the coma?”
“Yes.”
Riley stared at the body she inhabited before. There were so many things she had waiting for her. Her apartment, her job, she had built an entire life of comfort. Dishwashers. Lipstick. Combed cotton. Lycra. Starbucks. The only problem was, she was alone there. No John.
“That’s right, no John,” Eve agreed in a flat voice.
And that was when she saw a nur
se walk in. John was there. In scrubs, working there in the hospital. “He’s there?” she gasped staring at the scene before her.
“That isn’t John,” Eve replied.
“It looks like him,” Riley countered.
“It’s not, but it’s your choice. You can stay here and I won’t bug you again or you can return.”
“But that isn’t John?”
“What do you care?”
“He’s… he’s important.”
“This guy is just as hot,” Eve countered.
“I guess that if I went back, I could meet him again.”
“Yes, you will meet him. But that is not John,” Eve stated again.
“I really miss toilet paper,” Riley said suddenly, “and tampons.”
Eve laughed heartily. “I will really miss that personality. But if you are happy, my job is done.”
“I’m scared,” Riley admitted, staring at John’s face in the reflection.
“I know. That is why it has to be your choice,” Eve said gently.
“Take me back,” Riley whispered, feeling sick.
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
“Your decision,” she reminded Riley yet again.
“I will go back,” Riley admitted with a hesitant nod. There were so many things back home that she missed. Her iPhone was like an extension of her hand and she found herself wanting to Google stuff all the time here in order to get through the day.
“Geronimo!” Eve shouted suddenly and gave Riley a hard push, causing her to fall through the portal in the dirt.
“Biiiiiiiitch!” Riley shouted passionately as she fell. Passing through the portal caused a crackling sensation to rush over her skin and she could see the coma-Riley coming up fast under her as she fell. This would hopefully be like one of those bad dreams where you fall off a cliff into your own body. Hopefully.
“Honey, look what I have? I brought you a few kittens that I found in the barn we can raise. They’ll keep the spiders away for you. Riley? Riley?” she heard John’s voice calling out faintly and that broke her. He was too good to her and she tossed him away for a cushy life.
She was the bitch, not Eve! she thought sadly as she slammed forcefully into her unconscious body on the hospital bed.
Chapter 10
Everything hurts, she thought. I thought Eve said no pain and no death? Riley heard all sorts of commotion around her. Beeping, whirring, squeaking and faint voices. Voices of people taking her temperature and pulse. People were probing her mouth, looking in her ears and under her eyelids. Riley felt so still, like she was asleep but she wasn’t. For a moment, she feared she was trapped and that is when she heard his voice.
“Hey, Miss Butler, time for your meds,” John’s voice rang in her head, but it wasn’t John. Was it? She could hear movement next to her and cracked her eyes open, wincing at the light.
“Miss Butler? Miss Butler, can you hear me?”
A bright light shone in her eyes once again. Left eye, right eye, stabbing pain in her mind. She heard him move around the bed and wanted to scream his name, but couldn’t. She heard an alarm go off and felt the room turn sideways as the medication he had put in her I.V. began to hit her, causing her to fall back asleep.
Later that night, Riley awoke to a nurse sitting beside her bed. “Where am I?”
“You are at the hospital. You’ve been here some time now. How are you feeling?”
“Like shit,” she said bluntly. It was exhausting to talk and she wanted to test the waters. “I feel just like shit,” she said as forcefully as possible to see if Eve was going to zap her again. Her voice came out like a croak but it was there none the same.
“I bet you do,” the nurse said with a laugh, checking her vitals. “You looked like it, too, for a while. It’s nice to have you back awake.”
“It’s nice to be awake.” I think, maybe?
“What is the last thing you remember,” she heard the kind voice ask her as she shut her eyes.
“Eve shoving me down in the dirt,” Riley answered casually, feeling waves of fatigue beat over her. Her arm pinched where the I.V. was sticking out of her, the tape pulling her skin. The sheets were so much softer than what had been on John’s bed.
“You don’t remember your car accident?”
“Oh yeah, I kind of do,” she admitted, frowning. She remembered it was really awful and then she was dropped in the most glorious dream. John.
“It was pretty bad. We weren’t sure you were going to make it there for a while.”
“I wasn’t either. Didn’t I die?” Riley asked
“Yes, and then you were resuscitated on the spot once they were able to pull you from the wreckage.”
“My voice sounds funny,” she whispered, hearing a scratchy croak come out. It hurt to swallow and she was so darned tired!
“Probably healing. You had tubes everywhere. I think I’m going to get the doctor to check on you.”
“Later, I’m tired.” Honestly, I’m freaking exhausted, she thought. Riley heard a page regardless as she shut her eyes.
Several days passed and Riley was allowed to stand on her own. They still had her hooked up to an I.V. but she was making progress. Her muscles were weak and it was like her body was rebelling every little thing she did. Morphine was a horrific drug that gave her horrible nightmares and she was glad that they had finally cut her off of that. But now she had to deal with the withdrawal.
Wondering when she would see her pseudo-John again, she asked several of the nurses about the “tall, dark-haired nurse” that was in her room when she awoke. She wanted to see John’s smile and hear his voice. If it wasn’t her John, maybe it was just a matter of time.
Her John, she thought with a sad smile.
She really hated to think about how he might have reacted to her being gone. She worried about his reaction. Her nightmares were full of his pained eyes and soulful expressions. He had seemed so cold when she first met him and then it was like someone had flipped a light switch between them. He was everything that she could have ever asked for, except in the wrong time period. If she could have him here, her life would be perfect.
Riley rolled over to her side on the hospital bed and cried herself to sleep.
“Miss Butler? Good morning. I am here to get your vitals,” she heard John’s voice say quietly and her eyes flew open at the recognition. Her heart hammered thinking she had finally found him. His beautiful face smiled gently at her and she felt tears well up, spilling over her lashes.
“Are you in pain?” he asked evenly.
“No,” yes!
“You’re crying. Is there anything I can do for you?”
“No,” yes, she screamed mentally. “Could you sit and talk with me a bit?” she suddenly asked.
“I will when I finish my rounds,” he agreed.
There was something just not right. No recognition, no desire. Be patient, she thought. You are a perfect stranger and this normally takes time. Even if the with other John she had meshed right away? her mind argued. Riley stared at him as he took her temperature and blood pressure.
“Your pulse is elevated. Are you feeling okay?” he asked, frowning.
“Yes.” You make my heart race, she thought.
“Okay. I will check it again later.”
“Great. See you in a bit,” she prompted as he left the room with a clipboard.
He didn’t return.
The next day was the same pattern. Pseudo-John would appear, check her over and then casually disappear. This was not going to work if he refused to talk to her more than a few minutes. But if anything, she was tenacious.
Riley found out that his name was Aiden. Aiden Montgomery. Posh, modern name, she thought, but that’s okay. This is a posh, modern world. She also found out that Aiden was supposed to be on rounds this morning. Riley requested that with her breakfast tray they leave her two cups of coffee instead of one weak-ass cup of joe.
“I like caffeine,” she told
the evening charge nurse with a forced enthusiasm. “And I’m feeling so much better. See? I ate all my tuna casserole like a good girl, and my pudding,” she quipped, trying to bargain her way in to a deal. “Mmmm, hospital pudding. My favorite.”
It must have worked because Riley now had two steaming cups of watery coffee waiting for her on the tray, one for Aiden. Coffee date a la hospital, she thought while she stirred in a yellow packet of sweetener. Seeing him walk in, Riley perked up.
“Morning, Aiden,” she greeted him warmly.
“Hey there, Miss Butler,” Aiden said politely.
“Call me Riley.” She grinned waiting for his response. Say it! she thought. Say it! Riley is a man’s name. C’mon Aiden, throw me a freaking bone!
“Nice,” he said clinically. “Let’s see how you are doing today.”
“Perfect, and I have coffee for us,” she invited, patting the hospital bed near her hips.
“No thanks, I appreciate it though.”
“Water?” she asked, trying to keep a desperate tone from her voice.
“Miss Butler,” she heard him say and she cringed. “I appreciate the offer. But as an employee of the hospital, I have to keep a certain distance. I have a responsibility to all my patients.”
“Gotcha, fraternization,” she said dully.
“Exactly,” Aiden said flatly, hanging the file back at the foot of her bed.
“Maybe we could just talk? I could use someone to talk to,” she confessed. Baby steps, Riley, she thought.
“Of course,” Aiden said easily. “Protestant? Catholic, or does it matter?”
“Religion? Catholic, why?” she asked, confused.
“You just asked for someone to talk to.”
“That’s you, ya big lummox! I’d like to talk to you,” she said bluntly, feeling her temper rising. Was he dense? She was practically begging him to spend some time with her and he was shooting her down at every opportunity!
A Lifetime with You: Timeswept Soulmates Page 11
