by Katie Dowe
Noelle sat forward in her seat as she too concentrated on the game, her eyes riveted on not only him but the other members as well, willing them to win this game. He had not told her if this was going to be his last game, but she had a feeling that the game meant too much to him for him to just quit like that. Maybe in the future but not now. Her heart skittered when he was bumped by an opponent and took a tumble. She got to her feet anxiously when he did not get up immediately and then closed her eyes when he did with the help of another member and shook off the slight injury. She sat back down and watched the game, her hands clasped in front of her as she alternated admiring the skills he and his members exhibited and bordering on anxiety as it seemed like the opposing team was on the verge of winning. The commentators did not make it any easier for her as they tried to forecast the end of the game. With a whoop of joy, Noelle jumped to her feet as the game was declared four to two in favor of the Lakeside Bears! She watched as the members hugged and cheered and saw when he turned and looked in the camera again. This time she was certain he was looking at her and more so when he lifted a hand and gave a slight wave!
Chapter 9
The cheering and the celebrations were lost on Jerrold as he sat by the window of the team bus as they made their way back to their hotel. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that she had been watching but had wished that she had been there to cheer him on. The victory they had achieved had been lost on him without her there. He stared out the window at the snowflakes coming down and hitting the window and then sliding down and turning to liquid the minute they did so. He stifled a sigh when the seat next to him deflated indicating that someone had joined him.
“For someone who has been hailed the MVP of the game, you are certainly not acting like one,” Robert Buckner declared as he handed Jerrold a glass of champagne. Jerrold made to decline it but decided against it and took the glass with little interest. “Why don’t you call her?”
He shrugged as he sipped the cold bubbly. “I figured if she wanted to congratulate me, she would have called.”
Robert sighed as he studied the younger man. “My daughter is stubborn and uncertain of herself just now. You are going to have to take the lead on this one.”
“I am waiting until we return home tomorrow.”
“I see she is not the only stubborn one,” Robert said dryly.
“More like self-preservation,” Jerrold said with a sardonic smile. “If you would excuse me?” He made his way out of the seat and to the front of the bus to talk to their driver.
“The snow is getting worse, Mr. Jerrold,” Mason, their driver for years, said as he turned his head to look up at him.
“How much further?” Jerrold peered out at the blanketing whiteness of the snow.
“A few more minutes and then-” The rest of the sentence was left hanging as the bus skidded and went headlong towards a nearby ditch!
*****
Noelle was just about to go to bed when she heard it on the news.
“Late breaking news: The bus transporting the victorious team members back to their hotel was discovered overturned in a ditch just minutes away from their hotel. At this time, there is not an update on the severity of the injuries but only that they have been rushed to the nearby hospital and are being treated.”
Noelle waited to hear anything else, but switching to other stations, the news items were frustratingly sketchy! “Dammit!” Noelle got up and started pacing as she waited to hear any more updates. Her dad and Jerrold had been on that bus and the suspense was killing her! When she could not bear another moment of silence, she reached for her phone and called her dad’s number, almost crying in relief when he answered on the third ring. “Dad! What’s going on?”
“Honey, I am fine, just a few cuts and bruises.”
“The others? Jerrold?”
His silence sent fear spiraling through her heart! “Dad!”
“Several broken legs and ribs.” He paused. “Jerrold was at the front of the bus with Mason, the driver, and while Mason has only a fractured skull, Jerold was pinned down and his spine was fractured.”
“Dad, what are you saying?”
“It is too early to tell yet, but he might have suffered some paralysis.”
Noelle sank down weakly onto the sofa and held the phone pressed to her ear, her body trembling violently. “What are the doctors saying?”
“They are still working on all of them, honey. I am sure you can just imagine the chaos this is causing and with reporters underfoot-”
“Dad! Please try and find out something, anything. And call me back.”
*****
Noelle sat at his bedside, her hands clasped together tightly. It had been a day since the accident. Most of the people on the bus had been sent home except a few critical cases including Jerrold. She had shown her credentials as the team’s physiotherapist and had been allowed in to sit with him. She had seen his parents sitting outside holding each other’s hands as well as some very distinguished people; she suspected that they were members of the club he was a member of. The doctor had told her that he would wake up in maybe a day and that he would be faced with the paralysis that would inadvertently end his basketball career. It did not matter that he had planned on giving up the game but at his own pace and in his own time. Hearing that the choice had been taken away from him, she was certain it was not something he would very well take too kindly. But he was alive and that was all that mattered to her right now. She started to reach for his hand when she heard movements in the doorway. She looked up and saw his mother inside the doorway.
“He looks so still.” She bent a tentative smile to the woman seated in front of her son, her eyes speculative. Jackie Littman was very perceptive especially when it had anything to do with her only child and she had seen the way the beautiful woman looked when she came charging into the hospital. She was not just the team’s physio, but Jerrold meant much more to her. “He was never still.” She came further into the room. She pulled up a chair next to Noelle and took her son’s hand in hers. “Always on the move, always in action. He used to dribble the ball in the house no matter that we told him not to.” She smiled as she pressed her cheek against the back of his hand. “He was born to play some sort of sport and when he was still a small boy, he asked for a ball so he could practice. I always believed in him but never dreamed he would have made it so big. I think he exceeded even his expectations.” She placed her son’s hand back on the bed and turned to look at the woman next to her. “You care for him.”
“I work for him.” Noelle busied herself with the jacket in her lap. “Naturally, I am concerned.”
Jackie smiled. “He always comes to dinner every Sunday without fail when he was around, but for the past few weeks he called with excuses and sounded so happy. I asked him if he met someone and he evaded the question, but I know my son and knew he had.” She reached over and touched Noelle’s hand. “You don’t have to hide from me, my dear. The fact that my son chose you shows that you are one hell of a woman!”
*****
“He is awake.” Noelle’s hands trembled as she heard her father’s voice on the phone. She had had to fly back that morning to lend a hand to the members of the team who had arrived back home even though she had been loathed to do so and leave him.
“How is he?”
“I have not been in to see him yet. His parents and several friends are in with him.” He hesitated. “It is not good, honey. He is paralyzed from the waist down.”
“Oh God!” Noelle whispered shakily “When can he be moved?”
“I will let you know.” Another hesitation. “It is not going to be easy for him to adjust, honey, so you have to be prepared.”
“I am.” She dug her fingers through her hair. “When you go in to talk to him, could you- that is if he wants to, I want to talk to him, to find out-”
“I will insist that he does, honey.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
Noelle hung up the phone
and leaned back in the chair, trying to keep the tears from streaking down her cheeks. She had been an emotional wreck since Saturday night when she heard the news and was not feeling much better. On top of that, she had not been feeling well for the past two weeks and had no idea what the hell was wrong with her! The place was more or less deserted except for a few members who came in for treatments that she gave automatically, her mind not on the job. She jumped when her phone rang again, and she answered it hurriedly. “Dad?”
“I am going to hand the phone to Jerrold, honey, and leave so you can talk.”
“Thanks, Dad.” She waited until he handed the phone to Jerrold.
“Noelle.” His deep voice sounded weak and slightly disoriented.
“Oh God, Jerrold!” She forced herself to take deep breaths and continued. “I am so happy you are awake.”
“That remains to be seen.” Noelle heard the slight note of bitterness in his tone. “I take it you have heard the news?”
“We can fix it-”
“I am sorry, but I am still feeling sleepy. If you don’t mind?”
“Jerrold, please! Just listen to me. I want you to know that I will do anything in my power to make sure that you are able to walk again-“”
“Will you also ensure that I am able to play again?”
Noelle had no idea what to say to that at first. “Eventually-”
“Goodbye, Noelle.”
Noelle listened to the dial tone in her ear in disbelief. He had hung up on her and she had never heard Jerrold talk to her in that tone of voice before! “it’s not about me,” she reminded herself as she blinked back the tears. “He is in pain and shock and just learned that he does not have the use of his legs. Something like that is enough to drive anyone crazy especially an athlete like Jerrold.” She buried her head in her hands and willed herself to stop the dizziness and the weariness. Her hands trembled slightly as she brushed back the tears and got to her feet. She had to get her strength back for when he came back home. She was going to see to it that he was restored!
*****
He came back home amidst cheers and wellbeing! He was airlifted to Lakeside and endured the well wishers before he was taken to his apartment. She had made the decision that she would stay there and set up in order to be available to work with him to get back the use of his legs. She had already made the necessary arrangements – the bars she had had installed inside his living room and she had spoken to his doctors to decide the best way to go about the treatment. He was sitting in his wheelchair in the living room with a glass of wine in his hand as he stared into the fire. The visitors including his parents had gone for the night. He had tried to get her to leave as well, but she had told him a resolute no. So now there she was sitting on the sofa in front of him not knowing what to say to him. It was late and he should really go to bed, but when she had suggested that she help him into the bedroom, he had told her curtly that he was not ready.
“I was thinking that we should start the treatment tomorrow,” she began, but he did not respond.
She tried again.” I will start with the massages-”
“Please leave me alone and go to bed, Noelle.”
“No,” she told him firmly. “I am staying here until you are ready to go to bed.”
“Why?” he asked her derisively, his cobalt blue eyes looking at her insolently. “I am no longer able to be of any use to you in bed so why bother?”
Noelle forced herself not to be riled by his sarcasm. “I don’t care how much you attack me, Jerrold, I am still going to be here for you.”
“How noble of you!” he jeered softly as he sipped the wine.
Noelle got up from her place on the sofa and came to kneel in front of him, ignoring the blaze of resistance in his eyes. “I am not going o stop until you can walk out of this chair by yourself and walk through the front door as well as start dribbling the ball onto the court in that special way of yours. I saw you the way you worked your magic on that court and-” She gasped as his hand snaked out and grasped her throat.
“Reminding me of what I will never have again is an act of cruel and unnecessary punishment,” he told her coldly. “Surely they taught you that in your studies?”
Noelle grabbed his wrist as she stared up at him. “I am merely stating a fact and making you want it badly enough to want to work with me to get it.”
He released her abruptly, his eyes raking her face. “I repeat my earlier advice or request, call it whatever you may. Go to bed, Noelle. I want to sit her and ruminate on the loss of my legs all by myself. I cannot stop you from what you plan on doing, but I am going to ask you to leave me alone now. Give me that.”
Noelle sat there for a little bit longer before getting to her feet and leaving the room. She stood just inside the doorway and stared at him, her heart breaking as she saw him bend his head dejectedly. She wanted to go back to him and gather him into her arms and comfort him. She knew he would not want her staying with him in his bedroom, so she took one of the other rooms and going into the bedroom she sat wearily on the side of the bed. Jerrold had changed drastically, and she could not blame him. He saw his paralysis as something dreadful and hopeless and had no idea if he would ever be the player he was again! He was not only good but was actually one of the best she had ever seen and now that had been taken away from him! She could not blame him for being bitter and drowning in grief. How she longed to see him look at her the way he had used to only two days ago! Noelle felt the quiver in her stomach again and realized that she had not eaten since lunch, but she was not feeling hungry. She was so tired and lack luster and she had had to get her sleep in order to do her duty tomorrow. She had a feeling that she was not going to have a very willing patient!
*****
It was the hardest thing she ever had to do! Jerold was lethargic and not interested in her help. Maybe she could have been able to endure the lack of interest in the treatment, but she found herself almost breaking at his snide comments when she had become used to the words of love he had told her during the weeks they had been together! He tried to get her to stop, but she persevered. The first day was perhaps the hardest as she kneaded the muscles in his legs as he laid there on the bed. To see his powerful muscled legs lying so useless, those same legs that had been wrapped around her body right after they finished making love.
“Remembering happier times?” he asked her sardonically as she paused in the act of kneading his legs. The doctors had discovered movements, which had prompted the doctors to be optimistic in realizing that he would eventually get back the use of his legs.
She looked up and met his eyes. “Yes,” she whispered. His eyes flared in surprise at her response.
“Treasure them, darling, because all we have now is just memories.”
“Fortunately, I have hope on my side,” she said casually as she started the process again. “And I know that you will walk again.”
“What are you trying to prove?” he asked her coolly.
“That I can.”
*****
“Here.” Robert handed his daughter the cup of hot chocolate. It had been two weeks since she had been working with Jerrold and the progress was slow and tedious, not to mention the fact that he fought her at every turn. Her father had come over some days to help her out and he had refused to see anyone except his parents. He was moody and irascible and unlike the person he had been before. It was Sunday afternoon and his mother had opted to spend the day with him and cook for him as well. They had started working on the bars and his progress was frustrating him immensely as he tried to take it out on her. But she was not letting him and that made him tried even harder! “You look like you should take a week or two of complete rest.”
“I need it,” Noelle said shakily as she sipped the hot chocolate. “I feel like a million years old and I am not keeping anything down. It must be the stress of taking care of Jerrold and the emotional upheaval-”
“Or something else altogether.”
&nbs
p; She looked at him frowningly. “What do you mean?”
Her father put his cup down and peered at her. She looked peaked and thin and he was concerned about her. He had seen firsthand what she had to deal with when it came to Jerrold and he was not sure given her closeness to the situation if her being there with him was such a good idea. “How should I put this delicately?”
