Donuts and Detours

by Baganz, Susan M. ;

  Titus laughed. “There are others who will probably disagree with that.”

  The nurse smiled. “Maybe so, but let’s get you out of here first before the doctors change their minds on that score, huh?”

  He grinned. “You bet.”

  And maybe if he was blessed, he’d get to see Bethany Joelle too.

  ~*~

  “Wake up sleepyhead,” Tammy sang.

  “I can’t. Eat without me.”

  “You’re wasting away. You need to eat to keep up your strength.”

  “Fine, you win.” Bethany rose and grabbed her plate. Nothing looked appetizing, but she ate a few bites anyway and set it back down.

  “Seriously? A mouse couldn’t survive on that amount of food.”

  A guard appeared at the door. “Miss Hansen. Come with me. You need to change. You’re being released.”

  Bethany shook her head. “Excuse me?”

  “Come. The charges against you have been dropped. Let’s go. Your ride is waiting.”

  Tammy grabbed her in a big hug. “I knew it! Bless you B.J. and have a wonderful life.”

  Oh, that hurt. “What about you?”

  “I got to be your angel. That’ll tide me over for a long time. God ain’t through with me yet.”

  “No. He isn’t. Thank you.”

  Bethany limped to the door which swung open and closed gain. She followed the guard to a room where she could change. She was sad to see it was only into the clothes she’d worn to the garage. Ripped and splattered with blood. But maybe she’d get to go home and take a long hot shower. She hoped so. The only other thing she’d had on her were her car keys. She took them and shoved them in her pocket. It might be a while before she would be up for driving.

  She walked out into the waiting area to find Titus waiting there for her. She stopped and stared at him, all battered but at least wearing clean clothes, and no blood. Stitches by his eye were probably the most minor issue he had. She swallowed.

  “Titus.” Tears streamed down her face as she walked into his open arms. He folded them around her gently.

  He kissed her hair. “I love you.”

  “Are you driving?”

  “No, Dan brought me. We came to get you and take you to the hospital to be checked over.”

  “I’m a mess. I need a shower, and clean clothes.”

  He placed a hand on either side of her face and lowered his lip to hers. She returned the kiss and pulled back. “You’re beautiful just as you are, Bethany Joelle.”

  “Be careful of your lip. Kissing has to hurt.”

  He smiled. “It’s worth it if I get to kiss you. Now come on.”

  “Wait.” She turned back to the guard by the door. “What’s Tammy’s last name? I want to be able to write to her.”

  “Tammy?” The guard looked puzzled.

  “Yes, my cellmate? She’s the one who did my hair like this?” Bethany grabbed a tight braid and lifted it up.

  “You didn’t have a cellmate, Miss Hansen.” The guard offered an apologetic look, shrugged, and left.

  She turned to Titus. “She was there. I could never do this with my shoulder and wrist.”

  “Maybe it was an angel sent to keep you company?” Ty offered.

  “With chocolate skin, frizzy hair, and at least eighty pounds overweight?”

  “Why not?” Titus smiled. “Just proves you’re never alone and God was watching over you.”

  She frowned and leaned into him. As they walked out into the chilly fall air, she shivered, and he wrapped an arm around her and she sucked in a breath at the pain it caused.

  “I’m sorry, Bethany. I don’t know where you’re hurt.”

  “Feels like everywhere.”

  He helped her into the back seat of Pastor Dan’s sedan. Closing the door, he entered on the other side. She fumbled with the lap belt but got it buckled.

  “Hi, Bethany Joelle. Let’s get you fixed up, huh?”

  “Thank you, Dan.” She leaned back in her seat. Ty’s hand came to clasp her left one, but he was gentle, and it didn’t make her wrist hurt more.

  Arriving at the emergency room they brought her in and sat to wait. Soon a nurse escorted away to be evaluated. Radiology and blood work all took place before they ever gave her relief from her pain. After days of agony, she had slight relief, or at least didn’t care anymore.

  Titus was allowed into her curtained area.

  “How are you doing?”

  “No answers yet. Soon. They finally gave me something for the pain.”

  The doctor walked in with a nurse. “Well, Miss Hansen. It’s about time they got you here, but the fact is we would have had to wait for the swelling in your wrist to go down before we could cast it anyway, so we’ll get that done before you leave. Your shoulder isn’t broken but the shoulder blade is dislocated so we’ll take care of that now. How long has it been since she was given the medication?” He looked to the nurse.

  “About fifteen minutes ago.”

  “Let’s get the wrist casted first to give her more time and increase the dose immediately. This will be painful.” He looked to Titus. “You might want to go wait outside. It’s not for the faint of heart.”

  Titus paled but gazed at her with a soft smile. “I’d rather stay if it’s OK with you.”

  The doctor looked at Bethany. “I’m fine, are you OK with that?”

  She nodded. “I’m glad to have him here. You said I’ll be able to go home?”

  “Yes. You’ve had a concussion, so you’ll need to rest and take it easy, but you can go home. No baking or repairing cars for at least six weeks.”

  Bethany groaned.

  “That only means others are going to have to help you for a while. You’ll be back in action before you know it.” The entire time he talked he was wrapping gauze around her hand, wrist, and lower arm. “Do you have a color you’d like for the cast?”

  Ty and Bethany answered together, “Green.”

  The doctor smiled and nodded. “Green it is.”

  Once the cast was done he went to the other side of the bed. “Ty, if you want to hold the part of her left hand you can touch, that’d be fine. Ready, Bethany Joelle?”

  She nodded, and he had her sit forward as he pushed on her shoulder blade to slide it back into place. The pain was blinding.

  She opened her eyes to see Titus sitting there.

  “Hey, you passed out. Must have been painful.”

  “Indescribable.”

  “Better now?”

  “Yeah.”

  “The nurse is coming back with a prescription for you and then you can dress, and we can take you home.”

  “Home sounds nice. But I have no phone or car…”

  “We’ll get your car to you, not that you can drive on the meds they’ll give you. And I already replaced your phone.” He pulled a green smartphone out of his pocket. “See? And I programmed in my number…and Skye’s, and my mom’s…Seems you have more people in your life to call now.”

  She grinned. “You’re too good for me.”

  Titus shook his head. “Not good enough in my opinion.”

  “Thank you for your letter. It was sweet.”

  “Yours made me cry. I love you, Bethany Joelle.”

  “I love you too, Ty.”

  “Maybe we should do something about that.”

  “Like what?” She frowned.

  “Get married.”

  “Like this?”

  “Well, as much as I love the hospital gown look on you, I was thinking something else might be better.”

  “Yes.”

  “Yes?”

  “I’ll marry you.”

  “When?”

  “Whenever you want.”

  “We’re both on pain meds and that might be clouding our thinking.”

  “I’ve been wanting this long before they gave me medication, Titus.” She smiled at him. “Getting cold feet already?”

  “Never. We’ll see how you feel tomorrow and ma
ybe we can go get a license.”

  “That soon?”

  “Why not?”

  “Don’t we need to plan things? Talk to Pastor Dan?”

  “We will, but I don’t want to wait anymore. I don’t like the idea of you being alone in that big house and Cooper is tired of sharing us. We can all recover together.”

  “A staycation honeymoon?”

  “Why not?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, why not?”

  He was about to lean in when the curtain pulled back. “Oh! I’m sorry. I have your clothes. You can dress now to go home. Let me just remove these tubes from you and that blood pressure cuff.” The nurse handed the prescription to Titus to hold.

  “I’ll see you outside when you’re dressed.” He winked at her.

  “See ya.”

  ~*~

  Titus walked her up the stairs when they got to her house.

  “We have an audience,” Bethany said.

  “So?” He bent his head to kiss her.

  “Watch your lip.”

  “I’m trying to.” His lips met hers in a gentle kiss. “Go. Get inside, clean up, and rest. Text me if you need anything. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “OK.”

  He limped down the steps. Obviously, his bruises still bothered him as well. She gave a wave, entered the house and locked the door behind her. She trudged up the stairs and stripped off her dirty, blood-stained clothing. It took time, but she managed to undo the braids Tammy so painstakingly wove. Her scalp hurt as they loosened. With a plastic bag secured around her cast, she took her shower and shampooed her hair. As if washing off the remnants of that night could erase them from her memory.

  She dressed for bed and took another pain pill. She hugged her pillow close and her last thought was, I’m getting married.

  ~*~

  Titus came out of the guest bedroom at the Wink home. He’d accepted the invitation to stay there so he could be with Cooper.

  “Can we get my car today?” he asked Skye.

  “What’s the rush?” She poured him a cup of coffee.

  Dan was already gone even though it was a Saturday.

  “Not a rush, really. I’m eager to see Bethany Joelle.”

  She frowned as she studied him. “Something’s different.”

  He grinned. “Yup. I proposed, and she said yes.”

  She squealed.

  He covered his ears.

  “I’m sorry, oh, but won’t Bethany want to be the one to tell me?”

  “She can tell you the specifics.”

  “When is the wedding?”

  “That’s something we need to talk about. Dan wants us in his office today at one. I thought I’d take her to lunch first.”

  “Are you sure you’re up to driving?”

  “No pain meds today. I’m good. Doctor said as long as I wasn’t taking the medication I could drive.”

  “Fine. I’ll take you to get your truck. Congratulations, Titus. I really am so happy for the both of you.”

  He grinned and sipped his coffee. “I’m pretty happy too.”

  ~*~

  Titus led Bethany Joelle into the church. “How’s the pain today?”

  “Tolerable. I’m glad you can drive. Lunch was nice.”

  “You didn’t eat much.”

  “It’s been a rough week and pain kind of saps my energy and appetite.”

  “Did you call Jack today?” He led her to a loveseat in the waiting area.

  “Yeah, I explained I needed to quit. He understood. He said he wants to be at the wedding.”

  “You told him?”

  “You told Skye and Dan.”

  “True. I should have let you tell Skye.”

  “Did you call your mom yet?” Bethany squeezed his hand.

  “No. Figured I’d wait until I had a date and location.”

  “My mom shouldn’t be back from her honeymoon yet so I didn’t want to spoil it for her.”

  “Wow, you’ll have a lot to share when you see her again.”

  “Or maybe not.”

  Titus nodded. “Miles was buried yesterday.”

  “I’m glad Adele didn’t live to see this. She’d have been heartbroken.”

  “She loved you. She would have posted bail.” He squeezed her hand.

  “And left herself destitute. I love and miss her.”

  Dan came walking down the hallway. “Come on you two lovebirds. Let’s talk. I need to get home soon before my wife decides to never bake me a banana crème pie again.”

  They rose and entered his office.

  Dan closed the door and sat by his desk. “So, Titus tells me he wants to marry you, Bethany, and as quickly as possible.”

  Bethany grinned. “Yes. We both agree on that.”

  “I understand. You can get a marriage license on Monday, but the soonest you could wed would be perhaps Thursday or Friday.”

  “Really? You’d let us marry that soon?” Titus asked.

  “I can’t stop you. You could go to the courthouse. My only stipulation is that Skye and I become marriage mentors for you.”

  “Isn’t that supposed to be the role of an older couple? You’re still newlyweds yourself.”

  “True, but I was previously married for ten years. And Skye might surprise you. The woman is sharp. So, what will it be?”

  Bethany and Titus looked at each other. “Friday?” They spoke in unison.

  “What time?”

  “Eleven o’clock. Then we can go get lunch somewhere.”

  “Where do you want to hold the ceremony and who will you invite?” Dan asked.

  “Guys from the garage, you and Skye of course...” Titus offered.

  “And Jack. Although he may have a hard time getting off early, but he’d be here. And my parents. They’ll be back by then.”

  “Mom,” Titus added.

  “And my siblings, but not my step-brother.” She shivered in distaste.

  “You could always carry pepper spray in your bouquet,” Ty offered.

  Dan grinned and shook his head. “OK, obviously, I missed something here and that’s fine. Let’s start talking details...”

  29

  Donut ever let me go.

  Unknown

  October 2014

  Titus stood at the front of the church.

  Bethany came around the corner and flared out the skirt of her green lace dress and its bell sleeves. The dress was higher in the front, to the floor in the back, and revealed brown boots. A wreath of daisies circled her strawberry-blonde hair as strands fell in waves around her face. She looked natural and vibrant.

  He suspected makeup minimized the bruises.

  Skye wore a lighter green gown that matched in style. Mums and asters made up their bouquets.

  Dan cleared his throat.

  Ty couldn’t hide a grin. Both ladies were beautiful, but he only had eyes for Bethany Joelle. How could he have ever missed those curves in her garage clothes?

  Renata, a singer from the worship team, was accompanied by Niko vocally and on guitar as they sang a song of love.

  Bethany moved forward with a shy smile.

  Jack, a man he had come to appreciate instead of being jealous of, escorted her down the makeshift aisle in the café.

  Titus had offered her more time for both of them to heal from the attack, but Bethany Joelle insisted that life was fragile, and she didn’t want to miss one more moment of a future together. He grinned at the memory as he watched her come toward them.

  The family and friends for the wedding had been more extensive than they’d realized.

  Bethany allowed him to make the plans for after the ceremony as she worked on something at home to prepare for his move there.

  Jack baked the cake for a dessert-only reception at the church.

  The guys from the garage decorated her sports utility vehicle with old fashioned cans on the back bumper and streamers and painting “Just Married” on the rear window. Her new plates hadn’t come yet, but he go
t a chuckle when she told him what they would say.

  Could they be more blessed?

  Kristi stood in the front row with her new husband, weeping for joy.

  Titus was afraid he’d need to ask her for a tissue for himself. His own mother, Tanya was on the other side also crying. How was he to keep his own tears in? He swallowed hard as Bethany was brought to him.

  She handed off her flowers to Skye.

  Jack placed Bethany’s hand in Ty’s and put his arms around the both of them. His voice boomed with passion. “Lord, bless Your two servants as they join together to glorify You in this marriage. Protect their love and let it be an example to others. Give them time together to grow old and rich in the wonders of this union and bless them with children to bring life and laughter to their home. You are a holy and glorious God and we are grateful for the way You have given Bethany a family and a home beyond her wildest imaginings. Give Titus the strength to lead and love her well. Amen.” Jack gently hugged them both.

  Dan cleared his throat and grinned as they turned to face him. “I’m not sure there’s much more to say after a prayer like that.”

  The crowd chuckled.

  Will called out, “Just get ‘em hitched already.”

  Titus shook his head as Bethany giggled.

  Dan gave a short speech about marriage and its purpose and what he saw in their lives.

  Skye started sniffing behind Bethany.

  They spoke simple vows and finally Titus was able to give her a ring.

  Will handed it to him and he slid the silver band inlaid with emeralds and diamonds on to her finger. “With this ring, I promise my love and faithfulness to you, Bethany Joelle, all the days God gives us together.”

  She gasped at the sparkly band and blinked as tears rolled down her cheek. She mouthed, thank you.

  “Ladies and gentleman, may I introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Rickmeyer. Titus, you may kiss your bride.”

  Ty grinned and drew Bethany close, their lips met.

  The room erupted in applause and whistles.

  He pulled back, but she brought both her hands up and brought his face down for another searing kiss. When it ended as the crowd laughed, their foreheads touched together. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, Titus. Let’s go eat some cake.”

  “I thought you didn’t like cake?”

  “For you, I’ll sacrifice.” She winked, and they turned to greet the well-wishers.