by Marla Monroe
“Okay, Piper. Hold on. I’m going to show you your hand. It’s going to hurt to move your arm, but I’ll show you, so you’ll be able to rest for me.” The strange voice seemed to be coming from her right side.
Then her shoulder jumped in pain as something moved it. She yelled out.
“Easy, Piper. I’ve moved your arm so you can see your hand. Look so we can put it back.”
She looked down her body and saw her hand. She flexed it and cried out again, but it moved. Tears streamed down her face from the pain of moving it.
“Baby, calm down and rest. The pain medicine should be kicking in soon.” She looked up at Tripp
“Home. I want to go home.”
Keith bent over her and kissed her. “We’ll take you home as soon as the doctor says we can. You’ve been asleep for a long time, baby.”
“Asleep?”
“Two days, baby. We’re so glad you’re awake, but you need to go back to sleep to heal. We aren’t going to leave you alone, Piper. Go back to sleep.”
* * * *
Piper opened her eyes and found Tripp asleep sitting in a chair with his head on the bed next to her leg. She swallowed to try and wet her throat, but it didn’t work. She was so thirsty.
“Tripp? Thirsty.”
He immediately sat up. His hair was mused and his eyes still heavy lidded. He looked so good to her.
“Baby? Are you okay?”
“Thirsty.”
“Hold on.” He got up and walked out of her line of sight.
A few seconds later, he returned with a glass and a straw. He sat down again and leaned in to get the glass with the straw close to her.
“Suck through the straw, Piper.”
She made a face at him and took the straw in her mouth. She knew how to suck through a straw. She wasn’t an idiot. She was just hurt, and in a grumpy mood as well. The water tasted wonderful to her parched throat. She swished it around in her mouth to wet it then swallowed and sucked in some more. Finally she moved her head away from the straw.
“Thanks. So thirsty.”
“How are you feeling, baby?”
“Tired. Where’s Keith?”
“He went home to check on the garden. He’ll be back tonight.”
“I want to go home. When can I go home, Tripp?”
“In a few days if you’re healed enough by then.”
“My fault.”
“What is, baby?”
“Getting hurt. I wasn’t paying attention around me. Had on my music. I should have heard it coming.”
“It wasn’t your fault. It was ours because we hadn’t been checking to see if anything was digging like we were supposed to. We messed up, baby. We’re sorry.”
“Not your fault. Tell Keith, too.”
“I see that Piper is awake again. How do you feel?” She looked up into the face of a stranger. She turned worried eyes toward Tripp.
“It’s okay, baby. This is Jeff, your doctor. He’s the one who saved your life.”
“She did most of the work,” he said with a smile. “Now, how are you feeling?”
“Tired. Okay.”
“Let’s look at your shoulder and see how well you can move it.”
She winced when he began to pull back some of the dressing. It hurt, but not much. She could vaguely remember it hurting worse another time.
“Okay. Let’s see how the stitches are looking. I’d like to leave the bandages off now.” He pulled the remainder of the dressing off and poked around on her shoulder.
“Hey, that hurts.”
“Sorry, I’m just trying to see how the stitches are doing. I think we’ll leave them in for another two days. Then they can come out.”
“I want to go home now.”
“You’ve been a very sick woman, Piper. You need to stay at least another two days.”
“Please. I want to go home.” Tears formed in her eyes, making it difficult for her to see.
“I tell you what. If you do okay between now and when I take out your stitches, I’ll think about letting you go home then.”
“Please?”
Trip squeezed her hand. “Baby. Let’s go slow. I want you to heal up before we take you home.”
She sighed and leaned back into the pillow. The doctor hovered around her working on the other bandage on her chest. She remembered that she’d somehow gotten glass in her chest. She couldn’t remember how, though. When he pulled back the bandage, she yelped. He’d managed to pull at something that was attached.
“The bandage stuck to your stitches, Piper. I’m sorry. Definitely need to leave the bandages off so the wounds can get air and dry up.” She frowned at the doctor. She knew deep down it wasn’t fair to be mad at him because he’d saved her life, but she had to be mad at someone.
Several hours later, Keith walked in. He looked haggard and tired. She smiled at him when he drew closer.
“Hi, Keith.”
His eyes lit up. He hurried over to the bed and bent down to kiss her lightly on the lips. She closed her eyes and kissed him back.
“Easy, baby. You’re still hurt. No hanky-panky ’til you’re well.”
She pouted then turned to Tripp. “Don’t I get a kiss from you, too?”
Tripp grinned and stood up to bend over the bed. He gave her a soft kiss that felt tender instead of sexy. She drew back and frowned at him.
“What?” he asked, clearly confused.
“I want a real kiss.”
“Honey, you’re hurt.”
“I think I know that better than anyone.”
Trip frowned but leaned over and gave her a meaty kiss that satisfied her. She grinned.
“Hey, they took your bandages off. I bet that feels better.” Keith squeezed her hand.
“Not really, they itch, and I can’t scratch them.”
“She’s feeling bratty today. I like seeing you feisty again.” Tripp chuckled when she frowned at him.
“Are you hungry?” Keith asked.
She shook her head. She really didn’t feel like eating. It seemed like too much work now. Maybe she needed another nap. She closed her eyes, but they popped right back open when she heard Keith tell Tripp that he’d had to pull grass because it had taken over the garden.
“My garden? Is it okay?”
“Shh, baby. It’s fine. Just a little more grass than you want. We’ll work on it some more when we get you home.”
“They won’t let me go home for two more days. The garden won’t be there after two days. It will be all grown up.”
“Settle down, Piper. We’ll take care of it. I’ll go tomorrow and work on it while Keith stays with you.”
“Really?” She didn’t know if they were just placating her or not.
“Really, Piper. I’ll leave first thing in the morning and then come back tomorrow night like Keith did.”
“Okay. Thank you. I don’t want us to lose the garden. It’s our food for this winter. I can’t believe I screwed up so badly.”
“Shh, baby. You didn’t screw up. I told you that.” Tripp kissed her forehead.
Keith kissed her hand. “I’m going to go see about getting you something to eat. If you don’t eat, the doctor isn’t going to let you go home.”
“Fine.” She would eat if that was the only way to go home.
“Piper?”
“Hmm?”
“How did you get away from the dorrie, baby?” Tripp was sitting on the edge of the bed now.
“I think I poked him in the eye. I just remember that I was digging back at him over my shoulder, and I squished something, and he let go whining and screaming.”
“Look at your thumb, baby.”
She frowned and held up her good arm. She looked at her thumb.
“My thumb is green!”
“See, you wanted to be able to grow the garden. Now you have a green thumb.”
“This isn’t funny, damn it. I can’t go around with a green thumb.”
“Baby, have you seen your should
er yet?”
“Is my shoulder green, too?” It came out as a screech.
“No baby. It’s not green.” He let out a deep breath. “It’s yellow.”
“Oh, my, God. Please tell me you’re kidding.”
“What’s going on?” Keith walked back in carrying a plate of food.
“I have a green thumb! And now he says my shoulder is yellow!”
“Easy, baby. Tripp, why did you go and upset her?”
“She needed to know. I figured now was as good a time as any.”
“I don’t want a yellow shoulder and a green thumb. Why aren’t they the same color?”
“We don’t know, baby. That was why I wanted to know how you got away. I think you stuck your thumb in his eye, and that made it a different color.”
“Gross. I could have done without knowing that. I’ll have to wash my hand a thousand times now.”
“It will be okay, baby. There’s nothing wrong with having a green thumb. You certainly have a green garden.” Keith smiled at her.
“That is not helping.”
“Sorry.” Keith set the plate on the roll-around tray and helped her move the bed into a better sitting position so she could eat.
“Come on, baby. You’ve got to eat so you’ll heal and the doctor will let you go home. I miss you.” Keith handed her the fork.
“Do you think you can handle it today, or do you want me to feed you?” Tripp stood by the bed on the other side.
“I can feed myself. I think.” She speared a bean and slowly moved it to her mouth.
She managed fine with the beans. When it came to the currick, she had a little more trouble. She tried scooping them onto the fork, but that didn’t work so well. Finally she gave up and moved on to the meat. She looked at it and dropped the fork in her plate.
“Can someone cut the freaking meat for me? I hate being like this.”
“It’s okay, baby. You’ll be cutting your own meat in no time. Just enjoy being babied for now.” Tripp quickly cut the meat into small, bite-size pieces then handed the fork back to her.
She hated being dependent on them for eating and moving and everything. It made her feel small and worthless to not be able to feed herself. She felt the hot prick of tears behind her eyes and fought to keep from shedding them. She refused to cry. She’d cried too much over the last few days. It was time to suck it up. They would never let her go home if she whined all the time. She wanted to go home. She wanted everything to go back like it had been. Somehow, she was afraid that nothing would ever be the same.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Okay, baby. We’re home.” Tripp pulled up outside the house three days later.
Keith jumped down from the transport buggy before leaning in and helping Piper with her harness. Then he helped her ease over to his seat. By that time, Tripp had the door open and was waiting on them. Piper wasn’t too keen on getting out of the transport. She knew the jarring would hurt.
Keith handled it fine, though. He grabbed her around her waist and then let her slide gently to the ground. She sighed and smiled up at him.
“Thanks, I was dreading that.”
“I sort of figured you were by the look on your face when you looked down.”
“Come on, you two. I don’t want to risk something is out there,” Tripp called after them.
Piper let Keith hold her hand and lead her up the steps, onto the porch, and in the house. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief once the door was closed and they were all safely inside.
“Let’s get you upstairs so you can rest.” Keith started to lead her toward the stairs.
Pipe didn’t want to go to bed. She wanted to sit up with them. She stopped, digging her feet in.
“What is it, Piper?”
“I want to stay down here on the couch for a while. I’m tired of being in bed.”
Keith and Tripp exchanged looks. Tripp shrugged and nodded. Keith sighed and led her over to the couch. She gingerly sat down and leaned back against the back of the couch. It wasn’t too bad. She would probably be more comfortable in the bed, but she was tired of that.
“I’ll go get a pillow and blanket for you, baby.” Tripp hurried toward the stairs.
He returned seconds later with his bounty. She leaned up while he settled the pillow behind her and covered her with the throw. She was much more comfortable than before. Keith sat down at the other end of the couch and pulled her shoes off so that he could massage her feet.
“I’m going to go see about starting dinner. It will be time to eat soon. Do you have any preference, baby?”
“Not really. I’m not all that hungry. I just had lunch.”
“That was over three hours ago, baby.” Tripp sighed and headed toward the kitchen.
“You’re going to have to eat some whether you are hungry or not or Tripp will take you back to the doctor.”
“I heard that, Keith. Don’t make me out to be the bad guy here.” Tripp’s voice boomed into the living room.
Piper couldn’t help but grin. She knew that Keith was telling the truth. If she didn’t eat enough to please them, they would both take her back to the city. She would eat if only to keep from being deported again. She hated that place.
“Don’t let him catch you grinning, baby,” Keith whispered.
“It’s so good to be home. I missed it so much. When can I see the garden?”
“Maybe tomorrow. Not today. You need to rest up from the trip, and it’s going to be dark soon.”
“Not for at least another hour or so.”
“We’ll show you tomorrow, baby, after we’ve had time to check the fence.”
She sobered at that. “Okay. I’ll see it tomorrow.”
Keith looked at her speculatively. He would have guessed that the reminder of her incident had bothered her. She didn’t like to remember it. She’d had nightmares several times lately about it.
“I’m going to go see if Tripp needs help. I’ll be right back.” Keith stood up after settling her feet back on the couch.
Piper moved around on the couch trying to get in a more comfortable position. It hurt to pull on her shoulder or her chest. It didn’t matter which way she moved, something hurt. She wanted to scream in frustration, but that would upset Tripp and Keith. They would put her upstairs away from everything. At least on the couch she would be there when they came back and sat down.
“How are you doing, baby?” Tripp walked into the room with Keith right behind him.
“I’m okay. What’s for dinner?”
“Soup and sandwiches. I have the soup on low. It’s one of those bags you froze.”
“Okay. That sounds good.” She grimaced. It really didn’t.
“You’re sure? I can try something different if you’ll tell me what to fix.”
“It will be fine, Tripp. Why don’t you come sit in here and tell me what has been going on? Did I lose a lot of vegetables?”
“I really don’t know for sure, baby. We mostly just pulled grass to keep it from taking over.” Keith looked sheepish.
“I pulled a few things that looked ready to me, but I didn’t know what was ready and what wasn’t.” Tripp didn’t look any better.
She rolled her eyes. There might not be anything for her to harvest when she got back out there. That thought led to another one. What would they do for the winter? They would need more supplies from the city. They’d make her go back and see that crazy doctor again, too.
“You’re a little pale, baby. Do you need to go lie down for a while?” Tripp knelt next to her and held her face in his hand.
“I’m fine. Just worried about the garden. We have to have it to live, Tripp.”
“It will be okay, baby. If we need to get more supplies from the city, we will.”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” she mumbled.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“I’m going to check on the soup.” Tripp stood back up after dropping a quick kiss on her nose.
They finished dinner around seven, and Piper was exhausted. She didn’t even complain when they wanted to put her to bed. She just let them guide her up the stairs. Tripp and Keith both followed her up then helped her undress and slide into bed. They kissed her good-night and promised to be up in a little while.
Piper lay awake for a good while thinking about the garden and how she would be able to work in it without being scared. If the guys checked the fence every day, and she wasn’t listening to music, she should be fine.
Then she thought about the men and how they’d been so good to her all through this despite it having been partially her fault. She shouldn’t have been listening to her music outside. She was supposed to have been paying attention to everything around her. Instead, she had let down her guard and gotten attacked.
Now she not only had scars and the strange colors on her skin, but she had nightmares to live with as well. They were hard to wake up from. The last one, she had hit Tripp in the nose and busted it. She hadn’t meant to hit him. She hadn’t known he was there. He was the dorrie in her dream.
She worried that she would really hurt one of them in her sleep now that they were back at home. Maybe she had pressed to come home too soon. Maybe she hadn’t really been ready at all. She ran her hand over the bumpy skin on her shoulder and frowned. Then she touched the small scar on her chest.
Finally, she began to relax, thinking more about the garden instead of the creature that had attacked her. She wanted to sleep on good thoughts. She thought about how much she loved her men and fell asleep.
* * * *
The week passed by before she knew it, and the guys were scheduled to go back to work that next Monday. Piper wasn’t comfortable going outside by herself, but would never tell the guys that. They checked the fences every morning when they got up. She couldn’t help but be frightened after her ordeal.
“What are you doing, baby?” Keith walked up behind her staring out the window toward the garden and hugged her.
“Just getting ready to go outside and check the garden.”
“Do you want me to go outside with you?”
“No. We discussed this, Keith. You’re not going to be here next week, and I’ll have to see about the garden then.”