Crumbling Walls (Jack and Emily #1)

by Laura Strandt

  Elizabeth reached in and gently wiped the tears sliding down her face, “It doesn’t matter now. Everything’s gonna be fine. He won’t bother you again.”

  “Is he dead?” Elizabeth just nodded and watched as Emily shut her eyes again, “Jack didn’t do it on purpose. I saw.”

  “I know.”

  “I shouldn’t have opened the door. I thought it was Jack coming over.” Her eyes overflowed again, “I thought it was Jack.”

  Elizabeth leaned down and hugged her the best she could, “It’s okay. Shhhh, it’s okay.”

  ▪▪▪

  By the time Jack made it to Emily’s room, she’d already spoken to the detective and made her full statement. The policeman was just leaving as Jack slowly made his way through the door. Nodding to Jack, “You saved her life.”

  After nodding back, he walked immediately over to her and holding the bed railing, kissed her, stitches be damned. Leaving her lips, he kissed her forehead as well before standing back up. Twining his fingers with her good hand, “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Still not realizing there were other people in the room with them, “So, think you might want to come live with us now?”

  Emily nodded as best she could, “If you still want me?”

  Bending towards her once more, he whispered into her lips as he kissed her again, “I’ll always want you.”

  Tim broke the moment from the doorway, “Good lord, not even stitches can stop them.”

  Jack straightened up and looked surprised when he saw his mom and dad standing there, “Sorry, what?”

  Tim just grinned and came over, knocking Emily’s foot gently through the blanket as he walked by, “Nothing little brother. Just making fun of you, that’s all.”

  Emily looked at the bunch of them, all standing around, “You really don’t mind me moving in?”

  Will nodded, “I told the police you’d be moved in in the next few days. I talked to the Social Services people and to one of the lawyers I know and we ought to have the guardianship papers within the next few weeks and as of sometime tomorrow, Tim’s gonna move into the basement. We thought maybe Sam could go in with Jack and you can have Sam’s old room. It’s small but it’ll be all yours and I think we’d prefer to have you upstairs for a while instead of by yourself downstairs.”

  Another stray tear ran down her face, “I’d like that.”

  ▪▪▪

  They all stayed a little longer, then, as Emily’s eyes began to flutter closed, Elizabeth shooed them all away. Jack tried to avoid his mother’s herding but was unsuccessful, “I’ll stay with her for now. Why don’t you go home, get some sleep,” looking over at Will, “and your dad just might bring you back later, but for now, go.”

  Jack wouldn’t move until he got an answer, “Does she have to stay the night?”

  “Yeah. The doctor wants to watch her for awhile. She’s got a mild concussion.”

  “I’ll come back tonight and stay with her then.”

  Emily, who was still just a shade above asleep, “I’ll be fine, Jack.”

  “I’ll be back tonight.”

  “She’ll be fine by herself. There're plenty of people here to keep an eye on her.”

  Jack looked her straight in the eye, “I’m not leaving her alone. If I have to, I’ll sneak out of the house, walk here and sit next to her until she can go home.”

  Seeing the fire in her son’s eyes, she almost smiled, “Okay, how’s this? You stay for a few hours,” looking over at Tim, who nodded, “with Tim while we go home, get the kids, sort of explain what's gonna happen and whatnot, then I’ll come back here to stay the night.” She could already see the wheels in Jack's head turning so she cut him off, “But you need a good night’s sleep, in your own bed so you will be going home after that, understood?”

  Looking from his mom to Emily, he pulled a chair over to the bed, “Okay.”

  Elizabeth kissed the three of them before her and Will headed out the door, “I’ll be back in a few hours.”

  ▪▪▪

  Emily fell asleep a few minutes later and Tim looked over at his brother, “So, do you think I can use the phone in here. I’m supposed to call Ms. Tassleman and let her know what’s going on, then I’ve gotta call Sarah. And Dex has already left me two messages.”

  Jack gave him a lopsided, still slightly numb smile, “You probably have to go down to the lobby for that.”

  “I also figure you might want to be alone with her for a bit, am I right?”

  “Thanks,”

  Getting up, “Just glad you’re okay. I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t.”

  “I like you too, Tim.”

  As soon as they were alone, Jack gently laid his head down on the pillow next to hers, making sure it was his non-broken side. Even though she was asleep, she moved her head closer and he was asleep before long, wishing with all his might that he could have some kind of do-over for the day.

  ▪▪▪

  Tim made his calls and reassured everyone that the pair was fine. He didn’t give too many details and it took him a good ten minutes to convince Dex not to come down that very second. Instead, he told him to wait until tomorrow, when they took her home.

  Dex was not happy with this, but he obeyed, sure as shooting, he was gonna be at the front door when she came home.

  Returning to the room, Tim found them both asleep and opted to sit quietly, alternating between watching them and reading the paperback he’d stuffed in his pocket to read in the waiting room. Eventually, even he took a nap and only woke when the nurse came in. He sat up quickly and realized too late that he’d been drooling on his coat. Looking up, embarrassed, the nurse just smiled, “Honey, that’s nothing. Trust me.”

  Jack woke as well when the nurse switched Emily’s IV and, moving too fast, he groaned, “Oh hell.”

  The nurse came over and helped him sit up, “That’s not the best position to be sleeping in.”

  “I’m realizing that.”

  As the nurse stood over him, a sympathetic look on her face, “Where you really need to be is in bed.”

  Keeping his tone light, “Not leaving until my mom gets back. That was the deal and I’m not moving.”

  Elizabeth’s voice came through the door, “I’m back. Go home.”

  Jack looked up and, for a split-second, was extremely angry at her because now he had no choice but to leave. The anger was short lived however, once his face began throbbing. Standing slowly, he gave Emily another kiss, “See you in the morning.”

  ▪▪▪

  With lots of Tylenol in his system, Jack slept the next 14 hours away in a thankfully dreamless sleep.

  Emily wasn’t so lucky and at 2:30am, she had had enough. Sliding her legs slowly over the edge of the bed, she waited for the wave of dizziness to pass before she put her feet on the floor and shuffled out through the door to the nurses’ station.

  The only nurse there looked up in surprise, “Are you all right?”

  “Um, could you tell me please if the morgue is open?”

  Now the nurse was just confused, “The morgue? No honey, it’s closed at night. Would you like some help back to bed?”

  “Are you sure there’s not a way to see someone down there?”

  By this time, the nurse had come around the desk, “Honey, do you feel okay?”

  Suddenly realizing she must sound like a complete raving lunatic, “I’m sorry, I just … I need to make sure someone is really down there.”

  Elizabeth had been about to panic when she looked in the hallway and saw Emily. Coming over to her, “Em, what’s wrong? Why didn’t you wake me up?”

  “I need to see if he’s really down there.” She was not above begging at this point, “I need to know if it’s okay to close my eyes.”

  ▪▪▪

  About ten minutes later, they were traveling downstairs and the nurse let them in, “Give me a minute to find out where he is, then I’ll bring you in okay?
”

  She nodded and Elizabeth looked over at her, “You sure?”

  Nodding again, “I have to. I didn’t check last time and look what happened. I need to see for myself.”

  “Okay.” They stood in silence until the nurse called them in and, without thinking, Emily reached for Elizabeth’s hand. Curling her fingers around, she took a deep breath and walked through the door.

  ▪▪▪

  They returned to Emily’s room an hour or so later, after having taken a slow walk around their floor a few times once they got back. Emily climbed exhausted, ribs aching, back into bed and fell asleep, still gripping Elizabeth’s hand.

  Elizabeth couldn’t help but think of Jack, who used to do the same thing when he was small and had a nightmare. He’d come get her and pull her back to his room and make her hold his hand until he fell asleep. He never told her what the dreams were about, but her hand seemed to make them go away.

  Chapter 24

  Tuesday morning, Jack woke around nine o’clock to the sounds of banging and swearing. Not sure what was happening, he just knew he wanted to smile but his face wouldn’t let him. Putting his hand to his chin, he felt the bandages and remembered.

  Boy, did he remember.

  Slowly he worked his body out of bed, muscles screaming and stitches pulling in his mouth. Shuffling out of the room and into the bathroom, he finished, then began the long trek downstairs.

  The noise got louder with each step and when he finally reached the first floor, he saw his dad wince slightly at what had to be his face, which is not real comforting when you haven’t looked in a mirror yet.

  His words coming out slurred and muffled, “That bad, huh?”

  Will came over to him and began examining his face, “I’ve seen you look better.”

  He let Will poke around for a minute before backing off, “So, um, what’s the noise and why are you home? It’s Tuesday.”

  “Well, I’m home because we had a few things to do around here and I’ll be going in to work in a little while. Tim stayed home to keep an eye on you and to finish up after I leave.”

  “What’s he finishing?”

  Will turned him around and walked him into his study, which was now bare save for a mattress. “Tim’s gonna finish up in here, then probably go over to Em’s place and pack up a few things. If you’re up to it, he’ll need some help.”

  More than a little confused, “Wait? I thought she was gonna be in Sam’s room?”

  “She is. Tim’s going to be in here and my study’s now in the basement.”

  “Why isn’t Tim in the basement? I’m confused.”

  Smiling secretively at his son, “I don’t think Tim is a real big fan of the basement and when he hesitated, I figured this would be the best way to go.”

  “Ahh.”

  “Just don’t make too much fun of him, okay?”

  Jack nodded as best he could to keep the throbbing to a minimum, “I won’t.”

  “Thanks. So … hungry?”

  “Yeah, I just don’t know how I’m supposed to eat.”

  “Your mom made mountains of Jell-o for you, there’s a vat of soup in the fridge and she’s got a stash of applesauce in the cupboard.”

  Already working his way to the kitchen, “I really need to tell her I love her more often.”

  Will grinned as he headed back to the basement, “She’d like that.”

  ▪▪▪

  Will left an hour or so later and Tim came back upstairs, “So, feel like going over to Emily’s yet and getting some of her stuff or should I keep going on mine and Sam’s things?”

  With his latest round of Tylenol finally kicking in, “Maybe Em’s while I’m still up for it?”

  Tim stood up to grab both their coats, “Dad took my car, so we’ve got the van. Let’s see if we can get most of it in one shot.”

  Jack shrugged his on, then gingerly pulled his hat over what he realized was still blood-stiffened hair, “Um Tim, can you do something for me first?”

  Stopping mid-glove pull, “Maybe.”

  “Do you think you can help me wash my hair? I can’t take a shower yet with the stitches and I don’t think I can lean over the sink very well to do it myself.”

  Looking at him with his problem-solving, ‘chew the inside of my cheek while I think’ expression, “Okay, go clean off the kitchen counter and lay down on your back with your head at the sink. I’ll go grab the shampoo and a towel.”

  It took Jack a second to get the visual, then he grinned as best he could. This should be interesting.

  It went much smoother than either of them thought it would. With Jack’s head hanging in the sink, Tim washed and rinsed with the faucet hose. In a few minutes they were done and Tim dried his head, helping him to sit up. While Jack waited for his dizziness to pass, he eyed Tim from under the towel, “You know, this’ll make a great story to tell at school.”

  “If you ever so much as breathe a word about me washing your hair, so help me, I’ll get out the pictures of you in Mom’s shoes.”

  Sliding off the counter, “Come on, girls would love to hear how gently you massage the scalp and how well you condition.”

  He received a well-deserved kick in the rear for this, albeit a light one, and they moved back down the hall to get their coats on again. Tim’s phone rang just as they were heading out the door, “Hello?”

  He listened for a minute, then said good-bye, “That was Mom. She’s on her way home to clean up and have some breakfast. They’re keeping Emily until tomorrow because of the concussion, so Mom’s gonna hang out here for a while, then head back.”

  “I want to see her.”

  Tim smiled, “Yeah, Emily knows you too well. She told Mom to tell you that you’re supposed to stay at home and feel better. She’ll be fine and she’ll see you later.”

  With an exasperated sigh, “I don’t want her there alone.”

  “She’s okay, Jack. She said so herself.”

  Anger racing to the surface, he couldn’t help but shout, “I left her alone Tim. I left her there alone in her apartment and look what happened.”

  Finally understanding, he walked over to his brother, “There’s no way you could have known. She’s been alone for the last three years.”

  For the first time ever, he started to cry in front of his brother, “But if I’d been there, she wouldn’t have answered the door. It was unlocked. He didn’t break in. She opened the door. She thought it was me.”

  And in another first, Tim pulled his brother into a hug, “You saved her. You went to her and you saved her. If you hadn’t shown up, way worse things would have happened. You couldn’t have prevented this, but you did stop it. I don’t think she could have asked for a better hero.” They stayed silent for a minute before Jack stepped back and Tim stuffed his hands in his pockets, “So, let’s just not tell anyone about this whole morning. Fair enough?”

  “The girls would love it though, I’m telling you.”

  “Sarah already knows how fabulously sensitive I am, we don’t need word getting out.”

  ▪▪▪

  Jack sat while he packed her things into the crates on the wall, trying in vain to ignore the dried blood stains on the wood floor from Emily’s head.

  He did his job quickly, the panic and the anger building together slowly. Tim got the job of hauling everything out to the van and after the first four or five trips he sat down for a breather. Looking over to the same stain Jack was avoiding, “Is that from him or you?”

  With teeth clenched as tightly as his mouth would allow without too much pain, “Her.”

  Swallowing hard, “Did he really … he didn’t … you got here before anything really bad happened, didn’t you?” Knowing exactly what he was trying not to say, Jack just nodded and moved to pack her loose books into another of the crates. Tim sat for another minute before standing up and, hefting the book filled bin, “Back in a minute.”

  Another six trips down the stairs and almost everything w
as out of the apartment save the food and furniture. It hadn’t been too hard to do given how little she actually had. The last things to go were her art supplies, and Tim stopped as he uncovered what Emily had been working on just before opening the door to her father. A nearly life-size drawing of seven sets of feet lined up on a table, sneakers untied and socks with holes in them; six sets of boys’ feet and one lone girl’s squished in the center.