Jan looked at her watch. “It’s a little early for me to turn in. I think I’ll read for a while. I’ll be in soon.”
“Suit yourself,” Maggie replied.
Maggie paced back and forth across the bedroom trying to decide how to break the news to Jan. In her heart, she knew their relationship had been on a downhill spiral for some time, but she hadn’t been able to summon the courage to end it. She was still pacing when Jan finally came to bed.
“You’re still up? I expected to find you asleep,” Jan said as she entered the room. “What’s wrong?” Maggie wrapped her hands around her middle. “Jan, we need to talk.”
Jan’s face grew ashen. “I’ve been expecting this. You’re attracted to her, aren’t you?”
“This isn’t about Jordan. It’s about our relationship no longer working. It’s about you being presumptuous... it’s about you taking me for granted... it’s about you taking liberties you shouldn’t be taking.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“I feel like you’re trying to control me. It seems that you’re making plans and decisions that clearly I should be making—or at the very least, we should be making together.”
“You’re talking in riddles. What decisions are you talking about?”
“Let me give you a few examples. You told Jordan we were getting married and planned to have a baby. You’re being oddly persistent about the deed to the farm. What are you up to? Something doesn’t feel right.”
Jan paced back and forth, clearly agitated. “This isn’t about us getting married, and this isn’t about the deed to the farm. This is about Jordan, and you know it! You’re attracted to her, aren’t you?”
Maggie sighed. “I don’t know what to say. Yes, I’m attracted to her. I can’t help it.”
“Goddamn it! I knew it.”
“I tried to resist what I was feeling, but I couldn’t. There’s something about her that draws me in. I feel like we’ve known each other forever.”
“Have you slept with her?”
“How can you even ask me that question? No, I haven’t slept with her.”
“What does this mean for me?” Jan asked. “I love this farm. I’ve put my heart and soul into training the horses for the past few years. In some ways, I feel like this place is my own. Please don’t ask me to leave all of this behind.”
Maggie rubbed her hands across her face in a gesture of frustration. “Jan, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, and I have nothing but good things to say about what you’ve done for the farm, but I don’t know if it’s fair to ask you to stay, especially considering...”
“Especially considering how you feel about Jordan?” Jan finished Maggie’s sentence.
“Like I said, this isn’t about Jordan. I’m sorry. I never wanted to hurt you.”
“Do you want me to leave?”
“I’m not asking you to leave if you don’t want to. You’re right—you have worked hard to make this farm a success.”
Jan walked to the closet to retrieve a suitcase that she carried to the bed. “Okay. I’ll respect your wishes. Like I said, I don’t want to walk away from everything I’ve worked for over the past four years, so if it’s all right with you, I’ll move into the bunkhouse with Jordan for now.”
Maggie’s eyes grew wide. “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”
Jan paused on one of her several trips back and forth between the chest of drawers and suitcase. “If this truly isn’t about Jordan, then that shouldn’t be a problem. And besides, if I want to stay, I don’t see that I have any other choice.”
“Okay,” Maggie said softly before leaving the room.
* * *
Jordan felt a chill in the air as she made her way across the barnyard. She pushed the bunkhouse door open and stepped into the warmth and immediately turned her back to the room to take her jacket off and hang it on a hook beside the door. When she turned around, she met Jan face to face. Her eyes widened with surprise.
“Hey, roomie,” Jan said.
Jordan frowned. “Roomie?”
“That’s right. Thanks to you, Maggie has no use for me in her bed anymore.”
Jordan walked to the refrigerator and took out a beer. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, taking a swig from the bottle.
Jan rose to her feet. “No matter. Just know I have my eye on you. Don’t make the mistake of getting in my way, understand? I don’t take kindly to anyone who gets in my way.”
Jordan walked directly up to Jan and leaned over the shorter woman. “I don’t know what’s up with you and Maggie, but don’t make the mistake of threatening me. I don’t take kindly to anyone who threatens me.” Jordan walked away and went to her room. Once inside, she leaned against the door and closed her eyes.
Maggie, what are you up to?
Chapter 31
Jordan turned off the water and drew back the shower curtain. As she squeezed the water out of her hair, she heard a loud, incessant pounding on the front door of the bunkhouse. She wrapped a towel around herself and cautiously made her way to the door. “Who is it?” she called out.
“Maggie. I’ve brought a few things that Jan forgot at the house. May I come in?”
Jordan opened the door and stood there, one hand holding the towel together above her breasts.
Maggie’s eyes opened wide. “Oh. I see I caught you at a bad time. I’ll come back later,” she said, turning to go.
“No, it’s all right. Come in.” Jordan stepped aside and allowed Maggie to enter the bunkhouse.
Maggie held a bag of clothing in front of her. “Jan left these at the house last night. Is she here?”
“No, she’s already gone to the barn. That was a nice little surprise you sent my way last night.”
“I’m sorry about that, but she offered to stay in the bunkhouse, and I wasn’t going to pass on the opportunity to break things off with her without a fight.”
“You really put me in an awkward situation. What were you thinking?”
“I’m sorry, Jordan. I had to do it. It wasn’t fair to continue the charade. Things haven’t been good between us for a while now.”
“So why here? Why didn’t she just leave?”
“She didn’t want to go, and to tell you the truth, she’s good at what she does. I really didn’t want to lose her. She’s helped a lot with this farm. I feel like I owe her something for that.”
Maggie, you don’t know what you’ve done by keeping her around. A shiver of fear ran through her.
“You’re cold. As much as I like seeing you in just a towel, you should dry yourself off and get dressed.”
Jordan smiled. “You’re right. Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right back.” She turned around and began to walk toward the bedroom.
“God, Jordan! What happened?” Maggie asked.
Jordan stopped short. She looked at Maggie questioningly. “What do you mean?”
Maggie took several steps toward Jordan. “Turn around,” she said.
Jordan did as asked and turned her back to Maggie. The towel hung loose and low on her back. She stood as still as possible as she felt Maggie’s breath very close to her still-wet skin.
“What happened to you?” Maggie whispered as she traced the length of Jordan’s scar from the middle of her back to where it disappeared behind the towel just above her bottom.
Jordan shivered, more from Maggie’s touch than from the cool air on her back.
“Horse riding accident. I was sixteen at the time,” Jordan replied truthfully.
Maggie traced the scar once more, but this time, ventured beyond the towel barrier. Jordan stood very still, not wanting Maggie to stop her exploration. Suddenly, Maggie’s hand became very still as her fingers encountered a foreign object. Jordan closed her eyes and wondered how she was going to explain it to Maggie.
“What’s this?” Maggie asked as she pulled the towel down lower on Jordan’s back. “It vibrates,” she exclaimed. “Wh
at is it, some kind of sex toy?”
Jordan chuckled as she reached back and held Maggie’s hand against the implant bulging through her skin. “The vibration you’re feeling is due to an alternating electrical charge coming from an energy storage unit, kind of like a power pack. The small box-like structure bulging from the skin is a spinal implant.”
Maggie quickly retracted her hand. “A spinal implant? You mean like bionic parts?”
“Kind of,” Jordan replied. “The horse riding accident I mentioned a moment ago? I was paralyzed from the waist down. The implant restores mobility.”
“You’re paralyzed?”
“I was until the implant. I guess you could technically say I still am.”
“Do you have any feeling below your waist?” Maggie asked.
“So far, no. No sensation on the skin, at least. I will admit however, that when you kissed me, I felt some very distinct fluttering deep within my abdomen.”
“I... I never knew something like this was possible. You’re paralyzed, yet you can walk. I didn’t know science had advanced that far already.”
Jordan breathed deeply and slowly let out her breath. “Maggie, there are things you don’t know about me that I promise I will explain when the time is right. Please, just trust me for now, okay?”
Maggie frowned. “Trust you? Hell, I don’t even know you. This is a major deal. How long did you think you’d be able to hide this from me?”
Jordan looked hurt. “I wasn’t trying to hide it. It’s just not exactly dinner conversation, you know?”
Maggie looked apprehensively at Jordan.
Jordan took several steps toward Maggie, but stopped abruptly when Maggie put her hand up. “Don’t, please. I need time to digest this.”
Jordan stepped back. “I’m sorry. Would you like me to pack my things and leave?”
Maggie walked toward the door then turned to look at Jordan. “Do I want you to leave? No, not unless you want to.”
Jordan looked down at the floor. “I don’t want to,” she said softly.
When she looked up, Maggie was gone.
* * *
For the next several weeks, Jordan fell into a routine of chores as well as repairs to fences, outbuildings, and grounds. During that time, Maggie made herself conspicuously absent and communicated with Jordan through notes left on the bunkhouse door or through messages hand-carried to her by a very smug Jan. It was obvious to Jordan that Jan sensed the tension between her and Maggie and reveled in her role as messenger, but she rarely engaged Jordan in conversation. Instead, she spent the time she did share with Jordan watching her and doing her best to make Jordan uncomfortable.
Jordan had free access to Maggie’s home, but rarely encountered Maggie. When their paths did cross, Maggie always had board meetings to attend or chores to be done, and excused herself with little more than a cursory goodbye.
Jordan spent most evenings standing by the window waiting for the light to come on in Maggie’s bedroom so she could catch a glimpse of the redhead. Her heart was heavy with regret. Maggie’s revulsion with her condition was not something she had anticipated, and it broke her heart to know she would probably never be truly accepted by the woman she loved. She even considered telling Maggie the truth about where she had come from, but then the voice of reason stepped in and convinced her that Maggie would probably banish her from the farm if she were to divulge that kind of information. So she pined away for lost love in silence. Despite Maggie’s rejection, she still loved her with all of her heart and vowed to prevent her untimely death.
Three weeks after Maggie discovered the implant, she asked Jordan to help with the barn raising. Jordan looked forward to it, as she knew Maggie was deeply involved in the project and would no doubt be a frequent visitor on the jobsite. By the time she joined the crew, the footing had already been poured and the wall frames erected. Jordan arrived at the jobsite with her tool belt in hand and immediately climbed the staging to assist with the rafter assembly.
From her vantage point in the rafters, Jordan could see Maggie moving around the site, reading blueprints with Dave, and assisting in various ways.
“Wow, that redhead down there is really hot,” said the carpenter working at Jordan’s side.
Jordan glanced down at Maggie, who was talking to Dave several yards below them. “Forget it, Don. Somehow, I don’t think she’d be interested in you.” Jordan chuckled.
Don looked offended. “And why not? I’m a good-looking guy. What is she, a dyke or something?”
Jordan raised her eyebrows. “You do realize she’s the boss, right?”
Don snorted. “I don’t care who she is. I answer only to Dave.”
“Whatever,” Jordan replied as she drove a spike into the rafter Don was holding level. “Okay, your turn.”
Don retrieved a spike from his tool belt and began to hammer it into the wood. When he realized Maggie was looking up at them again, he took his attention off what he was doing for a brief moment to smile at her and promptly lost his footing.
“Whoa!” he yelled as he struggled to maintain his position on the beam.
Jordan tried to reach him, but in his attempt to catch himself, he released his end of the rafter. It pivoted toward Jordan as it was being held aloft only by the spike she had driven into it moments earlier. Jordan had all she could do to maintain her own balance on the beam as she avoided the swinging rafter and watched helplessly as Don fell to the floor of the barn.
Maggie screamed as he narrowly missed landing on her.
“Don’t touch him,” Jordan said loudly as she scrambled across the beam toward the ladder. “Please, don’t move him!”
Jordan climbed down the ladder as fast as she could. “Call an ambulance, quickly!” She fell to her knees beside the fallen man and touched the side of his face gently. Maggie, Dave and several of the crewmembers circled them helplessly.
“Don? Don, can you hear me?” she asked.
Don blinked his eyes and tried to nod his head.
“Don’t move your head, Don, okay? Help is on the way. Can you breathe? Blink twice for yes, once for no.”
Don blinked twice.
“Good.” Jordan looked up at Dave and Maggie. “I need something soft to stabilize his neck, towels, pillows, rolled up blankets, anything. Please hurry!”
“I have some blankets and towels in the truck.” Dave turned and ran out of the barn.
Maggie squatted down next to Jordan. “What can I do to help?” she asked anxiously.
Dave returned carrying a blanket and several towels. He handed them to Jordan. “I’m afraid they’re not very clean,” he said.
“I don’t think he’ll care at this point.” Jordan reached up for the blankets and gave one to Maggie. “Cover him up while I stabilize his neck. It will help to prevent shock.”
Maggie and Dave worked together to drape a blanket over Don while Jordan rolled two of the towels and placed them on either side of Don’s neck and held them there to prevent him from moving his head back and forth. She then lowered her ear to his mouth to monitor how laboriously he was breathing. Satisfied that his airway was unobstructed, she smiled at the man.
“Help is on the way, Don. Hang in there, buddy. Are you feeling pain anywhere?”
Don blinked his eyes twice.
“Is the pain in your neck?”
Two blinks.
“How about your arms and legs?”
One blink.
“Can you move your fingers and toes? Do it gently... don’t lift your hand or foot.”
Jordan watched as Don wiggled his fingers and moved his foot. “That’s good, Don. Just lie as still as possible. I think I hear the ambulance coming.”
“I’ll flag them down,” Maggie said as she rose to her feet and ran out of the barn.
Moments later, two EMTs rushed into the room carrying medical instruments. Maggie followed close behind. One EMT took over Jordan’s position by Don’s head while the other assessed his bodily injur
ies.
“What happened?” asked one of the EMTs.
“He fell from the rafter,” Dave replied.
The EMT looked upward. “That’s at least fifteen feet.”
The EMT who was kneeling beside Don’s head looked up. “What’s his name?
Once more, Dave replied, “His name is Don. Don Feldman.”
“Who secured his neck?” he asked.
“I did,” Jordan replied. “I also assessed his respiration, which appears to be even. There doesn’t appear to be any radiating pain. Most of the pain is centered in his neck. He is also able to move extremities such as fingers and toes. With any luck, the injury will be isolated to muscle pain and not affect the vertebrae beyond C2.”
Maggie’s eyes grew wide as she listened to Jordan speak with the emergency personnel.
The EMT attending at Don’s head glanced up at Jordan. “You seem to know a lot about spinal injuries. I take it you’re either a doctor, or you’ve had such an injury yourself?”
Jordan shrugged. “Something like that,” she replied as she met Maggie’s gaze.
“Okay. Jim, we’ll need the backboard, neck brace, tape and gurney,” the EMT instructed his partner. He then looked down at Don. “We’ll have you out of here in a jiff, Don. You’re in good hands.”
Over the next ten minutes the EMTs worked to carefully secure Don to the backboard before loading him into the ambulance.
“I’d better follow them to the hospital,” Dave said.
“Yes, of course,” Maggie replied quickly. “Do whatever’s necessary. I’ll cross my fingers that his injuries aren’t too extensive.”
Jordan, Maggie, and the remaining carpenters watched as the ambulance drove away. While Maggie dismissed the rest of the crew for the day, Jordan walked away and collected her tools, then headed toward the old farm truck she had driven to the construction site. As she climbed into the driver’s seat, Maggie ran toward her. “Jordan,” she called out.
Karen D. Badger - Yesterday Once More Page 29