by Gail Sattler
“What?”
“My nose. I’m going to have a bump on it.”
Jillian watched Jed lying in the hospital bed, completely immobile and covered in various types of bandages and wrappings. “A bump on your nose? You’re worried about a bump on your nose?”
“I liked my nose the way it was. Now it’s going to have a bump on it.” His eyes closed again, and he drifted back to sleep.
The sound of footsteps caused her to turn her head. A middle-aged man entered the room and came to a stop beside Jillian.
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’m Roy, Jed’s supervisor.”
“Hi. I’m Jillian.” She wondered how to introduce herself. His friend? His teacher? Or something more, but what? Jillian swallowed hard and said nothing.
Roy turned his attention to Jed’s still form. “How is he? The nurse said he was awake.”
“He just drifted back to sleep.”
Jed heard both Jillian and Roy’s voices, but the sedatives and painkillers they had given him did their job. His head spun, and his eyes refused to open. He wondered if he did open his eyes, if the room would continue to spin, and he’d be sick. Instead of trying to do something he wasn’t capable of doing at the moment, he listened to the conversation, dazed.
“How did this happen?” asked Jillian, her voice shaky.
Roy cleared his throat. “He tried to hold up the catwalk by himself when the structure started to collapse. It worked for the few seconds needed for the last man to run, jump off, and get dragged to safety, but Jed sure got banged up in the process. I came to tell him he made the difference.”
Jed vividly recalled that split second when the last bracket gave way, the sensation of trying to stop it before it broke, and the agony as the weight sent him flying into the cement floor. He didn’t know if the last man had made it off. When he woke up briefly in the ambulance, the attendants didn’t know. Now he knew, and through the fog in his head, he thanked God for having made a difference.
He felt Jillian’s fingers in his hair, and he tried to respond, but couldn’t.
Her fingers stilled. “I don’t know if you can hear me, Jed, but I have a message for you from Frank. He says they’re very proud of you. And I have to get going now, because I have students coming soon, but I would think that your family will be coming tonight. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
He felt the cool air where her fingers had been, and the room fell silent. Jed allowed himself to fall asleep, anticipating her return, knowing everything would be all right after all.
❧
Jillian woke earlier than she had in years. She didn’t think she’d ever been up before sunrise. It probably took longer to warm up the car than to walk the short distance, but this early in the morning, she couldn’t bring herself to walk.
Tapping lightly on the door, she listened for a sign of movement inside the house. She was startled when sounds of barking echoed through the door, and then the door shook when the dog landed against it.
“Down, Missy!” It was Frank’s voice, accompanied by scratching sounds and whining noises as the door opened. Frank pulled the dog back by the collar as he spoke.
“Hi, Jillian. We really appreciate you doing this for us. We’re going to have to do something really special for Jed when he gets home. His being here has lifted such a burden off us about the baby-sitting. Since he’s been living here, I think we’ve forgotten what a hassle it was in the morning. We haven’t even given baby-sitting a second thought.”
With the dog pulled away, Jillian walked in and placed her shoes neatly on the tray. “Yes, he takes his commitment very seriously, and he really loves the kids.”
“And they really love him.” As they walked up the stairs together, Jillian looked around. The house was quiet, so fortunately the ruckus with the dog at the door had not woken Mark and Betsy.
“I’ll give you a quick tour of the house, and then we’ve got to be on our way. Liz will give you the routine.”
Jillian followed Frank into the kitchen, where a woman who was obviously Liz was bending over into the fridge.
Liz turned at the same time as she stood. Tall, slender, dark hair. Jillian almost fainted. This was the woman Jed had been with at the mall.
fourteen
“Hi, Jillian, or should I say Miss Jefferson?” Liz held out her hand as a greeting. “I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve only met you once briefly, when Mark first signed up for lessons. The first thing I want you to know is how much we appreciate you doing this for us.”
Jillian’s mind reeled in shock as she shook Liz’s hand. The other woman was his sister! How could she have been so stupid? How could she have been so untrusting? Just because Jed said he and his sister were a lot alike was no reason to assume they also looked alike.
Looking at Liz up close, now that she knew, of course, Jillian could see the family resemblance. She tried to regain her composure. “Hi, Liz, it’s nice to meet you again.”
“Yes—but it was supposed to be under better circumstances.”
Jillian wondered what Liz meant by that comment. “You had better give me a rundown on the routine for the day so you can make it on time for work.”
As Liz gave Jillian the schedule for the day, Jillian tried not to smile. Most of it she already knew from Jed, especially the afternoon schedule.
Before they left, Liz woke Betsy up and introduced her to Jillian so she would not awaken to find a stranger in the house. When Mark got up, he was delighted to have his piano teacher there to get him ready for school, although he took special care not to let Jillian see him in his pajamas.
After Mark was out the door and on his way to school, she made a pot of coffee and Betsy joined her at the kitchen table.
“Uncle Jed talks about you all the time, you know.”
Jillian studied Betsy’s face. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear this. “He talks about you, too.”
“He does?”
Jillian gave a sigh of relief. She had managed to distract Betsy. “Yes. He says you are doing very well in kindergarten, and your teacher is very proud of you.”
“You’re Uncle Jed’s teacher. Are you proud of him?”
Maybe this had backfired a little. Jillian tried not to let her nervousness with the little girl show. “Yes, I am.”
“He thinks you’re a good teacher.”
“Well, I think he’s a good student.”
“He likes you, you know.”
Great. Woman talk with a five-year-old. “Well, I like him too. Say, how would you like to help me make some cookies? I’ll bet you know where your mom keeps everything, don’t you?”
“Yes! I love to bake cookies. Uncle Jed tried to make cookies once. They were kind of awful. But Missy liked them. Except she barfed up the walnuts.”
Jillian managed to keep a straight face. She knew Jed started supper every day, but maybe it was too much to expect that his culinary skills extended beyond that.
They took all morning to get one batch of cookies mixed and baked and the dishes done, but it was worth the mess and effort to keep Betsy busy. After a quick lunch, Jillian drove Betsy to school and then continued on her way to the hospital to visit Jed.
The entire trip, she tried to sort out what she was going to say to him. She had behaved like a jealous fool, and now she was going to have to swallow her pride and face him.
Lunch was being served as she arrived at his ward. She could hear him complaining before she walked into his room.
“How do you expect me to eat this? This isn’t funny!” he griped, but she could tell he had a smile on his face without even looking. The nurses were giggling.
“The department decided to hold a raffle to see who was going to come in to help you. Proceeds go to Children’s Hospital Fund.” There was more giggling.
Jillian heard Jed mumble something about not being very amused, and she walked in to see for herself what was going on.
Jed looked up, causing the two nurses to turn ar
ound.
“Oh, she’s here,” one of them sighed. “Looks like the lunch raffle’s off. Maybe suppertime.” Then they both left, pushing the lunch cart out the door.
Jillian frowned and glared at Jed. “What’s going on in here?” She folded her arms against her chest.
Jed had been propped up to a sitting position in the bed. He let his head drop backward. “I hate this place!” he grumbled. “Let me out of here!”
“Why?”
“With one arm strapped up like this, I can’t move without someone helping me, and I can’t touch or hold anything with my hands wrapped up solid. I feel like I’ve been mummified! I can’t move, I can’t eat, I can’t do anything!”
Jillian tried to stifle a laugh. If this was the way he was talking to her, she could only imagine what he said to the nurses. However, she was going to have to check out this raffle.
“I can feed you. What’s for lunch?” Jillian peeked under the lid of the lunch tray and laughed. Soup and a sandwich. No wonder he was complaining. And coffee, too. How would he drink that without using his hands? She couldn’t imagine drinking coffee through a straw.
Jillian lifted up the sandwich so he could take a bite. He made a wry face, but took a bite anyway.
“They barely have enough food on here to feed a pigeon. And you are not going to spoon-feed me that soup. This is so humiliating,” he grumbled.
Their conversation for the balance of the afternoon mostly consisted of Jed’s semi-good-natured complaining.
Jillian looked at the time. “Say ‘that’s it,’ ” she ordered.
“That’s it?” he questioned.
“Yup,” Jillian stated. “Time for me to go get Betsy.”
“What? You?”
“Liz and Frank couldn’t get a replacement for you on short notice, so I volunteered until you’re up to it.”
“Jillian, I don’t know what to say.”
“Say nothing then. Actually, they’re very nice people.”
“Of course they are. Frank couldn’t have found a better wife than Liz. She’s great. You know, we used to fight constantly when we were kids, but now, we’ve become the best of friends, as well as brother and sister.”
Jillian’s smile faded. She couldn’t put it off any longer, and since he had started the topic of his sister, it forced her to say what she had been agonizing over.
“Jed, speaking of your sister, I’m afraid I have a confession to make.”
“What about Liz? You two didn’t have a fight, did you?”
Jillian looked down, unable to face him as she spoke. “You’re probably wondering why I acted so cold to you the other day. Well, I feel so stupid about this, but I saw you and Liz together on Sunday as you were leaving the mall. From what I saw I thought you were seeing someone else, and it looked like you were exchanging words of love, and,” Jillian paused and swallowed, her voice dropping to a whisper, “and I was hurt. And very jealous.” She shrugged her shoulders but couldn’t look up at him. “I didn’t know it was your sister. I’m so sorry.” Tears welled up in her eyes, and she couldn’t blink them away.
“Look at me.” Jed’s words were soft and gentle.
Jillian couldn’t face him. She swiped the tears away with her sleeve.
“We probably made quite a scene, Liz and I, carrying on at the mall, and I think I can remember what we said as we were leaving. If that’s what you saw, I think I can understand why you felt that way. But you missed the best part of the conversation. We were talking about you.”
Jillian blinked, but a tear escaped and ran down her cheek.
“Come here. I wish I could hold you properly, but I’ll do my best.”
As Jillian sat on the bed beside him, he rested his unbound arm around her as best he could.
“I love you, Jed. I’m so sorry.”
“I love you, too. And don’t worry about it anymore. Now, the air is clear. It’s okay. Now, come here and kiss me.”
Jillian stood, bent at the waist, then kissed him lightly and briefly on the mouth. “I have to go get Betsy. I’ll be back tomorrow. Oh, and give me your keys so someone can pick up your truck at the plant.”
“You have to get them yourself. Right there, in the drawer.”
“See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, bye.”
Jillian walked around the nurse who was standing near the doorway and left.
❧
Jillian arrived at the hospital the same time as the day before. However, this time she was not allowed to go into Jed’s room, as the doctor was in with him, checking him over before releasing him.
She sat in a chair by the nurses’ station and listened. Jed was complaining again. First something tickled, then something pinched. Next, he refused to do something, followed by a question about why he was not allowed to do something else. Then she heard a nurse asking him to be quiet and quit moving. Jillian was glad she wasn’t the one looking after him.
Finally, the nurse at the desk allowed her to enter. Jed was sitting upright in the bed with a grumpy look on his face and considerably fewer wrappings than the day before. A doctor washed his hands in the sink, and a nurse picked up the scraps of the bandages that had been removed.
“Hi, Jed,” Jillian said, trying not to laugh at his dour expression. “Liz sent you some clothes. I’ve come to take you home.”
“Yes! Freedom!” Jed shouted in triumph.
She waited in the hall for him to get dressed, but since his hands were still heavily bandaged, she helped him slip on his boots and tied the laces. “That’s it,” she said as she stood. “Not only that, it’s time to go get Betsy.”
Jed shrugged his shoulders. “What a classic line.”
She led him to the parking lot, where he stopped dead in his tracks. “This is my truck! You drove my truck.”
Jillian blushed. “My car is so small I didn’t know how you would fit in it. I hope you don’t mind.”
She wasn’t sure how he’d feel about her driving his truck, because some men were kind of funny about that kind of thing. Instead of being angry, though, Jed looked down at her and laughed. “You probably looked ridiculous, a little thing like you, driving a big truck like this. I’ll bet you got some strange looks on the way here, didn’t you?”
“Yes, as a matter of a fact, I did. I was tempted to show off, too, but I drove your precious truck with lots of TLC; I didn’t do any racing with it. But I could have driven right over top of the competition.” When he laughed again, Jillian knew she’d done the right thing.
“Let’s go.”
When Jillian drove up to the school, Jed waited inside the truck while Jillian went into the building to get Betsy. When they returned, Mark was sitting inside beside Jed. Apparently he’d noticed the huge lumbering vehicle as he was coming out of the door, and all his friends had to check it out.
On the way home, Mark and Betsy were asking Jed a million questions. When they arrived at the house, Jillian made coffee while Mark and Betsy went into their rooms to play. Once it was finished brewing, Jillian handed Jed a cup, after arguing with him over whether or not he would be able to hold it. They lounged back on the couch and Jillian turned on the television.
Suddenly, Jed’s eyes widened as he stared at the time on the VCR. “Look at the time; you’re late for your lessons! You’d better get going.”
“No, I canceled my afternoon lessons. I wanted to stay with you until after Frank and Liz get home.” She raised her hands and slowly brushed both of Jed’s cheeks with her fingertips.
“Wow. Personal attention from the teacher. I could get used to this.” Jed smiled and Jillian’s heart melted. She leaned toward him at the same time he leaned to her, joining together for a wonderful kiss, a kiss that was sweet and made up for the waste of lost time. Briefly, they separated, their eyes drifted open, shut again, then they joined again in a warm embrace, anticipating the next kiss. A thump on the floor interrupted them.
“Gross! Uncle Jed! Miss Jefferson! That’s si
ck!”
Jed and Jillian bolted apart. Jillian’s stomach clenched. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jed wince, suck in a deep breath, and press his arm against his ribs with the abrupt movement.
Mark stood in front of them, a large ball in his hand and Betsy at his side, both of them wide-eyed, staring at their every movement. To her dismay, Jillian had forgotten about them.
“Eeww!” Mark exclaimed, with the same disgusted look on his face as the other time he had interrupted them. “Uncle Jed, why are you letting Miss Jefferson kiss you again? You said you didn’t want to marry Miss Jefferson.”
Startled, Jillian backed further away. Jed’s face turned red, but he didn’t say a thing. She remembered when Jed brought up marriage, and at the time it had frightened her and they agreed to discuss it later. It hadn’t come up again between them, but to have Mark not only mention it but say Jed had no intention of marrying her made her wonder what had been said. Why would he have said something to Mark, and most of all, what?
Betsy grabbed Mark’s T-shirt and started yanking on it. “I heard Mom and Dad talking about it. Wanna know what Mom said?”
Jillian glared at Jed. All the color drained out of his face.
She jumped to her feet. She had made a mistake about his sister, but to hear from the children’s mouths that Jed had said he had no intention of marrying her, with no immediate denial on his part, was more than she could take. She took a step back. “I think I had better leave.”
“Jillian, wait!” Jed jumped to his feet, then tottered slightly. “Please, Jillian, wait. I have to get something, and I’ll be right back. Promise me you’ll wait right here.” He looked at her with such a tortured expression that Jillian conceded. She hugged herself with both arms and leaned against the wall to wait for his return.
His movements were labored as he tried to hurry down the hall, then slowed as he made his way down the stairs. He returned with a small bag, and sat on the couch. He patted the seat beside him, and held out a small bag.
“Take it, Jillian, with all my love.”