BOMAW 7-9

by Mercedes Keyes

  Gert stopped by her next, squeezing her arm to back Bart, "Don't forget our talk."

  Vivian was reeling. Surely she was caught in some kind of twilight zone.

  They disappeared inside, flicked on the porch light, and then up the stairs, she used that moment to catch her breath. Seeing Jake there, was the equivalent of inhaling some type of mind altering gas, her head was swimming, so intoxicated by the sight of him. He made his way slowly up the porch, she pushed the screen door open stepping out onto the porch to meet him halfway. Sure that at any moment, her knees would buckle and she'd sink to the ground, or better yet, into his arms. She was wearing flat sandals easy to slip her feet into, no heels. He was wearing cowboy boots, with two inch heels, he towered over her.

  Surrounded as they were, by the world that was his home, left them both speechless. With an abundance of things to say, to being unable to break the spell, they stood before one another, hearts pounding in sync. Jake was the first to finally say something, his deep voice coming down at her, almost dropped Vivian to her knees.

  "I - went to Chicago... again. To - see you." He admitted.

  "You did?" She replied softly, staring up at him, surrounded by dark shadows.

  "I had to."

  "Oh..." She smiled, "Why?"

  "The last time I left you - well - it'll be the last time, I'll leave that way. I'm a sucker for you... what can I say?" He grinned.

  Vivian glanced down away from him, feeling her soul sing with exaltation.

  "Hey... let's uh - move this over there... thee ol'front porch swing... shall we?"

  Vivian had to bite her tongue to keep from cheesing. She gave a silent nod, following him to the swing, gathering her sweater closer around her as they both sat, giving a decent space between them. The moon was out, and it was full. Stars were out and many could be seen from their vantage point. While Vivian drank that all in with rapt appreciation, Jake drank her in with the same awe. The night was lit brightly, and she was easily seen not far from the porch light, though a low watt, it bathed her beautifully. Finally she braved looking from the twilight display, to looking at him. They smiled, shy, feeling like two teenagers. Jake's long legs started the swing to gently rocking, Vivian pulled her feet from her sandals, and curled her legs up beside her as she turned sideways on the swing to face him.

  "Why didn't you call me?" He asked her, turned her way as well.

  "I don't know. After you left that day..."

  "I've called you since then Vivian. I may have been drunk as a skunk, but - you've heard from me since."

  "I tried to call you back that night, but - I couldn't reach you." She admitted softly.

  "Sorry about that, another phone bites the dust. That one, landed in the toilet."

  She smiled, "I heard."

  "So you knew. Yet, you didn't try to call me again."

  "Jake ... I'm not gonna - force myself on you. You've made it perfectly clear, what it is that you want."

  "You mean, that I want you? Yeah... I have made that perfectly clear."

  "Well - as you also know, there are things that I want. They aren't the same; what we want."

  Jake was quiet, fear again crawling up his spine. "Will you - give me some time?" He finally asked, looking at his lap, and then up at her.

  "Some time?" She asked confused.

  "Yeah... some time - to bring myself around. This whole, courtship thing - well - it's kind'ah new to me. And well, I'd like to uh -echm echm- do it - right."

  Vivian couldn't stop the smile that lit up her face. She just couldn't.

  "I see ... so ... is that why you're here... now?"

  "Yeah ... it is. Vivian Cooke... I've uh - come to court'yah!"

  Vivian knew she must look totally idiotic but she threw her hands up to her face covering it as a blush of bashfulness set it on fire. She'd done so, so quickly, it made her yelp, forgetting about her stitched hand, "Ouch - oh that hurt!"

  He gently grasped her hand and pulled it down to look at the palm that was bandaged.

  He looked from it up to her, "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."

  She could see the look in his eyes that he meant it, that he hurt with the knowledge of what happened to her, "Jake... this was not your fault, had nothing to do with you."

  "Maybe not, but - every time it goes through my mind, what could have happened to you, it makes me a little bit crazy."

  "I've decided that I'd better get myself a car, stop being so tight with the money and accept that car note."

  "That's easier said than done, isn't it?" He added in agreement.

  "Yes - it is." She returned softly, he was gently playing with her slender fingers.

  "You have such soft, skinny fingers, little hands ... look at them next to mine." He asked. The comparison, the contrast, the size difference was striking, fascinating - alluring. Large against small, hard against soft, dark against fair, masculine against feminine. He suddenly brought her hand to his mouth and gently kissed her injured palm. Holding it to his face, encouraging her fingers to touch his bristly skin.

  The gesture, sent her heart into a rapid beat, melting her down from within.

  "It's late. I better go. Dad will be back out if I don't get moving here soon."

  "Would he really?" Vivian asked stunned.

  "Yes ... he would. I'll ah, be helping Shawn tomorrow, but - I'll be back. If you want, I'm sure Sylvia would come and get you, bring you-..."

  "No. Your parents sent for me. I called them and they answered the call. I would never throw their kindness and generosity in their face by taking off to my friends and leaving them on the first day here as if I have no manners. If you wish to see me, you know where to find me." She stood from the swing.

  Jake smiled.

  He too stood, taking her gently by the arm, he walked her to the door.

  "I guess, I'll see you tomorrow then, after work? Well, after helping Shawn?" He asked.

  "Okay... sure... tomorrow." She smiled.

  He leaned down, and gave her a very nice, respectful kiss on the lips.

  Vivian smiled up at him as he stood tall once again away from her.

  "Tomorrow." She acknowledged.

  "See you then." He stepped away from her, heading down the stairs, unable to take his eyes from her. "Go inside now, and lock the door."

  She did as he told her. Going to the window and watching as he trotted to his truck, jumped in and started it, backed away from the barn, turned and drove off down the dark driveway, his lights on high beams to climb the slight drive that went up and out. Vivian exhaled. Made sure the door was locked and slowly climbed the stairs to his room, where she would lay in his bed, and dream away a perfectly good night she could be use for sleeping.

  Chapter 156

  The next morning the house was in an uproar.

  Shawn was a wreck and almost in tears.

  Sylvia had passed out in the bathroom, hit her head on the side of the toilet bowl on the way down in such a way that it laid open a gash on the side of her head. It had been bleeding so bad, he found her out of it, laying with her head in a small pool of blood. He'd carried on as if he'd found her dead.

  Jake had been awakened by Shawn shouting her name.

  By the time he reached their bedroom, Angela was sitting on the side of the bed almost in tears, watching Shawn carry her out to lay on their bed, Sylvia was coming to. He held a hand towel to her head, talking to her, trying to get her to talk to him. Her actions and movements were as if she was drunk.

  "Jake! Hold her up, don't let her lie back down! Baby - we're going to the hospital, okay?" Shawn spoke in panicked tones. Angela was sitting next to her stroking her arm, "Sylvia, you okay? Sylvia." She cried.

  Sylvia was awake, just dizzy. She felt slightly high, as if all going on around her happened in a dream.

  "Aye, come on, lady, snap to... wake up, talk to us, say something! Did you faint? Did you slip? What happened?" Jake asked, as his brother rushed snatching his clothes on, moving
with haste. Sylvia wore only a short, thigh-length sleep-shirt. She felt no pain, could only hear distorted, elongated vowels that sounded like yawns.

  "You need to get some clothes on her, Shawn." Jake stated calmly.

  "Fuck that! Wrap that sheet around her!"

  Angela hopped off the bed, helping Jake wrap her up, with Shawn taking over since he had his clothes on.

  He'd slept in late that morning, having lain awake holding his wife, and thinking about everything he needed to get done. Now, he was glad he had stayed in bed. Had he been downstairs, in his office or someplace else, he might not have known in time. He was dozing when she got out of bed, heard her use the toilet, heard the sink water come on and then vaguely heard another sound, as if she'd dropped something. He dozed off briefly and was awakened by complete silence. There should have been no silence. It was the kind of silence that was out of place. If anyone asked him why that disturbed him enough to rouse him from the bed, he wouldn't be able to answer why. But to knock on the door, get no response, and then open it to see her lying on the floor, blood spreading away from her head almost sent him into hysterics.

  The gash was still bleeding, she was going to need stitches. "Jake, grab my keys and pull the SUV out!"

  "Call an ambulance, Shawn! You're too shaken!"

  "No! They'll take too long! She's bleeding too bad!" Shawn hefted her to the top of his body and carried her from their bedroom wrapped in the sheet. Jake couldn't reason with him, he rushed and did as he was told, worried about Shawn driving with her like this.

  Shawn put her in the front seat, buckled her in, ran to the other side, jumped in, slamming his door. Shifting, he backed out of the drive holding his hand against her. "Sylvia!? Wake up and talk to me! Baby! Talk to me!" He urged her, driving carefully, but wasting no time. Turning, he held his hand against her chest to keep her back. Blood was soaking the sheet near the side of her head where the gash was. His heart was beating so fast, it had his ears ringing.

  "SYLVIA!!! DAMMIT!! FUCKIN' TALK TO ME NOW, GODDAMMIT!!!"

  She could hear him, and was responding, but her tongue felt numb.

  His good fortune was that it was still very early for traffic. He cut through 12 & 16 to the Tomah hospital in good time, going straight to the emergency entrance.

  Sylvia lay in a hospital bed, her head stitched and bandaged, her family surrounding her. Her doctor there shaking his head.

  "Well, well, well, so you're gonna be like this, are you?"

  "I don't know what you mean." Sylvia returned softly. Shawn was on the bed beside her, waiting for answers as well.

  "I have a feeling we're going to be dealing with a bought of gestational diabetes. Your blood pressure was really low, for one thing. Which caused your fainting, and we've tested your glucose levels, not too good. Are you eating right?"

  Nervous, Sylvia chewed on the inside of her bottom lip. She was busy, had a lot to do, and had been skipping meals.

  "Hey? Have you been eating right?" Shawn asked.

  Her eyes rolled from the doctor with nervous worry towards her husband, still chewing on her lip.

  "I may have skipped a few meals, here and there. But I wasn't really hungry - and we've got so much to get done, Shawn, and-..."

  He shot up from the bed, red-faced and running his hand over his hair in an irritated manner.

  "Sylvia - ..." Dr. Edmond called her attention from looking worriedly at her husband. She turned back to him, "... you cannot - I repeat - cannot - skip - one - meal..."

  "But-..."

  "Ah, ah, ah, ah - I'm the doctor here - listen to me - I'm talking. You cannot skip one meal. I don't care if you're hungry or not. I don't care if you have no appetite. You're showing early signs of a diabetic pregnancy. All will go perfectly well, if you would just eat... that's all... just eat. Eat right, of course, but - eat. Eat breakfast-..."

  "I do-o-o, it's later on, when we get busy - and I have things-..."

  "Sylvia... no excuses. This is a wake up call. Modern technology, advancements in medicine and research have come a long way to improve the success rate of pregnancy and the delivery of healthy babies - however - nothing we can do, overrides the first order, and that is, mom taking care of herself! So, we're going to keep you for one night-..."

  "Noooo, do-o-n't - I'm fine."

  "Mom... you need to stay here and chill for a bit." Crystal spoke up, watching Shawn, he was pacing, quiet. Not a good sign.

  "Yeah, mama, we got everything covered, you need to stay here like your doctor telling you." Mundo spoke up.

  "Please, Sylvia, stay for a while, we'll be okay." Angela pleaded beside her. She'd refused to go to school, demanding that Jake take her to the hospital.

  Sylvia looked at everyone around her, especially her silent husband. She turned back to her doctor, "I suppose I have no choice, hm?"

  "No, you don't, because I'm not releasing you until I'm satisfied. And we'll be changing your prenatal appointments to every couple of weeks instead of monthly, just until I know you're minding yourself and eating right. Keeping your blood sugars and blood pressure normal. I'll be back to check on you a little later. Behave yourself, do as you're told, understand?"

  Sylvia made a face. It wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't hit her head on the toilet. She reached up and felt the area they had to shave in order to clean and stitch it, covered with a gauze and a white band around her head to hold it in place.

  The doctor left, and the kids gradually eased from the room after giving her a kiss, taking Angela with them. Jake had been waiting outside for them to come out and tell him what was going on. He knocked on the door of her room.

  "Come in." Sylvia called.

  Jake poked his head in, and then eased in to look at her. "You sure scared the hell out of everybody." He started right away, "I called mom and dad, told them. They'll be here with Vivian to see you."

  "Oh, Jake! Why'd you have to go and do that, I'm all right!"

  "Yeah, that's why you're laying up here, head bandaged. They'll be here. This'll teach you to take better care of yourself." His eyes went to his brother standing at her hospital room window, looking out of it and seeing nothing.

  "Shawn?"

  He turned from the window and glanced at him. "I'm going back to the house, get started on Shanna's deck, okay?"

  He nodded.

  Jake looked back to Sylvia, leaned down and whispered to her, "You're in trou-ble. You've scared the shit out of him. I'm going now." He winked, leaving her with that to worry about.

  She was quiet, back to chewing on her lip, and staring at her husband's back. He took a long cleansing, deep inhale and then let it out slowly and turned to her. Taking his hands from his pockets, he walked over to the bed, and climbed on it, laying on his side next to her. His one arm stretched up over her head, his palm bracing his head as he lay beside her, staring down into her face. Sylvia's dark eyes were wide, staring back at him. Shawn's eyes rolled up to look at the white band on her head, the small square gauze covering the small area where eight stitches closed the gash there. He put his other arm across her waist and pulled her against him, laid his head on his arm and closed his eyes daring not to speak. Sylvia nestled in close against him, holding his arm to her. Turning carefully towards him, minding her head that she not move the bandage. They laid there for quite sometime, Sylvia didn't wish to speak, she wasn't sure what would come out of his mouth.

  His hand at her waist, was stroking and squeezing, pulling her closer and closer. There was no room or way to get her closer, but still, he held her tightly there against him. Sylvia carefully placed her head against his chest, underneath his chin, he was almost on top of her. She heard him swallow deep, as if struggling with moisture in his mouth. Sylvia felt awful. At the time, when she was running around with Shanna, trying to get things organized, trying to work out all the necessary things that must be seen to for running a bed and breakfast seemed larger than life and must get done. She hadn't been trying to skip meals, she
was just used to waiting for dinner, or just going without. That had become a normal routine for her. Normal before Shawn, and before her pregnancy. Yet, that, was another thing about her life no longer the same. Because she was 38 years old, with her hormone levels altering daily, demands on her changing body increased, she was not the same. She had to be mindful, and now - eat. Admittedly, she was a bit concerned about gaining too much weight. She didn't want to use being pregnant as an excuse to overeat and gain weight. Since Shawn, she'd put on 12 pounds, and it all went first to her butt. He still wasn't talking, she couldn't take his not saying anything.

  "You mad at me?" She asked softly.

  "No." He answered right away.

  Again silence.

  "Say something, then." She pleaded softly.

  "Do you want this baby, Sylvia?"

  Of all things for him to say, she hadn't expected that. "Shawn! Yes! Of course I do!"

  "Only because, I got you pregnant, right?"

  "Shawn! I want your babies, I want Jesse James. I love him with all of my heart - I do."

  "Yeah, but I got you pregnant without asking you - maybe-..."

  "Shawn... I want him. Besides, it's not your fault the rubber broke."

  "Emmm, yeah - it is. Rubbers didn't break. I, ah - doctored them - a bit. Helped them along, to make sure, I got through to you."

  Now it was her turn to lay in silence. Shawn took a deep long breath. Pulled away to look down into her face. "I did everything in my power to knock you up. Get you pregnant. Load you up with as much of my sperm as I could get into you." He admitted, pausing to let that sink in. When she just stared at him, expressionless, he went on, "Everything in your life was so planned, so structured, so under your control, had I asked, I wouldn't have had a chance. If I'd met you years ago, I would have kept you pregnant, having my babies. Women aren't the only ones, racing against - time - clocks. There are many men like me, wanting a family - problem with us is - we can't get pregnant. And if we can't find that special someone - who is willing; time's up. Too late. No chance. You women think you're the only ones who've ever wanted children. Some men, like me - want them too. I wanted them so bad, Sylvia - so bad. When I met you, got to know you; seeing you with your grandsons, I don't know - I just knew it. It had to be you." He stopped again, laying his head back on his arm, his eyes staring off towards the door. Sylvia was still quiet, didn't know what to say. He blew from his mouth, his cheek puffing out with the air passing from him, "It's amazing how you can want something so bad, and then - something like what happened this morning takes place." He glanced down at her, "And - no - not now - not - at the cost of you. If I have to, I'll live without - ever having, my babies - I'd - even give up Jesse James... as long as I get to keep you. Nothing - no one - is worth - losing you."