by Iris Bolling
JD and James walked over to the bed. “I have to go,” James said to Ashley.
“I will talk to you later; I want to stay here for a little while,” Ashley said. James left the room.
Ashley laid her head back against JD, who was standing directly behind her. “I don’t understand why this happened, but I know she will be stronger because of it,” Ashley said.
“It happened because of me, Ash. I will never forgive myself for this.”
Ashley turned around to see if he was serious; he was. “Don’t you take this on like you did with Daddy. Daddy’s death was not on you and neither is this. You are not responsible for every detail in the lives of people you love, JD. You know God is working his magic here. He is preparing you and Tracy for the things you will have to deal with in the future. There is no blame here, except for the people who did this terrible thing. Speaking of which, how is the investigation going?”
JD just looked at Ashley. She thoroughly dismissed his self-pity and moved on. He smiled at her, wondering if James had any idea what he had. “They got all three. One is dead, one in the hospital and one behind bars,” JD replied.
“What kind of time will they get?”
“Not much, I’m afraid, unless we can get them on attempted murder.”
“Then that’s what we have to push for.”
Nurse Gordon came in the room. “Mr. Harrison, there are a string of people here. They said they were called to this room.”
JD went over to the door. He saw Rosaline and about five other people with her.
“Hello, Rosaline.” JD smiled.
“Hey, JD. How is Tracy?”
“Still asleep.”
“Well, we are here to work. Where do you need us?”
JD pointed to the room next door. “Thank you, Rosaline.”
“Oh, JD, this is for Tracy, and there will be no charge for this.”
JD smiled as Rosaline entered the room next door. “You two sure do have a lot of friends,” Nurse Gordon commented.
“You haven’t seen anything yet, wait till she wakes up. I got to go, big brother. I will talk to you later,” Ashley said, kissing JD on the cheek.
♥
It was getting late in the evening and Tracy had not been awake at all during the day. He understood her body needed the rest, but it had been 48 hours and Tracy still had not awakened. Later that night, Nurse Gordon came in the room. “We are going to start reducing her medication. We need her awake for a moment to check her responses.”
JD gave her a sad smile.
“Keep talking to her, she can hear you,” Nurse Gordon encouraged JD. He took her hand in his and began talking to Tracy. Eventually JD fell asleep on the side of the bed.
The sound from the television woke JD. As he lay beside Tracy, he wondered what was going through her mind. He wondered if she would still marry him after all of this. He remembered talking to Pastor Smith about this very thing happening. JD began to second-guess his actions. When he was shot, he should have gotten out then. But that would’ve put the people in Blackwell back under Juan’s control. Tracy’s hand moved. JD didn’t know if he was dreaming or if she really moved. “Tracy!” he called out.
Tracy slowly opened her eyes. She looked around as if she was trying to figure out where she was. She moaned; everything on her was hurting, from her head down to her toes. “Tracy?” JD called out again. She tried to focus on his voice. “Hey,” JD smiled. Tracy tried to answer back but it felt as if a ball of cotton was in her throat. “Here, take a sip of water,” JD said, as if he knew what she was feeling. He put the straw to Tracy’s mouth, and then pushed the button for the nurse. Tracy took a sip; the water felt good on her throat.
Nurse Gordon was there in seconds. She brought some ice chips in with her, anticipating her waking up. The nurse put the ice chips to her lips. “This might help with the soreness.”
Tracy tried to say thank you, but couldn’t. Tracy looked at JD. A soft smile came to her face. She whispered, “Hi.”
JD sighed with relief. “Hey, it’s good to see you seeing me.”
Tracy smiled then flinched.
“Tracy, I’m going to push this button to release some pain medication. It won’t be much, just enough to take the edge off,” the nurse said. Tracy nodded. JD kissed her.
“Yuck mouth,” she whispered.
“You or me?” JD smiled.
“Me.” She sighed.
“I don’t care. I will take you, yuck mouth and all.” He smiled. “I missed you these past few days,” JD said. Tracy was trying to get her bearings.
“How long?” she asked.
“How long have you been here?” JD repeated. “Two nights,” he told her.
“Why?”
“You don’t remember what happened?” JD frowned. Tracy thought for a moment. Then her heart rate began to increase. She was remembering the first hit. She moaned and squeezed JD’s hand tight. Tears began to fill her eyes.
“Talk to her, Mr. Harrison. Try to calm her down,” Nurse Gordon said.
“Tracy, it’s okay. It’s all over. You are here with me. I promise I will not let anything happen to you ever again.” He kissed her face. He wanted to comfort her, make her feel safe. She began to settle down a little, but not enough to satisfy Nurse Gordon.
“Mr. Harrison, I’m going to have to put her back under if she doesn’t calm down.”
“Tracy, baby, please calm down. I can’t take another night without you to talk to. Baby, please, please, calm down.” Tracy tried to get the images out of her head. She closed her eyes, but that made them worse. She looked into JD’s eyes and saw the worry in them. She began to take deep breaths to calm herself. JD continued to kiss her face. “Please stay with me tonight, Tracy, please,” JD cried.
“It’s getting better,” Nurse Gordon said. “We are going to have to be careful with that. I don’t want her to be in any distress.”
“Okay,” JD said, “I will keep her calm; just don’t put her back under like that.” A tear ran down Tracy’s face. JD wiped the tear. “I wish I could take this pain away for you,” he said. “I’m so sorry about all of this.” He sighed, and then swallowed back his own tears. He crawled in the bed beside her, held her in his arms and talked to her until she fell asleep. Nurse Gordon closed the door to the room. She left instructions that no one was to disturb them tonight.
Tracy was having a rough night. She was very uncomfortable with the small dosage of medication. Nurse Gordon called the doctor and requested an increase in the medication, only to help her sleep through the night. As much as JD wanted Tracy to be awake, he did not like seeing her in pain. He waited until she dozed off to sleep before he left the room.
JD went into the adjacent room where Cynthia and her crew had been working earlier. He was really surprised and pleased at the number of responses they had been able to prepare. He smiled at the job the crew had done. He began to read some of the cards and the attached responses. The memory of telling Tracy about the baby played in JD’s mind. It was the hardest thing he ever had to do. He had no idea Tracy was pregnant and neither did she. When he mentioned the baby, Tracy’s eyes lit up with excitement, even though she was in pain. When he told her she had lost the baby, Tracy lowered her eyes and said she was sorry for causing him pain. A tear fell from JD’s eyes. He had caused all of this to happen and she was apologizing to him.
“JD,” Senator Roth said, pulling JD away from his thoughts.
JD stood and extended his hand. “Hello, Senator, it’s good to see you.”
Senator Roth shook his hand. “I received your message from Daniel you need to see me. How is Tracy doing?”
The strain of trying to keep his emotions under control was beginning to show on JD’s face. “She’s in a lot of pain. They keep her medicated for comfort.”
“JD, you know if there is anything I can do, all you have to do is ask.”
JD pointed to the chairs. “Have a seat. I need your guidance on something. Sena
tor, I want to have a bill put into law. I know the normal steps to presenting a bill, but I really want this bill to pass. Where do I start?”
“What is it about?”
JD sat back and let out everything he had been thinking since the attack on Tracy. Now that he had voiced his thoughts aloud, he was fearful of the reaction from others. He did not want people to think he was doing this just because his fiancée was attacked. The truth of the matter was that his research already showed that a number of good prosecutors switched to defense attorneys because of threats to their families or themselves. In addition, several prosecutors had been intimidated or killed because of their work. JD pushed the statistics in front of the senator.
“You will be dipping into my side of the law now, son,” Senator Roth said. “You do realize to get a bill passed you will have to lobby politicians. You have always expressed a sincere interest in keeping a good distance between you and us,” he said as he laughed.
JD sat forward. “I realize that. That’s why I need your guidance on this. I am not a compromiser. You know that. Even with this, as important as it is to me, I will not compromise my beliefs or my word.”
Senator Roth liked JD’s stand on issues. He always says what he believes, popular or not, the Senator thought. We need more men like him out front in the party: someone not afraid to take a stand and mean it. Senator Roth left the research on the table. “I’ll read it later. Sell me on it.” He was anxious to see exactly how JD would handle the pressure.
JD said, “Okay, this is the purpose behind the bill.” JD proceeded to explain the statistics and their implications.
They talked for hours about the need for the bill. Senator Roth always knew JD had the ability to persuade people to his will. He never realized how intelligent and thorough JD was. During his argument for the bill he did not miss a beat. His arguments for and against the bill were both thorough and precise.
The next morning, Senator Roth dialed the governor’s office. If we handle this opportunity correctly, he thought as he waited for the governor’s assistant to put him through, we may have our attorney general in this election, governor in the next election and possible president in 12 years.
“We need to meet tonight with the leaders of both the Senate and the House,” he told the governor. “I’ll be there in 15.”
Chapter 30
Two weeks later, Tracy was released from the hospital. The news media got wind of the release and was out in full force. Several reporters were outside the hospital exit when JD and Tracy came down. The questions started coming the minute the door opened. Cameras started going off.
“What are your plans now, Mr. Harrison? Are you going back into the office anytime soon?” a reporter asked.
“Don’t take the bait, JD,” Victoria said, who was standing next to the SUV with Brian. “You don’t owe him or anyone any explanations.” She kissed Tracy’s cheek. “It’s good to see you, Tracy.” Victoria smiled.
“It’s good to see you, too. What’s going on?” Tracy asked.
“Nothing for you to worry about, babe,” JD replied as he opened the door for Tracy to get in.
“Don’t you think the people have the right to know when their DA will actually be in the office?” the reporter yelled.
Tracy looked at Jeffrey; she released his hand and walked over to the reporter. She extended her hand. “Hello, what’s your name?” she politely asked. The look on JD’s face as he stood behind Tracy let the reporter know there would be a price to pay for his actions.
“Charles,” the reporter replied.
“Hello, Charles.” She smiled. “My name is Tracy. I realize Jeffrey has spent most of his time at the hospital for the last week or so because of me. And I must apologize to the citizens of the city for that. I was being a little selfish with his time. But now that I will be home, Jeffrey will be able to give his undivided attention to doing what he does best, and that’s protecting the citizens of the city from crime.” Tracy was still holding the reporter’s hand. “I will ask you to give us the remainder of this day and he will be all yours again. Can you do that, Charles?” Tracy asked.
Tracy had not noticed all the cameras and microphones surrounding them. But Charles did. He was not about to deny a woman with a cast on her arm and bruises on her face anything with all the cameras on them. “Yes, I can do that.” He smiled.
Tracy kissed his cheek and said, “Thank you.” She turned and was blocked by the crowd of reporters; she began to panic.
JD picked her up and handed her off to Brian. Brian put her in the car as JD turned back to Charles. He asked the other reporters to give them a moment. They did. He smirked at Charles. “Tracy is a very nice person; I’m not. Remember that the next time you try to provoke me.”
JD got into the car just as Brian yelled, “Don’t ever go into a crowd like that again, do you hear me?” Tracy flinched.
“The whole world heard you, Brian,” JD said calmly.
He kissed Tracy. “Thank you, but you do not have to defend my actions. There will never be a time I will apologize for being by your side.” JD smiled.
♥
When they reached JD’s condo, Martha had the family room set up for visitors. She had made the sofa up for Tracy to lie down and relax. Within an hour, Tracy was asleep on the sofa. JD, Calvin, James and Brian had gathered in the living room discussing the bill JD was trying to put before the General Assembly when Senator Roth rang the doorbell.
Earlier in the day, the Senator had received a call from the Governor during the news broadcast of Tracy’s departure from the hospital. “That’s the key,” the Governor said. “Get her and you will get JD, without question. The two of them together look like the White House in eight to 12 years. Let me take a look at the bill,” he said. “Get on the job, Roth. This couple could be the very lifeline the party needs. If you are able to get him, I’ll back them.”
“Senator Roth, hello,” Martha said as she opened the door. “The men are in the living room.” “Thank you, Martha. How have you been?”
“I’m doing just fine, John, thank you for asking. Are you trying to get my son into politics?”
“Yes, Martha, I am. I’m going to have that son of yours as my governor before I die.”
“I’m glad someone is finally getting to him.”
“Hello, Senator.” JD extended his hand.”
“JD.” He shook his hand and smiled.
“Son, I’m going home now,” Martha stated. “Make sure you get these people out of the house early; Tracy needs her rest.”
JD kissed her on her cheek. “I will. Thank you for everything, Mama.” JD watched as his mother got into her car. “Senator, everyone is in the living room reviewing the research received on the bill. Would you like to join us?”
“Yes,” he replied. “I took several meetings regarding the bill. We may have some support.”
About an hour later, JD was returning from seeing the Senator to his car. He yawned and shook his head; he was exhausted. “You look tired, Mr. Harrison,” Nurse Gordon said.
“A little,” he replied. “Ms. Gordon, I can’t tell you how much it means to me to have you here. I realize I am intruding on your down time. There was just no way I would have survived without your help. Thank you. Did you find everything okay?”
“I don’t usually get close to my patients, but you two are special. I will be here as long as you need me. Yes, I found everything I needed,” she replied. “I’m going to get her settled in bed before I leave.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll take her upstairs. It’s late, go home to your family.”
“Okay, I’ll see you in the morning. Good night, Mr. Harrison.”
JD went into the kitchen. “You staying the night?” he asked Ashley, who was cleaning the kitchen.
“Wild horses could not drag me away tonight.”
He smiled as he hugged her. “Thank you.” He went into the family room. Brian was stretched out on the Lazy Boy. “Are
you staying, too?” JD asked.
“Can Skippy have puppies?” Brian asked.
“No, Skippy is a boy dog.”
“Yeah, well, I’m staying anyway,” Brian replied as he settled in.
JD laughed, went over to the sofa and kissed Tracy. “Wake up, sleepyhead.” He picked her up and carried her upstairs. She had lost weight while in the hospital. She was lighter than the barbells he lifted regularly at the gym. “We are going to have to fatten you back up. Mama’s cooking ought to do the job.”
Tracy kissed his neck. “Is everyone gone?”
“Brian and Ashley are still here, but everyone else is gone. I thought they would never leave,” JD replied. “How about a nice, long bath?”
“Okay.”
♥
JD returned to the office the next day. His desk was loaded with cases that needed to be assigned. He did not want the success rate of the office to decline; therefore he wanted to assign the cases to the proper individuals.
Mrs. Langston came into the office. “Believe it or not, these are actually organized,” she replied smiling.
JD sat in his chair. “Okay, do you have something for me?”
Mrs. Langston smiled. “As a matter of fact, I do.” She pulled open one of his desk drawers. There was a container with oatmeal raisin cookies in it.
He smiled. “A cup of coffee, no interruptions for the day and I can get this completed.”
Happy to see him back in the office, Mrs. Langston said, “A cup of coffee it is.”
Within the hour, JD assigned the lower level crime cases. The rest of the morning was spent reviewing the evidence on each of the remaining cases. Before he assigned a case, he wanted to determine how much legwork would be needed for a conviction. He could allow the cases to be assigned randomly or based on political favors, as Gavin had in the past, but he believed this way would connect the right DA with the right case. He knew the ADAs very well, their strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes. He was going to assign the cases based on that information. By the end of the day, the assignments were put into the computer. JD was going to hold off on the assignments of the more difficult cases until he had the opportunity to meet with the head ADA in each department.