by Jane Charles
The officer stops by the driver’s side window. “License please.”
Jackie is shaking so hard she can barely get her wallet out of her purse.
“Where were you going in such a hurry?”
“Hospital or Urgent Care. Whichever one was first.”
This time the officer leans down to look inside the car. “Sick? Injured?”
I hold up my hand. “Snake bite.”
“Copperhead,” Jackie explains, finally finding her wallet.
“It’s a couple of miles down the road,” he tells Jackie and takes a step back. “Go the speed limit this time. You want to get him there alive or a bite won’t matter.”
“You’re not giving me a ticket?”
“Go on.”
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
She turns the car back on, signals and then pulls back out on the road. This time she watches the road, and the speedometer, then the road, with a few glances in the rear-view mirror.
“He’s following.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He’s probably going to give her a ticket as soon as we pull in. He’s just being nice enough to let me get to the doctor first. I don’t tell Jackie this, of course. She’s already on edge.
“I’ll drop you at the door and then park.” She pops my seatbelt and I open the door.
“I’ll be on the bench waiting.”
“You aren’t going in?”
“I’m not sure I can make it to that bench.” Dizziness has hit me again.
Jackie scrambles out of the car and helps me walk to the bench. “I’ll be right back.”
The police cruiser stops behind us and the cop gets out. “I’ll get someone out here with a wheelchair.”
“Thank you,” Jackie nearly cries then gets back into the car and pulls it into a parking spot somewhere in the long lot. Before she gets back I’m being wheeled into the ER.
“Are you still giving her a ticket?”
The officer shakes his head and chuckles. “Her day is bad enough. Just remind her to keep her speed down.”

That cop is going to give me a ticket. Why else would he follow me all the way in to the parking lot? Not that I can worry about that now. I was going twenty over, but he’s got to understand that this is life and death. Brett may not think he’s about to die, but he looks it.
Brett isn’t outside anymore when I reach the doors. The cop is leaving as I walk in.
He nods to me. “Watch your speed from now on.”
“I will. I promise. I swear.” I look past the officer. “Where did they take him?”
“Back in an exam room.” He puts his hat back on his head. “Have a good day.”
Good day? This is a horrible day. First to find out my brother might be…. No. Do not think like that. Now Brett has a bite from a very poisonous snake. It’s a nightmare.
“Where did they take Brett Robak?” I demand when I get to the front desk.
She hits a buzzer and the door opens. “Exam room five.”
I quickly thank her and hurry through the doors and find his room. Brett’s already on the bed, but they don’t have him in a gown or anything. What kind of place is this if they don’t get him in a hospital gown?
“Are you sure it was a copperhead?” A guy in white jacket is asking. Is he the doctor?
“Yeah!” Brett groans. “Saw it too late. Tried to jerk back my hand, but wasn’t quick enough.”
The doctor nods to the nurse and she leaves for a moment. “The morphine will help with the pain.”
“Thank God.”
“Some antibiotics too.” The doctor gently lifts the hand. “When was your last tetanus shot?”
“Three years ago.”
“Should still be good.” Then he lets the hand rest back on the bed. “Anti-venom as a precaution since it’s only been about half an hour.”
Only half an hour? It feels like a hell of a lot longer.
“Once you’ve been given the morphine, we’ll get this cleaned and bandaged up.”
“Thanks,” Brett mumbles.
He doesn’t look all that better, but maybe some of the pain is diminishing, or maybe it’s just better now that he’s lying down.
The nurse returns and takes three syringes out of her pocket along with little medicine vials.
I hate needles.
She gives him three different shots, one of them in his ass, and I try not to watch. Last time I saw someone get a shot, I nearly passed out. A needle into an IV is no big deal. A needle into skin, well that’s an entirely different story, and why I didn’t go into the nursing field.
“I’ll be back to get that cleaned out.”
“How are you feeling?” I ask once she’s gone.
“Better now.”
Brett is starting to relax and he gives me a goofy grin. Does morphine work that quickly?
My heart is finally calm, but I’m still a little shaky. I pull the chair over and sit down before I fall down and grab Brett’s good hand again.
“Some trip, huh?”
“I think we finally made it through the twenty-questions of getting to know each other.”
Against my will. I chuckle. “Yep. But I still don’t know your middle name.”
“David”
“Brett David Robak. Nice ring to it.”
“Jacqueline….”
“Marie.”
“Jacqueline Marie Baxter. Nice!” The nice was a bit slurred and his eyelids are beginning to droop a bit. I didn’t think morphine put you to sleep, but if it lessens the pain that is all that matters.
“Okay, Mr. Robak, let’s get that cleaned up.”
It’s the doctor, not the nurse. Wasn’t she supposed to clean his wound? Not that it matters. Just so he’s taken care of.
He places the hand on the table and then moves a magnifying glass over it before he starts picking at it with a pair of small tweezers. Brett winces a few times, but doesn’t make any sounds.
After a moment the doctor sits back. “Just wanted to make sure a fang didn’t break off in the bite.”
“That can happen?” I’d never heard of that before.
“Sometimes.” He shrugs. “The nurse will be in a moment to finish cleaning it for you.”
Before he’s barely made it out of the room, the nurse bustles back in with bandages and salves. “Let’s get this done while the morphine is still working, shall we?”
He’s laying back as calm as can be, as if nothing happened to him, while I can’t barely watch the nurse clean the wound. I swear his left hand is almost twice the size of his right, but nobody seems to be concerned. Well, they are about the wound, but not the swelling. Should he ice it or something? “What about the swelling?”
“It will go down in time. He’ll also have bruising, but all should be good in a few weeks.”
A few weeks?
“Will I be able to work?”
“As long as it isn’t physical.”
“I guess I’m at a desk for a bit.”
Which doesn’t bother me at all. At least they won’t be sending him off to parts unknown right away.
“Here you go Mr. Robak.” She tapes the last of the bandage before turning to me. “Will you be staying with him?”
I nod.
“I’ll give you the discharge instructions, things to watch for, and prescription for pain meds. A pharmacy is just across the road and you can get it filled there.”
Brett tugs on my hand when she leaves the room. “Are you going to be my nurse?”
“Looks like it.”
His goofy grin is back. “I have a fantasy about nurses.”
I quickly glance behind me to make sure nobody heard him. “I don’t think that’s going to be happening tonight.” I’m not sure I’ll be able to get him home and in bed before he passes out in this state.
“Come here.”
I lean in closer and hope to hell he whispers whatever it is he’s going to say this time. “I love you
.”
My heart stops for a second. Did he mean it or was that the morphine talking? “I love you too.”
He sighs, smiles and relaxes back against the pillow. It is a little early to be say words like love but the moment I said it to him, I knew they were true. I am in love with Brett David Robak, and probably have been. I’m just not so confident that he is in love with me. He’s kind of drugged up.
Where the hell am I? I try to sit up but pain slices through my hand when I put pressure on it. Shit. I was bit by a fucking copperhead and Jackie took me to an urgent care. But, what the hell happened after that?
I recall most of the hospital and the conversations, but not what happened after we got into the car, except she promised to obey the speed limit this time.
While this bed is somewhat comfortable, Jackie and I were not supposed to be in separate beds, regardless of what I may have insinuated to her grandmother.
Where was Jackie anyway and why didn’t she sleep with me? We didn’t have to be upstairs. The bed is nicer and it’s more romantic, but this bed is certainly big enough for both of us.
My clothes are on too. What the hell happened after the hospital and how did I get into bed?
Well, Jackie has got to be here somewhere and I’ll be damned if I’m going to lie in bed all by myself. Especially if she is up in the loft in bed.
The room is really bright when I step out into the kitchen and my arm goes up against the glare.
“Good morning.” The chirpy voice of Jackie greets me. “Want some coffee?”
“Please.” There’s a stool at the counter and I sit on it, still groggy and trying to wake up.
“How come I slept down here?”
“We tried the stairs, you stumbled back, and then I decided you didn’t need any more injuries.”
I’m hurting enough this morning without that. Well, my hand is anyway.
“You could have stayed down here with me.”
She puts the cup of coffee in front of me. “I thought about it, but you needed your sleep and I was afraid I’d bump your hand in my sleep.”
“So you slept in that comfy bed upstairs all by yourself last night.”
She blinks at me and turns away, opening the fridge. “No. I slept on the couch.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to be able to hear you if you woke up or needed anything.”
“You didn’t have to do that.” I didn’t even wake last night. At least not that I remember.
Jackie puts a carton of eggs on the counter and grabs a loaf of bread. “I was worried. Okay.”
“You’re such a good nurse…” Had I really said those things in the hospital?
“I didn’t exactly nurse you.” She cracks eggs into a bowl and adds a bit of milk before whipping them up with a fork.
“Did I confess a fantasy about nurses?”
Her shoulders shake so I know she’s laughing even though it’s silent.
“Sorry.”
This time her head shakes. “Maybe when you are all better, we’ll see what we can do about making that happen.”
I may be tired and in pain, but my dick begins to stir to life at the idea.
All of the conversations are coming back to me. I hadn’t meant to confess like that, but I’m glad I got the words out of the way. I’d been holding them in. Afraid it was too soon, or that she didn’t feel the same and would run. But she returned them.
But what if it was because I was in a hospital bed and not quite myself? Ten minutes earlier she was convinced I was going to die. Did she think I didn’t mean them because of the drugs so she didn’t mean them either? Do I say anything?
Hell, I have to. It’s better than wondering.
“I meant everything I said last night.”
Her back stiffens for a moment.
“Everything.”
“Yep.” She just nods and tosses some butter into the skillet.
“Turn around.”
Slowly Jackie turns and looks at me a bit sheepishly. Shit, maybe I shouldn’t say anything. She looks almost uncomfortable, afraid of what I might say.
“Yes?”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to say nothing, but I won’t take the coward’s way out. “I meant that I loved you. I mean, I do love you.”
Her shoulders drop, her smile grows and her eyes lighten. “Well, I do believe I love you too.” With that she turns her back and goes back to making breakfast and I can’t wipe the fucking grin off of my face.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Theo is standing in the side yard smoking when we drive up. At first he frowns and then laughs. I would love to know his thought process. I get out of the car first after cutting the engine.
“Couldn’t cut it huh?” Then he glances at Brett. “Why the hell is she driving? You do know you are taking your life in your hands when she’s behind the wheel. Jackie’s got a lead foot.”
“I found that out.” Brett shuts the passenger door and comes around the front.
Theo’s smile drops when he sees that Brett’s hand is bandaged. “Geez, Jackie. What the hell did you do to the poor guy?”
“Hey. Who says I have anything to do with this?”
“He is the Boy Scout and camper. And you are, well, you.”
My family has no faith in me.
“For your information, Brett was bitten by a snake while gathering firewood.”
“Probably because you distracted him.”
Shit! I hadn’t thought about that. Am I the reason he was bit?
“She didn’t distract me. It was stupid of me not to look first. Or, I looked too late.”
“Whatever you say,” Theo takes a drag on his cigarette. He doesn’t believe either of us and I’ll probably hear about it the rest of my life of how I’m responsible for Brett getting bit because he was foolish enough to take me camping.
“Grams in the house?”
“Napping.”
“She does that a lot, but the doctor said it was to be expected while her body continues to heal.”
“How are you doing?”
Theo’s eyebrows draw together and he pulls back. “What’s this? Getting all sisterly on me?”
“I’ve been gone for a few days and I missed you.” I pat his cheek as I walk by. I really want to talk to him to see how he is really doing, but Theo’s not about to open up with Brett here. Hell, Theo barely opens up when it’s just the two of us. But, I got to know where his head is at. I need to reassure myself that I have nothing to worry about.
“Hey, can you get your car and follow me to Brett’s uncles?”
“Why?”
“He can’t exactly drive and needs to rest.”
“Brett can rest here.”
“Grandma is not going to let him have one of the rooms upstairs while she’s stuck on the first floor.”
“She will if we don’t tell her.”
We won’t need to tell her. That maid of hers reports everything. Grandma will know before he has made it halfway up the stairs. “His aunt is a nurse. I’d rather he was there, where she can keep an eye on that bite”
“Hey, I am standing here.”
I guess we were kind of talking about Brett, right in front of him. “Get your keys and follow us.”
“Fine!” Theo rolls his eyes and then tosses his cigarette butt into the rocks.
As soon as we walked in the front door, Aunt Helen is ordering me to the kitchen and onto a stool and begins unwrapping the bandage. Theo hovers near the door as Jackie explains to my aunt what the doctors said and gives her the papers and prescriptions we picked up at the pharmacy.
The hand looks worse than it did when it first got bit. Still swollen, but the skin is nearly black. I’m not sure if that is bruising or infection or what.
“We don’t get many snake bites,” Aunt Mary says before dashing down the hall. I know there is a library of sorts back there. My uncle has a desk where he pays bills and there’s a computer. All of the walls are lined with shelve
s and my aunt has a bunch of medical texts.
“That’s really gross,” Theo says as he walks in the room.
“It looks worse than it feels.” I’m just not sure it looks worse than it is because it looks pretty bad.
The back door opens and my Uncle Quinn comes in with all the kids. They are all loaded down with bags.
“Looks like you guys have been shopping.”
“School starts in two days,” the youngest, Rosalyn announces with a grin while the oldest, Kian just grumbles.
“What happened?” my uncle asks as he stops to look at my hand.
“Eww, gross,” the next to the youngest, Deirdre says.
“Cool,” Kian counters, looking over my shoulder as I explain what happened.
“Children, go to the dining room and put your stuff on the table and get it organized while I patch up Brett’s hand.
The boys grumble and the girls walk as far away from me as they can, as if I’m the damn snake.
“Well, this looks normal,” she finally says. “At least from the book.” Then she puts the back of her hand against my forehead. “You’re a bit warm.”
“That’s because the house is full of people.”
Aunt Helen frowns at me.
“He promised me that he’d go right to bed after you looked at his hand.”
“Traitor,” I mumble to Jackie.
“At least one of you is showing good sense.” Aunt Helen takes out the salve and starts smearing in on my hand. I guess it’s an antibiotic cream, but didn’t they shoot me in the ass so I wouldn’t get an infection?
Instead of asking I look over a Theo. “You all ready for school? It’s your last year.”
He just shrugs. “I don’t need anything.”
Jackie stiffens beside me and I grab her hand with my good one.
“You at least need notebooks and stuff like that, or they don’t need those things school anymore.”
“I haven’t decided if I’m going back. Don’t see the point.”
“Oh, so you are going to home school. Jackie said you might.”
He just rolls his eyes. “It’s all good. Everything is going to work out like it should and I don’t need to be worrying about high school.”
“But…” Jackie begins.
“You worry too much, sis.” He turns for the door. “I’ll be out in the car.”