Jane swallowed and stepped closer, bending to whisper in Harrison’s ear. “I told them I was his mother. It was the only way they would talk to me about him. Do you think I can talk my way into his room?”
“I think you could talk your way into his bed by just saying yes, darlin’. The boy is smitten with you. Haven’t you figured that out yet?” Harrison demanded in a similar whisper. When she straightened and stared at him in surprise, Harrison wheeled around, motioning for Jane to follow him as he headed to the elevators.
“I guess when his real mother gets here, that might be a problem for her. Sorry. I wasn’t thinking clearly,” she said.
“You still aren’t. Walter doesn’t think of you as his mother,” Harrison said firmly. “Short-sighted people are what they are, Jane. You don’t have to buy into their nonsense.”
Jane sighed. “It doesn’t matter what they think anyway. I don’t care. I’m not here to. . .I just wanted to make sure he’s okay, Harrison. I needed to see for myself that he was.”
“Right,” Harrison said, nodding vigorously as the doors closed. “Walter’s going to be happy to see you too.”
***
There was a crowd of giggling nurses huddled just outside the door of Walter’s room. They were peeking around corners and pointing inside. Jane watched Harrison power his wheelchair through the middle of them, forcing the women to step back and let him roll by. Unsure of what else to do, Jane followed closely behind him, until one of the women touched her arm.
“Are you his mother?” she asked.
Jane swallowed hard against having to lie again. “I’m. . .I’m. . .”
“Jane, get in here. Walter heard your voice and is trying to get out of the damn bed.”
She turned in the direction of Harrison’s yelling, only to be stopped by the same hand again.
“Can you tell me if he’s dating anyone?” the woman pleaded softly. “He’s so nice. . .and so good-looking. He carried his friend out when he got hurt. There aren’t many guys like him.”
“No. No there sure aren’t,” Jane said, stepping out of arm’s reach. “How are the other firemen doing?”
“Just fine, ma’am. Even the one with the broken legs. His wife is with him now,” the nurse said.
Nodding her gratitude for the information, Jane walked into the room then. Walter was sliding to the edge of the bed in his backless gown, the hand without the IV pressed to his head.
“No. Stay in bed,” she ordered, rushing over and around Harrison’s chair to get to Walter.
“Jane,” Walter said, pulling his oxygen mask off as he pulled her into his arms. Feeling her tremble against him told him what he wanted to know most. “I’m so glad you’re here. I was hoping you would come see me.”
She pressed her face into Walter’s wide shoulder, rubbing her eyes on his gown in hopes he wouldn’t see her trickling tears. “That’s because you use your size to get your way with everyone else. I’m a lot smarter than that. Now back in bed, Mr. Hero.”
“Hey,” Walter said. He lifted her face with his hand and saw her distress full on. “Look at me—I’m okay. I swear. There have been plenty of times way worse than this.”
“Honesty is not what a woman needs to hear when she’s crying over you,” Harrison said through clenched teeth.
Walter turned his head to glare at his smart-ass family member, but had to grab it as the room spun. “Damn it, Harrison. You’re worse for my headache than the concussion.”
Jane swallowed at the pain in Walter’s eyes. It made her want to cry again, and it made her ill. She patted Walter’s shoulder with one palm while pushing him back into bed with the other. “Forget about Harrison. Lie back down now. If you want to glare full on at him, I’ll push his chair to the bottom of the bed and lock the brakes so he can’t get away.”
Walter reluctantly let Jane tuck him in, but reached out a hand when she would have moved away. He tugged her to the bed, forcing her to lean on it and stay close to him.
“Clinton went through the floor first. Eric and I landed on the boards that fell on him. Usually we get out before that shit happens. This wasn’t one of those times.”
“Okay,” Jane said. “I hear what you’re saying. What happened to you was an accident.”
“Yes it was. But the important thing is that I thought of you,” Walter said. “My head hurt like hell, but I picked Clinton up to make sure we both got back out. He’s got a wife, Jane. But I came out for you. In those moments where you have to decide to keep on fighting, having someone to come out for pushes you through the smoke.”
“I told them I was your mother so they would let me see you,” Jane said tightly, blinking rapidly as the tears streamed again. “Don’t you get that our differences are noticeable? Don’t you get that liking me too much is not normal?”
“I don’t care what lies you tell others about us, just don’t keep telling that one to yourself,” Walter insisted. “Now kiss me. It will make us both feel much better.”
Jane shook her head no, but let Walter pull her even closer anyway. When his lips touched hers gently, the emotions she had been holding back broke through. Throwing her arms around his neck, she slid up onto the edge of the bed and hid her face in his shoulder. And then she wept because Walter was so full of life. He was young and perfect and. . . it just wouldn’t have been fair if he had died before really living.
Eventually, she felt one of Walter’s large hands in her hair and heard his deep voice shushing her in her ear. His heart beat hard against her breasts and that simple fact was more important to her than she wanted to admit to anyone. Her caring for the man in her arms had no place to go, but smelling the smoke on him was also a reality check. So was the fact that if Walter had died, part of her would have died too.
Jane pulled away, sniffed, and took the handful of tissue Harrison brought to the bed. “This is a wad of toilet paper, isn’t it?” she asked, mopping her wet eyes and blowing her nose after. It turned the teary tissue wad into even more of a soggy mess.
“Yep. Best tp in Falls Church. I know that because it costs twelve dollars a roll. They put it on your bill with every stay,” Harrison said.
Jane snickered and then laughed. It hurt to laugh because she hurt all over. “You made that up, Harrison. This hospital does not charge patients for toilet paper.”
“It’s hidden in the bed pan charge, which makes sense if you think about it,” Harrison said, rolling back to the bathroom for more.
Jane groaned and straightened away from Walter. “Sorry for the meltdown. I don’t know why. . .” But Walter’s stroking finger against her lips stopped the rest.
“Shush. We both know why,” he said.
Before Jane could offer a more stern denial, another nurse walked into the room.
“Mrs. Graham? I hope you don’t mind, but we need to check your son’s head bandage. His forehead wound required a few stitches and we don’t want him to get an infection.”
Walter looked at Jane’s startled expression, and then at the nurse. She didn’t look that damn old. Time for the bullshit to end, he decided. “There seems to be some misunderstanding. This is not my mother. This is my girlfriend. My mother is arriving later tonight.”
Jane sighed as the younger woman’s eyes widened in shock. The woman’s hasty apology did not make her feel one iota better. When the woman had finished her task and rushed away—no doubt to spread the word—Jane swung an exasperated glare Walter’s way. “Why did you do that? Having every female in Falls Church vying for your attention wasn’t enough boost for your ego? There was no harm in letting her believe I was your mother.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. It was only a matter of time before the nurse saw what was happening under my gown while I was holding you. I’d rather her know the truth about who was causing my condition. It sure as hell wasn’t her or any of the others who keep peeking in here,” Walter declared, lifting a hand in the direction of the door.
Jane crossed her arms, her h
ands curling into fists to keep from reaching for Walter again as she slid from the bed. “This is what the limelight feels like, Walter. I thought you’d be better able to handle it with the notorious family you have.”
“Hey now,” Harrison interrupted, “there may be a few monkeys in our tree, but none of us are swingers.”
“What in the world is that supposed to mean?” Jane demanded.
But instead of remaining stern, she ended up fighting not to laugh. Harrison pried open one of her closed fists to shove what had to be a half roll’s worth of toilet paper into her palm.
“It means Walter has a concussion and you two should save this fight for later,” Harrison said calmly.
Her arms uncrossed immediately as she shifted her attention back to a now grinning Walter. “And just why are you smiling?”
Walter held out a hand, his smile growing when she took it. “Give me a couple days to get back to normal, then we can argue all you want. Right now I just want to hold you, so we both know I’m still alive.”
“Damn it, Walter—don’t remind me,” Jane said.
“Listen to that. She swears when she’s stressed,” Harrison said sadly, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth in mock shame. “Maybe you should keep on looking, Walter. Jane’s not as perfect as I thought.”
“Up yours, old man,” Jane barked out, enjoying Harrison’s rough laughter as he rolled out the door, going who-knew-where to cause more trouble.
After his exit, she sniffed back tears, the sound breaking the silence in the room.
“Come here,” Walter ordered, pulling her back up beside him and into his arms. When she was partially across his lap, he sighed as he dipped his face into her hair. “God, you smell so clean. And like you. You smell like you. I thought all I was ever going to smell again was smoke.”
Jane laughed through the tears, panic seizing her again. “Smell me later, Walter. Right now, you need to put your oxygen mask back on.”
“If I do, will you stay awhile?” Walter asked, moving his mouth to Jane’s cheek. He pressed his lips there without really moving them. It just felt really good to be so close to her without her scrambling away for once.
Gratitude that Walter lived clogged her throat with more tears, so Jane closed her eyes at the sensation of being kissed so sweetly. As she nodded, the cheek he wasn’t kissing brushed the front of his gown, reminding her where they were.
Walter’s huge sigh of relief in her ear cranked up the temptation to release the waterworks again, but it was not a good idea to do any kind of self-analysis at the moment. She felt his hand tremble slightly as he lifted the one with the IV in it to stroke her hair.
“Walter? Are you sure you’re okay?” Her whispered question was muffled by the scratchy fabric of what he wore. Or at least that’s what she was telling herself.
“Yes. I promise. And I’m a lot better now that you’re here,” Walter said, coughing as he spoke.
Pulling away, Jane picked up his oxygen mask, pleased when Walter dipped his head down to help her slip it on him.
“I’ll stay with you until Harrison gets back, but you probably need to try and sleep now,” she said. “They are not going to let you do much sleeping tonight.”
Grinning at her from under his mask, Jane watched Walter pat the space beside him on the bed. She shook her head vigorously, her hair swishing against her flaming cheeks. No way in the world was she climbing into bed with Walter while he was wearing nothing but a hospital gown. She had been all too aware of his physical reaction to just hugging.
But her mind made note of the possibilities.
What would Walter do if she ran a hand under his gown and explored their mutual interest in each other? He would without doubt take advantage of the situation, and she would end up taking advantage of him.
“I think I’ll move to the chair for a while. It will give you more room to lie down,” Jane said quickly, appreciating the reprieve when a new doctor came in to check Walter’s progress.
“Just remember—you’re not my mother,” Walter said again, his voice muffled through the mask.
“I thought the line was ‘Luke, I am your father’,” Jane teased, wincing when Walter’s fingers tightened. He had a grip like steel. “Don’t break my fingers for getting it wrong. It was a joke. You don’t really sound like an oxygen deprived space villain at all.”
“If you like to role play, let’s do Han and Leia after she rescues him,” Walter rasped, breathing deeply through the mask as he laughed.
Jane laughed too and squeezed Walter’s fingers, still tightly woven through her own. She pretended not to notice the doctor’s curious gaze over their linked hands. Or at least, she pretended that she didn’t care what the man thought.
“Han isn’t my type. Scoundrels are way too much trouble to date,” Jane said, way more pleased than she should have been to hear Walter coughing as he laughed.
Chapter 8
Four days later, Walter walked under the ‘Welcome Back’ banner hung over the door of the office and found Amanda humming. The office was filled with vases and flowers. Come to think of it. . .he backed up and looked out at the sitting area. . .plants and flowers adorned every available surface. “I appreciate the warm reception, but don’t you think this is a bit much for people living on fixed incomes?”
“Don’t look at me or the residents here. Most of the flower shop is compliments of the adoring multitude of Mr. March fans that I had to run out of here yesterday. I let them hang the banner and leave the stuff, but told them they couldn’t wait here for you. You’re looking much better, by the way,” Amanda said a smile. “And lucky you, your hair even hides your stitches. You can’t even tell that a building fell in on you.”
Walter sank down into the chair across from her, thinking about all the times he had sat across from Jane. Hindsight was always 20/20. He should have told the chief to pull that damn photo from the second print run of the calendar. His energy level still hadn’t returned to normal yet. He had no resources to deal with all the stupid calendar publicity crap right now.
“Sorry about Daniel having to pull double shifts for a couple of weeks,” he said, watching Amanda shrug off his apology.
“Don’t even go there. Clinton’s out for six months to a year, but Eric will be back in two weeks when you are. We’re just glad you’re all alive. No worries—truly. We’ll deal with a few long shifts,” she insisted.
Walter nodded, feeling gratitude that she and Daniel were in his life. “So, Harrison said you took great care of the place while I was out.”
Amanda smiled again, fighting back a giggle this time. “Yes, I have. I even survived Dorothy Henderson’s offer to feel her fake breasts. It was fine. I’d always wanted to touch a set to see what they felt like anyway.”
“Oh, God. I forgot to warn you about how proud Dorothy was of her enhancements. Sorry,” Walter said, groaning at the thought of the older woman making such an offer to Amanda. “Glad you aren’t easily offended. That would definitely not work around here.”
“Yeah, I get that. Harrison filled me in on why she offers, and then told me a hilarious story about some guy’s girlfriend catching him in the process of checking them out. It’s crazy some days, but I do love it here. Even when we lose one. I guess Harrison told you that the resident in Willow #34 passed away. Her family is coming by next week to collect her things,” Amanda reported, refusing to think about how different she would have been feeling if Walter hadn’t made it out of the fire. And Daniel. . .that just didn’t bear thinking about. Daniel and Walter were as tight as most brothers.
“People dying around here is just one of the many things I don’t like about the people side of this business. Did Jane. . .” Walter paused as he drifted off.
He closed his eyes and called himself stupid for caring. Jane had come to see him that first day in the hospital, but hadn’t returned at all for the three days after. Not that he blamed her for staying away with his mother camped out in h
is room with him. His father has slept at his place, but even Harrison hadn’t been able to get his mother to leave his side. His parents had finally flown back to DC the day he was released. Now that the whole hospital thing was behind him though, he had to ask about the one person that hadn’t stayed in constant contact. Hope about her was all he had to keep him going. God, he was so lovesick it hurt.
“Did Jane Fox happen to call to say if she was coming by North Winds today?”
Amanda wrinkled her forehead. “Call? Why would Jane call you? She’s already here.”
“Here? Jane’s here? Like at North Winds?” Walter repeated, sitting up straighter.
“Yes. . .she is here,” Amanda answered slowly. “Are you sure you’re okay, Walter?”
“Of course. Why would I not be okay?” Walter asked.
“Because Jane’s been here every day, all day. I assumed you two had arranged it. She said she was working with you on your renovation projects. The architects certainly think she’s got the right to tell them what to do.”
“Jane? Yes, well she is working with me,” Walter confirmed. “I just thought. . .I mean, I didn’t know she was here. . . already.”
He had been worried he’d scared her away in the hospital. Instead, she’d been here—taking care of him in another kind of way.
“What’s she been doing with the architects?”
“Stalling until you get back. . .from what I can tell anyway,” Amanda said, shrugging. “She’s been trying to keep things from moving along too quickly, but at the same time, she’s been helping the architects make their final decisions about where to put the geo thermal pools.”
Walter stood. “Where is she now?”
“Out for coffee with Brenner, but they should be back shortly. They never stay gone long,” Amanda said.
“Brenner? Tall guy with long hair who thinks he’s God’s answer to every woman’s prayers?” Walter asked, bringing the image of the lean, confident architect to mind.
Amanda giggled. “Pretty sure that would be the one. Are you actually jealous of him being with Jane?”
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