by J. Darling
She inhaled deeply, as more tears fell from her eyes. “Oh, Jake….”
He smiled and brought her head to his shoulder, holding her tight. “I love you.”
She snuggled up, sniffling and nodding in response.
Rubbing her back, he said softly, “I’ve missed you so much my heart ached. I wish you wouldn’t go. I wish you’d stay. I know you have a dream job, and it isn’t fair of me to ask you to let it go, and I know you’re embarrassed at having to depend on others to help you with your personal needs, but I don’t mind. It doesn’t put me off. Think of what I do for a living. I’ve been dealing with females and their needs for years. Please stay.”
She started laughing amidst her tears. “Did you just compare me to a cow?”
“Ahhh…”
More and more laughing. She didn’t know what was more funny, what he had said, or the look on his face.
After a few moments, he answered, “Ahhh, guess I kind of did. I didn’t mean it like that, but we can, ahhh, get you an ear tag and a bell to wear around your neck if you’d like.”
She laughed and laughed. “Jake…what about the ledger, will you put my name in the ledger?”
Unable to control it, he started to laugh too. “Sure will. Please stay.”
Working to contain her joy, she teased, “But what about my career? I was thinking I’d like to expand my focus, study the functionality and implications of bacteria and molds on everyday life.”
“I’ll build you a lab, then you can study to your hearts content right here in Luck.”
Still laughing some, she continued, “My very own lab? Like, as in, The Juliet Blomgren Institute of Independent Research Center?”
He paused, “Ahhh, yeah, something like that?”
Giving him a quick kiss, she smiled widely, and said, “I’ll need an assistant, preferable a cute one.”
He stared at her without saying anything.
She smiled her most charming smile and batted her lashes at him, then said, “I do get an assistant, don’t I?”
Still staring at her, he took a deep breath and let it out. “You’re playing with my head again, aren’t you?”
She laughed a little and chirped, “Si, ti amo.”
“Really?” he barked. “You torture me, then tease me, and when I catch you doing it, all you have to say is, ‘Yes, I love you.’”
She nodded her head rapidly as she smiled, her eyes alight with humor.
Reaching up he gently tweaked her nose. “Well, there’s only one thing I have to say, ti amo anch’io, bellissima.”
Her breath left her, and her eyes went round as her vision swam, then she sniffled. He’d spoken to her as a lover would. “You love me too, and you, you called me most beautiful. Jake, you’re so romantic.” Leaning in, she kissed him as only a lover would.
Stopping to breathe, she looked into his beautiful eyes, and asked, “How did you learn the words?”
“You said the first three in response to me, right before they took you away in the helicopter, and the last one I learned from the How To Speak Italian in one week CD I picked up at the Walmart in Rockford.”
She giggled. “You did that for me?”
He nodded. “For you, I’d do anything.”
Wait a minute, she thought. “Did you say Rockford? As in Illinois?”
“Yes, ma’am, that very one.”
Confused, she asked, “Why were you in Rockford?”
He shrugged. “I wasn’t really, I was passing through on my way back from Chicago.”
“You…you were in Chicago?” she asked weakly.
“Mmhmm. Sure was. Yesterday. Toured this cute little house for sale in the Jefferson Park neighborhood.”
She gasp. “Oh my gosh! Did you, aah, go there by chance to, aah, maybe see me?” she asked with a gulp.
Threading his fingers through her hair, he held her head steady as he looked at her intently, his tone turning serious. “I went there in hopes of bringing you home. It’s a cute house, I hope you won’t miss it too much, especially your kitchen.”
She looked down and took a deep breath. “Jake…”
“Don’t go, please don’t go. I don’t care if you’re a paraplegic, I don’t. I’ll get you help for when I’m not there, I’ll build you a house that fits your needs, I’ll love you always, no matter what. I want you and only you, please stay.”
She put a finger to his lips. “Shhh. I need to show you something, and then I need to make breakfast. I promised Kris pannekoekens.”
“Hey!” he said extremely annoyed. “Tell him to find his own girl to cook, mine needs to rest and get better.”
Leaning in she gave him a peck on the cheek. “I’m fine, let’s go.”
“No,” he said stubbornly, not letting her go.
Then in a sing song voice, she said “I need to go to the bathroom.”
“Fine, I’ll carry you.”
Shaking her head, she answered, “No you won’t.” Then she turned over and sat up. “I can do it myself.”
“Oh yeah? Where’s your wheelchair?” he asked, sitting up and looking around “I don’t see it.”
Pulling back the covers, she answered him, “That’s because I don’t need one. All I need is this.” She held up her cane, then pushed herself to the side of the bed and stood up, fell back on the bed, caught herself, then tried standing again. Taking hold of the dresser, she stood, tottered around a bit while leaning on her cane, then turning, she looked at him with a big smile. “See.”
He stared at her legs, then began swiping at his rapidly blinking eyes.
“I’m stiff when I get up,” she explained, “and my legs don’t always remember what to do at first. I should have warmed up a little, but I didn’t, so that wasn’t the best I can do. Anyways, I have to be careful, but I can walk, and if I keep improving like I have been, they don’t think I’ll even need a cane.
“I’m not in a rush though, I don’t want to take a chance of falling. The callous at the fracture site is still soft by all accounts. Although osteoblasts have now moved into the area and are depositing bone cells that will encapsulate the fracture site giving it more stability over time. Osteoclasts have arrived too. Both of them will clean up the area making it as good as new, but that all takes time, so I’m trying to be extra careful.”
Jake busted out laughing when she finished, then tried clamping his mouth shut, trying to stop, but he couldn’t. Shaking like a leaf, he fell back on the bed and laughed a full bellied roar, then started laughing more when he looked at her and she narrowed her eyes on him.
“Stop it! You’re as bad as your brothers, or is it that they’re as bad as you? Oh, I don’t know, but I can’t help it. My brain just works like that. You just watch, I’m burning your pannekoeken and seasoning it with salt, you wretch.” She turned and hobbled away.
Still laughing, he managed to mutter, “God, I love your mind.”
Yelling from the bathroom, she tossed out, “Charm’s not going to work, Jake Albrecht.”
“You can’t blame a guy for trying, bellissima” he hollered, as he continued to laugh.
“Not working,” she yelled back.”
“Ti amo,” he volleyed.
No response.
“We having a tiff, sweetheart? Because you know what happened the last time we had one.”
She snorted. “Don’t remind me,” she threw back at him.
“Why? I seem to remember—”
“Jake Albrecht, don’t you dare go there!” she ordered. “Look to your left, to the monitor on the nightstand. I guarantee your family’s listening to everything.” Then coming to stand in the doorway, she said, “Nik’s probably taking notes, so anything you say will be held against you for eternity, right Nik?”
There were two quick beeps on the monitor.
She smiled. “You learn anything that will help you with the ladies, Nik Nak?”
A long beep, followed by a couple quick ones.
Then Kris’s voice br
oke in over the intercom. “Tell Jake to get his fat ass out to the barn. He’s on clean up, and there’s plenty of shit waiting.”
Next up, they heard Karl muttering to himself, “…now which one of these here buttons they say to push…why the hell they need to make these buttons so damn small…oh, maybe it’s the one my thumb’s on…hello, hello…testing one, two, three…”
Jake looked at Jules and they busted out laughing. “We can hear you Karl, loud and clear,” Jules answered.
“Well, imagine that,” he said in amazement, “it worked. We still having pannekoekens?”
“We sure are.”
“You need anything, tootsie?” his dad asked, getting the hang of things.
Jake’s eyebrows shot up. Then he looked at Jules and mouthed questioningly, “Tootsie?”
She smiled as she nodded back at him. “No, I’m good,” she responded aloud for Karl to hear.
Now it was Nik’s turn. “Great! I’m starved. Jake, haul ass, and leave Precious alone so she can cook.”
Jake’s eyebrow’s shot up again as she turned to make her way to the stairs.
“Just what the hell has been going on around here while I’ve been gone?” he tossed out for all to hear.
She chuckled, then answered loudly, “Well now, wouldn’t you like to know? Let’s go, Elvis, there’s a farm to run, and I need to make breakfast for the guys.”
*****
Banished to the table, Jake watched as Jules did up the last of the breakfast dishes. “I still don’t understand why I can’t help you,” he grumped.
“Because you were on poo duty, and if you contaminate Linnie’s clean kitchen, she’ll have your hide.”
He shook his head, not liking the rationale. “I washed up. How long do you have to wear that plastic thing?”
Wiping up one of the counters, she answered him. “It’s a thoracolumbosacral orthosis, or TLSO for short, essentially a back brace, and I have to wear it for a total of six months.”
“Linnie and Nate in the cities?”
She shook her head. “They went to Duluth for the day, won’t be back till late.”
“You about ready?” Nik asked from the kitchen’s entrance.
Pulling the stopper on the sink, Jules nodded. “Yep, just give me a minute.”
Jake looked back and forth between the two of them. “Ready for what?”
Jules hung a dishtowel out to dry. “Nothing, we have a daily ritual is all.”
“What do you mean a daily ritual?” he asked, following them to the entryway.
Nik clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll show you what to do.”
Jake was getting peeved, he didn’t know a damn thing about what was going on around here, and it was starting to piss him off. “Show me how to do what?”
Nik shook his head, “Boy, you sure are a nervous nelly. Just watch.”
Stepping outside, Nik put one arm behind Jules back, and the other behind her knees, then picked her up and started walking with her to the barn.
“Hey,” Jake snapped, clearly annoyed. “What are you doing? Give her to me,” he demanded, stepping in front of Nik, “I’ll carry her.”
Nik laughed as he shook his head. “Nope, you don’t know what to do, and we don’t want her falling. Quit acting like an old banty rooster, we’ve got a routine and you’re holding up progress.”
Jake was feeling mighty jealous right about now, and not liking it one bit. Irritated, he looked at Jules. “Is this what’s been going on around here, him carrying you all around the farm?”
Both Jules and Nik looked at him and shook their heads. Then Jules answered flatly, “No, Nik carries me out to the barn, and Kris carries me back. It was a compromise, they either carry me, or Nik threatened to dump me in the wheelbarrow and take me that way, while Kris said he’d use the poo scoop on the bobcat.”
Taking a deep breath, Jake stepped out of the way and they continued on to the barn. Smarting from the moment’s injustice, he mumbled, “She could’ve just told me what to do.”
Nik stopped and looked at him. “Here’s your first lesson, don’t listen to her. She lies through her teeth and is always trying to break the rules.”
Jules smacked Nik on the chest as he started walking again. “I do not!” Then she looked at Jake and very innocently said, “I don’t lie, Jake. Honest. They’re just overprotective.”
Jake looked at the two of them with scrutiny, and knew without a doubt Nik was telling the truth. She was too damn independent for her own good.
“Lesson number two,” Nik went on, “is one of my favorites. Think BLT sandwich and you’ll never forget it. It stands for no bending, lifting, or twisting. She’s not to bend, lift, or twist. The brace prevents the bending and twisting of the spine, but the lifting bit—he closed his eyes briefly, while giving an admonishing shake of his head—tsk, tsk, tsk. She’s always violating that little rule.”
Scowling at Nik, Jules instantly defended herself. “That’s not true! I follow the rules. I do!” Then she quickly turned and looked at Jake openly. “Hairbrushes don’t count, and the doctor said it was okay to lift.”
Nik busted out laughing, immediately calling her bluff. “Riiiight, sunshine, don’t forget the part where he said ‘anything weighing five pounds or less’. You’re a repeat offender of that little rule.”
Annoyed, she smacked Nik on the chest again. “Stop that!”
Nik was telling the truth, Jake had seen her lifting multiple things weighing more than five pounds that morning. Reaching the entrance to the barn, Jake opened the door for them. Stepping in, they neared the office and stopped.
“Warm up those feet, and I’ll talk Jake through this. Is that alright?” Nik asked.
She nodded and began moving her feet in all different directions.
“They still numb?” Nik checked.
“The left one tingles, the right one is numb,” she answered.
“You ready?”
Nodding, she answered, “I think so.”
Jake watched and listened closely as Nik went to set her down.
“Remember to plant your feet and concentrate,” Nik cued, as he held on to her brace at the waist. “March in place a step or two if you have to.”
“I will.”
Jake observed her right knee buckle a smidge, and then her leg wobbled a bit when she lifted her cane to reposition it.
Nik began to explain. “The areas most affected by her injury are her coordination and balance. She can still feel pain, temperature, and touch, so that’s good, but she continues with a lot of numbness, tingling, and burning. The doctor says it all seems on par with what they call posterior cord syndrome, and the abnormal sensations are called paresthesias.
Switching his attention to Jules, Nik looked at her feet. “Widen your stance a little, now flatten your right foot, it looks like your leaning to the outside. Good. You ready?”
She nodded and Nik let go, his hands hovering as he stayed within arm’s reach of her. “She’s right leg dominant, and that’s the leg that’s taking the longest to heal. She’s still recovering though, and is in a phase called hyperreflexia. In other words, she went through a period of time with no reflexes, and is now in a time with overreactive reflexes. So it’s still hard to predict what will be permanent. The doctor’s encouraged by what he’s seeing though, and thinks she’ll always have what she has now to some degree, but with her rate of recovery, he expects it to improve more over the next weeks to months.”
When it was clear Jules was steady on her feet, the two of them stepped back and watched her walk away. “She does pretty good once she gets going,” Nik said, then quickly shook his head, “but in the beginning, it’s like those legs of hers don’t quite remember what their supposed to do, and since feeling and sensation are still all messed up, she can’t quite tell when she’s got her stance wrong, unless she looks down, and that’s a big no-no from the coordination and balance standpoint. She needs to stand tall and look straight
ahead, or risk tipping right over if she looks down.”
Feeling overwhelmed, Jake couldn’t look at Nik. “Thank you for helping her.”
“She’s come a long way, Jake, and she’s lucky. Damn lucky. If there had to be an injury, that it was to the backside of the cord is the best we could have hoped for, as opposed to the front side which is responsible for motor function and could have left her paralyzed. Linnie convinced her to come here because she could walk the wings of the barn in the dead of winter without a problem, not to mention we could all keep an eye on her. When she arrived, she could barely go thirty, forty feet with the aid of a rolling walker before she’d have to sit down and rest. We’ve all helped her, but she’s the one who’s worked the hardest. She walks this whole place numerous times a day now.”
Jake nodded, wondering where she went.
Smacking him on the arm, Nik started walking. “Come on, by now she’s made it to the calving pens to see Tinkerbelle, and is, no doubt, lifting feed buckets that she shouldn’t.”
Jake jumped in alarm and headed that direction. “She better not be!”
Nik chuckled. “Did you know how exasperating she can be? She’s stubborn as a mule and as sharp as a tack. That brain of hers comes up with some of the most outlandish things. A conversation with her is like being on an intellectual roller coaster moving at supersonic speed. When it comes to a screeching halt, you’re left dazed, confused, and shocked all at the same time.”
Jake laughed a little, then smiled as he answered, “Yeah, I’ve seen that streak in her and have ridden that ride a few times.”
Nik snorted. “We told her flat out, ‘you’re stubborn’, and you know what she said? She said she preferred to view it as determined, and then thanked us for the compliment. I don’t know, Jake,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s a good thing you’re getting educated, because you’ll need it to keep up with the likes of her.”
Walking into the maternity wing and heading down the row of calving pens, Jake found her. “Stop right there, Ms. I Don’t Break The Rules.” She slowly turned and gave him a beautiful smile, then batted her lashes at him. That little scamp! “Ohhh, no,” he said, shaking his head, clearly having her number. “No, no, no you don’t. It’s not working on me.”