Chapter 37
Joci laid back in her hospital bed. Everyone had left a couple of hours ago. According to the clock on the wall, it was near two in the morning. A nurse had just left her room and would be coming back with pain medication.
Her shoulder and arm hurt. The throbbing wouldn’t stop, and she couldn’t sleep with the pain.
She didn’t want to put the baby in any more danger than she already had.
The nurse told her that if she couldn’t get any rest because of the pain, that was worse for the baby than taking a mild pain reliever.
After that, she finally agreed to take something.
She hadn’t heard from Jeremiah since he left the hospital hours ago. Her heart hurt more than her arm and shoulder. On top of that, she might lose the baby. She broke down in a hard cry. It hurt, but then, everything hurt right now.
“Hey. Aww, baby, don’t cry. I’m here now,” Jeremiah’s voice cracked.
She looked up at him and tried to compose herself. “I don’t want to lose the baby. I don’t.”
“I know you don’t, honey. Please don’t cry.”
He leaned down and laid his forehead against hers. He placed his hand on her belly and lightly rubbed back and forth, then leaned down and kissed the place where his baby rested, fighting to live. Joci sobbed.
The nurse walked in with a syringe and injected something into Joci’s IV line.
In a calm voice, she said, “Okay, sweetheart, you have to settle down. This should help calm you. I promise it won’t hurt the baby.
You’re doing well, you know. It’s been several hours now, and you’re still pregnant.
Every hour that passes means a better chance for your baby. Try and stay positive; okay, honey?”
Joci nodded and calmed as the medication hit her veins and made her feel drowsy. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. The nurse looked at Jeremiah and raised her brows.
* * *
“I’m staying,” was all he said.
The nurse nodded, then turned and left the room.
He pulled the recliner next to the bed and sat down, holding Joci’s hand in his.
His mind reeled over the day’s events, and he prayed that God wouldn’t let them get pregnant only to take the baby away.
That would be worse than never being able to have another baby.
Having one so close, only to be lost, would be unbearable.
He drifted off to sleep about a half hour later, still holding her hand.
He jerked awake at the sound of a nurse coming in to check on Joci, but he didn’t open his eyes all the way.
He looked to see who was in the room and then closed his eyes again.
He listened to the nurse monitor the IVs.
She checked Joci’s vitals, straightened the blankets on the bed, and left.
Then he realized that someone, at some time during the night, had put a blanket over him. He fell quickly asleep.
* * *
Joci awoke to see Jeremiah sleeping alongside her bed.
She took in his beautiful face and saw the lines that had formed over the past day.
Poor man, she must have given him a fright.
Dark circles had taken residence under his eyes, and he was still wearing clothes with her blood on them.
A blanket covered his lower chest and legs.
She closed her eyes and sighed. Relationships were hard.
She had never had a normal relationship with a man one-on-one.
Keith had been distant and obviously otherwise involved.
Derrick had been in a band and traveled a lot to be where money could be made.
He hadn’t known how to do a one-on-one relationship either.
He had a different woman in every city. Joci found out after a few weeks with him.
She looked back on it now and thought about what an idiot she had been.
Jeremiah was the very first man she had been in an honest and close relationship with. She had a lot to learn.
She rubbed her hand over her belly and looked at the spot where their baby was resting. She glanced at Jeremiah and froze. His eyes were open, watching her. “I love you.” He spoke softly.
She took a deep breath. “Jeremiah…I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, honey. We’ll get through this.”
After a moment of silence, she grinned. “So, I came to tell you, I’m pregnant.”
He looked at her and smiled. “I’m thrilled beyond belief. I already knew it before you went to the doctor. I just knew we were having a baby.”
She nodded. She took a huge breath.
“Jeremiah. What happened after I left yesterday?”
Jeremiah leaned forward and grabbed Joci’s hand.
“You know, I thought LuAnn would adjust and realize how much I love you and leave us alone. I wanted to honor Lance by giving her a chance, but now I know I’m not responsible for Lance’s decisions.
You made me realize that. I’m so sorry, honey.
” He scratched at the hair on his chin. “After you left, Chase came in and tried talking her down. She was beginning to listen to him; then the cops came in. Janice had called them when LuAnn started screaming and yelling. She knew I was going to fire LuAnn and was on alert that it might not go well. They arrested LuAnn for the damage she did in the shop and took her in. They released her a few hours later.”
Jeremiah stood up and kissed Joci gently on the lips. He touched her hair and her jaw. He gently touched where she was bruised on the right side of her face.
“How do you feel this morning, baby?”
“Sore. Tired. Hurt.” She smiled at his handsome face. “And unbelievably lucky.”
He sat back down, never letting go of her hand. He took a deep breath and looked at her.
“Joci, I need to explain what happened. Do you think you can deal with that now without getting too upset? I don’t want you to hurt yourself or the baby. But the police may be coming in to speak with you, and you need to know everything.”
She swallowed hard, her brow furrowed; she tried to adjust herself and gasped at the pain that shot through her arm and hip as she moved. She looked down at her hip and noticed the bulge of bandages there.
“I don’t even know what my injuries are. Can you tell me that, too?”
“I can tell you in layman’s terms. The doctor will need to tell you the medical version.”
* * *
He listed her injuries and sat still, waiting to see how she would react to that news before he continued.
What he was going to tell her next was going to be more unnerving than her health update.
He watched her eyes, needing to make sure she was okay.
What he saw took his breath away. His brave woman sat stoically listening and taking it all with a grain of salt.
He took a deep breath. “It appears that the reason your brakes didn’t work was that LuAnn cut your brake lines. ”
Joci sucked in a breath and closed her eyes.
Softly she asked, “How do you know? Let’s get it out and move on.”
“Deacon swore he didn’t see you touch your brakes. Your brake lights never went on. He was behind you the whole time. He saw that you were coming into Benson’s Bend, and he kept waiting for you to hit your brakes. When you didn’t and hit the tree, he freaked out.”
“I did…I tried to brake. Nothing was there.”
“Yes. I went back to the shop with Tommy, Frog, and two police officers.
The officers watched Frog examine the bike.
He showed them where the brake lines had been cut on the top.
That kept the brake fluid from dripping out completely and leaving evidence on the floor.
We checked the video footage and clearly saw LuAnn cutting the brake lines on your bike. It was Thursday morning.
“Deacon told me he had sent LuAnn home the day we told everyone we were engaged. The boys had gone to the shop and told everyone the news, and she didn’t take it well.
She was acting terribly, throwing things, and being bitchy to everyone.
Then, of course, Milwaukee. I had words with her when we got back.
I told her that was it. One more incident and she was gone.
Thursday afternoon, all the guys were taking a lunch break. That’s when she did it.”
Joci sat staring at him. Telling her this was difficult; his voice cracked, and his lungs felt constricted. He watched her eyes for signs of distress; her lips trembled slightly, and her hand balled into the blankets around her.
“Are you okay, honey?”
She nodded once. “Just trying to process all of this.” Her voice was soft. He knew what she meant. He had spent yesterday trying to grasp everything that had happened in such a short period of time. It was never easy finding out someone deliberately tried to hurt you.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
He blew out a breath. “Even during Desert Storm, I didn’t feel as murderous as I felt yesterday.
If she walked in this door right now, I would strangle her with my bare hands and smile as I watched the life leave her body.
She tried to kill you. That almost killed the baby.
Our baby. I will never forgive her for that. ”
Joci nodded and swallowed. “Where is she now?”
“I’m hoping in jail. I was going to call Tommy before you woke up. I left Tommy and the police after we straightened out the video exchange. I wanted to get back here to you. They were arranging the arrest warrant and then going to pick her up.”
Joci slowly nodded her head. She licked her lips and glanced at the bedside tray where a pitcher of water sat. Jeremiah instinctively poured water into a cup, opened a straw, and set it in the cup. “The nurse said you can only sip.”
She sipped and closed her eyes.
He set the cup on the table. “Are you okay while I call Tommy?”
She nodded. “I need some more pain medication and some rest,” she told Jeremiah.
He stepped out into the hall and found a nurse to take care of her.
He watched as the nurse tended to her needs, adjusted the bedding, checked bandages, and then injected pain meds into her IV.
Joci faded off to sleep a few minutes later.
* * *