Chapter 37 #2
When she woke up, Gunnar, Jackie, Emily, and Thomas were in her room, along with Jeremiah, talking softly.
Joci immediately found Jeremiah looking at her.
She smiled softly, and he got up and walked to her bedside.
He leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips.
He had a hand resting on the top of her head and one resting on their baby.
“How do you feel, Mom?”
Joci looked over at Gunnar. “Better. Thank you. How are you doing?”
He looked worried and tight. His body language was something she could always read.
“I’m trying to process everything. I’m worried about you. Are you sure you’re all right? How about my little brother?” Gunnar smiled.
“Sister.” They all had puzzled expressions as they looked at Jeremiah.
“We’re having a little girl.”
Joci giggled. “When did you become a fortune teller?”
Jeremiah smiled. “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me, darling. If you ask anyone in my family,” he gestured wide towards his family sitting around the room, “you will hear that I have correctly determined the sex of each of my brothers’ babies before they were born.”
Joci and Gunnar looked at Thomas and Emily for confirmation. Thomas nodded, and Emily smiled.
“He currently holds the Sheppard record for the most correct guesses, although we still argue over Bryce and Angie’s Daniel. Jeremiah wavered back and forth on that one.”
Jeremiah shrugged. Jackie walked in and touched Joci’s feet. “I would love a little niece to spoil. All I got were boys.”
When she and David married and had babies, they had two boys: Jeremy and Dean. Jackie leaned over and hugged Gunnar with one arm.
“But they’re great boys.” She smiled at Gunnar, and he bowed his head, his cheeks tinted pink.
“Did they put LuAnn in jail?” Joci needed to know.
Jeremiah took a deep breath, looked at Gunnar, and then back at Joci.
“Not yet. They’re looking for her. She must have heard about the accident and then took off. Police are looking everywhere for her.”
David walked in just then. “Hey there, girl. You feeling better?”
Joci smiled at him. “I’m better. How about you?”
David laughed. “Well, you made my hair grayer. My wife is now married to an old man.”
He kissed Jackie on the temple and hugged Gunnar with one arm. “What about you, Gunnar?”
Gunnar grinned. “I’m going to have a little sister.”
David looked at Joci and Jeremiah, his brows high into his hairline.
Joci giggled. “Jeremiah thinks he’s the baby whisperer.”
“Hey, I know some things,” Jeremiah said with a grin and a fake defensive tone.
As the group quietly chatted, Joci drifted off to sleep. Sometime later, she woke to David’s voice, low and menacing. “Get out.”
Joci opened her eyes to see Connor and an older man standing in her room. Jeremiah looked at David and then at Joci. Gunnar was watching David, as well. Jackie’s mouth had dropped open, but not a sound came out.
“I said get out,” David said again as he stood up.
Connor stepped forward and looked at Joci. “Joci, he demanded I bring him here when he heard about your accident.”
Joci looked at the older man again and then gasped. It was Keith. He looked horrible—like he was twenty years older than he was.
Jeremiah looked at Joci with a question in his eyes.
“Keith,” was all Joci could say.
Jeremiah stood to his full height. “Now, I’ll tell you. Get the fuck out.”
Keith looked at Gunnar. Gunnar stared at him for a long moment.
Keith turned toward Joci. He stepped forward, and Jeremiah moved to block him from getting any closer. Keith stopped and looked at Jeremiah, then Joci.
Keith’s voice was barely above a whisper, but he said, “I just needed to say I’m sorry.
” He took a few moments to catch his breath.
“I didn’t know how badly you were injured.
I’m sorry about your accident. But in case you didn’t make it out of the hospital before I died, I really wanted to say I’m sorry. That’s it.”
Keith’s voice was barely audible; he struggled to breathe. It must have been hard for him to make it here today. He was clearly very sick. His skin was ashy and gray.
Keith looked at Gunnar and nodded slightly.
“Why?” Gunnar asked.
Keith glanced at him. “Connor told me what your mom said.” Keith looked over at Joci. “It isn’t true, Joci. I’m not worried about my mortality. I’m ready for any punishment God thinks I deserve. I wanted you to know that I do realize how badly I treated you…and Gunnar.”
His eyes flicked to Gunnar and back to her.
In a soft, breathy voice, he said, “I’ve thought about it so many times over the years.
Dianna encouraged me to try and touch base on several occasions, but I was scared.
When I was diagnosed with cancer, I worried that I wouldn’t get the chance to tell you. ”
Keith took a short, trembling breath, then went on.
“You were a wonderful girlfriend, Joci. Connor has kept me up to date with you and Gunnar all these years. I’m sorry I was such a dickhead.
” He slightly chuckled as he rested to fill his lungs.
“I have no excuse for my horrible behavior. I hope someday you’ll be able to forgive me.
I treated you terribly, for no reason whatsoever. I really am sorry.”
Keith looked at Gunnar. “I’m sorry, Gunnar. I really am.”
Gunnar bobbed his head once and held Keith’s gaze.
“I hope, with my whole heart, that you’re happy, Gunnar.” Keith rested his hand over his heart.
Gunnar stood tall. “I am. Dog is my dad. I now have brothers.” He nodded to JT and Ryder, sitting across the room with them. “I have a great mom and a great life.”
Keith nodded, tears glistening in his eyes. “Good.”
He turned to leave, and Connor helped him out the door. That was it. He just said what he needed to say.
Connor looked back at Joci. “I’ll call you later.” And they left.
They were all quiet for a long time. Things just couldn’t get any more surreal than this week.
Joci looked at Gunnar. “Gunnar?”
He looked at his mom. “Yeah, I’m good, Mom. I don’t feel anything really, other than sorry for him. He looks like hell…how about you?”
Joci shrugged her left shoulder a little. “I would say I’m stunned.”
David walked over and put his arm around Gunnar. “I’m sorry, Gunnar.”
Gunnar shrugged. Joci watched him very closely. She would have given anything for that meeting not to have happened on the heels of her accident. Poor guy had enough to deal with.
Gunnar looked at Joci again. “I’m okay, Mom. Please don’t worry about me.”
Then Jeremiah walked over to Gunnar and wrapped him in a hug.
Joci leaned her head back against the pillow and closed her eyes.
She was tired again. Her arm and shoulder hurt.
She was grateful, though. For some strange, weird reason, it did help to hear Keith say she hadn’t done anything to make him cheat on her.
For so many years now, she thought maybe she wasn’t good enough—in bed, out of bed, it didn’t matter—to keep a man happy.
It was one of her biggest fears with Jeremiah.
How could she make him happy when she didn’t know what she had done to make Keith unhappy?
Now, she knew it wasn’t anything she had done or hadn’t done. It was him. It felt good to know that.
The nurse walked in. Joci opened her eyes when the nurse asked her to open her mouth so she could take Joci’s temperature. She chuckled a little, and the nurse looked at her with a funny expression on her face.
“I just thought you must be psychic. I hurt again, and in you walk. You and Jeremiah must both have crystal balls hidden somewhere.”
The nurse looked at Jeremiah with a funny look on her face.
Jeremiah smiled. “We’re having a baby girl.”
The nurse nodded. She gave Joci something for pain, and Joci floated off to fairyland one more time.