Chapter 8
EIGHT
ASH
I was initially worried when Rebel told me his girls were going to do the initial painting, but they’ve done a great job so far.
While I’m not exactly alone with Marnie, I’ve been sitting by her as the three of us go over the plans for both haunted houses.
Poor Rebel is on the tarp helping Mina and Ruby.
Right now, he has a streak of black paint going across his cheek because Mina turned around with her brush in her hand just as he bent down to help her.
Thankfully, he was smart enough to put his cut in the house so it’s safe from harm.
I can tell Marnie’s been up too long; she’s been wincing in pain but is too damn stubborn to tell Holly she needs to go in and rest. Deciding to take the bull by the horns, I unlock the brakes on her wheelchair and take her inside, ignoring her protests.
“Ash! What are you doing? We’re working!” she shrieks as I stop in the kitchen long enough to refill her tumbler from the refrigerator. Paul and Esther use well water, which is filtered multiple times before it comes out of the spout and it’s the best tasting water I’ve ever had.
“Making you rest,” I finally reply as I push her through the door to the bedroom she’s using.
I initially debated on getting a hospital bed so it would be easier for her to get into and out of, then opted to purchase one of those beds with the adjustable mattresses.
She doesn’t know it was me who got it, but it’s my privilege to care for her since she’s my ol’ lady.
Granted, I don’t think she fully grasps what that means, but I’ve got time to explain all of it to her.
She glares at me but doesn’t protest when I remove her shoes and help her into bed, sighing once she leans back.
I grab the heating pad and turn it on low then place it over her abdomen before I hand her the pill bottle.
“Thank you,” she murmurs, her gaze bouncing away from mine.
“I’m sorry I was a bitch. I hate feeling unproductive. ”
I slip my boots off and hang my cut over the back of the chair that’s in the corner of the room before I approach the bed and get in on the other side. We’re both on top of the covers, but I know the meds will knock her out, so I reach down and pull the quilt up and tuck it around her.
“You nearly died, Marnie,” I say as I settle on my side so I’m looking at her.
“Do you remember what we talked about once you finally woke up?” She slowly nods but doesn’t verbally respond.
“So, when I’m around, and I plan to be around a lot more than I have been, I’m going to make sure that you do what you need to do in order to heal. ”
“But why?” she whispers.
“Because as my ol’ lady, it’s what I’m going to do to care for you. I won’t call it a job, because sometimes work sucks,” I say as she bursts into giggles. “But I will say it’s my privilege to take care of you, sweetheart. You’ve had to take care of everything on your own for far too long, Marnie.”
“We haven’t even kissed or had sex, how can you know you want me forever?” she persists.
“Well, we can take care of one of those things, but the other needs to wait a little bit longer,” I tease.
“And as for how I know, it’s a gut feeling, honey.
I wake up and think of you, and you’re the last thing on my mind before I fall asleep.
Every night you worked, I looked forward to being around you.
This… you and me… it’s going to happen. Now, get comfortable so we can take a nap. ”
“You’re going to sleep with me?” she asks as she automatically does what I told her, pulling the quilt up to her shoulders and adjusting the bed so she’s flat.
“Yep,” I reply, gently pulling her close to me so I’m spooning her.
I then readjust the heating pad and make note of the fact it’s set to run for a few hours as I cover both of us up with the quilt.
Leaning in, I kiss the spot behind her ear and grin when I feel her shiver.
“Sleep, sweetheart. I’m right here and you’re safe now. ”
As I hover between wakefulness and sleep, I think about the two assholes who hurt her.
Data hasn’t been able to locate them, and I’m concerned that they’ll jump out from the shadows and try to end her again.
I don’t tell Marnie, but until they’re found, she’s going to be covered in Raiders. Most especially, me.
“Ash?” Her murmur wakes me up from the best sleep I’ve had in quite some time.
Opening my eyes, I see that she’s turned at some point and we’re now face-to-face. “Hey,” I whisper, reaching out to smooth her hair away from her face. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m hungry and I have to pee,” she admits.
Chuckling, I pull away from her and get out of the bed. “Let me get your chariot, m’lady,” I tease. “Then we’ll see about taming the tiger in your belly.”
She blushes as a loud gurgle fills the silence. “I guess I’m getting used to eating every few hours,” she admits as I assist her with standing up.
“Probably so. Now, do you use your walker in the house or what?” I ask.
Personally, I think she should use the wheelchair since she’s only a few weeks out from major, life-saving abdominal surgery.
I know that she has a home healthcare nurse that comes in twice a week to check her incisions, and that she now has both a physical and occupational therapist who each visit twice a week.
Today was a physical therapy day and they do a lot of work with the walker to help Marnie regain her strength.
Knowing my stubborn woman, she probably pushed herself as hard as she could so she could get back to her independent ways.
“Wheelchair. Monica kicked my ass this morning before she left,” she admits. “I’m glad Paul didn’t even blink an eye when I asked for it earlier. I feel like such a burden, Ash.”
“Sweetheart, you’re not a burden. Let those who love and care about you help you right now, okay?
” I reply as I wheel her into the bathroom.
I’m still impressed as hell that Paul and his friends renovated the bathroom to accommodate Marnie.
Where the bathtub once was, there’s now a roll-in shower, complete with a shower chair, plenty of bars for her to hold onto, and a hand-held shower head with a long hose.
They also installed a raised toilet and put safety bars on the wall, so she has something to assist her when sitting and standing.
Once I have her in the bathroom, I lock the brakes and say, “Okay, I’ll wait outside. I think you can take it from here.”
She snickers then states, “We discussed me retaining some of the mystery, remember?”
“I remember,” I tease as I leave the bathroom and close the door.
To give her privacy, I step further down the hall.
Not so far away that I can’t get to her if I need to, just enough so she doesn’t feel like I’m listening in.
When I finally hear the water in the sink running, I move closer so when she opens the door, I can maneuver her out of the bathroom and down the hall toward the kitchen.
“Well, hello, sleepyhead,” Esther says as she sets a plate at the table where it’s obvious Marnie has been sitting. “Go ahead and eat. Ash, do you want anything? I have some chicken chili in the crockpot that’s ready.”
“That sounds good if it’s not too much trouble.”
“No trouble at all,” Esther replies as she pulls down a bowl and begins to ladle the soup into it. She cuts a piece of cornbread and places all of it at the table. “Want some tea?”
“Absolutely.” I’m not a huge fan of sweet tea, but Esther does something with hers that takes the bitterness I taste in others’ tea out of it. I don’t know what the secret is, but it’s refreshing and will definitely hit the spot.
“Do you really think I could learn to tattoo?” Marnie asks between bites of her food. She’s eating a chicken breast and mashed potatoes.
“Don’t see why not. A lot of tattoo artists draw and sketch, but I’ve never seen such clean lines before. I think you’d do well, sweetheart,” I tell her. “Then you won’t have to work at the bar. You work too hard.”
She rolls her eyes at me, then says, “I’ll still take shifts on the weekend, Ash. It’s a great way for me to get exercise without going to the gym since I hate doing that.”
I definitely have a few ideas about her getting her cardio in, that’s for damn sure. Unfortunately, that’s weeks away. “We’ll see,” I murmur.
“Whatever,” she huffs out, now glaring at me.
Oops. Forgot she’s a wee bit independent. “As long as you don’t wear yourself out, Marnie, that’s my biggest concern.”
She shakes her head and sighs. “Trust me, right now, I feel like a newborn foal, so it’s not going to be any time soon.”
“How was physical therapy this morning?” Esther asks, bringing over a bushel of green beans.
“Exhausting,” Marnie replies. “But Ash made me take some pain meds and then lay down, so I’m refreshed.”
“Good. Are you ready to learn how to process green beans for canning?” Esther queries.
“Yes! Can we do them on the porch? I wanna see how the girls are doing,” my woman asks.
“Don’t see why not. Ash, if you’ll get her out there, I’ll clean up really quick and meet y’all out there.”
And that’s how I find myself spending the afternoon, listening to my woman, Holly, and Esther gossip while Rebel, Paul, Mina, Ruby, and I work on painting the rest of the signs.
Once they are dry, we’ll use different glow-in-the-dark paints to fill in the words.
By the time we’re done, every one of us has black streaks, but Rebel is by far the worst.
As I make my way up to where only Marnie is sitting, I lean in and cup her face. “Been waiting to do this all day, babe,” I whisper against her lips.
When her arms go around my neck, I deepen the touch, my tongue seeking entrance as her essence nearly overwhelms me. “Fuck,” I murmur. I’m never going to get enough of her, I can already tell from our kiss. Long moments pass by until we break apart, both of us gasping for air.
“I liked that,” she tells me, a light blush covering her cheeks.
“There’s definitely more where that came from,” I reply just as the screen door opens and Rebel pops his head out. He’s freshly showered, his hair dripping down his neck.
“Now that you two are finished chewing each other’s faces off, dinner’s done and Esther’s ready to serve it up,” he says, smirking at me. I shoot him the bird as Marnie bursts out laughing, holding her stomach.
She manages to get herself turned around and Rebel holds the door while I push her through to the kitchen and over to the table.
Mina and Ruby are chattering a mile a minute, filling Paul in on everything they did, even though he was there for the last part of it.
Surprisingly, he was the only one who stayed relatively clean.
“All right, y’all, let’s eat,” Esther declares as she and Paul bring the last of the bowls to the table. “Marnie, you can have some of this, I made sure to use what the doctor said you can have.”
“Thanks, Esther,” my woman says as Paul dishes some of the chicken chili into her bowl. “Even the cornbread?” she hopefully asks, causing all of us to laugh.
“Even the cornbread,” Esther replies.
Mina pops up and asks, “Can I say the blessing, Pappy?”
“Absolutely, pumpkin,” he tells her.
Once dinner is done, Marnie asks me to take her to her room.
I can see that today has wiped her out, but she’s a trooper, which I tell her after we breach the doorway.
She has her pajamas on, having changed in the bathroom, and I can smell the mint toothpaste she used on her breath.
I excuse myself after snagging my duffel bag and head in so I can change into a pair of lounging pants and a clean T-shirt after taking a quick shower to get the few black streaks off my own arms.
Her eyes widen when I walk back into the bedroom and shut the door behind me. “What are you doing?” she queries.
“Taking care of my ol’ lady,” I reply as I slide into bed. “Don’t worry, Paul’s not gonna bust through the door with his shotgun. They know I’m here and I plan to stay overnight so that they can rest. They’re not getting any younger.”
I see flashes of guilt streak across her face and decide to shut that down. “Marnie, neither of them are complaining, but I’m able to be here, so if it keeps them from getting up every few hours to check on you, it’s all good, okay?”
“I didn’t know they were doing that,” she replies. “I mean, I’ve woken up once or twice, but I guess I’ve been sleeping right through it. Still, they didn’t need to do that.”
“Marnie, not to beat a dead horse, but you almost died, for fuck’s sake.
So, this family you’ve found yourself in is going to do whatever they have to do to ensure that you’re okay.
If that’s getting up every three or four hours in the middle of the night to check on you, let them, okay?
I’m just saying that I’m here now and am taking the night shift. ”
Her sigh is long and loud. “Okay, I get it, I guess. I mean, y’all have to cut me some slack, too. I was sleeping through all the drama. One minute I was trying to get away and the next, I was waking up in the hospital.”
I can’t help the snort that leaves my lips as I say, “Babe, there was a gap of nearly three days there. The surgery was long and difficult, then for the first day, they kept you sedated because every time they tried to wake you up, the pain was too much for you to bear and you’d pass out.”
“But I remember waking up in the recovery room,” she insists.
“You did and they moved you to ICU, but when you became fully alert, the pain was just too much. The nurse told your doctor, and he made the call to put you on conscious sedation. Now, how about you kiss me good night so we can get some sleep.”