32. Chapter 24
Chapter 24
J on looked down at the cast on his foot in disgust. The busiest season of the year was coming up. They had the Christmas Open House, Santa on the Farm day for kids, and the big Christmas banquet. He was gonna be useless. Worse than. He was a burden now because he'd need help with everything.
The X-rays showed he'd broken his left ankle and sprained his right one. He'd also fractured several bones in his left foot. Doctors said he'd gotten off lightly. Broken back, broken neck, broken legs—all shoulda's according to the doctor. He didn't tell them he'd tried a maneuver he'd seen in an action movie, the hero sliding down a ladder with his hands on either side, like it was a fireman's pole. Obviously, it hadn't worked out so well, but, in his defense, the ladder had been falling at the time.
At least he was being discharged today. He couldn't wait to get the hell out of the hospital. He looked at his phone. 8 a.m. The night had been endless with the nurses coming in and out and wailing from the room next door. How soon would Eddie arrive? How soon would his discharge papers be ready? God, let it be soon.
He got out of bed and used the crutches they'd given him to hobble slowly to the bathroom. He refused to call a nurse or use a bedpan. Ridiculous how difficult it was just to use the john. This was gonna be a nightmare.
He made it back to bed, his skin clammy with sweat, and lay there panting. He stared out the window at the sullen winter sky.
Maybe Elijah would come with Eddie to pick him up. A pang echoed in his heart. Stupid how much he missed those big brown eyes.
The door opened, and a woman strode in in a cloud of feathered scarf, big red coat, and pachouli. "There you are, Jon!"
"Aunt Jolie?" Jon gasped. "What're you doin' here?"
"My favorite nephew is hurt. Of course I came." She glided to the bed and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then shivered dramatically. "Why'd you have to move so far north? This climate's not fit for a dog! Brrr."
"You didn't have to come. I told you on the phone, I'm fine."
Aunt Jolie looked down at his cast and raised a laconic brow. "Yes, dearest, I can see that. You don't need any help at all."
Now Jon regretted whining on the phone to his aunt. He hadn't meant for her to upend her life for him. "I can get around. And it's not like Eddie will kick me out."
Aunt Jolie drew up a visitor chair and settled in. She looked far younger than her fifty-three years. Her slim, narrow face was unlined, and when she pulled off her hat, dark wavy hair fell to her shoulders, highlighted with only a few grays strands. She smoothed it, even though it had a lacquer-like finish and rarely moved.
"Your mama wanted to come, but you know her schedule. She's got readings booked up months in advance. I convinced her to send me instead."
"You didn't need to," Jon said, sounding more grudging than he actually felt. "But it is nice to see a face from home."
"Just a face?" Aunt Jolie tutted.
" Your face especially." Jon smiled. "How is everyone?"
She waved a hand. "Everyone's fine. Troublemakers, every one of 'em. But we can talk about that later. I want to hear about Elijah." She leaned forward eagerly. "Tell me more about what happened."
Jon huffed a laugh and lay back against the pillow. "I see. Shoulda known you came for Elijah, not for me."
"Don't be silly! Of course I came to help you. And to see this farm you've been talkin' about for two years. But, yes, Elijah too. You know where my interests lie."
He definitely did. Aunt Jolie had been fascinated on the phone when he'd described the remedies Elijah had made for Joy and Priscilla. But this? Pure catnip to her.
He sighed. "What do you wanna know?"
"You said he took the pain away. How? Tell me more."
Jon wanted to dissemble and say he didn't remember, but he did. How could he forget that agony? Or how hot Elijah's hand had been in his? Like holding onto the sun. He remembered looking up as the pain eased and seeing Elijah's face, eyes closed in concentration, paler even than usual, sweat on his brow. He'd felt the pain drain away from his body through his hand, like water going down a pipe, getting more and more bearable, then faint, then gone. The absence of that pain had been the most blissful thing he'd ever felt.
It had come back once the EMTs moved him, and in the hospital, but it had never gotten as bad as it had been right after the fall. The doctors had expressed surprise to see the breaks on the X-rays.
"What's your pain level?" they kept asking, right up until they'd taken him into surgery.
It had been bad after he'd woken up from the surgery, for sure. But they had him drugged. And it was weird. All he had to do was picture Elijah's face and recall that feeling—the pain draining away, and the warm… bliss—there was no other word for it—that had come in its place. When he brought those things to mind, his pain eased.
Then again: drugs.
"I don't know what to tell you," Jon said. "I've never experienced anythin' like it."
"Tell me every detail you remember," Jolie pushed. "Did he give you anything to drink? Were there any incantations?"
Jon sighed. He felt oddly protective of Elijah and his… secrets? Power? But this was Jolie. "He didn't give me anythin'. He held my hand. And, somehow, he took the pain. He took it, and he put it in a bucket of water. Eddie said that, afterward, the water had had these black streaks and a weird smell. They dumped it in a clearing in the woods. Elijah told Eddie it was poison, and Eddie said he didn't doubt it would kill anything it touched."
"Fascinating! I've never heard of such a thing. The water, I mean. I know energy workers who can relieve pain to some extent, but nothing like the severe pain and shock you must have been in. My goodness!"
"I told you. His grandfather is a powerful Amish braucher."
"Well, I've read about every kind of folk magic you can think of, but I never read a thing about Amish braucherei. Obviously, I've been missin' out."
Her eagerness worried Jon. "Look, Elijah's very secretive about this stuff. He doesn't like to talk about it. Believe me, I've tried. I think he's…. I dunno. Ashamed of it, maybe. Like he thinks people will judge him for it. Or he's afraid to use it." He almost mentioned the four men who'd wanted Elijah to join up with them, but it really wasn't his place to share all of Elijah's business.
Aunt Jolie gave him an admonishing look. "Jon Lightner Bruneau, have you no faith in me? I am capable of being subtle."
Jon gave her a look that said he wasn't buying it.
"Anyway, how is he now? You said he fainted?"
Jon shook his head. He'd been so blissed out he hadn't been aware of much of anything until the EMTs arrived. But Eddie told him what had happened. "Yeah, I guess he did faint after. But he's okay. Or so Eddie said. Elijah hasn't come to visit me."
There was an edge to his voice that he hadn't intended, and of course, Aunt Jolie picked up on it. She gave him a long, curious look. She was about to say something—no doubt something he didn't want to hear—when the door opened again, and Eddie and Samuel came in.
Saved by the bosses.
"Hey, guys!" Jon said. "Meet my Aunt Jolie."
She jumped up and went over to grab each man in a hug. "I've heard so much about you both. I'm thrilled to finally meet you."
Samuel and Eddie looked at each other quizzically.
"Nice to meet you," Samuel said. "Thanks for comin'."
"Yeah, we knew Jon had to have family somewhere," Eddie said with a glare at Jon. "Even if he never mentioned them."
"I told her she didn't have to fly all this way. I'm being discharged today."
"Oh, honey, I didn't come just to see you in the hospital," Aunt Jolie said breezily. "I'm yours till after Christmas." She looked at Eddie and Samuel. "Jon'll be off his feet, and you'll need help. So consider me a member of the Bruneau family here to pick up the slack. Aunt Jolie, reporting for duty."