Chapter 14
“Steel is going to kill me when he finds out I’m doing this to you.”
Jenna was surprised at the light chuckle that escaped her mouth. It might have been the first time she’d made any sound of pleasure since Melanie’s murder. Her head resting on Lucky’s shoulder, she said, “It’ll be our little secret.”
Today was Ollie’s appointment to get his cast off, which also marked eight weeks since the car accident and Melanie’s murder.
Lilly was a Godsend. In Jenna’s condition, there was no way she could have taken care of either her son or herself.
Aaron was also an incredible help. He’d gotten his cast off his arm a few weeks ago, but even that cast hadn’t stopped him from doing everything he possibly could to help out Ollie.
Jenna was incredibly grateful to her fellow ol’ ladies and their men.
They cooked, cleaned, and rotated keeping Jenna company even when she didn’t want it.
And now, Lucky was carrying Jenna out of her bathroom.
Jenna’s wheelchair did not fit through her bathroom doorframe.
Bathing had been difficult of late, especially on days when any movement caused her increased pain.
In addition to helping her with her bathroom necessities, Lilly had been giving Jenna daily sponge baths and washing her hair over the kitchen sink every few days.
But she wasn’t going to miss Ollie’s appointment.
So come hell or high water, Jenna had gotten herself into the bathroom that morning to take a real bath.
Unfortunately, the act of bathing and getting dressed afterwards had exhausted her so much that Jenna couldn’t make herself stand up and walk with Lilly’s assistance to the wheelchair waiting only feet outside the bathroom doorway.
They’d had no choice but to call in reinforcements.
She refused to think about how much easier her life would be right now if Jack were at her side.
Lucky had already been downstairs and had come running to Jenna’s rescue. He’d easily picked her up bridal style to carry her out into her bedroom, but was now pausing as to where to put her. “Are you ready to head downstairs?”
Jenna knew that she’d sleep if he laid her down in her bed, so she nodded. Her back was quaking. Her last infusion did not seem to have the same easing effect the previous one had had. Her right thigh was bothering her more than she was trying to let on.
Lucky headed out of her bedroom and sidestepped the chairlift to bring her down the steps.
Jenna had to grit her teeth as each step felt like she was being bounced on a trampoline.
It wasn’t Lucky’s fault; he was being incredibly gentle with her.
Her body just wasn’t a fan of movement anymore.
Even the daily exercises Lilly did with her were torturous.
But this was for Ollie. She was his mother, and she needed to be there for him.
Laughter rose up from the kitchen.
“It doesn’t smell that bad!”
Jenna saw Aaron first as Lucky brought her under the door frame. He was standing at the fridge with a flower in front of his nose. “Babe, I trust your sense of smell even less than your sense of fashion!” the young man remarked.
Ollie, aghast, put a hand to his chest. He was sitting at the kitchen table with his bedazzled crutches leaning up against the wall behind him. “Moi?! My fashion sense is impeccable!”
“You’re wearing shoulder boards!” Aaron argued, pointing at Ollie’s jacket.
The lightweight, blue jacket that was a shade shy of being navy had a yellow-green shoulder pad on Ollie’s right and a pink one on his left.
Underneath he wore a white and lime green horizontally-striped V-neck shirt.
Jenna couldn’t see his pants from her angle in Lucky’s arms, but she was sure they would be as equally, uh, unique.
“They’re called ‘epaulettes’,” Ollie defended with a note of duh in his voice. “And regardless of how fabulous I look, it does not take away from the fact that you said my feet smell!”
“Foot,” Aaron corrected. He grabbed a pitcher of iced tea from the fridge with one hand while still holding the flower to his nose with the other.
Jenna noticed a large vase of flowers on the kitchen table, along with a number of greeting cards.
“Babes, you’ve had a cast on your leg for two months!
Of course it’s going to smell. No amount of perfume or whatever it is you’ve been spraying on yourself is going to cover that up.
” Placing the iced tea on the table, Aaron leaned over Ollie’s chair.
In profile, he looked so much like Cage it was uncanny.
“But no amount of stank or your questionable fashion choices will ever make me love you any less.”
Ollie beamed up at his boyfriend, not a trace of offense left on his face. Aaron was leaning down to kiss Ollie when Lucky cleared his throat. Both boys jumped, clearly not having known they had an audience.
“Mom!” Ollie’s eyes widened like he’d been caught skinny-dipping. Now that he was looking directly at her, she saw his winged eyeliner and bright eyeshadow as well. To her knowledge, Ollie hadn’t worn glitter since the night of his car accident and Melanie’s murder.
Every time Jenna saw Ollie’s expression of himself, she was filled with even more pride.
It wasn’t so long ago that Ollie had been a terrified foster boy who hoarded food and money in his room.
Jenna wasn’t sure if Ollie knew that Jenna and Jack were aware he’d taken cash from their wallets during the first few months he’d lived with them.
They hadn’t said anything because he’d been terrified and in new surroundings, and they weren’t sure if confronting him would make him run.
And Ollie never spent the money. He squirreled it away, telling them it was his emergency fund.
Then one day, around the time that Aaron had come into their lives, the money was found inside Jenna’s purse. Like it had merely fallen out of her wallet. Jenna wondered what Ollie’s reaction would be if she knew that Jack had taken that money and deposited it into Ollie’s college fund.
Additionally, canned food that had also gone missing mysteriously reappeared in the pantry.
Ollie had come such a long way from the malnourished, abused boy Jack had rescued from the Black Pythons MC.
Some parents might take issue with Ollie’s, uh, unique choices when it came to clothing and style, but not Jenna.
And certainly not Jack. The man might not understand it, but that in no way meant he didn’t support it.
Calmer than his boyfriend, Aaron stepped back and straightened. “Hi, Aunt Jenna. Thanks for bringing her down, Uncle Lucky.”
Lucky nodded to his nephew. “Are the two of you ready to go?”
“Just let me pour Ollie’s tea for him to go,” Aaron said as he headed over to the drainboard. He pulled out a large cup, lid, and reusable straw. “Ollie, do you want lemon or mint today?”
“Mint.” Ollie reached behind himself to grab his crutches. “Can you add three drops, please? I’m feeling spunky today.”
Aaron shook his head like he couldn’t believe his ears, but Jenna saw the adoring smile on his lips. The kid was built like a linebacker with a heart of gold. For all his training and his ambition to join the Army after graduating high school in a couple months, he truly had a gentle soul.
“Oh good, you brought her down.” Lucky turned at Lilly’s voice behind him.
Jenna’s eyebrows shot up. “Lilly, what did you do?”
Her sister-in-law was sitting on a motorized wheelchair and was coming towards them at a steady speed from the living room.
She took her hand off the lever and jerked to a halt.
“Geez!” she exclaimed, catching herself.
“I was not expecting that.” Getting up, Lilly turned and held her hands out like Vanna White. “Ta-da!”
As Lucky brought her forward, Jenna’s eyes remained wide as saucers. The wheelchair didn’t look like any type of motorized wheelchair Jenna had ever seen before. “I don’t understand. What is it, and where did you get it?”
“This, dear sister, is called the Redman standing powerchair. And don’t get on me for how much this thing cost. It was all your husband.”
The large black chair had a U-shaped headrest. The backrest had shoulder straps like she’d seen on some roller coasters.
The armrests had thick cushions with a controller panel with a joystick on the right side.
Another belt lay at the waist, though it was thicker than a standard seatbelt and reminded her of a cummerbund.
The butt cushion was long and would likely come all the way out to behind her knees.
Something black hung off the side of the left leg rest, and she saw buckles on the footrests as well.
The powerchair had a very large black box behind it, along with six wheels. Two small in the back, two medium in the front, and two large in the middle.
It looked impressive, but Jenna still didn’t understand. “I don’t get it,” she confessed. Jack had bought this for her? How? Why?
“Here, come take a seat,” Lilly offered.
Lucky brought Jenna forward. “We’re going to need to keep this away from Scotty and the little ones for a bit. They’re going to want rides and to play with the buttons.”
And there were a lot of buttons, Jenna realized as Lucky gingerly placed her on the seat. Lilly stepped forward and started instructing Lucky on how to buckle Jenna into the chair. It was a bit daunting, being restrained, and Jenna wished that Jack was there to help her through her nerves.
Ollie came forward on his crutches and took her left hand. Aaron was hanging back by the table.