Page 88 of Moving to Love
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.”
