Deadly Deceit, page 14
“You promised me, Jolene,” Christina said with such vehemence that Jolene took a step back, “You promised we would grow old together.”
“Baby, I…” Jolene’s response was cut short when someone shouted “Fire!”
Jolene cringed as Christian and the other officers pointed their rifles in the air and fired. “Baby, please,” she pleaded, even as another round of shots rang out into the air, “I’m right here!”
Christina simply shook her head and turned into the arms of a woman standing behind her. Jolene couldn’t see the woman’s face, and when she reached for Christina’s arm, she was devastated when Christina leaned up and kissed the other woman.
“Christie, no!” Jolene screamed as the officers readied to fire the last shots into the air.
She slapped her hands over her ears as the shots rang out, deafening her. The echo bounced through her brain much longer than it should have, and Jolene squeezed her eyes shut as the world began fill with bursts of bright light.
“Christie, please!” she cried, tears pouring from her closed eyes.
All at once, light and sound began to assault Jolene’s senses. Despite her tightly clenched eyelids, a blinding light scorched across her retinas. A loud beeping sound screamed in her ears, along with the sound of a man’s voice.
“That’s it, Jolene,” the voice said, “come back to us.”
Jolene tried to force her eyelids closed, but something kept forcing them open. After what seemed like an eternity, the force lessened, and she was finally able to block out the light. Darkness began to surround her, and Jolene sighed with relief.
“I think she’s finally starting to come around,” the voice said, “too bad Christina left. She’s been waiting for this moment for so long.”
“Wait, what?” Jolene asked the darkness. “What do you mean Christie left? She would never leave me.”
As she spoke, Jolene’s mind replayed that last image of Christina kissing the other woman.
No, she thought, that never happened. You won’t let it happen. Dammit, Jolene, you have to fight for her. She deserves to be fought for.
With that thought in her head, Jolene felt a new determination building deep inside her. She opened her eyes and looked around in the blackness that engulfed her.
My wife. I need to get back to my wife.
As she thought the words, a point of light began to pulse in front of her. “You can’t leave her,” a soft, soothing voice seemed to emanate from the light.
“I won’t,” Jolene replied determinedly as she took a step forward. “I promised her I would never leave her, and I don’t plan on breaking that promise.”
The point of light began to pulse faster as she approached it, each pulse brightening a larger expanse of the blackness.
“I’m coming, Christie,” she said, her voice loud in her own ears.
“Did you hear that?” a different male voice asked, “I think she’s trying to say something! Jo? Jo, can you hear me?”
“Christie,” Jolene said, stepping closer to the now blinding light. She put her hand up, trying to shield her eyes as she came upon a brilliantly white door.
“Just push,” the soothing voice coached, “Christie is waiting for you, Jolene.”
“She is?” Jolene asked hopefully, her hand shaking violently as she placed it against the warm door.
“She is,” the voice replied, filling Jolene’s heart with hope and joy.
Jolene sucked in a deep breath. She couldn’t wait to see Christina’s beautiful face again. “I’m coming, Baby,” she breathed as she leaned forward and pushed against the door with all her might.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“What?” Christina grumbled sleepily into the phone. She wasn’t pleased with being woken from her nap before the alarm went off.
“Christie, you need to get down here, quick! We think Jolene is trying to wake up.”
Christina’s eyes snapped open and she bolted upright on the couch. “What?” she repeated in disbelief, “Chris, please don’t joke around like that.”
“I’m not joking, Sis, I swear. She’s moaning, and her eyelids are fluttering. The doctor said she’s trying to wake up. Get down here, ASAP!”
When Christian clicked off the call, Christina dropped her phone into her lap and simply stared at it.
Can it be? Is she really waking up? Oh, my God, Jo is coming back to me!
A rush of excitement coursed through her, and Christina shot from the couch. If Jolene was really waking up, Christina wanted to be the first thing she saw. She’d dreamed of this moment for weeks, and was always crushed when she awoke to find that it wasn’t true.
“I’m coming, Sweetheart,” she said as she climbed into the car and gunned it out of the driveway.
Fifteen minutes later, Christina ran into the lobby of the hospital, her shoes squeaking as she skidded to a halt at the visitor check-in desk. She fumbled in her purse to produce the laminated badge, a long-term visitor pass that was given to those whose loved ones were under hospitalization for more than a week. She handed the badge over to the young volunteer manning the desk, and waited impatiently for the woman to validate it.
Once she was cleared to go up, Christina bypassed the elevator in favor of the stairs. Taking them two at a time, she felt anxiety start to grip her. Just as she reached for the door that would let her onto Jolene’s floor, Christina paused.
What if she doesn’t recognize me? Can I handle it if she doesn’t know who I am?
“Calm down, Christie,” she said to the empty stairwell. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters, is that she is awake. We can work through anything else.”
With that small pep talk, Christina pulled on the door knob and stepped through. Charity turned as Christina walked past the nurse’s station and raised her hand to get the brunette’s attention.
“You made good time,” she complimented with a smile, “She hasn’t quite opened her eyes. Her parents and brother and husband are in there with her. I’ll let Dr. Paxton know that you’ve arrived.” Charity offered Christina a comforting pat on the back, before moving off in the opposite direction.
Christina made her way quickly to the door of Jolene’s room, barging in without the obligatory knock. Her heart leapt into her throat at the tears in the eyes of Jolene’s brother and parents. “What’s wrong?” she squeaked.
Frank and Beth turned to face their daughter-in-law. Beth reached out for Christina and pulled the woman into a bone-crushing hug. “Nothing, Sweetheart,” the older redhead wept, “They’re happy tears. The doctor will be right back.”
Christina clung to Beth, even as her attention was drawn to the redhead lying still in the bed. Jolene didn’t look any different than she had a few hours earlier. Her eyes remained closed, her mouth slack, and the mostly healed scars still contrasted brightly with her pale skin.
“She looks the same,” Christina murmured softly.
“Keep watching her face,” Frank said with a watery smile.
Christina sniffed back the disappointed tears. She moved closer to the head of the bed, her eyes never leaving her wife’s face. Time ticked by at a snail’s pace, but Christina didn’t look away. Then, just as Christina was about to speak, she saw it. Jolene’s eyelids fluttered, almost imperceptibly, and she let out a low groan.
“Oh, my God,” she gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as she leaned a bit closer.
Jolene’s eyes began to move rapidly beneath her lids, and her groans turned to impatient whimpers.
“Jo?” Christina asked, her voice cracking.
Joseph reached out and laid his hand on Christina’s shoulder. “Christie, look,” he said. Christina reluctantly moved her eyes from Jolene’s face. She looked to Joseph and followed his gaze to Jolene’s hand.
“Say something else,” he said, his eyes riveted to his twin’s fingers.
“Jo, Baby, can you hear me?” Renewed tears sprang to Christina’s eyes when Jolene’s lax fingers flexed to splay against the blanket.
Jolene moaned; a deep, hollow sound that was like music to Christina’s ears. Her eyelids continued to flutter, but didn’t quite manage to open.
“Come on, Jo,” Christina coaxed. She rested her right hand over Jolene’s left, curling their fingers together, and placed her left hand on the crown of Jolene’s head. “Come back to me, Jo,” she whispered close to Jolene’s ear.
“Sorry about that,” Dr. Evan Paxton started as he walked back into the room. He stopped short when Frank and Beth turned and placed their fingers against their lips to shush him.
Dr. Paxton raised his eyebrow, but didn’t finish his statement. Instead, he joined the Preston family as they watched Christina’s attempt to coax Jolene into consciousness.
Christina, her face just inches from Jolene’s, didn’t even notice the doctor’s intrusion. “Come on, Baby,” she coached, “open those beautiful eyes. Please, Jo, please wake up.”
Dr. Paxton stared, wide-eyed, with the rest of Jolene’s family as her eyelids slowly eased open.
“Christie?” Jolene’s voice was dry and coarse from disuse, but the sound of her name on her wife’s lips made Christina’s heart melt with happiness.
Jolene squeezed Christina’s fingers, and brought her other hand up to cup her wife’s face. “You’re here,” she rasped.
Tears trickled down Christina’s cheeks. “I’m here, honey.” Carefully, Christina lowered her head and brushed her lips over Jolene’s. “I knew you would come back to me.”
Chapter 11
Three weeks later, Dr. Paxton stood at the foot of Jolene’s bed with a wide smile. “Make sure you keep up with the physical therapy. Even though your movements feel easy, you still need to make all your appointments. Skipping them or not doing the at-home exercises will lead to stiffness and pain.”
“Don’t worry, Doc,” Christina promised, “I’ll make sure she complies. Jo wasn’t a lazy person before, and I’m not going to let her get lazy now.”
Jolene snorted and tried to cover it with a half-hearted cough. Her physical injuries from the bombing were completely healed, and she was itching to get out of that damnable hospital bed. If she were being honest, she just wanted to be alone with Christina, without having to worry about vitals checks and frequent interruptions from the nursing staff.
After she’d come out of her coma, Jolene’s room buzzed with activity for days. Specialists, technicians, and nurses bustled around her, trying to determine what, if any, lasting damage she may have sustained. She’d been relieved when the constant stream of people finally dwindled.
Now that she was medically cleared to go home, Jolene couldn’t wait to go outside. She’d been allowed to move about the hospital, as part of her physical therapy, but hadn’t been allowed to go outside yet. After the umpteenth time she’d been told to stay inside the hospital, Jolene’s temper got the best of her.
“Why the fuck can’t I go for a walk in the garden?” she’d demanded, knowing full well that the garden was part of the hospital’s physical therapy route.
Christina, Christian, and Joseph had all been present at the time, and the three had exchanged a nervous glance.
“Jo,” Christian said cautiously, “It’s for your privacy.”
Jolene sneered at her partner. “My privacy? These people have seen every private place I have. I have no privacy here.”
Christina sighed and glanced at Joseph, who hung his head in resignation. Everyone had been doing their best to shield Jolene from the media storm that was happening on the hospital’s grounds.
The news that Jolene had not only survived the blast, but had finally woken from her coma, had somehow leaked to the press. Now, the hospital grounds were once again teeming with reporters vying for the story.
“Honey,” Christina said, stroking Jolene’s thigh affectionately, “There’s something you need to know.”
Jolene frowned and covered Christina’s hand with her own. Christina sighed deeply and explained about the reporters. She explained about the harassment that she and the others had experienced, the reporters that seemed to stake out anywhere that the family members went, and the media blackout that had finally been issued.
Jolene’s muscles tensed beneath Christina’s hand. “Shit. Were you outed?” She squeezed Christina’s fingers and prayed that her wife had not endured that kind of backlash because of her.
Christina smiled and leaned in for a gentle kiss. “No. LeRoy approved Joseph and I for emergency leave, so nobody would ask too many questions. So far, the media still thinks that Joseph and I are married.”
“And now they’re back,” Jolene concluded, “so there is still the risk that you could be.”
Christina nodded and offered her wife a pained smile. She knew that it bothered Jolene that her job security relied on their continued deceit.
During the weeks that Jolene was unconscious, Christina had thought long and hard about their situation, wondering if her job was really worth the lie.
“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart,” she said softly, “if it happens, it happens. You are what’s important here. You are worth so much more to me than my job.”
Jolene shook her head firmly. Before she could respond, another wave of nurses flowed into the room, effectively putting an end to the conversation.
“Well,” Dr. Paxton said as he handed the long-awaited discharge papers to Christina, “It’s been great having you as a patient, and don’t take this the wrong way, but I truly hope I never see you in here again.”
Jolene and Christina chuckled and bid the doctor goodbye. Once the door was closed, Jolene let out a deep sigh and reached for the backpack on the foot of her bed. Christina had brought her some clothing to wear home, much to Jolene’s immense relief.
Once she’d begun physical therapy, the damnable hospital gown that Jolene despised with every fiber of her being had been replaced by a set of scrubs.
Unfortunately, the scrubs had lost their luster, and Jolene was itching to get back into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
“Thank you for bringing these, baby,” she said as she climbed off the bed and stripped off her scrub top.
She dug into the backpack and pulled out her underwear. Slipping her sports bra into place, she could feel Christina’s eyes on her body.
“You’ve seen my breasts before,” she commented with a smile. Her smile faltered when she noticed the look of dismay on Christina’s face. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
Christina shook her head and swiped at her teary eyes. “Nothing, sweetheart,” she sniffed and smiled softly, “I’m just so happy that you’re coming home.”
Jolene raised her eyebrow skeptically. She saw the lie for what it was, but didn’t push. Instead, she smiled back and finished dressing quickly. When she was finished, she held out her hand. “Ready?”
Christina took the offered hand and allowed Jolene to pull her up. “More than,” she said as she grabbed the backpack and glanced around to make sure they had everything. Joseph and Christian had been by earlier in the day and removed most of Jolene’s things ahead of her discharge.
Just as the couple stepped out of the room, Charity hurried up looking frazzled. “Wait,” she said, looking over her shoulder as she ushered the couple back into the room.
“Charity, what’s wrong?” Christina asked in confusion.
Charity closed the door behind her and moved across the room toward the window. She peered out through the blinds and groaned.
“Charity?” Christina asked again, concerned by the normally bubbly nurse’s secretive behavior.
“You can’t leave yet,” Charity explained as she turned to face the couple, “You need to wait. The police are on their way.”
Jolene and Christina shared a confused look. “The police? Why?” Jolene asked.
Charity wrung her hands and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “The hospital, um… we received a threat today.”
Jolene’s ears perked. “What kind of threat?”
Charity grimaced. “Someone called the switchboard and said that you wouldn’t be leaving this hospital. The operator brought in security, and they called the police. Security is talking with Dr. Paxton right now.”
Christina’s grip on Jolene’s hand tightened painfully. “I’ll call Chris,” she said as she dug into her purse for her phone.
“Thank you, Charity,” Jolene said with a kind smile.
Charity nodded and excused herself from the room. Before she opened the door, she turned back to address Jolene.
“There is a sea of reporters outside. Some of them were here before, because of the announcement that you were being released; but the others are here because of the threat. I’m not sure how they found out, but I was asked not to let you leave.”
Jolene thanked her again, and Charity let herself out of the room. While Christina was talking with her brother, Jolene moved over to the window and peeked through the slatted blinds.
Charity hadn’t been exaggerating. Jolene’s room was on the fourth floor, directly above the main entrance to the hospital. The parking lot was packed with news vehicles and reporters from numerous reporting agencies.
“Wow,” she said, awed by the spectacle.
Jolene had never been comfortable with the public spotlight, and knowing that she was the reason for the media’s presence made her highly uncomfortable.
“Sweetheart?” Christina stepped up behind Jolene and slid her arms around her wife’s waist. “Are you alright?”
Jolene nodded, her eyes never leaving the crowd. “I think so. I’m not really sure how I feel about all this. What did Chris say?”
Christina let out a sigh and urged Jolene away from the window. She led her back to the bed, and motioned for her to take a seat.
“He’s on his way with Lieutenant Dale. Apparently, the threat was sent to the PD, too.”
Jolene furrowed her brow. “The Brass must think the threat is credible, if the LT is making a house-call.”
Christina sat down beside Jolene and wrapped her in a hug. “Maybe they’re just being extra cautious,” she tried to console, “I mean, you are the only person to survive one of the bombings. It could just be some whack-job looking for a thrill.”
