Chapter Twenty
Nearly a week later, Charlie drove to the hospital after dropping Kristy off at daycare. She still couldn’t believe the events of the past several days. Everything seemed to mesh into one big blur. Jake did pull through with no signs of brain damage, much to her and the Fox family’s relief. Thankfully, the only damage he seemed to suffer was a couple of fractured ribs and a broken arm, but they would heal.
The only reminder he would probably keep from the accident was a scar along his temple where the doctors had removed glass fragments. In time, that too would eventually heal until it was barely noticeable. Charlie knew it could have been much worse.
At the insistence of Jake’s attending physician, a strict visiting schedule was implemented so as not to tire the patient. Although she was never alone when she went to see him, Charlie took some time off from work so she could be available if Jake suddenly needed her. There was always a family member, a friend or someone from work already there when she went to see him.
Jake always seemed happy to see her but there was a bit of reserve in his eyes that made Charlie wonder if this accident had perhaps changed Jake’s feelings as well. The thought made her heart ache. She figured it was no more than she deserved if he stopped loving her.
Charlie walked into Jake’s room to find him alone. Here it was. This was her opportunity to tell him how she felt without interruptions.
“Hi, Jake.” Charlie smiled nervously entering the room.
Jake, who had been vacantly staring out the window, turned his head toward her with tired eyes. “Hi, Charlie. Have a seat.”
“How are you feeling today?” She sat in the chair next to his bedside, taking a deep breath. What she wanted to do most was throw herself at him and beg his forgiveness, but she had to take things easy—for now.
“I’m feeling much better than I did yesterday, but my arm itches like a son of a bitch and if I move a certain way, my side hurts. I’m not due for another round of painkillers for another hour,” he complained miserably.
“I’m sorry to hear you’re uncomfortable. If there’s anything I can do to make it better, I will.”
“Thanks, Charlie, but I’ll be okay. So I see you’re taking some time off,” he observed.
“I couldn’t work knowing you were here, Jake.”
“You didn’t have to do that, Charlie. I’ll be okay.” Jake shrugged nonchalantly.
It was now or never. She had to tell him now. “Jake I—”
“So where’s—” They both laughed because they had started to speak at the same time. “You first.”
“No, you first please,” Charlie said to buy herself some more time. She didn’t realize how hard this was going to be.
“I was going to ask you where Kristy was.”
“I dropped Kristy off at the daycare for a couple of hours. She missed her friends and I thought she needed a little break from the hospital. It’s been a rough week for her.” Charlie hesitated and then added, “It’s been a rough week for me as well.” She finished, looking at Jake with probing eyes.
“Has it really?”
Charlie was about to answer him when the door opened.
“Jake, you’re up. That’s good I was—oh, you’re here,” Helen finished rudely as she saw Charlie sitting at Jake’s bedside.
“Yes, I’m here. How are you today?” Charlie asked, clenching her jaw to hold her temper in check. She didn’t want to start anything with Jake’s sister, but there was only so much she could take. All week Charlie had put up with rude remarks and angry glares from Helen. Charlie was not easily riled, but her patience was wearing thin.
Helen looked as if she didn’t want to answer but she finally did after another glower to Charlie. “Fine,” Helen said, her tone short. She then sat down on the other side of Jake’s bed and took his hand. Helen chatted on, rudely ignoring Charlie.
Now that Helen was there, Charlie knew she wouldn’t get a word in edgewise. She sat there for a few minutes while Helen dominated the conversation. Jake tried to include Charlie, but Helen would take over if Charlie even attempted to speak. After this went on for several minutes Charlie stood up. “I have to go, but I’ll be back to visit you, Jake,” Charlie said during the first break in conversation.
“You don’t have to go.” He reached for her with his good arm only to end up jarring his ribs. He winced in pain.
“Be careful, Jake,” Charlie said with concern. “I will leave you two alone. I’ll bring Kristy by the next time I visit.”
“When will you be back?” He almost seemed as though he were upset she was leaving so abruptly, but there was no way she was going to stay with him another minute without knocking his sister into next week.
“Maybe in a day or two. You need your rest,” Charlie finished firmly.
“Can’t you come back tomorrow?”
“For God sake, Jake, if she wants to go, let her.” Helen rolled her eyes, exasperation in her voice.
Charlie turned to Helen. The little bit of control she had been holding in concerning this woman was threadbare. She would have loved to give Helen a nice smack, but didn’t want to cause a scene at the hospital that would upset Jake. She wasn’t, however, going to put up with anymore of Helen’s disrespect.
“Helen, I’m not sure what I did to you personally to warrant your rudeness. I have tried to be nice but you have been a nasty bitch. You’re lucky I don’t believe in violence or I would have smacked the shit out of you already. Because you’re Jake’s sister I would like us to be civil to each other at least, but if you ever again talk to me like you have been, I just might break my no violence rule.” Charlie turned away from Helen’s stricken face.
“I’ll see you later, Jake.” She smiled at him before walking out the door.
“The nerve of that woman,” Helen huffed. “Really, Jake, just because she managed to pop out your child, who she hid for all this time, doesn’t mean she can just ingratiate herself with the family. You should have seen the way Mom and Dad were treating her.”
“How did Mom and Dad treat her?” Jake asked, wanting to strangle his sister. He couldn’t blame Charlie for going off on Helen. He’d always told Helen her mouth would get her in trouble one day.
“Like she was one of the family. Oh, she put on a good show as if she cared, but I know it was just an act. Then she made up some ghost story just to be the center of attention. To make matters worse, she involved the kids,” Helen seethed. Jake had tuned Helen out at the word ghost.
“That woman needs a good slap across the face,” Helen declared, bringing him back to their conversation.
“That woman has a name. It’s Charlie, use it.”
“I would sooner call her something else.”
“Are you finished?” Jake put up with a lot where his sister was concerned, but the disrespect of his daughter’s mother was one thing he wouldn’t tolerate.
“I could go on all day about that woman.”
“But you won’t because I will not listen to you anymore.”
“Jake—”
“Can it, Helen. You know what? You can be a real jackass sometimes. What right do you have to treat her that way?”
“How can you ask me that after what she did to you? She’s lucky I don’t scratch her eyes out.”
“Helen, you’re lucky she didn’t kick your ass. What happened between Charlie and me is none of your business. No matter what you think you know about the situation, don’t you ever talk about her like that again. She’s the mother of my child and I love her,” Jake warned his sister.
Helen snorted. “You love her? Even after what she did?”
“Helen, I know your heart is in the right place but you don’t know Charlie. Maybe if you got to know her, you would realize she is not as bad as you think. Truth be known, I haven’t been an angel in this entire ordeal.”
Helen’s jaw dropped as if she couldn’t believe he had spoken to her that way. “Jake, I just want you to be happy, and from what I’ve seen, Charlie has made you miserable. Even when I walked in here you had sort of a sad look in your eyes. Do you think I can stand back and say nothing?”
“As difficult as I know it is for you to keep your mouth shut, that’s exactly what I’m asking you to do. I’m asking you this, as your brother, to be nice to Charlie and if you can’t be nice to her, please be civil.”
“No way!”
“For me, Helen. You claim you are mad at her because of the way she treated me, but you don’t seem to care very much for my feelings right now. I’m asking you to do this one thing for me. If you want me to be happy then prove it. Just lay off, okay?”
“And if I don’t?” she challenged.
Jake sighed. “We’ve always been close, Hel, and I would hate to lose that closeness by not visiting you anymore.”
“You wouldn’t!”
“I would hope you don’t test me on it.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I have never been more serious about anything in my life. When you speak against Charlie, you’re speaking against me,” Jake said, wincing in pain as he tried to reposition himself in the bed. He wished the nurse would hurry up with his medication so he could get some sleep.
Helen folded her arms mutinously before she spoke. “Fine. I’ll be civil, but not for her sake. I’m doing it for you and that adorable little girl of yours,” she said stubbornly.
“That’s all I ask,” he said leaning back against the bed.
“So where do you two stand?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t know.”
That night as Charlie was tucking Kristy in, she asked, “Can I see Daddy soon?”
“Sure. We can see him tomorrow.” Charlie knelt to kiss Kristy’s cheek.
“You haveta kiss Baby too,” Kristy ordered, holding up her doll. Charlie chuckled softly, bending over to kiss the doll held so tightly in Kristy’s arms. Heaven forbid if she forgot to kiss Kristy’s favorite toy. Charlie suspected Kristy loved her doll so much because it had come from her daddy.
“Mommy?”
“Yes, sweetie?”
“I miss Daddy.”
“I miss him, too,” Charlie answered truthfully.
“Can he come live with us?” Kristy asked innocently.
“I don’t know but I hope so. I would like that very much actually. Mommy will try her best to make it happen, okay?”
Kristy nodded her head, seeming to accept this answer. “Mommy, the man wanted me to tell you somethin’.”
Charlie stiffened. Was Paul right here with him at this very moment? “Is he here now?”
“No. He had to go home.”
“Where is his home?”
“Heaven.”
Charlie’s eyes misted with tears. She had always known Paul would end up there, but it was nice to have her suspicions confirmed. “What did he say, honey?”
“He said ‘be happy, peanut’,” Kristy giggled. If Charlie had doubts before, she had absolutely no doubt in her mind that she had a special guardian angel. She waited next to Kristy until she fell asleep. Charlie walked out on the patio and looked heavenward.
“Thank you, Paul.” Tears coursed down her cheeks. He had kept his promise to her.
Jake was released from the hospital the following week. His parents picked him up. He was anxious to get back to work. There were so many loose ends he had to tie up. At least if he was working he could forget about how much he loved Charlie and how little she loved him. It tore him apart, to think she only wanted him for sex. If he could, he would sever all ties with her so he could move on with his life, but he had his daughter to think of.
He loved Kristy more than life itself and would always be in her life, but it would be tough dealing with Charlie and pretending an indifference toward her he didn’t feel. On the car ride home from the hospital, he stared aimlessly out the window.
“Jake, are you okay, honey? You’ve been awful quiet?” his mother asked.
“I’m fine. I’m just thinking about work. I have a lot of stuff to do at the office and I was hoping to go in tomorrow,” he replied. That wasn’t exactly a lie. He had been thinking about work.
“Are you crazy, son?” his father roared from the driver’s seat.
“No. I just have a lot of stuff to attend to.”
“There is no way we’re letting you go back into work so soon after your accident. We’ve already discussed this; you’re going to convalesce at our place until the doctor says you can go back to work,” his mother stated firmly. Her tone suggested the subject wasn’t up for discussion, but Jake wasn’t going to let the conversation end.
“Mom, my employees depend on me. I have some important meetings scheduled.”
“Don’t argue with your mother, Jake. I’m sure Steve is capable of handling things for you while you’re out,” Bill interjected.
Jake sighed. He felt like he was ten years old again. “What the heck am I supposed to do? I can’t stand staying still for very long.”
“Steve was nice enough to bring your laptop to us. You can use that, as long as you don’t overdo things, and we’re throwing a party for you tomorrow. A sort of welcome home celebration,” Moira answered.
“A party? Mom, I don’t want a party. Can’t you cancel it?”
“No. Carl and Helen are bringing their families. We’ve invited some neighbors who have asked after your well-being, and Charlie and Kristy are coming. When I talked to Kristy on the phone the other night, she sounded very excited about the party.”
At the mention of Charlie’s name, Jake perked up. “And Charlie? Did she sound excited?” Jake asked anxiously.
“She sounded pleased,” Moira answered.
At that moment, the thought of a party didn’t sound so bad. Charlie sounded pleased? Did he dare to hope? He had already gotten his hopes up with her before, only to have them cruelly smashed. Doubts assailed his mind. Maybe his mother had said that Charlie sounded pleased to make him feel better, but then again, she could have been telling the truth.
She did visit him in the hospital. He wondered what would have happened if they’d had some time alone when she had come to visit him in the hospital. He was almost positive she was going to tell him something the one day she had come to visit and Helen had interrupted. Jake wished he had the answers because he didn’t think his heart could take another beating right now.
As Charlie drove to the Foxes’ for the party she was bristling with anticipation. Tonight would be the night to tell Jake what was in her heart. Moira welcomed Charlie and Kristy when they arrived. Kristy leaped out of Charlie’s arms, gave her nana a kiss and went in search of Jake.
“She’s been so excited about the party. She’s talked nonstop about it.”
“Well, it’s a pretty exciting thing to have Jake back with us. It was a little touch and go there for a while.” Moira shuddered as if she were recollecting that night a few weeks ago.
“I know. I don’t think I could ever go through something like that again.”
“The twins have been waiting for Kristy to arrive. Those two are little mothers in training and someone else has been asking when you would arrive.” Moira smiled.
“Who?”
“Jake, silly. Who else?”
“He has? In the hospital he seemed so…distant. He was friendly but a little distant.”
“He’s hurting, Charlie. He loves you, but he won’t make the first move. Why didn’t you tell him what you told me at the hospital?” Moira asked with a bit of censure in her tone.
“Because we were never really alone. He always had a visitor.”
“That’s no excuse. You’re scared. I know how you feel. Remember, I’ve been there. When I proposed to Bill, he was in the middle of a lecture. I did it in front of about two hundred students. There are about forty people here, give or take a couple, so you march yourself in that living room right now, missy, and tell my son how you feel,” Moira commanded with all the fierceness of any Army general.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Charlie squared her shoulders and walked off to find Jake. He was in the living room sitting on the couch with Kristy on his lap. Some family and guests whom Charlie didn’t know surrounded him. She made her way through the crowd to stand in front of him. “Hi, Jake,” Charlie said nervously.
“Charlie,” he acknowledged with reserve still in his eyes.
“Kristy, why don’t you go find your cousins to play with while I talk to your daddy?”
“But I just got here,” Kristy argued.
“Please? I think Kara and Kammy were looking for you.”
At the mention of the twins, Kristy jumped off of Jake’s lap. “Bye, Daddy!” And she raced off.
“That kid is a little Benedict Arnold. She shows absolutely no loyalty to her old man.” Jake shook his head.
Charlie grinned. “When she gets tired of them babying her, she’ll be back. May I?” She indicated the empty space on the couch next to him.
“Sure. What did you want to talk to me about?” he asked cautiously.
“I wanted to talk about us.”
“Us? According to you, there is no us.”
She flinched at the reminder. A hush fell over the curious onlookers who surrounded them. She wasn’t going to back down. “I was a fool, Jake. I was so scared to love you I ended up hurting you and myself, as well. I messed up, Jake, and I’m asking you to forgive me and I’m asking you to be my husband.”
Their audience let out a collective gasp. By now, people who had only been pretending to listen before were openly listening.
“What?” Disbelief filled his piercing gaze.
“I love you. Will you marry me?” Charlie repeated. Her face was hot with embarrassment and her heart was pounding so loudly she was sure everyone could hear.
The incredulous look on his face told her he still didn’t believe her. She wished he would say something because she was growing more worried by the minute. What if he no longer had feelings for her? If that were the case, she didn’t know what she would do with herself, but it was no less than she deserved.
“Is this a dream?” It was obvious he couldn’t believe this was happening.
“If it is, then we’re both dreaming.” She laughed nervously as he grew silent again. Please let him love me.
“Jake?” Charlie didn’t know how much longer she could sustain herself under his intense scrutiny without breaking down.
“For Pete’s sake boy, say yes.” Bill’s loud voice boomed through the crowd.
Jake looked up, noticing for the first time they had an audience.
“Say yes,” someone else called out.
He nodded his head numbly.
“Is that a yes?” Charlie smiled, some of the tension draining out of her.
“Yes.” He finally found his voice.
“Come here.” He pulled her to him with his good arm and kissed her with a hungry passion, which she eagerly returned. He pulled back slightly. “This isn’t a dream,” he whispered then his lips found hers once more.
A burst of applause went through the room. Kristy came running over to them. “Mommy, now can we all live together?”
“Yes. Definitely,” Charlie answered, pulling Kristy up on her lap.
“Oh boy,” Kristy shouted. Everyone laughed at Kristy’s enthusiasm.
“Oh boy is right.” Jake was grinning from ear to ear. His eyes were filled with unshed tears. Before he could say anything else, people began to rush forward to congratulate them.
Jake’s parents came forward to kiss the three of them.
“Finally,” Moira said.
The entire Fox clan walked over to Charlie to welcome her into the family. Even Helen offered her congratulations, although she still wasn’t overly warm in offering them.
Jake turned to Charlie and kissed her gently on the lips.
“I need to be alone with you.” The soft whisper in her ear sent goose bumps along her arm.
“Come home with me,” Charlie replied.
It was another hour before the three of them could leave the party. Jake informed his parents he was going home with Charlie and that she would take care of him. There was no argument from them. The Foxes smiled knowingly to each other, remembering what it was like when they were younger.
Later that night after putting Kristy to bed, Jake and Charlie lay cuddled close together. There were unable to make love because of Jake’s ribs, but they were both content to lay naked side by side, stroking each other’s bodies.
“Charlie, what changed your mind about us?” He cupped a perky breast in his hand, rubbing his thumb over her hardened nipple.
She moaned softly at the feel of his hand on her sensitive skin. She clasped her hand over his to pull it away. She could barely think when he touched her like that.
“When I heard about the accident, I wanted to die. I realized what a fool I was being. You see, I lied to you about my husband, Jake. I’m not in love with him anymore. He’ll always be special to me, but he’s gone and I have to move on with my life. I was just so scared of loving you because I didn’t want to be hurt again,” she explained.
Now that she was finally confessing this to him, she felt guilty. Charlie felt awful that it took a terrible car accident in order for her to realize her foolishness.
Jake stroked her cheek. “Charlie, why couldn’t you tell me this before? We could have worked through this together. I thought you hated me.”
“I never hated you, Jake. I hated myself at times for being such a coward, but never you. I love you. I was just too scared to tell you. To my way of thinking, I just couldn’t put my heart on the line like that again. When I lost Paul it nearly destroyed my life, but in the back of my mind, I knew you posed a much bigger threat to my heart than Paul ever had. Besides, in the beginning, I thought you only wanted me for sex.”
“Of course you know now, that that isn’t true. Yes, when we make love, it’s like magic, but that’s only a small part of what I feel for you. I didn’t realize it then but I believe I fell in love with you on the night we first met.”
“After a one-night stand?”
“It was more than that and you know it. Love is a funny thing. Sometimes it grows with time, but sometimes, as in our case, it’s instant. You felt it too but you weren’t ready to accept it yet. I never got over you leaving me the way you did. I tried to forget about you by dating other women, but when I was with them, all I could think about was you.” Jake tilted her chin and planted a gentle kiss on her lips.
“You did?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, Jake. I’m so sorry for running off like that. I was so confused. I was still caught up in my grief and I had all these feelings that were surfacing for you, I didn’t know what to do so I took the coward’s way out. I ran,” she recounted, ashamed of her actions.
Jake kissed her as if to say all was forgiven. “Everything is okay, now that we’re together.” He lowered his head once more, deepening the kiss. “Do you have any idea how intoxicating you are, Charlie? From the moment I laid eyes on you, I wanted to taste your sexy lips, and when I finally did, I didn’t want to stop.”
Charlie touched his face. How she loved this man. “You always say the most wonderful things. I don’t think I deserve you,” she said humbly.
“If anything, I don’t deserve you. I don’t think I really started to live until you came into my life.” He paused to laugh. “I should write greeting cards, shouldn’t I?”
“Umm, don’t give up your day job. God, I’m horny,” she admitted. Being so close to him like this was wreaking havoc on her body.
Charlie felt Jake’s erection pressing against the back of her thighs. “Let me help you with that.” Charlie smiled wickedly. Charlie rolled over and gently pushed Jake back against his pillows.
She slid down to his side until she was eye level with his throbbing shaft. She gently took it into hand and began to pump gently. Jake moaned loudly, thrashing his head back and forth.
Charlie leaned over to stroke the velvety tip with her tongue. His body tensed under her mouth as he released an impassioned groan. “Do you like that, Jake?”
“You know I do,” he answered through gritted teeth. She smiled, lifting her head and seeing his passion-glazed eyes. It pleased her to know she had this effect on him. She could tell he was fighting for control to remain completely still by the way beads of sweat broke out along his forehead. His control was really tested when she lowered her head once more, wrapping her mouth around his cock and slowly beginning to bob her head up and down.
“Oh God, Charlie. I want to fuck you so badly.” He spoke the words through clenched teeth.
“When you heal, I’ll hold you to that.” She smirked before devouring his cock. She sucked him into her greedy mouth, enjoying the feel and the taste of him. Her cunt was damp with desire. Just knowing she was responsible for making him so hard was nearly enough to get her off. The sense of her sexual power was heady.
Every so often Jake would make small sounds of pleasure in the back of his throat as Charlie continued to suck his cock. “Oh baby,” he muttered over and over again. Feeling daring, she began to take more and more of his cock into her mouth, practically swallowing it whole down her throat.
He screamed out, “Oh God, Charlie, I’m going to come!”
Charlie continued to suck his cock in and out of her mouth until he stilled, and spurted come down her thirsty throat. She slurped his essence down, drunk off the high of his flavor.
She released him before sliding next to him. Charlie then kissed him on the neck. “That was amazing, Charlie.” Jake returned the kiss.
“You’re amazing.” She smiled at him.
They lay, side by side, not saying a word for several moments until Jake broke the silence. “Charlie, when I was unconscious in the hospital, I heard your voice.”
“Really? You never said anything. And you scared me to death when you flatlined.”
“I remember exactly what happened, but at the time, I thought it was just a dream. It was as if I was in limbo, but I saw a light. The light was so warm and welcoming I started walking toward it. That’s when I heard your voice, but by then, I think I was too far away to hear what you were saying. I thought maybe I had imagined it so I kept walking toward the light. But then I was pulled back by a man in a Carolina Tar Heels T-shirt. I don’t know why that particular detail sticks out in my mind, but it just does.”
He paused briefly, looking as though he was trying to remember what happened next. “He told me it wasn’t my time, and I had to keep his peanut happy. I’m not sure what he meant by that, but I started to walk away from the light. When I turned to ask him who he was, he was gone. I don’t remember anything after that except waking up in the hospital.”
Tears began to stream down Charlie’s face. It seemed she had been doing a lot of crying lately. “What’s wrong, baby?” he asked, alarmed by her tears.
“It was Paul. He saved you. He brought you back to me.”
A puzzled expression crossed his face, so Charlie explained all the events in the hospital and what Kristy had told her.
Jake gave her a funny look.
“Are you serious?” He didn’t sound convinced.
“Yes. I know it’s hard to believe, I mean, I hardly believe it myself.”
Jake was silent for a moment. “But there seems to be no other explanation for it though.”
She had gone over it in her mind several times but could come up with no other explanation either. “I guess not.”
“I feel like a jerk.”
“Why?”
“All the uncharitable thoughts I had about him. The guy must have been a saint.
“Believe me, he was not perfect, but he was a good man.” Charlie smiled, remembering Paul fondly.
“And it seems I have a lot to thank him for.”
“So do I. He gave us another chance at love.”