Married For Jeremy (Under Fire Book 1) (10 page)

Chapter 10

              The weather channel was background noise as Ellen washed the dishes that night. James was concerned there was a storm in the near future. Ellen didn’t know how he’d figured that out, but he’d been on the deck watching the sky while she’d made supper and was now confirming his suspicions with the TV weatherman.

              It had taken three days before he completely recovered from the kidney stone attack, and now, a few weeks later, Ellen felt like their relationship had moved forward. They could sit and talk and actually felt like friends sometimes. 

              Ellen washed the last plate and put it on the drain tray then went to the living room to join her husband. She sat down, gently placing a hand on her expanded waistline. The baby moved around a lot now. The doctor said they were both doing fine, but she needed to try to reduce the stress in her life as much as possible. She glanced over at James. Now there was a stress.

              He was glued to the television as the news anchor covered a story on a new municipal building. Finally, the weather map came on the screen.

              “I thought so,” James said mildly as the weatherman announced heavy snowfall for the next two days. When the weather ended, he clicked the TV off and turned to her. “You work tomorrow don’t you?”

              Ellen nodded.

              “Can you take the day off?”

              “Why?”

              “Because it looks like it’s going to be a pretty extreme storm. The less people out on the roads, the better.”

              “I have to go to work. It can’t be that bad,” Ellen replied.

              “You haven’t seen a Darcy County Snow storm.”

              “James, I’m an adult, you can’t order me around.”

              “I can so, I’m your husband and you’re pregnant with my kid. I don’t want you out driving on a snowy road.”

              “That’s wrong. It’s your fault I’m pregnant, and just because we’re married doesn’t mean you’re my boss.” 

              “So we’re going to do that again?” James asked dryly. “If I remember correctly, you were here too. The baby is equally ours.”

              “Yeah, so I want to go to work tomorrow, and you can’t make me stay home.”

              “Okay, maybe not, but I can tell you that I know this area, and I know these storms and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay here.”

              “With you?”

              “Crap, if you don’t want to be snowed into a house with me, why didn’t you say so?”

              “I want to go to work.”

              “Fine, just don’t expect me to come pull you out of a ditch.” James stood up and stalked to his room.

              When he finally realized how unreasonable he must’ve sounded, she’d already gone to bed. He should’ve tried harder to explain the types of storms that went through here. Then he should’ve just waited to see if the storm actually did happen. He pulled his covers tighter. Who was he kidding, the storm was coming. Rolling over, James glanced at his alarm clock, red letters blinked 12:00. The power must’ve dipped. Throwing the covers back, he got out of bed to go check the time on a battery powered clock and to throw more wood into the stove.

              It was close to three am and the fire had gone out completely. Padding back to his room, James pulled the quilt off his bed and headed over to the couch. Restarting the fire in short order, he settled onto the couch. If there was any hope of having a warm house when Ellen got up, he’d need to stay right with the fire.

              Ellen came out shortly before six. The sun wasn’t up, but the wind was howling and snow was falling heavily. James watched as she got ready for work, but forced himself to keep his mouth shut. When he saw she was serious about going, he followed her to the door. “Take my truck.”              

              “What?”

              “Take my truck. It’s higher than your car, the tires are better and it’s a 4x4. If you give me a couple minutes, I’ll throw some firewood in the back of it to give you some extra weight if you want.”

              “I don’t want to drive your truck.”

              “You’ll never make it in your car.”

              She looked out the window, then looked back at him. “Are you sure you want me to do that? What if you get a call?”

              “It’s not likely, the locals know to stay off the roads. I’ll figure something out.” James already knew he could call Mack, then meet him at the end of the driveway since they both travelled the same road to the hall. He took his keys off the rack and pressed them into her hand. “Take it, drive slow, and you’ll be fine.” Another thought crossing his mind, he reached for his jacket and retrieved his cell phone. “You’d better take this too.”

              Ellen took the phone and put it in her purse.

              “If it’s really bad, stay at your apartment and come home tomorrow okay?”

              “Yeah.”

              James knew he was going to worry about her all day. At least they didn’t both have to go out. He was off today, and if it was really bad, Dave closed the store. No one was crazy enough to come out in a snowstorm to get ice fishing bait.

              Twenty minutes passed and the phone rang. “Hello?”

              “James, it’s Ellen.” Her voice was almost tearful.

              “Ellen? What’s going on?”

              “I’m sorry.”

              “Ellen, are you all right?”

              “Yeah, but your truck isn’t.”

              “Okay, calm down and tell me what you got yourself into. Where are you?”

              “I’m not sure. Not too far past Croix road. I must’ve hit some ice.”

              “Probably.” James knew the road curved sharply just past the side road she’d mentioned. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

              “I think so. I’m really, really, really sorry. I shouldn’t have agreed to drive your truck.”

              “We’ll worry about that when I get there.

“Do I need to call a tow truck?”

              “No, I’m not asking them to drive in this. Sit tight, I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

              Croix road was only seven kilometres from the cabin, but it took forever to get there. After passing the intersection, James slowed down to a crawl and searched the sides of the road, looking for a green vehicle. Finally, he saw her. Flipping on the car’s 4-way flashers, James stopped at the edge of the road and jumped out. His truck had slid rear first into the ditch. The snow had covered up any skid marks that would’ve told him how far she’d slid.

              “Ellen?” Now where was she.

              “I’m here.” She stepped away from the opposite side of the truck and came toward him. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her chest and he could see from here that she was shivering. He caught her arms.

              “Are you sure you’re all right?”

              “Yes. I just couldn’t get up that hill, then I slid back down here, your truck is a big mess.”

              “Hop in the car and get warmed up, I’ll take a look.” There hadn’t been anything for her to hit on the way down, so James wasn’t sure why she was so concerned. He climbed down into the ditch and trudged through the deep snow to the back of the truck. She’d thoroughly smashed one of the rear taillights and put some minor dents in the bumper. Unless she’d done damage to the exhaust system, the truck was fine. Laughing to himself, James headed back to the car.

              “How bad is it?” Ellen asked reluctantly.

              “A mess,” James said solemnly.

              “I knew it.”

              James burst out laughing. “Ellen, all you broke is the tail light, which will cost me like twenty bucks.”

              “Are you serious?”

              “Yes. I broke it a few years ago, and it’s a cheap fix. There might be more damage that won’t show up until I get it pulled out, but from what I can see now, that’s it.”

              “I thought you were going to be really mad at me.”

              “Why?”

              “Because you told me not to drive today.”

              “Yeah.”

              “I should’ve listened to you.”

              “I won’t argue there.”

              “But I don’t want to, well, you know, be...” She paused for a moment. “I still want to have my own life.”

              “I understand that, and I shouldn’t have been so overbearing last night. It’s just that it’s common knowledge that you don’t drive in a snowstorm up here and you weren’t getting it. I forgot you were my wife and not a rookie I was ordering around. I’m sorry.”

              “I accept your apology.”

              “I’m just glad you’re okay and I hope the baby is fine too.”

              Ellen put her hands on her stomach. “I didn’t think of that. You don’t think I could’ve hurt him do you?”

              “If you had your seatbelt on properly, probably not. You slid down there pretty gently.”

              “I’ll try to call the doctor when we get home.”

              “That’s probably a good idea. Were you in four wheel drive?”

              “I don’t know, I wasn’t sure how to check.”

              “You pull the lever on the floor as far back as it goes.”

              “I didn’t do that.”

              James laughed. “I give you a 4x4 and you don’t even use it.” He surveyed the truck again. “I bet if I can back up a little more, I can drive out of there.”

              “That seems risky, why don’t we phone a tow truck.”

              “It’s not going to be dangerous. I think I’ll try. There’s not a lot to lose. If I get stuck worse, we’ll just have to leave it there until the storm is over.”

              James trudged back into the ditch and climbed into his truck. It started fine, so he put it in four wheel drive, then shifted into reverse. The tires spun, but managed to straighten him out slightly so he was in line with a less steep part of the ditch. Selecting second gear, he put his foot on the gas pedal and the truck almost jumped out of the ditch. He shut it off, leaving the 4-ways running.

              “How’d you do that?” Ellen asked, surprised.

              “Good luck I guess, I didn’t think it’d be that easy.” James circled the truck, looking for damage. “If you happen to see someone coming, try to make sure they don’t hit me,” he said nonchalantly before dropping to the ground and sliding under the truck. Ellen watched up the road for what seemed like forever, then his feet moved and he slid back out and stood up, covered in snow. “Everything underneath still looks secured so I think we’re good. Hop in your car and let’s get out of here.”

              Ellen paused, then reached over to brush the snow off his back. “No sense getting all that in the cab.”

              “Thanks.” He smiled at her, then motioned her toward the car as he reached for the truck door.

The snow had slowed so the visibility was better as they drove back. The truck ran normally all the way home, so James was certain it was fine.

              As soon as she entered the house, Ellen phoned the doctor. James waited in nervous silence, watching her facial expressions. Finally she hung up the phone. “He said that since I have a regular check-up in a couple of days, and that it’s such bad weather, that I should just stay here and rest. If I have pain, or bleeding, I’m supposed to go to the hospital. Otherwise, he said everything should be fine.”

              “That’s good to know.” James looked at her for a few moments, then crossed the room and put his arms around her. “Please don’t ever do something stupid like that again.”

              “Trust me James, I won’t.” She put her arms around his waist and hugged him back. “Thanks for coming to get me.”

              It snowed all night and most of the next day. Ellen tried to keep busy, but boredom overwhelmed her. James spent the afternoon at the kitchen table making fishing flies. He didn’t make very many, but Dave had a good market for handmade flies when he did have some to sell.              

Chapter 11

              “Are you all right?” James asked, seeing the strange look on Ellen’s face.

              “The baby’s just kicking a lot.” Ellen replied, carefully lowering herself to a chair.

              “Here, you can have the couch,” James said, getting up from where he was sprawled across it. He knew she was tired when she did get up from her chair so she could lie down on the couch.

              “Do you want to feel the baby?” Ellen asked quietly.

              James nodded.

              “Give me your hand.”

              James held out his hand and Ellen placed it against her abdomen. He smiled when he felt the baby’s strong kick. He looked down at Ellen. “Are you going to let me come when the baby is born?”

              “You’re going to have to drive me. I guess you can stay for labour, but I’d rather you not be there for delivery.”

              “You mean I have to miss the part where the baby is born?”

              “You can come back right after.”

              “Okay,” James said, feeling a little disappointed but knowing it was better if he heeded her wishes and didn’t argue with her.

              Ellen woke up again. She hadn’t thought the pains were labour, but now she was beginning to wonder. She got out of bed, deciding to wake James up. His bedroom door was open and the evidence of a hurried exit told her the truth. Firecall. Well, she could wait a few hours, he’d probably be back soon.

              She went out to the living room and laid down on the couch. To her surprise, she fell asleep again, but woke up to an intense cramping in her abdomen. She needed James to come home. He didn’t answer his cell phone so she searched for a phone book hoping someone would be back at the firehall. There was no answer. It was an hour before she finally phoned the store.

              “Hello, Outback Adventures.” She could’ve cried when she heard that sleepy voice.

              “James, it’s Ellen, I need you to come home.”

              “I can’t, I’m the only one here. Craig’s supposed to be here in half an hour.”

              “Well please hurry.”

              “I will.”

              Ellen hoped she could wait until he got home. It seemed like hours, but finally, she heard the truck pull into the driveway.

              James had been on edge since she’d called. Craig had been late. The firecall had been another moose collision and no one had been injured besides the moose, but it had taken three hours of sleep to close the highway while the police completed a reconstruction of the crash. He’d gone straight to work after cleaning up at the hall. He roared into the driveway, jumped out of the truck and ran for the front door. He slammed into it, expecting it to open, but as usual, Ellen had locked it. His shoulder was going to hurt later. Fumbling for his keys, he unlocked the door. “Ellen?”

              “I’m here.” She sounded like he should’ve been there long ago.

              “You okay?”

              “It hurts James, but I’m all right.”

              “Let’s go. Where’s your bag?”

              “In my room behind the door.”

              “I’ll get it.” James crossed the house to grab her bag and came back to help her to the door. “I’m sorry I didn’t get back sooner.”

              “It’s okay but we need to go now.”

              The doctor told them that Ellen was well dilated, but still had a long way to go. James took a seat at Ellen’s head and held her hand, stroking it and encouraging her every time a contraction began. Hours passed and delivery approached.

              “I guess I should go now.” James released her hand and started to stand up.

              Ellen grabbed his arm. “Don’t leave me James.”

              “All right, whatever you want.” James sat back down.

              “You’ve got a boy,” the doctor said smiling.

              After a few minutes, a nurse came and laid the baby in Ellen’s arms.

              “James, look.”

              “I see him, he’s great,” James whispered. No previous event in his life had prepared him for this moment. He didn’t have much experience with babies, but looking at Ellen, and seeing how she was looking at their new son made him feel a connection to her that had been absent before. He reached out and touched the back of the baby’s tiny hand. Each of his little fingers was perfect.

              “So when are you going to Ellen and that darling baby to see me again?” Anna asked James one evening while he was visiting. Jeremy has just turned three months old yesterday.

              “I don’t know. I’ll ask Ellen, it’s kind of up to her, she takes care of the baby.”

              “Don’t you help her?”

              “Sometimes, but she kinda likes to do things herself.”

              “I see. Are you helping her with chores and things around the house?”

              “A bit, but it’s been crazy at the store and I haven’t been home much.”

              “Please make an effort James, she can’t do everything herself.”

              “Why don’t you tell her that? I mean, we’re getting along better than we were, but we’re still not where we should be.”

              “I’ll keep praying, this is something God will have to work out.”

              When James got home, Ellen was in a chair feeding Jeremy. “Hey, how was your day?”

“Good, what about you?”

“Fine. Do you think you can come with me to the nursing home tomorrow night? Grandma wants to see you and Jeremy.”  

              “I guess we could go tomorrow. Some of the girls at work e-mailed wondering how I was, so it might be nice to see some of them.”

              “Then we’ll plan on it, I’ll come here after work and pick you up.”

              “Okay.” Ellen lifted Jeremy to her shoulder and rubbed his back.

              “Um, do you want me to make supper or something? Or hold him while you do it?”

              “I have some soup in the fridge, just needs to be heated.”

              “Can I throw it in the microwave then hold him for awhile?”

              “Sure, he’s your kid. Hold him whenever you want.” Ellen crossed the room and handed him the blanket she had over her shoulder, then shifted Jeremy into his arms. “I’ll take care of supper.”

              James smiled as he looked down at his son. Ellen was very protective of the baby so he didn’t get to lay hands on him often.

              The next day, while performing a routine check on the firetrucks with Roy, James found himself complaining about his relationship with Ellen. “It’s just that she has no interest in me. I mean, I didn’t think I was that bad of a guy, but she still won’t come anywhere near me.” James opened the hood on the pumper.

              Roy looked at him. “Can I be straight with you?”

              “Of course.”

              “You might not like this.”

              “That’s okay”

              “Good.” Roy smiled, then became serious. “James, I know you’re frustrated, I would be too, but you have to understand something.”

              “What?”

              “Sex is for marriage and you decided not to wait for it.”

              “So?”

              “So, you messed up and now you’re paying the consequences.” Roy wiped his hands with a rag while looking levelly at James. “I’m not saying God didn’t plan Jeremy’s life and I’m not saying that He can’t forgive you and give you a fresh start, but you’re never going to be able to go back.”

              “But it was so hard. It wasn’t even all my fault, it just happened.”

              “True, but you let it happen.” Roy leaned against the truck’s running board. “James, what happens when you light a match.”

              “It burns.”

              “And if you drop it on some kind of fuel.”

              “It starts a fire. Roy, I don’t have time for this.” James turned away. 

              “Yes, you do.” Roy’s voice was surprisingly harsh and James turned back to him in surprise, wisely keeping any smart comments to himself. “You seem to have time to complain about how your wife isn’t meeting your needs. Have you ever thought of meeting hers?”

              “I don’t know what she wants. If she’d just...”

              “If she’d just what? Pay you for all you’ve done for her? Seriously James. Grow up.”

              “What?” James looked at him in surprise. Roy was never afraid of speaking the truth, but he was rarely blunt about it.

              “I said, grow up. You want her to give in to you, maybe you’d better give in to her first.”

              “Roy, if she gave me any inkling that she wanted to...”

              Roy cut him off. “I’m not talking physical here James.”

              “Then what are you talking about?”

              “A woman needs you to care about her feelings, her emotions.”

              “Well she has plenty of those, which ones am I supposed to care about?”

              “All of them.”

              “That’s crazy.”

              “It might be, but I’m sure you had enough Sunday School to know about agape love. You know, the unconditional stuff?”

              “I guess.” James’s shoulders slumped and he felt defeated.

              “Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not trying to judge you.”

              “Just rain hellfire and brimstone on me because I’m human.”

              “Buddy, we’re all human. I’m not going to stand here and say I’m not tempted.” Roy pushed the truck’s hood back into place and strapped the driver’s side down. “Think about it James. You gotta show her she can trust you.”

              James strapped the other side of the hood. “I guess.”

              Roy strode around the truck. “You need to treat her like she’s the queen of the world. Show her she’s the only one who means anything to you.”

“That’s not as easy as it sounds.”

“I know. And I know I probably sound like I’m picking on you, but I’m not trying to.” He hugged James and thumped him on the back. “I’ll be praying you make the right decision.” Roy headed for the door. “I’d better get home, Lisa’s probably got supper ready. See you later.”

              His conversation with Roy was still on his mind as James unloaded the dishwasher that night. He could tell Ellen had a bad headache, though she hadn’t complained. She was sitting on the couch, facing the bay window and watching the sunset.

              Reaching under the sink, James picked up the dish soap, turned on the tap, and added soap to the running water. He dumped the pots into the sink to soak and took a cloth to wipe down the table and counter.

              “James, I have a personal question, and I want a straight answer.”

              James rinsed the pot he was washing and put it on the drain tray, then turned to look at her. “Okay shoot.”

              “How many women have you slept with?”

              He sighed. She wasn’t kidding about it being a personal question. “Three. Then you.”

              “What do you mean, then me?” She was regarding him with an almost bored expression.

              “Well, the other three were when I was a senior in highschool. It’s been a long time.”

              “I guess.” She rubbed her forehead. “Did they get pregnant too?”

              “No, we used protection. Why are you asking this?”

              “I just wanted to know.”

              “There has to be a reason.” James dried his hands on a towel.

              “Well, I don’t know, I just, well.”

              “It was the first time for you, wasn’t it?” James crossed the room and sat down on the end of the couch.

              “Yeah, how did you know?”

              “Lucky guess.” James looked into her eyes gently. “Do you still regret it?”

              “I think I’ll always regret it, but it’s different now, because if that night hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t have Jeremy, and I really love him.”

              James nodded slowly. “I was doing some thinking today, and I owe you an apology. I never should’ve pushed you when you weren’t ready. I’m sorry.”

              “That’s just it, it’s not your fault. You never forced me. I was in total agreement at the time. It wasn’t until the next morning when I realized what had happened.”

              “We’re both at fault for it, but I never should’ve put you in the position I put you in. I was being selfish and just thinking of what I wanted.”