Watching his son grow up and always defending the little guy, Steel had thought Jordan would want to join a service, either military or police, but he’d been wrong. Jordan was a musician. He wanted to fix the world’s problems with music. It was idealistic, and a fucking pipe dream, as far as Steel was concerned, but didn’t change how proud he was of his son.
He was proud ofallhis kids.
It was morbid, but at least Steel knew they’d be able to take care of themselves and each other when their mother and he were gone. They had their squabbles, what siblings didn’t, but they loved each other. They had also accepted Ollie without batting an eye, claiming their new little brother with open arms and acceptance.
As horrible as last night had been for Steel, he’d at least been here to see what was happening with Jenna. His kids were hundreds of miles away, either at home or at college, and they had no idea what was going on.
Shit. Steel ran a hand down his tired face before working one handed to start the coffee machine. “You’re right, I’m sorry. It’s been a long night.”
All three of his kids paused.
“Did… Did Dad just apologize to us?” Melanie asked, her voice laced with shock.
“I’m calling Lucky,” Jordan said. “Clearly, the man’s been body snatched. Have either of you heard of any crop circles appearing in that area?”
Steel glared out his kitchen window because his son wasn’t there for him to hit upside the head. “Fuck you too, smartass. I’m trying to be sincere.”
“Yeah,” Carter said, “and it’s freaking us out, so we need you to stop.”
Steel groaned as the coffee started to brew. Thank God! There was not enough coffee in the world for today. “Fine. Then shut up, be grateful I called at all, and get your asses down here to visit your mother. Better?”
There was some grumbling from the siblings, but in the end, they all agreed to visit that weekend.
“Oh, and Carter?” Steel added. “Tell your mother your wife is pregnant again or I will. The two of you suck at hiding such things.”
CHAPTER 5
Everything hurt, but Jenna was so sick of hanging out in bed. It had been two days since her episode, and as much as she loved spending the days lounging about in bed with Jack, her need to dosomethingwas getting the best of her. Jack had to be bored out of his mind, but he never uttered a single word of complaint. He cooked, cleaned, took care of Ollie, bathed her, and kept her company.
The man was a saint with a great ass.
Jack wasn’t happy about it, but agreed to let her go to work. The word ‘let’ was only to make him feel better. She was going regardless.
After showering and getting dressed, all with Jack’s help, Jenna headed towards the stairs. While her balance was not what it once was, her legs were generally pretty sturdy. Most of her symptoms occurred in her arms and hands, which meant walking wasn’t an issue for her. Yet. Stairs, however, were an entirely different story. Cage had offered to install a chair lift, but Jenna had declined. There were so many changes in her life, and adding a chair lift just seemed like one too many.
She could handle stairs. Just very, very slowly.
The biggest issue with stairs and general walking was how tired it made her. She felt like she’d run a marathon when she’d only just crossed her kitchen.
Nearly three years ago, Jenna and Jack had been sleeping over Lucky’s old house that he’d had in town. The club had been out late and Jenna had been helping to babysit Scotty with Harper as well as wanting to get to know the club’s newest and only other ol’ lady. Since they had no idea what time the club would be back, Jenna had fallen asleep in Sissy’s bedroom for the night, and Jack had joined her in the very early morning upon his return. And as they normally did when he was gone for a time, Jack had made love to her before they’d both fallen to sleep, naked and sated.
But two Molotov cocktails through the downstairs living room window had woken them from a deep sleep. Jack had jumped right into action, knowing they had to get out of the house. In a mere couple of minutes, the entirety of the lower floor had gone up in flames. Due to the design of Lucky’s house, one of the bottles had gone through the window and shattered at the wall right under the staircase, but they still should have been able to get out in time. Only, Jenna hadn’t been able to move. Jack had thrown her clothes at her, but she hadn’t been able to get her arms to work properly. At the time, they hadn’t understood what was happening. Jack hadn’t wasted any time and had practically dressed Jenna for her, both thinking she was simply too terrified to move. Then he picked her up, carrying her out of the room, and into the blazing inferno.
But the staircase had already been demolished, trapping them on the second floor with fire eating its way towards them. The heavy smoke had made it impossible to breathe, and Jenna was already on the verge of passing out. If Lucky hadn’t returned for them, the odds of their survival were slim to none. Jackhad literally thrown Jenna off the burning stairs and down into Lucky’s arms before leaping after her.
Lucky had saved their lives, and Jenna was forever grateful to him for his bravery and heroics. His feet had been severely burned in the process, and to this day, he still suffered from that nerve damage. He had to wear specialty boots and socks to keep his feet from paining him with every step. His sacrifice meant everything to Jenna, and even more so to Jack.
All three of them were hospitalized following the housefire. Scotty, thank God, only had a broken wrist. Lucky had thrown himself, Scotty, and Harper out the front door to avoid the flashover from fresh oxygen.
The hospital had missed it. They’d treated Jenna for smoke inhalation, but had breezed over her lack of ability to move. How her arms had felt like limp noodles that weighed a thousand pounds. They’d chalked it up to fear of the situation. In their defense, so had Jenna. Why wouldn’t she? She felt fine, and her main concerns had been over Jack and Lucky, who had both been burned.
Looking back on it, she wondered if things would be different now if they’d caught the disease two years earlier. The truth of the matter was, though, it would still be a late detection. She would still be classified as LOMS, and likely the treatments would be the same. Placing blame on her younger self or the doctors who had treated her that night would do nothing. Jack had been the only one to push additional concerns that Jenna herself had brushed off.
And now, here she was, standing at the top of another set of stairs and wondering if she had the energy to walk down them. She quickly blinked away tears. Her relapse could have been so much worse, with even longer lasting effects. She was so thankful that it hadn’t, and she needed to remember how luckyshe was to have the love and support of her family, her church, and most importantly, the love of her life.
Louisa, Bulldog and Carlos’s mother, had been abandoned by her husband the day she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer two decades ago. While Jenna had never feared Jack abandoning her, she was the minority. Too many people broke their wedding vows so easily that a part of her wondered what the point of saying them to begin with was. Jack’s promises to her had started long before he’d put Mrs. Zarin’s ring on her finger.
The ring she still wore today.
