“You’re full of shit.You’re telling me you lost your leg twenty years ago but you’re standing there on both legs.”Spider sounded pissed.And if he really thought they were lying to him, Jordon couldn’t blame him.
Daddy leaned forward enough to grab a handful of the denim of his jeans just below the knee and pulled.The hem of that leg lifted several inches before it cleared the top of his boot to reveal the shaft of his prosthetic.Jordan knew what he was doing so she kept her eyes on Spider.She knew he was why Daddy was here and why he was doing this.Daddy had been doing this since she was small.She’d known he came to the hospital to talk to people who’d had to have an amputation, even if she’d never been present while he did.
Spider’s eyes widened.He reached one hand toward his leg but stopped before he touched it.She could see from the shape of the blanket over his lap he was reaching for the leg that was no longer there.
“I’m not going to lie to you.When it happened, I thought my life was over.I fell into a depression.I started drinking, heavily,” Daddy said.Jordon knew he wouldn’t look away from the other man.That he would meet his gaze and let who he was talking to see all the pain and regret in his expression.“I made mistakes, a lot of them.I’m not here to keep you from making them, from doing what you think you need to.”
“Then why are you here?”Spider said, his voice snide, as if he thought Daddy was there out of pity.
“I’m here to show you that your life’s not over.That it will take some adjustments, but you can learn to live a normal life again,”
“Like you did?Are you telling me you got back on a bull and won the championship?”Spider’s voice had turned from snide to sarcastic.
Jordon didn’t have to look at her father to know his expression had morphed into a small wry smile.He released the fabric of his jeans and shook the leg, trying to knock the fabric back into place around his boot.But it only fell to the boot top, not around it.Jordon bent to one knee and tugged his jeans back down where they belonged.
“No, I’m not.And if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have gotten on the back of Wild Demon.Not because of the injury but because since then I’ve learned how stupid and selfish I was.I was ignoring my wife, my kids, to chase a dream.A dream that nearly got me killed.”He used one hand to ruffle her hair.“Thanks, sweetheart.”He gave her a small smile before turning his attention back to the man on the bed as Jordon stood.
“What I’m trying to tell you is that you can have a life.I don’t have all the details, but I do know it was a motorcycle accident that caused your injury.I am telling you that you can ride again.I’m not saying it will be easy.It will take determination, persistence, and a lot of effort, but it can be done, if you set your mind to it.”Daddy stepped closer to the bed.He didn’t reach for the man or touch him but he set a card on the table that extended over the foot of the bed.“I want to help.But you have to be ready to do the work.You have to be willing to accept help.Give me a call when you’re ready.This is my number.”
Daddy backed away from the bed, still facing the man, then turned and looked at Jordon.He tilted his head toward the door in a gesture she knew meant he was ready to go.She left the room, waiting in the hall for Daddy then following him back out to the truck.
“Is that what you do when you go see new amputees?Is that always how it goes?”she asked once he’d started the truck and backed out of the parking space.
“More or less.It’s a little different every time.Most of the time no one remembers the accident or cares, but it happens.”
“Do you think he’ll call?”Jordon watched her father’s face, wondering what he was thinking.
“You never can tell.I’ve had people I was sure would call who never did, and some that I thought would never call who did.It’s more about what’s inside them.Their outlook on life, their personal determination, and so much more, than anything I could ever say.”
“Then why do you do it?Why take the time or go through the expense to do this?”She knew he did this at every hospital within a six-hour drive.It wasn’t often but he made these visits a few times a year.
Daddy stopped the truck at an intersection and waited for an oncoming car to pass.He turned toward her, a smile curving his lips as he watched her for a moment before turning his attention back to the road.
“I’m paying it forward.When I was in his spot, someone came and did the same thing for me.I was sitting in a hospital bed, sure my life was over, when a stranger came in and showed me what was possible.”He stopped again at the stop sign before pulling out onto the street.“If he hadn’t come to me then, I don’t know that I would be here now.I don’t know that I’d have made it a year after losing my leg.”
She wanted to say something.To tell him that wasn’t true.But what if he was right?She’d been a child, and a small one at that.She had no clue what he’d gone through, either physically or mentally, that they didn’t let her and Lane see.Not that Lane would have understood any more than she did, if he even remembered any of it.He was several years younger, and she didn’t remember much from before Daddy had lost his leg or the time right after.
Instead, she watched him, seeing him a little differently.She tried to see him as someone who might give up or who might give in to depression when faced with a challenge like that.She couldn’t.That just didn’t match with the man she knew.The one who had raised her and all her siblings.
She thought about the man they’d met and wondered what he would do.Would he turn to a chemical to help him cope or would he do like Daddy had done and become a stronger man?
