Chapter 35.1

Jessie quietly followed Lisa down the hospital hallway, holding on tightly to her hand. The woman looked down at her, squeezing her hand reassuringly. On the way in she'd done her best to try and prepare her, talking through what she'd been told the doctors were doing for Jack. 'You don't have to go in if you don't want to.'

She shook her head. 'I want to see him. I need to see him.'

'Okay honey.' She found the room Lou had told her Jack was in, knocking quietly on the door. Tim opened it and she nodded at him. 'Tim.'

'Hi Lisa, Jessie.'

'Are we okay to come in?'

'Yeah, I was just about to head out. I've been trying to convince those two to go home and get some rest but they won't leave.' He motioned back behind him where Lou and Amy were. 'Maybe you'll have more luck talking to them.'

'I don't know, I can try.'

'Alright, I'll be seeing you.'

She looked down at Jessie as Tim headed out, the girl looking up at her with those brown eyes that showed so much emotion. 'You ready to go in?'

Jessie nodded quietly, stepping into the room. Slowly she walked in, processing in her mind what she was seeing as she looked at Jack. She'd never seen him like this, so weak and fragile as he appeared lying there, all different tubes and machines connected to him to monitor his condition.

'Hey.' Amy got up and walked over to her, giving the girl a hug as she stood at the foot of the bed, Lisa just off to the side behind her. 'You okay?'

'I'm fine.' She replied after a moment, her voice cracking. 'How are you doing?'

'I'm alright.' She pulled away, looking at her. 'How's things at the ranch?'

'Caleb got back today, he and Ty and Mallory are looking after the place. I think they're okay.'

'How's Spartan?'

'A bit flighty but he's alright. All the horses are okay.'

'That's good.'

Lou walked over to Lisa as the two girls spoke quietly, glancing over at Jessie. 'What did Barbra say?'

'She's got some first and second degree burns but she's alright. Thankfully.' She looked at Lou, the woman looked exhausted. 'Lou, you look terrible.'

'Thanks.'

'You need to go home and get some rest.'

'I know but I don't want to leave him.' She glanced back at Jack. 'And I've got so much on my mind right now, trying to sort out how we're going to repair the barn and get things running again, how on earth we're going to fund the repairs without insurance and now grandpa-'

'Oh Lou.' Lisa gave her a hug, trying to comfort her as best she could. She grabbed a handkerchief from her pocket, handing it to her to wipe her eyes when she let go. 'You and Amy go get some rest Lou, Jessie and I will stay with Jack.'

She nodded. 'Alright, but only for a couple hours.'

'Good.' She smiled sympathetically at her, placing her hand on her shoulder. 'He's going to be fine Lou.'

'I hope so.' Lou sighed, glancing back at him then at Amy. 'Come on Amy, we're heading home for a couple hours.'

'But I don't want to.'

'Regardless if you want to or not we both need to have a break and get some rest. Come on.'

'Fine.' Amy turned back to Jessie. 'I'll check on Pegasus when I get home and let you know how he is.'

'Okay.' She nodded, watching as Amy and Lou left the room then she slowly went over closer to Jack and took one of the seats beside his bed that the girls had been using. She felt like she was in some kind of daze seeing him there, just watching the rise and fall of his chest and listening to the constant beeping of the machines.

Lisa took a seat next to the girl, placing her arm around her. Jessie was silent, just staring at Jack and she wondered what thoughts were going through her mind. Her face was emotionless as she just sat looking at him, her eyes clouded as she hid her feelings.

She broke the awkward silence first, voicing something she had been thinking of out loud. 'Do you think he knows we're here?'

'I think he does honey.' She tried to reassure her as the girl rested her head against her. 'I think he can hear us too.'

'You do?'

'I do.'

Jessie thought for a moment, then turned back to him. 'Should I sing to him?'

'If you want to honey. It can't do any harm.'

'Except he might wake up and tell me I'm way off key.' She tried to crack a joke, trying to think of a song to sing. The only one that came to mind was the one the two of them had written together. Let the bough break, let it come down crashing. Let the sun fade out to a dark sky. I can't say I even noticed it was absent, cause I live by the light in your eyes. She looked down at the ground as she barely whispered the words as she sang them. I'll unfold before you, what I've strung together. The very first words, of a lifelong love letter. Tell the world that we got it all right. I choose you. I will become yours and you will become mine. I choose you. I choose you.

She took a deep breath, tears coming to her eyes as she started to sing what she had written. There was a time when I would have believed them, if they told me you could not come true. Just love's illusion. But then you found me- She had to stop to choke back a sob, feeling Lisa gently squeeze her shoulder reassuringly. And everything changed. And I believe in something again. My whole heart will be yours forever. This is a beautiful start, to a lifelong love letter.

Lisa listened quietly to the girls whispered singing, kissing her head gently as she started the chorus again. You had better be okay Jack Bartelett, our your going to break this girls heart. She thought, looking up at him and then added. And mine.

We are not perfect, we'll learn from our mistakes. And as long as it takes, I will prove my love to you. Jessie continued, blinking back tears. If running into a burning building to get him out wasn't an example of how much she loved him, she didn't know what was. Tell the world that we finally got it all right. I choose you. I will become yours and you will become mine. I choose you. I choose you.

'That was beautiful.' Lisa exclaimed once the girl had fallen silent for a few moments. 'Was that the song you and Jack wrote together?'

She nodded. 'Yes.'

'It's gorgeous honey.'

'You think so?'

'I do.' She kissed her head again, looking back at Jack. 'He'll be alright, just you wait and see.'

'Ty was the last one to mess with this truck, he's gone and done something.'

'Well, that'll teach you not to let me drive, eh?' She exclaimed after they tried starting his truck again without much success. 'I think you've flooded it.'

'No, I haven't flooded it.'

'Alright.' She sighed, taking a look around. 'Well, let's let it rest for a while. Let's forget about the sale.' She grabbed her bag out of the back of the truck, eyeing a spot in the pasture next to them. 'I've got more horses than I can deal with. You hungry?' He looked up at her and she motioned to the grass beside the road. 'Come on. Let's eat.'

She placed the picnic blanket she had packed out on the grass, smoothing it out as Jack walked over to join her. 'I'd planned a treat for after the sale. Who cares? We'll have it now.' She grabbed out the sandwiches she made, holding up one for him to take. 'Turkey and Swiss or turkey and Swiss?'

Jack chuckled. 'Turkey and Swiss.'

'Good answer.' She replied as he sat down on the blanket across from her. 'I made you coffee.'

'Aren't you something?'

'Aren't I?'

Lisa stared at the numbers on Lou's alarm clock as she laid in her bed, trying to get some sleep. She and Jessie had stayed with Jack for a couple hours till Lou and Amy had returned, Lou offering her her room at Heartland so she could stay close to Jessie. The girl had been very quiet after they'd left the hospital, barely saying two words from the time they had left till when she'd gone to bed. She could see the girl was closing up again, it was just the way she dealt with things but she wished that she knew of some other way to help her.

A gentle knock on the door prompted her to look over, propping herself up on her elbow. 'Yes?' The door opened and Jessie walked in, looking very down and tired. 'You can't sleep either honey?' The girl nodded and she patted the bed beside her, making room for her to hop under the covers. 'What's wrong?'

'I can't stop thinking.' She whispered, letting Lisa pull the covers over her shoulders. 'About Jack.'

'He's going to be alright honey.'

'I know, but I just can't turn my brain off.' Jessie snuggled up to her, letting her place her arm around her. 'I can't sleep.'

She sighed. 'I can't sleep either. You want me to tell you a story?'

'What kind of story?'

'How about when Jack took me to the fishing cabin for the first time? I haven't told you that yet, have I?'

She shook her head. 'No.'

'Alright then, get comfy.'

'Oh! Oh Jack.' She exclaimed as she got out of the car, looking around at the gorgeous scenery. 'This is heaven.'

'I don't get a lot of opportunity to bring company up here much.' He replied, opening the back of the car to start unloading their gear.

'Well, you couldn't have picked a better person because there's just nothing I like more then to do a little fly fish-' She stopped, realising she'd left the price tag on her fishing rod cover.

He nodded, looking at the tag. 'I can see that.'

'Alright.' She sighed, taking it as he handed it to her. 'Busted.'

'You were trying to impress Jack so you pretended to know how to fly fish?' Jessie chuckled, a grin coming over her face. 'That's so cute.'

Lisa was thankful it was dark so the girl couldn't see her blushing. 'Well, he'd have figured it out pretty quick if I hadn't let the price tag on it when he saw me trying to fish.'

'Kinda like my great attempt hey?'

'Something like that.'

'Oh no!' She laughed, realising that her line had managed to get itself tangled in a tree on the river bank behind them. 'There must be an easier way to do this.' Jack turned around, to see what the problem was and chuckled. 'Like ordering fish at a nice restaurant. Look, I'm, I caught a tree.'

'Hang on, I'll give you-' He started bringing his line in, havin a little chuckle at Lisa's failed attempt to get her line in the water. 'I'll give you a hand there.'

'Ohh!'

'Oh, what did you catch?' He walked over, trying to see where her line was snagged.

'Look at my beginner's luck.'

'Oh look at you you've got-' He couldn't even see exactly where the line had gone as she passed her rod to him. 'Well-'

'I'll go get it.'

'No, that's alright. We'll just leave it here for now.' Jack placed it down on the bank. 'Set her down there.'

'Sorry.' She apologised, feeling like a complete idiot.

'That's okay. Why don't you try my rod right here?' He handed her his rod, showing her how to hold it properly. 'Now, take the rod in your right hand.'

'Like this?'

'Uh.' He saw how she was holding it and chuckled. 'No.'

'No. Okay'.

'Uh, you gotta hold it a little more um-'

'Up here?' She tried to follow his directions. 'Like this?'

'Kinda. Put the-' He tried to figure out how to explain it to her but wasn't having much luck. 'Oh what the hell. Here.' He slipped his arm around her, placing her hands properly on the rod.

'Oh, ok.'

'You don't mind?'

'No, I don't mind.' She smiled, looking up at him.

'Okay, right over this way. There you go.'

'I didn't know fishing was a team sport.' Lisa chuckled as she let Jack show her what to do.

'Me neither.' He laughed. 'Okay, now, what we wanna do-' He started to take the line out then let her take over. 'Get your line wet a little bit there. And back and forth. Now strip a little bit out at the same time. You pick a spot in the water and drop it right there.'

'Ah!

'Perfect aim.' He complimented and she laughed. 'Now, strip the line in as it goes down the river.'

'Alright.'

'Strip it in, follow the line down with the tip of her rod, and- There you go.'

'Okay, I'm fishing.'

'You are fishing.' Jack agreed.

'Uh-oh.' She felt something heavy on the rod. 'What's happening? Is it stuck? Oh, it's stuck again.'

'No, you just caught yourself a fish.'

'Oh really?'

'Yes, you did.'

'Did I?'

'Yeah.' He started bringing the line in, showing her what to do. 'Okay, there you go. Reel it in.'

She heard the sound of soft snoring and chuckled as she realised the girl had fallen asleep, obviously bored enough by listening to her to actually manage to drift off. She smiled, tucking the covers up underneath the girls chin and carefully managed to slide her arm out from under her. Glancing over at the clock, she sighed, wishing that she could fall asleep too.

Lisa laid there, staring up at the ceiling listening to Jesie's breathing in the quiet house. She was thankful the girl was managing to get some rest, hoping that she would be able to sleep the night through without waking from a nightmare. As the night progressed, her thoughts turned back to the fishing trip she had taken with Jack.

'That was delicious.' She complimented after they'd finished their meal he had cooked for them. 'Who would ever have guessed that you were so handy with a frying pan?'

'Oh, shh, shh.' He put his finger to his lips. 'It's one of my hidden talents.'

'The mystery of Jack Bartlett unfolding before my very eyes.'

Jack laughed. 'No mystery, really. I'm a pretty straightforward guy. I like working with my hands. I only shave when the mood strikes me, and that's not too often. I've never been on an all-inclusive vacation and you couldn't pay me to get on a cruise ship.'

'Can I say the rest?' She interrupted, placing her glass back on the table.

'Sure.'

'You like horses, sometimes more than the people that ride them.' He laughed. 'You don't see the point in buying a new truck even though they changed the model ten years ago.' She paused for a moment, then continued. 'And even though it seems where this is going, you didn't bring me up here to propose.'

'Well, that's the thing.' He thought for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to put it. 'I uh, you know, I haven't done a lot of socialising, since my wife died. And if I do, well, it's- We were married a lot of years. Good years.'

She nodded, understanding what he was trying to say. 'How did you meet?'

'Well-' He was a little surprised she asked that but he was happy to share it with her. 'She was a singer in a roadhouse band, following the rodeo circuit, every town from Barrhead to Longview. And I was at every show, until I got busted up by a bucking horse in High River. Ended up with a cast on my leg. I couldn't drive my truck.'

'Oh no, you must have hated that.' She teased him, remembering well their first date where he'd declared that he wasn't going to be chauffeured around, 'Being chauffeured around!'

He laughed. 'Yeah, I had to take the bus. I still made her show in Millarville though and that's when she finally noticed me. We spent our honeymoon right here. And then uh, and then after the funeral, I spread her ashes in the river.'

'That sounds like quite a love affair.' It was certainly a lot better of a story then her own previous marriage. 'I'm very flattered that you brought me here.'

'I didn't mean to go on, but-' He paused. 'I just don't want any misunderstandings or surprises if whatever this is, continues past our little fishing trip here.'

She nodded, with a slight chuckle. 'Well, 'whatever this is', I hope it does continue. Otherwise I've got a few hundred dollars worth of fishing equipment I'll never use again.' He laughed too and she picked up her glass, proposing a toast. 'To whatever it is.'

'To whatever this is.'