Chapter Four
He was still unconscious. Jordan quietly slipped into his room to find his eyes remained shut. She stood by his bedside, not making a sound, but rejoicing at the resonance of his steady breathing. She had just talked to Woody's attending physician. The doctor said it was going to take time…months of time….before he would be back to normal. But he was going to be fine. She breathed another prayer of thanksgiving as she gently sat down on the side of his bed and took his hand in one of hers while the other hand tenderly pushed his hair off his forehead.
She had never run her fingers through his hair before he got shot. It had seemed too personal…too intimate. For her, anyway. Woody had brushed her hair off her shoulders several times…letting his fingers run through its length, curling a strand around his finger. She had never protested….because she had secretly loved the feeling…the sense of affection. His hair…although she had teased him about the way it could stick out in a million different directions, was thick, but baby-soft. A texture that had surprised her. She absent-mindedly wondered if his skin would feel just as soft. She wished she could find out. Finally, clearing her throat, she began to speak to him…a ritual she had begun the first night the nurses had let her stay. He may not be able to hear her, but it sure made her feel better…just talking to him.
"Hey, Woody. It's me, Jordan. I know you probably don't want to hear from me again, but I had to come in and check on you…see how things were going. Make sure they were treating you right. I worry about you, you know? I always will." She cleared her throat again. Seeing him lying there…always made her throat close up with tears, knowing how close she came to losing him.
"The reason I came by tonight…well, it was to see you, but I needed to tell you that I'm going on doubles tomorrow for the next several days…Sydney's taking a few days off and I told him I would cover for him…I promised him over a month ago…so I won't be able to come by the rest of the week. I will call and check on you. I promise." Her hand dropped from his hair, and her head lowered.
"I….I….guess that's really for the best, you know? I realize that if you came to while I was here, or learned that I had been around, you'd probably be even more pissed at me than you were before the shooting. I wish…I wish that evening when you came by my office…the last time you really talked to me, remember? That you would have stayed long enough to listen to what I had to say. When I saw you there, lying on the pavement…not breathing…all I could think about was what if something happened to you before I could ever tell you how I really felt? So…I'm going to tell you now." She laughed softly before continuing, tears once again threatening to steal her voice. "I know you can't hear me…but maybe this is more for me than for you, you know?"
She swiped at the tears on her cheeks with the sleeve of her shirt. "I wish I would have taken that ring, Woody. When you came back to my office that night, that was what I was going to tell you, if you would have let me get a word in edgewise. I had changed my mind. I was ready to risk it…risk it all with you…set aside my fears of getting my heart broken again…of the one person I cared for more than anything leaving me, too…It didn't matter. All that mattered to me was that you knew I was finally ready to move this relationship forward.
"Only to find out you had given up. On the relationship…on us … on me. I can't say that I really blame you…hell, after all, it's been four years…You've been so patient…anyway…I can't expect you to feel the same way I do now…too little too late, huh? But I am glad you're getting better…and I'm so glad you're alive…and…and…I need to go now." She glanced around the room. Even though Woody was in a private room, what she had to say to him was too personal to speak it out loud. Leaning in close to his face, she whispered in his ear, "And I love you, Woody. I always will." She softly kissed him on the lips. "And I'm so glad the CPR worked." She brushed his lips with hers once more. Then carefully getting up, she quietly and quickly exited his room, shutting his door softly behind her.
Woody's blue eyes popped open and he smiled. She loved him. He had heard every word she had said…he had feigned unconsciousness to see what she would do. He never expected her declaration of love. He certainly didn't expect her kisses...it was all he could do to keep from responding to them. He turned in his bed as far as he could to see if he saw his cell phone anywhere…the nightstand, the table…It was nowhere. It must be with his personal things they took off of him when they admitted him to the hospital. Damn. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he tried to calm down and think…think about what he needed to do next. A plan…he needed a plan. He finally had her…and her heart. Now he just needed to make sure he kept both of them…that she wouldn't wiggle out of what she said. She didn't know that he heard her…her confession…her fears…finally tasted her lips one more time. And she certainly didn't know he was about to launch an attack that would insure her fears were laid to rest and her heart would remain his.
He needed to re-evaluate everything right now…his life…his tact with her….make some changes. And he would need a willing accomplice…someone that was close to her and that he could work with without Jordan getting suspicious. A delicious grin spread across his face. Nigel. Nigel would be perfect. He reached over to the nightstand and picked up the hospital phone. Dialing nine to gain an outside line, he then entered the Brit's cell phone number from memory. A plan was beginning to form in his head….and Jordan would never know what hit her until it was too late and he had her forever.
