Chapter 30: Back to Familiar Surroundings
Jebb saw that the tank was getting low so he pulled in at an old truck stop for some gas. As he did so he could tell that Kira was starting to stir.
"And here I thought that you'd sleep all the way to Atlanta."
Kira looked around to see if she recognized where they were at but couldn't. "Where are we?"
"Just about ten miles west of the Chickasaw County line. I figured that if I didn't want to end up as a guest of Sheriff Little's at the local jail it'd be best if I drove straight through without stopping. He's never been one to pass up a chance to put a Duke behind bars. Even if it ain't for nothing but littering. From here we're a little over halfway to Atlanta. We need gas. Do you need anything while we're here? Hungry?"
Kira shook her head while eyeing the small gas station. She did need something but it wasn't food. Telling Jebb, however, was a bit embarrassing. "Actually I think I need to get out for a minute."
"Let me guess; you need to stretch your legs a bit." Jebb knew it was corny but he always has joked around a bit to try to ease stress. He figured that if he did so for Kira it would help him gauge just how much the two of them were to being back to like they used to be.
"Not funny, Jebb. Actually, I need to go inside." Kira nodded toward the door to the bathroom door that was facing the gas pumps.
In only a second or two Jebb got her meaning. She needed to go to the restroom. He should have figured that out. He knew from living with his mother and sisters that women never seem to wait as long as men. Though to be honest, Jebb had pulled over about twenty minutes ago and relieved himself on the side of the road without even thinking about the fact that if he needed a pit stop that she would have needed one as well.
"Oh. I'll get your chair out of the back."
Jebb unloaded the wheel chair and walked over to the passenger's side of the truck and reached in to pick Kira up as carefully as he could. He was extra mindful of her injured shoulder. Kira hissed and cursed in pain while wishing that she'd been able to make it all of the way to Atlanta before she needed to make a stop of this kind. As Jebb pushed her across the bumpy parking lot Kira felt every rock and divot with her bladder. Once at the door to the bathroom was only accessed from the outside Kira tried to avoid yet another embarrassing moment; as if just having to have Jebb take her to the bathroom wasn't humiliating enough.
"Just push the chair in and I'll be able to get it from there."
Jebb eyed Kira's brace and cast on her legs. "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Jebb opened the door to the dingy old truck stop's facilities. The bathroom clearly had never been designed for a wheel chair. It was very narrow and small. He could tell that if he pushed the chair in it would barely allow the door to close.
"If you are sure."
"I am." Kira waited for Jebb to close the door behind him before she began to gather her skirt around her. She hadn't had the nerve to ask for Jebb to go through her things to find some undergarments and while she had reluctantly taken the dress that the nurses had found for her in the hospital's lost and found she flat out refused to wear someone else's underwear. Now with trying to figure out how to transition herself from the chair to the toilet she thought that it might actually be best that she didn't have just one more layer of clothes to try to navigate with only one good limb.
After a moment's consideration, Kira decided to grab a hold of the sink with her good arm and shifted her weight just briefly onto her left foot since the full length cast had to offer her more support than her brace on her other knee. Taking a deep breath she pushed herself off and was on the toilet in only a moment that seemed like it had taken her a week to manage it. Intense pain shot through her along with a wave a nausea. Her vision took on a red hue and she felt light-headed but she'd made it to the toilet to take care of business on her own.
It then took her several minutes to try to gather up the nerve to shift back to the wheel chair. Kira once more gathered her skirt as she reached out for the sink to steady herself before thrusting herself toward the chair. When she did her weight sent the chair into the door behind it which then slung open. As the chair crashed through the door Kira fell to the floor in intense agony that made her bite back the breakfast that she couldn't remember eating this morning.
Jebb looked up from where he was pumping the gas and saw Kira collapsed halfway inside and partially onto the ground outside the bathroom with her skirt gathered around her waist; and she didn't have anything below it. He stopped the pump and ran over to help Kira before too many of the others at the truck stop could realize what was going on. After squatting next to her and pulling her skirt down a bit he waited for Kira to get her bearings together again before he reached forward to pick her up.
"I know that you are perfectly capable of getting back into the chair on your own but what do you say that I help you out anyway." Jebb started walking Kira toward the truck while he tried to fight the chuckle that he so wanted to let out. This certainly wasn't how he had pictured seeing Kira without any underwear for the first time. He could tell that Kira was embarrassed enough that he didn't need to point out the fact that he hadn't exactly been the only one to have gotten a free shot at it, either.
After getting Kira in the truck he went back for the wheelchair and paid for the gas. He then pointed the vehicle toward Atlanta for the last leg of their journey. After about five minutes Kira quietly spoke up.
"Thanks. I really thought that I could do at least that on my own."
"Kira, you've been hurt. There's no shame in admitting it." Jebb wasn't sure if he was referring to her physical injuries or the wounds to her heart that she's kept under lock and key for her entire life. "All you have to do is ask for help. I'm not going anywhere."
Kira nodded. "I'm sorry that I left. It wasn't fair to you."
"At least now I know why you did."
"After everything that I did, why are you willing to help me again?"
Jebb looked sideways toward Kira with a small smile. "I could tell you but you wouldn't believe me. You'll have to figure it out for yourself."
Kira gave Jebb a dirty look for the answer but let it drop. Over the course of the next couple of hours Jebb kept up a steady stream of conversation about various people that they both knew through Motocross. Kira hated to admit it but she missed the people that Jebb was telling her about. When she had joined Jebb with the others from the circuit it had made her feel like she was part of a group for the first time in her life. She hadn't even realized that she missed that in the time that she'd been gone.
The second half of the drive to Atlanta seemed to go by nearly as fast as the first half had for Kira. Except this time it was because she was actually enjoying herself as she and Jebb discussed almost every aspect of life rather than sleeping due to being hyped up on pain medication. When Kira noticed the neighborhood that Jebb was steering the truck through she eyed him curiously. She knew these streets very well and they weren't heading where they should have been.
"This isn't where Tom and Michelle live."
"They didn't ask me to take you to their house. You'll be staying somewhere else."
"Then where, exactly, will I be staying? Because it looks an awfully lot like you are heading to Ben's."
"That's because I am." Jebb knew that Kira hadn't been to the mansion since the day that she'd decked Ben's son, Shawn and was taken out in handcuffs. Going back without Ben there was bound to be bittersweet. "Relax. It'll be alright."
As the large brick building that had once been her home came into view Kira felt a lump in her throat. When she first was taken to the mansion she had been certain that her social worker had taken her to the wrong place. Now that she was going back, it once more felt as if she was in the wrong place.
Jebb pulled up in front of the side entrance before getting Kira's wheelchair out. By going around to the side rather using the main entrance he would be able to get Kira inside with only a couple of stairs to navigate rather than the impressive set out front. He carefully lifted her out of the truck and into the chair before he was met with an old acquaintance at the door.
"Mistress Kira, it is good to see you again. We've been expecting you."
Kira looked up to see James, the butler holding the door open for Jebb as he pushed her through. "James?"
"I'd say that you're looking well but-"
"You've never been that great of a liar, James." Despite herself she chuckled as she finished the butler's sentence for him. "It's alright. I have no one but myself to blame for being in this chair."
"Well, let us hope that it won't be for long. In the meantime, a room has been set up for you downstairs. We've transformed the old study for you."
"The study?" Kira didn't know why she hadn't thought about the fact that taking the stairs all the way up to her old room would be out of the question. If not a bit painful with every step.
Jebb remembered the way to the study all too well and made his way to it to get Kira settled. When he opened the door the first thing that Kira noticed was that the desk that she remembered Ben sitting behind for countless hours was replaced by a bed. The entire room had been transformed into a bedroom. It wasn't hard to figure out why this room, out of all of the rooms on the first floor, had been chosen as her room during her time healing at the manor. The study had its own bathroom attached to it so it was one room that offered the most privacy on the main floor.
"Well, here you are. Home sweet home." Jebb took in the room in its transformed state just as Kira did. Of course he could tell that being in the old study affected Kira in a way that he doubted that she'd admit.
And she was. Being in the room made her remember the first time that she walked into it with Miss O'Connell by her side. She remember seeing Ben sitting behind his desk reading some papers only to put them aside while smiling once he saw her. He'd actually had been glad to see her. He was always glad to see her.
"You alright?" Jebb asked as he saw a bit of moisture gathering in Kira's eyes.
"Yes. I guess I sort of thought that I'd never be here again. Doesn't the house belong to Shawn or Elizabeth now? Somehow I doubt that either of them would welcome me here with open arms."
Jebb shrugged. "You'll have to ask Tom about that tomorrow. I just know that he asked me to bring you here. He'll be out in the morning. In the meantime, James, Myra and the others are going to take care of you tonight. So you want me to help you with anything before I have to leave?"
He wished that he didn't have to leave so soon after getting Kira home but he knew that if he didn't get home by dinner his mother was bound to have a fit. And since he now had reason to leave the farm more often again he didn't plan to give her a reason to get upset just yet.
Kira shook her head. She knew that one of the women would be in shortly. Helen was likely cooking enough for an army and will insist that she eat long after she was full while Myra would no doubt be in with fresh clothing for Kira and see to it that she was comfortable. Well, as comfortable as she could be in her current condition.
"Thank you. For... Well, everything."
"No problem." Jebb smiled as he bent down to drop a kiss on Kira's forehead. "Just don't disappear on me before I come back."
"Ha-ha. Very funny." Kira groaned at the small joke that he was trying to make. It wasn't like she'd get very far at the moment anyway.
"What the hell is going on here?!"
Kira bolted upright at the shout only to return with her own scream as pain seared through her entire body at the sudden movement. Looking across the room she saw Shawn Kyle standing at the door to the study glaring at her. Not only her but the changes to the room that had been made to it to accommodate her temporary handicapped status.
"Why are you here and what have you done to my father's study?!"
After Kira caught her breath she gritted through her teeth, "I was invited to stay here. If you have any questions I suggest that you talk to Tom."
Shawn growled under his breath before bellowing, "James! Get Tom on the phone! Now!"
Kira awkwardly sat in the bed as the man whom she'd last seen as she was walked off in handcuffs after decking him before Ben's funeral stood glaring at her from the doorway. Just looking at his haughty stance made her wish that she could hit him again. It would probably even be worth another night in jail.
After a moment Kira heard James inform him that he had Tom on the phone in the other room just before Shawn stomped out of the study in a huff. Just after he left the downstairs housekeeper, Myra, took his place. She quickly shut the door behind her and locked it so that she could help Kira prepare for the day. Once dressed and in her chair, she felt totally helpless as the housekeeper rolled her toward the den where Shawn was waiting after he'd finished his phone conversation with Tom.
"Well, so it really is true," Shawn sneered when he saw Kira with her right arm in a sling along with a cast on her left leg and her right knee in a brace. "You really have nearly killed yourself on that bike of yours. Too bad you couldn't have finished the job."
"It's nice to see you, too, Shawn."
"I've spoken with Tom. It seems that he's taken it upon himself set you up in my father's house once more. Of course, why would he bother telling me since the will gave him rights to oversee the estate however he likes? With it being willed to the firm where he is the senior partner and all."
Shawn knew that willing the house to the firm had been one more stab that his father had taken out on him and his sister. If it wasn't for linking it to the firm Shawn and his sister would have sold the house a long time ago. Instead, Tom had used the house to put up clients and witnesses during cases. He'd even declined to cut the staff despite the fact that there was no real need for everyone who was still on the payroll but Tom knew that Ben would have wanted to see to it that those who he'd interacted with on a daily basis in such a personal way would still have a place to live and jobs for as long as they wanted them. Most of the staff had even raised their own families within these walls and he had no intention of putting them out of the only home that they'd ever really had.
"I didn't know that I was being brought here, Shawn. I didn't ask for this."
"Of course you didn't. You've never had to ask for it. You were always just handed over everything that should have been mine."
Kira couldn't help but roll her eyes at Shawn's self-description of alleged martyrdom. Yes, poor Shawn had only been born with a silver spoon in his mouth and he resented whenever anyone else was given a small scrap of help.
"Are you finished? Because if the only thing you're here for is to whine and bitch at me, I think I'll pass on this touching family reunion."
Shawn met Kira's icy glare with one of his own before waving toward Myra to wheel her away once more. "Just don't make yourself at home; because you won't be staying long."
Kira was rolled into the dining room where Helen had a large breakfast waiting for her. She thanked her for remembering her favorite dishes and did her best to eat as much as she could so that the woman knew that she was appreciated. She then returned to the study to wait for Tom to arrive so that she could ask why she'd been brought to the house since it obviously upset Shawn so much. She settled in with a book while waiting for him since that was one thing that she could do without asking for someone's help. When Tom finally showed up she was surprised by the fact that he wasn't alone. He was followed by two men who appeared to be delivering a large box.
"I'm sorry that I'm late. I hear that you and Shawn have already had a chance to get reacquainted."
"If you want to call it that."
"I had hoped that I'd get here before he arrived for the day but it took longer to get this all together than I'd figured." Behind Tom the men finished up with the box to reveal that they'd brought in an electric wheelchair. "I know that I should have consulted this with you before I arranged for the new wheelchair but I figured that you'd prefer being able to get around on your own just a bit."
Kira eyed the chair that looked a lot more complicated than the one that she was already in. It had a joystick like a video game system and looked very large and bulky. Still, she supposed that she'd be able to figure out the chair fairly easily if it meant that she could get around on her own during her recovery. Kira was moved into the new chair and the men who delivered the chair showed her how to work it. Within minutes she was moving around the room in the chair with ease. Afterwards the delivery men left which allowed Tom to discuss with Kira her stay at the house. He knew that she'd go crazy if she had nothing to do and she would refuse to be treated as an invalid so instead he'd decided that he'd treat the situation as if she was earning her keep in whatever way she could. Much the same way he could see Ben having done had he still been around.
He informed her that during her recovery period she'd be expected to go to her physical therapy sessions twice a week and when she wasn't busy with them he would have her do research for various cases that the firm had on the books either at the house or at the legal library. Tom figured that it would serve more than one purpose in having her work for the firm while staying at the house. One, it would keep Kira from feeling useless and helpless. Two, it would help her get back into working with the law like she'd had such a passion for when Ben was alive. The whole reason why she'd gone off to law school was because she wanted the use the law to help people. Tom hoped that working on some of his current cases would reignite that passion and put her back on the track that she'd abandoned after she'd graduated.