Take a Chance (8 page)

“You may as well dish up for the kids. This might take a while.”

Once again it was close to 2am when Jem crawled into bed after returning from the hospital
and hurrying through the work she had to do. There had been no sign of Eben but he had to be around. Maybe he had fallen asleep on one of the children’s beds as he read them a bed time story.

Never mind. She’d tell him how the doctors planned to bring Jess out of her coma in the morning because she was doing so well. With a smile on her face Jem fell asleep and that was how Eben found her soon after.

He had a quick shower and slipped into the bed beside her. Within minutes Jem snuggled against his side, absorbing his warmth. He slid his arm under her head until it rested on his shoulder.

This is comfortable. I could get used to this,
Eben thought sleepily.

Jem’s leg slid over his thighs and he thought,
Oh yeah
.

Then
her arm stretched across him until her fingers rested on the waistband of his boxers. His eyes flew open and he held his breath but she moved no further.

Something in his boxers rose to greet her. He bit back a groan when the tip of his erection escaped the waistband and was enveloped in the warmth of her hand. Eben turned to look at Jem but it was clear that she was asleep.

After a few minutes the contact wasn’t enough. He lifted his hips and a tug to his boxers freed him completely. His actions were rewarded by Jem grasping him in her sleep.

Oh yeah.

He jiggled and her hand tightened. After a minute he jiggled some more but the movement didn’t have the desired effect.

The next few moments were spent deliberating with his conscience and ended with
what the hell
.

With his free hand he tentatively took her wrist and gently started moving it up then down. He glanced across and saw that she still slept. Feeling bolder, he moved her hand up and down faster.

That feels so good.

Jem made a noise and he abruptly let go of her wrist.
She moved her hand up to his shoulder. Warily Eben looked at her and held his breath as she lifted her head. He let it out again only after she lowered it to snuggle into his shoulder and made a contented sound.

Relieved that he would be spending the foreseeable future intact, he impulsively kissed her on the temple. Turning his head back on the pillow, he sighed.

When the alarm clock radio came on Eben quickly switched it off. Jem barely stirred. Considering she was one of those annoyingly perky morning people Eben knew she must be exhausted which was why he had decided to let her sleep in.

He carefully untangled his legs from hers and slid out of bed. She raised her head as though to look at him but at the last moment turned and rested her head back against the pillow. He let out the breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding.

I wish she would stop doing that
.

Jem later woke to the sounds of Jeremy and Daisy squabbling near the door.

What time is it?

She groggily raked her hair back from her face and peered at the alarm clock.

She was shocked to see it was almost time to leave for school and she wasn’t up, let alone dressed.

She whipped off her night
shirt and grabbed the first item of clothing she found and pulled it on. In a panic she decided to organise the kids and get dressed properly later. 

Jem rushed into the family room to see Eben trying to put Daisy’s hair into pigtails. Beyond him
, Daisy and Jeremy’s bags had been packed for the day and were set to one side. A pile of breakfast dishes were neatly stacked beside the sink. Jeremy sat on the floor nearby helping Aidan put his shoes on.

Jem rubbed her eyes. She had to be still sleeping otherwise she had fallen into an alternate universe. Daisy spotted her Aunt.

“Cool!” she exclaimed and twisted under Eben’s hands to look up at him. “Can you make my hair look like Aunty Jem’s?”

Eben looked up to see Jem wearing his long sleeve t shirt with the cuffs rolled
back and the hem hanging to mid-thigh.  Her hair was sleep mussed and she looked at him appreciatively. She had obviously figured out what he had done and why. All he wanted to do was to take her back to bed and see if they could find a more fun use for it than they had so far. In the meanwhile he stared appreciatively back
.
She obviously wasn’t wearing a bra under his t shirt.

“Uncle Eben?” Daisy yanked his hand and pulled him back to reality.

“Uh, no I can’t make your hair like hers. I don’t know how to give it that eighties look.”

At Jem’s responding scowl he mentally smacked his face.

“Maybe Aunty Jem should take over. She’d be better at it,” he said, deciding he’d better quit before he sunk himself further. “Jeremy, how about you open the garage door with the remote?”

“It’s my turn!” chorused Daisy and Aidan as Jeremy disappeared to do the honours before they could be reallocated to another sibling.

“Daisy can close the door and Aidan, you can sit on my lap and drive down the driveway.”

“I want to drive the car!” Daisy said.

“Next time,” Eben promised, already wondering whether offering to let Aidan drive had been a good idea.

Jem took the comb from his hand and took over parting Daisy’s hair.
Eben watched as she struggled to make two even pigtails. After she pulled them out for the third time Daisy burst into tears.

“I want Mummy to do my hair,” she cried. “She can do it right
in one go. I want her to come home.”

Jem knelt down, hugged Daisy to her chest and looked at Eben
for help. Not knowing what to do Eben rummaged through the container of hair accessories on the breakfast bar and pulled out a metal headband with a flower on it.

“How about you put this on Daze?” he suggested. “Look! It’s got a daisy on it that is almost as pretty as you are.”

Daisy looked up and allowed the sight to console her.

“Okay,” she said shakily.

With a few more soothing words Jem wiped Daisy’s wet eyes and cheeks with the tissue Eben passed to her and stood up.

Minutes later Daisy’s hair was brushed out and the headband secured in place.

“There you go Daisy, all done,” Jem told her niece.

Daisy lifted her arms to be picked up. When Jem did, Daisy gave her a hug.

“Thank you for doing my hair,” she said, then whispered “Uncle Eben was worser than you at doing my hair.”

“You’re welcome,” Jem replied
, bemused by the left handed compliment as she lowered Daisy to the floor.

Jeremy raced back into the room.

“You’ll never guess what! There’s a dead rat on the driveway!”

“Gross!” said Daisy.

Jeremy turned to Eben.

“Could you put it in a bag so I can take it to school for news?”

Eben sat in the car at the top of the sloping driveway. What had seemed a good idea to stop further arguments didn’t seem to be so clever now.  Aidan sat on his lap, randomly pressing buttons and adjusting settings. Eben mentally sighed. It’d take him ages to reset his favourite stations on the radio.

He grabbed both of Aidan’s hands and held them on the steering wheel then turned the window wipers back on.

“You need both hands to steer,” he told Aidan.

Aidan smacked Eben’s hands away.

“I do it.”

“Go really fast!” Jeremy recommended from the back seat.

“Yeah! So we can feel butterflies,” Daisy added.

Over my dead body,
thought Eben.
Thank goodness he’s too short to reach the accelerator.

Aidan swung the steering wheel vigorously from side to side until Eben held it firmly with one hand.

“Let’s go!” said Eben and the car slowly picked up speed as it travelled down the hill.

Losing interest because he wasn’t allowed to steer the car into the hedge, Aidan reached to the side and found a handle beside the driver’s seat. It didn’t move with a little pull so Aidan yanked the handle up. The car jerked to a stop and Aidan’s face banged against the steering wheel.

There was suddenly silence in the car. Eben held his breath as Aidan quietly sat up.

He’s okay
, he thought with more than a little relief.

Then he saw blood on the steering wheel and Aidan screamed.

Eben fumbled through the medicine cupboard above the fridge in the kitchen. Jem had Aidan on her lap with his head tilted forward and a washcloth pinching his nostrils together.

What the heck can you put on a blood nose anyway?

He was impressed how calmly Jem was handling the situation, quietly talking to Aidan to distract him while he was a mess and rummaging through the medicine cupboard with no particular goal in mind.

What if I had been driving faster?

He grabbed a pack of laxatives and tossed it back.

Definitely don’t need that.

He withdrew a smaller box and looked at the label to see what it was; a three pack of condoms, advertising
ribbed, for her pleasure
. He glanced at Jem and slid the pack into his back pocket. He’d certainly have a go.

The next box was a pack of Wiggles sticking plasters. Eben held them uncertainly. Maybe he could offer to put a plaster on Aidan’s finger.

“Hey sport, want one of these?”

Aidan looked up as Jem withdrew the facecloth. Fortunately the bleeding had stopped.

“Yes!” he said.

Jem wiped a bit of smeared blood from Aidan’s cheek as Eben unwrapped the plaster. He moved to put it on Aidan’s finger.

“No,” said Aidan. “I want it on my nose.”

Eben looked at Jem who watched him expectantly. He moved to put the plaster on the bridge of Aidan’s nose but Aidan stopped him by turning his head.

“No, there,” Aidan scolded as he pointed to his nostrils.

Eben wasn’t sure what to do. The bleeding had stopped and he couldn’t put the plaster over his nostrils. He lowered his hands.

“You don’t really need it. It’s stopped bleeding.”

“Blood there.
I get plaster!” said Aidan petulantly.

Grudgingly Eben taped the plaster under Aidan’s nostrils so Captain Feathersword lay like a brightly coloured moustache above Aidan’s top lip with his feather sword appearing to go up a nostril. Aidan got off Jem’s lap and looked up to his Aunt.

“I better now.”

“You sure are,” she told him.

Eben saw Jem’s shoulders shaking. Had she been more upset than she let on? He looked at her face and saw that she was biting her lip to stop herself laughing out loud. He looked at Aidan and saw the plaster twitch as Aidan scrunched his nose.

“You can get back in the car now,” Eben said and watched the toddler disappear down the hallway.

Eben knew he’d get a lot of comments wherever they went.

“Are you sure you want to take him with you today?” Jem asked.

She was obviously thinking the same thing.

“Sure,” Eben said easily. “You can visit Jess in peace and at least this way he’ll be easy to describe to others if I have to look for him anywhere.”

“Thank you.”

Before Eben realised it, Jem had stood up and crossed the short distance between them. She reached up to tug his head down a little towards hers to give him a quick kiss as a thank you. Instead when their lips met his arms swept her against him and he deepened the kiss.

He tasted like coffee and smelled like Bulgari.

The sensations were heady and she kissed him back as she looped her arms around his shoulders. His hands moved to her hips and pulled her firmly against him. She felt his arousal and pushed back, loving the knowledge that she had this effect on him.

The sound of the kitchen door opening behind them brought them back to reality. Abruptly Jem and Eben broke apart. Eben turned away and spread his hands on the kitchen bench and looked out at the rain through the window.

Jem pushed a hand through her hair and looked at Daisy.

“Can I drive the car this time?” she asked.

“No,” said Eben and Jem.

“It’s not fair. I
never
get to drive the car,” Daisy said as she trudged back down the hallway.

Jem arrived in ICU to find the curtained partition around Jess’s bed almost closed. Through a small gap she saw a group of doctors standing around the bed. She was alarmed by the presence of all the people in white coats. The nurse from yesterday saw her and left the nurse’s station.

“Don’t worry,” he told her. “It’s just the consultant taking the house surgeons on rounds. She’s making them familiar with the circumstances of each patient in ICU.”

Jem let out a breath in relief. “Do they know when
Jess will be well enough to wake up?”

“I expect when this crowd moves on I’ll have instructions to withdraw the medication which is keeping her asleep. Then depending upon how long it takes to get out of her system it could be anytime.”

Jem felt an anxious thrill run through her.

“She will wake up won’t she?”

The nurse smiled sympathetically.

“Head injuries are tricky things. With any luck she will wake up and everything will be fine.”

Jem stood to one side as the curtain was pulled back and the stream of doctors emerged. The nurse slipped past them and took the clipboard from the glossy haired brunette consultant who had a few words to say to him. The nurse nodded and a quick conversation ensued.

On the way past, the consultant paused beside Jem. She was about a head shorter than Jem and looked older than she had from across the room.

“Your sister is doing well. We’re taking away some of her meds and she should be awake soon.”

“Thank you,” Jem said.

The consultant smiled at her then joined the group of doctors awaiting her at the next bed.

Jem sat down in the chair beside her sister’s bed, took Jess’s hand in her own and started to tell her about their morning.

It was after eleven when Eben dropped into the seat beside her, Aidan securely held in one arm, his Wiggle plaster moustache still in place. Surprised, Jem looked at him. He looked a little disgruntled.

“I’d planned to give you the whole day to yourself but something has come up. I tried dealing with it keeping Aidan with me but I’ve discovered I don’t have eyes in the back of my head. Is it okay for you to take him and pick up Daisy and Jeremy?”

“Of course it is,” Jem said in surprise. Having most of the morning to herself had been wonderful and she had only been looking after the children with Eben’s help for two days. Without him she wouldn’t have been sure of her mental state. She couldn’t imagine how single parents managed.

Eben put
down a squirming Aidan who ran to the other side of the bed. Jem smiled at his expression of relief. His eyes moved from dark blue to grey as he leaned forward and kissed her. It was almost over before she closed her eyes.

“Thanks,” he murmured.

“Anytime,” she murmured back and smiled.