Beneath the Tombstone (The Tombstone Series) (40 page)

“Well,
look who’s awake,” a voice called out from the door as it creaked open a bit.
Tyler’s head poked in.

“Come
on in,” Jason invited. “I’m sure you two have already met while I was in a
state of unconsciousness, but I’d feel robbed if I didn’t get to introduce
y’all
.” He looked over at his wife. “Misty, this is Tyler,
a very good friend.”

“Pleased
to meet you again, ma’am” the tall cowboy drawled, tipping his hat.

“Tyler,”
Jason spoke proudly, “this is Misty, my wife.”

“Nice
to meet you again, too,” she said with a smile.

The
door opened once more. Rye and Irwin stood out in the hall, looking in. “Hey,
y’all
come on in,” Jason invited.

With
hats in hand, the two horsemen walked forward. “Boy, I tell you what, Jason,”
Irwin spoke, “you’re a sight for sore eyes.”

“Hey
man,” Jason laughed, “I’m alive. Could be worse.”

“Yep,
a lot worse,” the old horseman agreed solemnly.

“You
know,” Misty said thoughtfully, “Irwin here told me something very
interesting.” All eyes turned to her. “He said that Eden House was created by a
woman named Maggie as a place of rest and comfort for lost and distressed
women.” She was silent for a moment, lost in some deep thought. Everyone leaned
forward, afraid they would miss her next words. “It was strange,” she
continued. “When they took me to the Eden House, I felt safe… protected – and
I’m not sure why.”

“Maybe
just knowing the story about Maggie’s ghost still protecting lost, distressed
women helped,” Jason said with a shrug.

“I
didn’t know about Maggie,” Misty replied, “or about the story behind Eden House
or about her helping people – or about her ghost haunting the place.” She
paused for a moment then, with a smile, added, “If I had known, I don’t see how
that knowledge would have brought me much comfort.”

“That’s
true,” Jason admitted with a chuckle, and the others joined in. “So,” he said,
turning his attention to Irwin, “how is our famous ghost, Ms. Maggie, anyways?”

“She’s
gone on now,” the older cowboy replied solemnly.

“Oh?”
Jason responded in surprise. “Was it because, by helping Misty, she fulfilled
her calling here upon this earth?”

“No,”
Irwin replied with a crafty grin. “You blew her house up. She had no choice but
to move on.”

They
all burst into laughter. Jason shook his head and sank tiredly down into the
softness of his pillow. “Sorry guys,” he heard Misty speak. “
Y’all
come back later. He needs to rest.” Jason tried to
protest, but sleep began to overpower him; then the world of darkness enveloped
him once more.

Sometime
later, he awoke to hushed voices in his room. “I just can’t believe he would do
this,” a strange voice whispered. Jason opened his eyes and saw Misty and Susan
standing on each side of a teary eyed middle aged woman. “Oh, he’s awake,” the
stranger said as she moved to the side of his bed. Jason scooted away as far as
he could, trying to put a safe gap between himself and the emotional woman.

“I’m so,
so sorry,” she sobbed. “I can’t believe he did this to you.” She then turned
and looked at Misty. “To both of you,” she cried. “To all of us!”

Misty
walked over to the opposite side of the bed and placed her hand on Jason’s
shoulder. His wide, questioning eyes turned and looked up at her.

“This
is Dr. Throckmorton’s wife,” Misty explained.

Jason
turned back to the stranger, understanding. After a moment, he relaxed,
scooting back to the center of the mattress. “I don’t blame this on you,” he
reassured her gently. “You couldn’t have known.”

“I
was so blind,” she said with a sob.

“You
couldn’t have known,” Jason repeated. “None of us did. I mean, he helped me
look for the kidnappers!” he exclaimed, bringing his hand up to his temple as
he shook his head, still unable to believe it. “You want to talk about being
blind? – Now that’s being blind.”

“I
just wanted to come and ask for your forgiveness,” she spoke softly, casting
her eyes towards the floor.

“There’s
nothing to forgive,” Jason assured her. The woman’s pleading eyes shifted
upwards, meeting his. The look was more than he could bear. “I forgive you,” he
spoke kindly after a moment, “now you just need to forgive yourself.” A
relieved smile came to her face, and thankfulness at having spoken the right
words filled Jason’s heart.

“Jason,”
Susan spoke with a smile, “a certain young someone has been dying to see you.”

“Ken?”
he asked. Susan nodded. “Well, let him in,” Jason said with a laugh.

Susan
opened the door and called out into the hall, “
Y’all
can come in.”

Ken
walked in, followed by the little girl from his ballgame, Rebecca. What was she
doing here? She hung back, but Ken approached and wrapped his arms around his
uncle, giving him the best hug possible, considering the bed and other
obstacles that were in the way.

“So,”
Jason spoke quietly, in a teasing tone, “how’d you manage getting you little
girl friend to come along?”

“Girl
friend?” the doctor’s wife asked, her head snapping up abruptly. “I thought
they were just friend-friends.”

“This
is also Rebecca’s mother,” Susan said, stepping forward and placing a hand
gently on one of the defensive woman’s shoulders.

Jason
turned and looked back at Ken. Betrayal was on the boy’s face. His uncle could
do nothing but shrug and mouth the words “I’m sorry.”

“Rebecca
honey,” her mother spoke, “would you go wait back outside dear?” Without a
word, the little girl turned and left.

“Now,”
her mother said, turning back around and staring down at a wide eyed boy, “my children
have been through a lot here lately – Rebeca especially. She was very close to
her father.” She paused for a moment before adding, “She has lost so much.” She
sighed and shook her head. “You must be kind, respectful and a gentleman in
every way… but most importantly, please be a friend to her. She needs that and,
as long as you understand that you are both too young for anything more than
friendship, come see her any time.”

A
smile lit up Ken’s face. “I will. Yes ma’am. Thank you.”

She
smiled in return, said “goodbye” to everyone and walked out the door. “Come on,
Rebeca. Let’s go home,” she called to her daughter.

“Can
Ken still be my friend?” the little girl asked, concern evident in her voice.

“Yes,”
Jason overheard her mother reply, a smile in her tone.

“Well,”
Jason said with a relieved sigh, “that ended about as well as it could have.”
With that, they all burst into laughter.

“I
tell you what,” Jason said after a moment, “learning that Ken’s girl
fr
… I mean his friend-friend is the doctor’s daughter came
as quite a shock.” He shook his head. “She’s so sweet and sincere… and the
doctor – he was so… nothing but a liar.”

There
were a few more moments of silence before Jason gasp.

“What
is it?” Misty cried, grabbing his arm in fear. After a few moments of getting
no response, she turned to her sister. “Go get the nurse,” she ordered.

“No!”
Jason exclaimed, finding his voice.

“Then
what is it?” Misty demanded.

Jason
turned his attention to Ken. “You say Rebeca’s father got her a dog?”

“Yes
sir,” the confused boy replied.

“Not
a puppy?”

“No
sir,” the boy replied again. “I haven’t seen it, but she said a dog.”

Jason
slammed his hand down on the railing of the bed. Misty jumped. “Jason, what is
it?” she asked in a shocked voice.

“I’m
so stupid,” he responded loudly. “If a little girl had gotten a puppy, she
would have said a puppy ‘
cuz
little girls love
puppies, but she said dog,” Jason rambled. He lay still for a moment before
sitting up. “I’ve got to get out of here,” he stated. “I’ll check myself out.”

“Honey,
they won’t let you check out until they think you’re stable,” Misty said,
grabbing his arm.

“I’m
stable,” Jason growled. “I’ll bust out. Bring Tyler and that crazy old man with
his shotgun. They’ll get me out.”

“No,”
Misty spoke firmly. “You need to rest.”

“I’m
rested,” Jason said, sounding like a cantankerous old man.

“You
don’t look rested,” Misty exclaimed. “You look… rest
less
,” she added
like she wanted to cry.

“That’s
probably because I’m over rested,” Jason replied, throwing his hands in the air.

“Jason,”
Misty spoke, gripping his arm, “why? Why are you so ready to leave?”

“Ken’s
friend is the doctor’s daughter,” he stated, as if that should explain
everything. Misty still looked at him, confused. “He got her a dog, not a
puppy. He was taking care of Dixie for me. He told me she was killed.”

“You
think he gave his kids Dixie?” Misty asked in surprise.

“Yes!”
Jason exclaimed. He then turned towards the door. “Nurse!” he yelled loudly.

Misty
placed her hand on his cheek and turned his head back to her. “Please babe,”
she spoke earnestly. “I’ve almost lost you two times over the last several
days. Will you please wait until the doctor releases you… for me?”

Jason
sat with his face squished up against her hand for several seconds as his
decision hung in the balance. Finally, he let out a big sigh. “I’ll try.”

“Thank
you,” Misty said, placing a gentle kiss on his hand before helping him lay back
down.

- - - - - -

The
next day passed by at a snail’s pace. The only things that got Jason through
were the Bible, prayer, and having Misty safe there by his side. The fact that
his doctor said he was showing signs of rapid improvement also helped. Towards
the end of his second day, Jason got to get up and walk around on his own a bit,
Misty close by his side.

After
lying back down, Misty moved a chair up close to the bed and gently took his
hand. “Jason,” she spoke quietly, as if something was bothering her, “I have
something I need to tell you.” She sighed, and a tear trickled down her cheek.
“I never meant to start keeping secrets from you, but you kept saying we didn’t
have enough money to have a baby, so I, um, started saving money on the side.”
He squeezed her hand. What she didn’t know was he’d had quite a while to come
to grips with what she was confessing. He was just thankful that she was being
open with him.

Misty
sighed then blurted out, “There’s around twenty-thousand dollars saved,” like
she was determined to be rid of the burden of secrecy. She tensed up slightly,
seeming to wait for an outburst of anger on Jason’s part. When none came, she
continued. “I called it our baby fund. I was planning on taking you on a little
vacation for your birthday and break it to you then. And hope you’d forgiven me
by the time we got back home.”

Jason
smiled. “Is that the money you were alluding to that night down by the river
walk?” She nodded. “I didn’t know you were talking about money we actually
had,” he laughed. “I thought it was hypothetical money.”

“So…
you’re not mad?” she asked warily.

“I
was at first,” he admitted. “The FBI turned it up in the middle of the
investigation. But by then, I had come to grips with how out of control I was
with money. Didn’t know it was our baby fund though. I just thought you were
afraid I’d spend it all.”

“Thank
you for understanding,” she spoke gratefully. “I’m sorry for keeping things
from you.”

“Hey,
we’ve both done our share of that,” Jason admitted.

“How
‘bout we make a deal?” she asked. “No more secrets?”

“No
more secrets,” he agreed then paused for a bit. “I light of that, do you have
anything you’d like to come clean on about the way we first met?”

Misty’s
face flushed an embarrassed shade of red. “Susan told you?” she exclaimed.

“More
like she let it slip,” Jason laughed. “One of those she-didn’t-know-that-I-didn’t-know
sort’a
deals.”

“I
had all but forgotten about that!” Misty laughed. “That’s
so
embarrassing! I can’t believe I dumped food on you to get your attention.”

“Hey
now,” Jason playfully lectured, “you had my attention long before dumping food
on me. But I am glad you did it; that’s how we got together, after all,” he
added, lovingly brushing his hand against her cheek.

Misty
leaned over to his ear. “I love you, Jason Hathaway,” she whispered.

“I love
you more,” he responded, turning his head so their lips met.

- - - - - -

Finally,
a few days later with Misty by his side, Jason walked through the double
sliding doors to the outside world. Though he’d only spent a few days in the
hospital, it had felt like eternity to the tenth power. He took a deep breath,
inhaling the sweet smell of freedom.