Page 39 of 21 Years of Jane

I raised an eyebrow, “But there is no Morningside in Ohio.”

“We know,” Dad said softly. “It’s five minutes away from PPG.”

“What about her dialysis?” Nolan asked, leaning forward.

“It’s all taken care of. We had her information transferred to one of the best Nephrologists in all of Pennsylvania,” Mom said.

I was still looking at my father who was dangerously close to tears. I let go of Nolan and rolled over to my dad and hugged him harder than I ever had before.

He held me and we both became wracked with sobs.

It was as though we knew that would be the last time we would ever see each other again.

Chapter Twelve

Three months later, I was sitting out in our backyard, watching Nolan doing some yard work. When our parents said that we had our own place, they failed to mention that it was a house; a bungalow with a wide front porch and acres of property.

As he turned the riding mower around and began to make another pass, I had to admit that I was absolutely impressed with him. He had taken on the responsibility of taking me to dialysis; always arriving twenty minutes early and sitting with me through the entire thing. He also kept up his holistic treatments on me, faithfully.

His twenty-third birthday was next Friday, and I had already plotted and schemed with our families to throw him a party. I didn’t know how he would react to it, but he had done so much for me that I wanted to give him one day of being a “normal” person. One day of not having to take care of someone else. One day where I would get to take care of him.

I know this sounds odd when I say it, but he had definitely grown into a man in the time that we lived together away from our parents.

He worked a full-time job close to home, so that if I ever needed him or if there was an emergency of some kind, he wouldn’t be far away.

After his hard days of contracting work—Daddy managed to get him a job with a notable company in Morningside—he would still find the strength to help me get into the bathtub and into bed at night.

The bathing thing was particularly odd to me considering that I was still a virgin. If he was or was not, I never asked, because I liked to believe that we would be each other’s first everything one day. Anyway, I wasn’t a virgin by my choosing. I think it was a combination of things. Him being tired most of the time, my being in a wheelchair, and of course, a touch of ESRD. Throw in his fear of further fracturing my femur and I was pretty certain that I would be dying an unsexed, kidney failing, brittle-boned, chair bound champion. Again, not by choice.

But, as I watched his sweaty body glistening in the hot afternoon sun, my hormones reminded me to call my Orthopedist and my Nephrologist. I was bound and determined to make his twenty-third birthday as memorable as possible.

I turned my chair around and rolled through the back door to let myself in. Luckily, the kitchen wasn’t far from the door, so I was able to quickly retrieve his gallon jug of cold water and take it back out to him in no time.

“Thanks, Janey,” he said with a tired smile.

“You’re welcome,” I replied. “Why don’t you take a break? Come sit with me in the shade.”

He nodded and took a big swig of his water while he followed me across the yard, to the lone and quite large maple tree. It was the only tree in our yard and we both loved the damn thing almost as much as we loved each other.

Underneath the tree were two reclinable lawn chairs. There was also a hammock that he hadn’t set up yet. Partially because he was afraid that by some act of God, it would snap and fall with both of us in it and cause my untimely demise.

He yawned loudly as he laid down and closed his eyes. Almost immediately, he opened his eyes and gave me a sheepish grin.

“Sorry,” he said as he started to push himself up.

I gave him a playful shove back into his chair.

“With as hard as this may be to believe, I am capable of lifting myself into that chair,” I said dryly.

“I don’t mind doing it,” he replied quickly, pushing himself up again.

“Nolan, if you get out of that chair to help me, I swear you’ll be talking to yourself for the next few days,” I warned, leaning down to lock the wheels—my father had the new locks installed shortly after my spill at PPG.

I leaned toward the recliner chair as he held it in place, and I pulled myself out of my wheelchair and into the recliner. I winced a little at the pain of dropping into it, before I straightened out my legs and leaned back.

“So, have you thought about what you want for your birthday?” I asked conversationally.

He took another swig of water.