Karen D. Badger - Yesterday Once More (40 page)

Jordan nodded but continued to look straight ahead.

Maggie kicked the dirt around gently with her toe. “Look, I know you’re angry with me, and I don’t blame you, but that was quite a bombshell you dropped on me a few weeks ago.”

Jordan looked at her. “I had hoped it wouldn’t matter.”

Maggie shrugged. “I don’t know if it matters or not. It... it just took me by surprise.”

“Well, for that, I apologize,” Jordan replied stoically.

“Don’t be that way!” Maggie exclaimed.

Jordan’s turned her head sharply in Maggie’s direction. “How the hell do you want me to be?” she asked angrily.

“Honest, for one,” Maggie replied.

Jordan could feel the anger rising in her chest as she gripped the steering wheel tightly.

Maggie sighed deeply. “Look, Jordan, I don’t want to argue with you.”

Jordan shook her head. “You just don’t understand.”

Maggie put both hands on the window frame and leaned forward. “Then why don’t you explain it to me?” she suggested.

Jordan reached across the bench seat and threw the passenger door open. “Get in.”

Jordan and Maggie drove to the western fringe of the property to where the land abruptly fell off to the lake. As Jordan turned off the ignition and looked around, she realized they were very near the spot where Maggie would fall to her death in a few short months. The thought sent shivers up her spine.

An uncomfortable silence settled over them as they both stared out at Lake Champlain.

Maggie turned in her seat to face Jordan. “Tell me about your accident.”

Jordan dropped her hands from the steering wheel and allowed them to fall into her lap. She stared at them for several minutes before she looked at Maggie. “Like I said, I was sixteen at the time. I was riding my horse, Sally, who, by the way, was a mustang.

Anyway, I was riding Sally across the field and she stumbled and threw me. I landed pretty hard at an angle that broke my back at the L1 vertebra, just below the small of my back. I was in a hover... ah, I mean, a wheelchair until I was thirty.”

“Oh, my God! How old are you now?” Maggie asked.

“I’m thirty-two, almost thirty-three.”

Maggie was obviously calculating in her head. “You were in a wheelchair for fourteen years? How awful for you.”

“Awful doesn’t even begin to describe it. I grew up on this... er, I mean, I grew up on a farm very much like this one, and I felt so incredibly useless stuck in that chair. I spent a significant amount of time after school in the barn with my father. I helped as much as I could with the horses, and we enjoyed small carpentry projects together, but I didn’t venture far from the property. I was an only child and my parents were somewhat older than those of other kids, so it was a pretty lonely childhood.”

“Where are your parents now?” Maggie asked.

“They died in a car accident when I was twenty-six.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered softly.

“Thanks,” Jordan replied without looking up.

“How did you come to have the implant?”

Jordan lifted her head and pressed it against the headrest.
Should I tell the whole truth... or a partial truth?

“I volunteered for a spinal implant development project being conducted at the University of Vermont Spinal Institute. They almost didn’t accept me because my injury was so old, but I persisted, and eventually, they gave in. This is actually the second implant. The first one lasted for two years then failed several months ago. So far, this new one is working well.”

Maggie tilted her head to the side. “How does the implant work? I mean, you walk like there’s nothing wrong with you.”

“The implant sends alternating electrical pulses to both sides of the injury site, and, in theory, it encourages the nerve endings to begin growing toward each other. Hopefully, some day soon, they will bridge the injury site and grow together. In the meantime, I have restored mobility, and with any luck, at some point, the nerve endings in my skin will wake up and smell the coffee too,” Jordan explained.

“I had no idea that medical science has progressed so far. It’s like a miracle,” Maggie said.

Jordan closed her eyes and berated herself for being so ambiguous. She felt like a total wretch for deceiving Maggie.

Several more moments of silence passed as Maggie apparently digested the information Jordan had given her. Finally, she touched Jordan’s hand. 

“Jordan, close your eyes,” she said softly.

Jordan turned her head to face Maggie and drew her brow into a frown. “Why?”

“Humor me, please,” Maggie replied.

Jordan dutifully closed her eyes and waited for Maggie’s move.

“Can you feel this?” Maggie asked as she rubbed Jordan’s knee with her hand.

“No.” Jordan’s eyelashes fluttered.

“No, no, no. Don’t open your eyes. Do you feel this?” Maggie ran her hand along Jordan’s thigh.

Jordan concentrated hard but failed to feel anything. “No,” she said impatiently.

Maggie allowed her hand to roam across Jordan’s abdomen and into the crevice between her legs. “How about this?”

Jordan dropped her chin to her chest without opening her eyes. “No. I don’t feel anything.”

“Surely, you can feel this,” Maggie said as she slipped her hand into Jordan’s shirt.

Jordan stiffened, but kept her eyes closed.

“Yes, you can feel that. How about this?” Maggie reached far enough inside Jordan’s shirt to feel her left breast and capture her nipple between her fingers.

“Ah!” Jordan exclaimed as a sudden bolt of desire shot directly to her core. Her eyes flew open and she pressed her own hand into her abdomen. She looked at Maggie. “Do that again.”

Maggie applied pressure to the hardened nipple. Once more, Jordan nearly doubled over.

“Damn!” Jordan quivered as ripples of pleasure ran through her. She looked at Maggie. Her eyes were wild with wonder and desire. “I can feel that deep within my core. It feels incredible.”

Maggie smiled. “This is your first time, isn’t it?” she asked softly.

Unable to speak, Jordan just nodded. To Jordan’s dismay, Maggie retracted her hand from inside her shirt.

“Well, your first time won’t be in the front seat of a beat up old truck. Drive us home.”

Jordan left a large cloud of dust in her wake as she accelerated the old pickup truck across the plains and brought it to a screeching halt in front of the farmhouse. She jumped out of the driver’s side and quickly ran around the front of the truck to open Maggie’s door for her. Maggie took her hand as she stepped out of the truck. Together they ascended the porch steps and came to a halt at the top.

Jan was standing inside the house, just behind the screen door. “Well, well, well. Isn’t this interesting,” she sneered.

Jordan took a step toward the door, but was stopped by Maggie who glanced at her and silently communicated that she would handle the situation.

“Don’t start, Jan. Has the hospital called yet?” she asked.

Jan narrowed her eyes. “Hospital? Why would the hospital call?”

“Because one of the carpenters fell out of the rafters directly to the floor of the new barn. We had to call an ambulance to come after him. Jordan stabilized his neck until they got here. I hope he’s going to be okay,” Maggie said.

“No, they haven’t called yet.”

Maggie reached for the screen door handle and pulled it open. Jan stepped aside to allow them to enter. Maggie nervously paced back and forth across the room as she spoke.

“Jan, I need you to go to the hospital to follow up on this for me. This is very important. I’m afraid the carpenter might hold the farm liable, and I need to be sure he’s going to be okay. The last thing we need is a lawsuit, never mind losing the farm in the process.”

“We’ll lose the farm over my dead body!” Jan exclaimed angrily. “Who was it?”

Maggie tried to remember the man’s name. “Don... Don...”

“Feldman,” Jordan supplied. “Don Feldman.”

Jan was clearly surprised. “Don Feldman? I know him. Quite the ladies’ man, or at least he thinks he is. Which hospital did they take him to?”

“It was the Shelburne Rescue Squad. I would assume they’d take him to Fletcher Allen,” Maggie replied.

“Okay, I’ll go check it out. I’ll be back in a few hours,” Jan said.

“Take the truck. The keys are still in it,” Jordan called after her.

Maggie and Jordan watched as Jan ran down the porch steps and jumped into the truck. Seconds later, all that remained was dust. Maggie closed the house door and leaned her back against it. She reached a hand forward and beckoned to Jordan. Jordan walked toward Maggie and, without touching her, leaned forward and placed a forceful kiss on the redhead’s lips. She then took one step back and extended her hand, into which Maggie willingly slipped hers. Jordan gently pulled her away from the door and led her toward the bedrooms.

Jordan pushed the bedroom door open and allowed Maggie to pass through before her. She closed the door behind them and pulled Maggie into her arms. They stood there for what seemed an eternity, with Maggie’s face pressed close to Jordan’s chest. “You’re trembling,” Jordan said. “Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine. I just want you so badly,” Maggie said.

Jordan released her hold and took Maggie’s face between her hands. “You are so beautiful,” she whispered as her mouth descended once more. She gently teased Maggie’s lips, caressing them with her tongue, asking for permission to enter. Maggie was hardly able to breathe as she parted her lips and readily accepted Jordan’s tongue into her mouth.

“I want you,” Jordan rasped.

Maggie’s ardor grew as she pulled Jordan’s hair to force her closer. “Make love to me,” she insisted breathlessly before plunging her tongue into Jordan’s mouth, tasting and caressing in a duel for dominance before breaking for air.

“I will,” Jordan replied as her hands wandered freely over Maggie’s body. She placed her hands on Maggie’s bottom and squeezed. Maggie sighed aloud. Jordan emitted a low growl as she pulled Maggie’s shirttails out of her jeans and ran her hands under the shirt and over the creamy white skin of her back. Maggie arched her back in an effort to press herself into Jordan’s touch.

Within moments, Jordan released the clasps of Maggie’s bra. She then unbuttoned Maggie’s shirt, and pushed it off her shoulders only far enough to trap her arms in the process. Her lips explored Maggie’s neck as she continued to push the shirt down and off her arms. The shirt drifted to the floor, followed closely by Maggie’s bra.

Not to be outdone, Maggie deftly made short work of the buttons on Jordan’s shirt as her garment joined the growing pile on the floor. She ran her hands over Jordan’s deltoids, across her collar bones, and down over her breasts. Within seconds, Maggie pulled Jordan’s sports bra off over her head and threw it on the floor. Skin to skin they embraced. Nipples hardened against each other.

Jordan pulled back for a moment and gently led Maggie to the side of the bed. She lowered her mouth once more to Maggie’s neck and nuzzled her ear as her hands teased and squeezed her nipples to full erectness.

“Jordan!” Maggie moaned as she grasped Jordan’s hand and encouraged more.

Jordan’s hand left Maggie’s breast to unbuckle her belt and jeans. She eased the zipper down and slipped her hand inside Maggie’s pants. Jordan nearly doubled over with lustful hunger as she found the evidence of Maggie’s passion.

“Maggie, you’re so wet. My God, what you do to me.”

“Please, baby, I need more,” Maggie begged as she reached between them to unzip Jordan’s jeans and push them off her hips.

Jordan kicked her jeans off then lowered herself to one knee as she pulled down Maggie’s jeans and panties and helped her to step out of them. She then dropped to both knees and pressed her face into Maggie’s abdomen and firmly gripped the curves of Maggie’s bottom.

“Maggie, I need you,” Jordan whispered.

Maggie grasped the sides of Jordan’s arms and encouraged her to stand. She pushed Jordan’s panties to the floor. Eagerly, they embraced and lowered their entwined bodies to the bed, where they lay in each other’s arms kissing, exploring and breathing common air.

“I am so in love with you,” Jordan confessed.

Maggie rolled on top of Jordan and placed one finger on her lips. “Shh. Don’t say that. You barely know me.”

Jordan smiled. “I have known you for a hundred years, and I will love you for a hundred more,” she replied as she reached down between them and slid two fingers inside Maggie.

Maggie moaned loudly. “Jordan, baby, that feels so good.”

Jordan rolled Maggie onto her back. She continued to plunge into her lover as she grasped a handful of Maggie’s hair and devoured her mouth. Maggie’s moans became louder and Jordan could feel the vibration of her voice echo between their mouths.

Jordan suddenly retracted her fingers. Maggie moaned in protest. “Jordan... no, please, I need you.”

“Shh, relax, my love,” Jordan whispered as she placed gentle kisses along the length of Maggie’s collarbone.