Jill and I Ch. 08-10

Suddenly, the black guy kidney punched me hard and I went to one knee, and the next few seconds were a blur. I remember the guy with the knife taking a swipe at me and I ducked. I remember the black guy trying to grab Jill and there were all kinds of punching and kicking and ducking going on. Suddenly, there was a shout from down the street and the two guys ran off. I was on my back on the ground, trying to clear my head. I remember getting punched in the back, kicked in the ribs, and something had hit me on the head. I was trying to catch my breath as several folks from the party came running by to chase down these guys and I looked up at Jill who was lying on me. She smiled.

"Are you okay Dennis?"

I tried to move, but it was difficult with her on top of me. "I don't know, you're crushing me." I grinned, trying to make a small joke.

"Sorry." She rolled off me to her knees and then pitched onto her side. Something was wrong. I immediately rolled up on my elbows, my ribs screaming where I had been kicked and my heading pounding but the adrenalin kept it from overwhelming me. I looked her over. She was smiling. "I'm sorry, Dennis." I stared at her.

"Jill, what's wrong?" I suddenly started checking her out. Her dress was slightly torn in a few places and her pantyhose were ripped. My jacket had been torn as well and was open in front so I could see her, but I didn't see any immediate injuries. When I went to sit up and hold her, I put my arm around her and found the knife in her lower right side. She had been stabbed! "Jill! Jill!" She was breathing, but didn't answer me. I held her and yelled at a couple of the people standing around to call the police and an ambulance. I was screaming at them and they all looked at me like I was a lunatic.

Finally, Denise came over and put her hand on my shoulder and I looked up at her, momentarily shutting up. "They're on their way."

I turned back and kept cradling Jill. I couldn't lose her. She was going to be fine. She had to be okay. I still had things to do with her. I still hadn't made up my mind about her. I couldn't let this make my decision for me. She had to live, she still had so much life left.

I held her and rocked her, whispering to her that I loved her, hoping that she could hear me. She smiled at me once, but then she closed her eyes again. I could feel her breathing, so I knew she was alive. But for how much longer? Where was the fucking ambulance? I kept rocking and rocking, not knowing how long it had been. Her breathing was sounding labored and I was scared. My heart was pounding and my ribs ached, but I couldn't let her go. I was still rocking when I looked up at an EMT who was telling me to let her go. I looked back down and unwrapped my arms from around her. The two EMTs quickly went to work and put an IV in her while I sat there stunned. They had her wrapped and were loading her into the ambulance when another one pulled up. I was trying to follow her into the ambulance, but the second pair of EMTs were grabbing me and checking me out. I kept telling them that I had to go with Jill, I couldn't let her go by herself, but they held me back and gave me a shot of something. I felt a little unsteady, but definitely felt the pain in my ribs when they poked there. I started feeling woozy. I stared at the ambulance with Jill as it pulled away, trying to figure out why I needed to be in that ambulance. Then I fell onto a stretcher and I was out.

Chapter 9. Facing the Truth

January 3rd, 2012

I woke the next morning, at least it seemed that way to me, to see Denise sitting by my side, Michael pacing back and forth, and a nurse checking my vitals. I tried to talk, but my mouth felt like a desert. Denise stood up and said something to Michael, but I was still trying to get my bearings. He left and a couple of minutes later the door flew open and my mother and father were there. They were carrying coffee, which smelled good even though I don't drink it. The clock said 11am.

My mother came over to me and handed her coffee to Denise. "Hey, wild man, how you feeling?"

I could feel some pain in my ribs and the back of my head hurt. "Not great." I needed to know about Jill. "What about Jill? How is she? She got stabbed. Is everything okay?"

My mother patted my hand that she was holding. "She's going to be fine. They got to her in time. She wasn't hurt too badly and now she is resting comfortably." She was patting my hand. "I'm just glad you are fine. You gave us a scare and your father almost gave me a heart attack driving here at 5am on New Year's Eve. We've been here ever since."

"What do you mean? How long have I been here?"

Everyone looked at each other. "It's 3 January. You've been here for over 2 days."

My side and head hurt. "What's the damage?" I was having trouble concentrating.

"You have two cracked ribs and a concussion. Nothing major and they think you'll be fine. The doctor will be along shortly to check out the concussion and run some tests. You were out for so long because they kept you under sedation while making sure your head was fine and the swelling went down."

"Okay." I took a deep breath. "Now, tell me more about Jill."

My mother took a quick breath and I caught the quick flick of the eyes toward my father. Something passed between them in that split second. "You can see her later today and talk to the doctor. Until then, just rest and get better."

I stared at my mother. "But tell me how she's doing."

My mother patted my hand some more. "We don't know much. They won't let any of us in to see her. She's resting and they told us that she was recovering. She must have been conscious because they said she asked about you."

I looked around the room. I was still groggy, so I finally looked directly at Denise. "Denise, tell me."

"Jill lost a some blood but they got to her in plenty of time. She will be as good as new."

I took a couple of deep breaths. "I have to go see her." I struggled to try to get up and Michael and my father were there instantly, holding me down.

"You can't go anywhere right now." My father held me and tried to calm me. He knew I could get excited quickly. "Wait until the doctor sees you. You can ask him about getting up and then going to see Jill."

I wasn't willing to wait, but my strength gave out quickly, and I collapsed back against the bed. "I want to know now!" I struggled, but my energy was gone and I couldn't rise back up with two people holding me down. Then the door opened and a doctor came in.

After examining me and talking with me briefly, the doctor agreed that I could get out of bed. He wanted to see me the next day, but was willing to let my family take me back to my place. I insisted that I get to see Jill and my mother updated my doctor on the situation. He said that only family could see her.

"She has no family, doc. She has only me and her best friend. Everyone else is gone."

He thought about that and said he would make arrangements for me to see her. I calmed down and he left. I asked everyone to leave and the nurse came in with the doctor's orders to let me have my clothes and get dressed. When I first sat up, I fully felt the pain in my ribs. It took my breath away and then, when I tried to take a deep breath, prevented me from doing so. It's funny that whenever you cannot take a deep breath, that's exactly what you want to do. You feel restricted and your body seems to be telling you to take a deep breath. Unfortunately I couldn't because of the pain.

I managed to get dressed with the nurse's help and then she called my family back in. My parents took me out and led me up to Jill's room. It was empty. We went to the nurses' station and asked about it. The nurse there shocked us when she said that Jill had checked out that morning.

"By herself?" I was incredulous.

"No, another young lady came to get her."

I looked at the nurse. "Young, red-haired, voluptuous?"

The nurse stared at me when I described her like that. "Yes."

I turned to my family. "That's Gina, her best friend."

I turned to my Mom. "Who has my cell phone? Can I use yours?"

She gave me her cell phone and I called Jill's cell. That's the only number I could remember. I couldn't remember her home phone number. Hell, I could barely remember any numbers now that I stored them all on my phone. I never had to look at the numbers.

There was no answer. "She's not answering her cell. Let's go over to her house." Everyone followed me out and I tried not to hyperventilate because it hurt my ribs too much.

We got to Jill's house and there was no sign of anyone and nobody answered the door. We tried her cell phone again, but to no avail. I called and left several messages while we drove to my place. We finally all went to my place and sat and waited. I was trying to figure out what to do.

January 4th, 2012

I woke up at about 10am the next morning. My ribs were screaming again and my mother was awake and ready with my next pill. I took it and we discussed nothing for a few moments. Finally, my mother told me that a police officer was coming by at 11am to take a statement from me. I nodded and tried to eat more chicken soup; my mother's remedy for all that ails you.

At 11, the doorbell rang and the officer was invited in. He asked me all the questions I expected and stated that the two had been nabbed and handed me back my wallet. He said they had a long list of crimes already at the age of 22. They would probably be prosecuted with attempted murder because of the stabbing of Jill and the injury to my head, which was caused by them striking me with a pipe. After hearing my story and telling me about the suspects he surprised me.

"I understand from my partner that your girlfriend is doing well."

"Yes, she appears to be fine, but I haven't seen her since she left the hospital yesterday."

After he took my statement, he said he had a few more to take. They had the perpetrators in jail and they had already been bound over or something like that. I was not concentrating very well. Finally, he got up and ended the interview. He left and I got up and called Jill again. No answer and no response to my voice mails. Where the hell was she? I turned to my mother and told her I wanted to discuss Jill with her.

"What is it you really want?" She never did mince words.

"I love Jill, so why can't I bring myself to propose to her? Will I be able to get past her being a stripper? I know it was 10 years ago, but damn it, I'm having a hard time thinking of life without her."

My mother sat down next to me. "Honey, you were brought up in a fairly conservative household. We always talked about women who became strippers as not being good people, but those were generalities. There are many people who are not good, but Jill appears to be the exception. You just can't get past everything we talked about from growing up. I was also trying to protect you against someone taking advantage of you, but I don't feel that Jill is like that."

"So you think I should marry her?"

"I didn't say that. She comes with a lot of baggage. Some people thrive when there is a past to overcome and they hang on to each other and face it together. Some people it breaks up. You just have to decide together if you two can get past it."

"Thanks, Mom."

She leaned over and kissed me on the head. "That's what mothers are for."

I was waiting for Jill to call back or give me some sort of indication of where she was when the detective called me back again. He was also inquiring about Jill. I told him she had checked herself out and nobody knew where she had gone. He told me his investigation was complete and wanted to discuss the trial with us if the two perps didn't plea bargain. I told him I was not sure how Jill would feel about that but that I would be happy to testify. Then he hit me with the final straw.

"Well, it's amazing to me that she took the knife for you. We don't see that very often."

"What?" What the hell was he talking about?

"Your girlfriend jumped in front of the knife as the perp tried to stab you. It's pretty clear from the description by your friends who were coming to help once they heard the commotion that that's what she did. She saw you were on the ground incapacitated by the blow to your head and when the guy lunged for you, she threw herself in the way. Very unladylike." He chuckled at the dark humor. "But very loyal and brave. I think she's a keeper." I could hear him grinning thru the phone.

My mind went over everything. I had no idea. Jill threw herself between me and a guy with a knife when I was almost unconscious to save me. Was there a greater act of love? Could I let this woman go?

My mother came into the room as I hung up the phone. I told her what I had learned.

She studied me for a few moments. "Well? What are you going to do?"

"Right now, I just need to find her."

I drove over to Jill's house and looked around. There was no sign of her having come home. There was mail in the mailbox and no sign of anyone coming or going into the townhouse. I called Denise and asked her if they had heard anything at work.

"God, yes!" She was almost breathless trying to get the information out. "After the attack, everyone at the company was informed and everyone has been talking about you two. I found out this morning that Jill has asked for a temporary leave for an unspecified period of time. You need to tell them what you are going to do. They know that you will be out for a while, but not how long."

"Okay. I'll call HR. Meanwhile, I've got to find Jill. She's not returning my calls and she has not been home. Gina picked her up and I don't know where they went."

"If I hear anything here I'll let you know. What are you going to do now?"

"I have no idea. I hope that Gina didn't take her back to Kansas City, but I'm afraid that's what probably happened. That's where Gina lives and where they're both from."

"Well, we can start checking out the phone listings and any other thing you can think of."

"Yeah, that's the problem. I don't know Gina's last name or the name of the club where she works. It was the G-String when they worked there years ago."

"Oh. Gina's a stripper, too?"

"At one time she was. Jill said she manages the club where they used to dance, but the name may have changed. All we can do is check."

"Okay. What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing. I'll start looking for the club and see what I can find out."

"Okay. Call me if you need something."

"Sure." I hung up and called HR and told them I needed two more weeks. I promised to send over the note from the doctor who told me to take two weeks off. I also got on the web and looked for a strip club called the G-String in Kansas City. Naturally, it didn't exist. I searched every way I could and I found other strip clubs, but nothing on the G-String. I guess the name had been changed. On a lark I looked for one named "Gina's", but that didn't yield any results either.

I sat and discussed it with my parents and they agreed to assist if they could, but we really had no information. I called Jill's phone every couple of hours and asked her to call me. Nothing. What the hell was going on? She saves me and then deserts me? She loves me, but leaves me without telling me anything?

January 14th, 2012

It's been 11 days since I woke up and 10 since I had started looking for Jill and Gina. I had almost nothing to go on and I was supposed to go back to work on the 17th. I didn't know what else to do. Jill had never returned any messages I had left on her phone and hadn't answered a single email. Her voice mail wasn't full when I called, so she had to be clearing them or deleting them. I was frustrated as hell. My family was getting irritated at the way I took it out on them and Denise was offering advice that I didn't want to hear. I was miserable and couldn't figure out what to do. I had no line on Jill at all. HR at work wouldn't give me the time of day for privacy act reasons. I asked for any information they had on her being from Kansas City, her social security number, and other things. They stonewalled me and were about to call for someone to escort me from the building when I got excited and started yelling at the HR manager. I was resigned to just waiting for her to contact me. I didn't know what else to do.

January 17th, 2012

I went back to work and was miserable. I was able to concentrate on work for short periods and it took my mind off my troubles for a while, but my thoughts always returned to Jill. I had to find her, but had absolutely no idea how. Finally, I thought of her therapist, Dr. Benson. I called her.

"Dr. Benson, this is Jill Mathewson's friend, Dennis. Have you heard anything from her this month?"

"Why?"

"She's disappeared and taken a leave of absence from work. I need to get in touch with her."

"She has not contacted me. Even if she does, I could not reveal her whereabouts without her permission."

"Okay. Thanks."

"Dennis?"

"Yes?"

"How did you leave it with her?"

"She's under the impression that I can't commit to a relationship with her, Dr. Benson."

"Well, then maybe it's best if you don't see her for a while."

"Sorry, Doc, I've got to find her. I want her."

"Well, then, good luck."

I hung up and went back to being depressed.

February 10th, 2012

I was back at my parents. I was feeling better. I felt like maybe Jill had just decided that she couldn't be married to a conservative guy like me. She must have decided that she couldn't take my possible jealousies, worries, and concerns about her past. I was still hurting and didn't know what to do about it. We were waiting for Jeff to come home for the weekend. We were all taking four days to include Valentine's Day to get together since Jeff had just finished his last project and had some time before starting his new one. It was almost six when he pulled up. He came in and said hello to everyone. He came over to me last.

"How's it hanging?"

I tried to smile at his old joke. "Not well."

"Still no word from Jill?"

"No."

He looked over at my parents and then at me. "Want to take a road trip?"

I looked up at him puzzled. "What?"

"I still remember where those clubs were when I went to them. I bet one of them is being managed by Gina or someone who works in the clubs will know where she works. Whadda ya say?"

I smiled widely at that. "Yes! Let's do it!"

We turned to my parents and they were smiling. "Well, I guess we'll see you guys later." They knew how much this meant to me.

"Thanks, Jeff. I appreciate it."

"No problem. I hate it when you look like you did when our dog died."

I punched him. "Hey!"

"Do we want to leave now or tomorrow morning? We can't get there before they close and they won't open until late tomorrow afternoon."

I thought about it. "Okay, tomorrow morning." I turned to my mother and I looked at her right hand where she wore my grandmother's engagement ring. I looked up at her and put my hand out. "Give me nana's ring." It had been decided before she died that I was going to use it as the engagement ring for my fiancée. I decided I was going to give it to Jil.

She looked at me and then at the ring, holding her hand out. "Are you sure?"

"More sure than I have ever been about anything in my life. You were right. She's a good person and when you love each other, you have to hold on tight and ignore everyone else."

"I don't remember saying that." There was humor in her voice and a sly grin on her face.

"Not in those words, but it's what you've always meant, isn't it?"

She smiled. "Yes. You love her that much? You must be very sure. It can't be pity and it can't be just because she loves you. You have to love her completely or it will erode your relationship." She took off the ring and handed it to me. I put it in my pocket.