Anna was not happy about Brett's plan, but it was his home and he'd been the only one Maisey had trusted before. She convinced Andy to take Maisey out to Medicine Hat for testing to make sure she was healing internally so that Brett could enact his plan. Maisey had gone along with Andy like a zombie, no thought, just letting Brett carry her from the house to the truck and strap her in, the first reaction they got was when he told her he wasn't going with her.
At first Anna thought they were going to have to sedate her again, but then the panic was replaced by a blank stare of uncaring, she placed her face on the window glass and closed her eyes. Brett had suffered more from that look than he let on. Lucas and Tony helped put the bedroom back to rights and Brett moved the ranch business back out to the office in the barns. They cleaned the kitchen, bathroom and Ned's old room--into Ned's room they put the hospital bed, just in case.
The plan was for everything to be returned to the way it was before her hospital visit, but the hardest part would be for Brett: he had to wait for her to ask for things, to push back and make her wait or work for what she wanted and not to make decisions for her. Andy approved but worried it could backfire.
Addie had put a pot roast and potatoes in the slow cooker with an apple cobbler in the oven to keep warm before leaving. When Andy and Maisey returned, the house had been set to rights. Brett came out onto the front steps and leaned in the doorway while Andy opened her door and forced himself to stay out of the way. She waited as if expecting something to happen to magically move her, "Maisey," Andy told her, "We're back at the Bogs, you need to go in the house now."
Maisey glared at him, and looked up at the empty doorway, "Where's Brett?" Andy looked up at the house and shrugged, "I don't think I can walk," her tone was sour.
"Would you like me to get Brett?" Maisey was silent and finally nodded. Andy called up to the house, where he knew full well Brett was just inside the door probably having a difficult time not rushing in to help. Brett came onto the porch, "Maisey's asking for you." He stepped out of the way.
"Hey," Brett leaned casually on the frame of the truck, "What's up?"
The plan was to force her to ask for everything she wanted and not anticipate any of her needs. "The doctor said I can't walk yet, can you put me in the house."
"Sure," he leaned in and put his arms under her legs and behind her back, "Watch your head. Good, great. Now where would you like to be? Your room, the living room, the porch?"
"It doesn't matter," Maisey told him uncaringly.
"Sure it does," he coaxed, "In your room you can lay down and sleep, on the porch you can sit or lay and read, in the living room you can watch a movie."
"Sleep," she told him. He pushed Andy's truck door closed and said goodbye to his friend who had already gotten back in the cab. "I need Anna to shower me," She said, "they put some kind of gunk on my stomach, it's sticky."
"Anna is gone." Brett told her, "I know it's a little weird, but I can help if you want."
"Just put me to bed," she said, "I'll wait for Anna."
"Anna's not coming back," Brett told her, "She needed to get back to the other things she needs to do, she and Lucas had a camping trip this weekend and Tony's away at another rodeo. I'm all there is at the moment, unless you'd like me to call Travis up to the house."
He could see her warring with herself but the desire to be clean won, "Fine, put me on the stupid hospital bed and you can wash my stomach." Brett nodded and turned towards Ned's old room, "Where are you going?" she demanded.
"The hospital bed is in Ned's old room, it's bigger but I put your room back the way you had it, would you rather go there?" He could tell Maisey was struggling with the information, or would you like me to put the hospital bed back in your room?" He waited. He loved holding her like this: whether or not she realized it, she had relaxed and her head was leaning against his chest.
"Just put me in the hospital bed," She told him.
Maisey was both relieved and upset that Anna wouldn't be there. She was tired of everyone fretting about her, she just wanted to be miserable alone, but she needed help with personal things and she was not keen on the idea of Brett helping with those. Brett put her on the bed gently and went to gather the things for washing. Brett had a hard time staying calm: this was the most conversation out of Maisey since they'd brought her home from the hospital.
He brought a small table next to the bed and arranged a bowl of water next to a towel and a cloth and soap. "Alright, where's the gunk." Maisey lifted her shirt so that only her stomach was visible, Brett could see the remains of the blue goo they would have used to do the ultrasound, "it's under the waistband of your pants," he told her softly, "I'm going to have to move them a little to clean you up." She nodded.
Maisey closed her eyes against the sensation. From the second that Brett's hands were on her electricity vibrated through her: his fingers had barely brushed her stomach but a shiver had gone through her. He washed the visible area first, taking care to be gentle: Maisey stiffled a moan and then carefully lifted the waistband and folded it down until her skin was bare to the top of her underwear. Unbidden his fingers roamed the scars, tracing them with fingers so light she wondered if she was imagining it. Keeping her eyes closed made the sensation more intense but she was afraid to open her eyes.
Brett didn't know what he was doing. The plan had been to help her get settled and to work a little at a time, but something about the scars was mesmerizing. He wanted to trace one that went up under her bra and another that wrapped around her back to join the lines from where the other man had damaged her. He was done washing but he couldn't help touching her more, encouraged by the soft sigh and moan he didn't think she knew had escaped her slightly parted lips.
Henry scratching at the porch door brought him back to reality, and covered her back up. "Do you want me to take you to your own bed now?"
She shook her head, "Can I have the controls? I want to adjust the bed." He put the controller in her hand and held it until she looked at him, waiting, when she looked up it was with agitation, "Brett I'm tired."
He smiled, "I needed to know you still knew who I was," he smoothed her hair and kissed her forehead like he did before the trip to the hospital, "I think you forgot there for a while."
"I never forgot," she said softly after he was gone.
Henry padded into the room and settled on the floor. The dog had been a surprise: trained enough that when instinct kicked in he'd known exactly what to do, who to fetch. The lack of allergic reaction had also been a surprise--Anna had told her the shot would help her with the allergies she had from being on a ranch, but she'd been amazed by how few she had. Being able to have a dog was something she'd always wanted. A dream she'd always had but never been able to follow through on.
She remember the dogs from the farm as a kid: they'd been outside dogs, trained to help bring in the cows and nothing else. She hoped that Henry could be taught more than that, she hoped that he could really protect her. She thought of Luke, the wolf, the surgery, tears poured down her cheeks unbidden and became sobs. Henry whined but didn't leave her. She held a pillow in front of her face and sobbed so that Brett wouldn't hear her. Her life was a mess, she had no control over it. There was no pain anymore, not physical anyway. Luke and his family they were far away, Brett treated her like something fragile, Ned and Tony too. She sobbed that she hadn't met someone like Brett instead of Luke when she was 19. She sobbed that she hadn't left sooner. She sobbed that she hadn't been strong enough. She sobbed for the kindness Ned showed her and the future he wanted her to have. She sobbed because she couldn't do anything for herself and then she sobbed because she was thirsty from crying too much. Her throat hurt from crying and she couldn't call out and didn't know where her cell phone was.
"Henry," she whispered, "Get Brett please." The dog licked his lips and scampered out of the room.
Brett followed the dog into the room, brushing his hands on his pants: there was bits of sawdust in his hair and a fine dust covered his clothes. He recognized immediately that she'd been crying but as much as it killed him to not move to sooth her, he stood in the door waiting for her.
"Could you bring me water," she croaked out. Brett left without a word and brought her back a water bottle and a glass. She drained the glass and handed it back, he'd put the water bottle on a small table he'd brought up beside the bed. "Thank you." He ducked his head and went to leave, "What are you working on?" she asked.
"Figured since it's so late in the day and Travis has the ranch work under control I'd start sanding down the old table and chairs so you can tell me how you want them re-stained and sealed. I hope that's okay."
Maisey was not used to people deferring to her, "That's fine." She told him, "Are they very damaged?"
"Just surface wear," he admitted, "Mostly just having to sand off the rest of the old sealant and paint."
"Do you know where my phone is?" She asked, "I've got a picture on their of something I've always wanted to try."
"I'm not sure," Brett admitted, "Did you take it to Medicine Hat with you?" She shook her head, "I'll check your jacket and your purse then, if that's okay?"
"It might be in the living room," she said, "Anna and I were out there the other day."
Brett tried the living room first, he lifted the blanket that she used most often and looked on the side tables. "Found it," he called pulling it out from between couch cushions. "I'll have to find you a charger for it, it's only got 4%" he brought the phone in to her.
"Probably in the living room." She told him. When he came back with the cord and plugged her in she had the picture ready. The table she showed him was an oak color with patterns of colored resin in it. The overall look and design of it was beautiful and he told her that. "I've watched youtube videos," she admitted, "but Luke wasn't going to let me do anything like that."
Brett did some considering, "I know a guy who could probably do it for you," he said, "But if you want to do it yourself, I could focus on the chairs now and arrange for the supplies and then when you're back on your feet we can get the supplies and work on it together."