3 The Getaway

Jane was pacing the emergency room with a limp when Constance Isles blew through the swinging doors. A greeting was skirted and replaced by an insistent, ”Jane, what happened to Maura?”
”Well, she was,” Jane began, but could get no further. She was being subjected to the mother tigress’ tirade.
”Let me guess, this was more of the Boston PD’s antics during a murder case. I wish Maura would have stayed in the research part of her profession and out of harm’s way for police department drama.”
”Mrs. Isles,” Jane inserted. Though she was intimidated by Constance, she was still determined to get a word in edgewise.
”Maura actually went a little rogue on her own,” Jane finally expelled in a single breath.
”What exactly does that mean?” Constance stamped her foot as she demanded an explanation.
A moment later, a nurse rolled Maura into the waiting room in a wheelchair with crutches across her lap. A black walking cast was on her right leg up to the knee.
”Mother, please lower your voice,” Maura implored. Jane was pretty excited to see Maura standing up to her mother, but she knew it was most likely due to the morphine injections Maura had for pain.
Seeing her daughter in one piece calmed Constance temporarily. However, there were several visible bruises in addition to the leg cast.
”My God, Maura, what happened to you, darling?” Constance started to put her hand on Maura’s shoulder, but paused not sure where her daughter felt pain.
”Mother, I will be fine. It’s just a small fracture and a walking cast. I hit a sidewalk crack while we were rollerblading and I went flying. Jane broke my fall or I would have landed in traffic.”
Constance was completely dumbfounded and embarrassed about the way she had arrived, and thoughtlessly attacked Jane.
Maura reached for Jane’s hand with concern. ”Are you okay, Jane?”
”Not a million bucks, but half a million. Just need an ice pack or two.”
”Didn’t you get treated? I came down across you hard. You should at least get your ribs checked.” Maura let go of Jane’s hand and started tugging at her t-shirt to reveal the ribs she skated across when Jane dove for the pavement to stop her fall.
”Stop, Maura, I am okay. I have been hit harder playing football in the backyard on Sundays.” Jane stepped back to keep Maura from examining her bruised side and ribs. She hoped they would heal before Maura got the chance to see them.
”Jane, I am so sorry, I was a complete ass. I just can’t imagine anything else happening to our girl. So shall I take you to the Ritz with me, or do you prefer that I come to your place?”
”Mother, I will be much more comfortable at my own house. I need a shower desperately.”
”Of course, dear. I’ll make some calls and make arrangements to stay in town until you are up and around.”
Both Jane and Maura blurted ”No” simultaneously. Then they glanced at each other as Maura added, ”Jane can stay with me. We were supposed to go out of town tomorrow anyway and she has the time off. I’ll get along fine between her and the wheelchair. Besides, mother, I don’t want to put a wrench in your travel plans.”
”Oh Maura, are you sure? I don’t mind or we could make arrangements for you to come home for a bit. It has been years.”
”Mother, I’ll be fine and I promise I will call if it becomes too much of a problem for Jane to care for me. Besides, you and daddy were meeting in Brussels for a holiday. You barely see him at all now.”
”Fine. At least let me get you home and settled.” Constance was disappointed at having been outvoted, but at the same time, very proud of her stubborn daughter’s independence.
”Jane, please wait with Maura while I go get the rental.” Constance turned quickly to hide a couple tears that were beginning to creep down her cheeks.
Maura realized just then that she wouldn’t be able to get her car home with the crutches and wheelchair and asked Jane to take the Jaguar home for her.
”You can get my prescriptions in the morning. I don’t think we need anything else tonight.”
Jane grinned, as she teased Maura with, ”Guess I have a whole new career, home health nurse.” Maura blushed apologetically. ”Jane, I would rather spend my entire trust fund hiring a staff than having my mother move in with me for a month. I hope you don’t mind. I know I should have asked you before I just volunteered you like that.”
Jane rested her hand on Maura’s shoulder and said ”You know I don’t mind. We were going to vacation together anyway. Now we can catch up on some movies, or chess, or a couple good books. There’s no place I’d rather be.” Maura reached up and clasped her hand across Jane’s. She was daring herself to lift Jane’s hand from her shoulder and kiss it, but lost her nerve.
Constance pulled up in the Lincoln Navigator just as Maura was pulling her hand away from Jane’s. Jane helped Maura to her feet and then swooped her up into the front seat. After the wheelchair and crutches were packed, Maura shouted out the window at Jane, ”See you at home. You might want to get some beer.”
Aghast, Constance couldn’t help but ask her daughter, ”Please don’t tell me you are drinking beer now.”
”Uh, no.” Maura giggled. ”Jane drinks it when she is over and we ran out.”
”You girls seem awfully cozy,” Constance stated matter- of-factly, adding ”I see you turned your new Jaguar over to her already.”
”Mother, Jane is my best friend and I haven’t had one for a very long time. Not only that, she has saved me from the Doyle clan more than once. There is no one that I trust more.” That was as honest as Maura intended to be with her prying mother, especially on the short ride from the hospital to her house.
”I am not saying I am ungrateful by any means, darling. But,” Constance emphasized, ”if she is the love of your life, you might as well do something about it. You are both verging forty after all.”
Maura wished she could down an entire beer on the spot, to deafen her mother’s lecture about her age and lack of coupling.
Maura snapped, ”So are you saying if we decided to share our lives as a couple, you wouldn’t have a problem with it?”
”Maura, I am no prude. I just hate to see you alone. If you and Jane chose a life together, I would welcome her with open arms. Would the Rizzoli’s welcome you, they are Catholic after all?”
”They already have,” Maura confirmed. This was not something she wanted to talk about any further. Especially having not discussed it with Jane yet.
”Have you discussed children?”
Maura gasped, ”Of course not!”
”Maura may I ask what you are so afraid of?” Maura was still sputtering from the question about children when her mother pulled into the driveway and saw Jane standing at the front door with it open, already waiting for them.
”Well, I know Jane lost a baby and I didn’t know if you were too in love with your job to carry a baby for you both.”
”Please stop,” Maura pleaded. ”My pain shot is wearing off and I can’t endure anything else right now.”
”Of course, dear.” Constance carried in the crutches and let Jane wheel Maura in.
”Jane, don’t hesitate to call if you or Maura need anything.” Constance planted air kisses on them both and headed for the Ritz to pack for her departure the following day. Jane invited her to brunch before her flight and then got Maura settled down on her bed.
Maura was aggravated at her own helplessness as Jane helped her undress and found sleep clothes for her.
Jane worked feverishly to ignore Maura’s perfect skin and beautiful physique. Even more feverishly, she ignored Maura’s slight moans and groans as she slid the satin nightshirt down across her body. She realized if they had not put their hands on each other in four and a half years, it was not going to happen now while they were injured and things must remain business as usual.
Maura hobbled to the on suite to use the bathroom and then sat on the toilet while brushing her teeth. She had wanted to shower badly, but was both drained and medicated and decided better of trying to stand in the shower by herself and keep her balance.
”Maur, are you okay in there,” Jane questioned.
”Just fine,” Maura spewed toothpaste as she rinsed out her mouth. She cussed the crutches making her way back to the bed.
She scooted up against the headboard as best she could and without warning, tears started covering her cheeks. A moment later, she was crying too hard to speak.
Jane scooted over to the middle of the bed and tried to console Maura, but she continued to cry wordlessly. Finally after half an hour, Maura ceased shaking in Jane’s arms and had cried herself to sleep.