I had a restless night due to the pain from my sprained ankle. I tried to lie as quietly as I could, Doc needed his sleep. He got a call for a delivery in the middle of the night. I got up with him as I wasn’t sleeping anyway.

“Go back to bed, hon. I know you haven’t slept yet, you need to get some sleep. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

He was gone for a few hours. I tried to sleep but still couldn’t, so I got up again and tried to find something to watch on tv. I finally settled on a B grade movie. Doc got home just as it was ending.

“Did you sleep?” he asked.

“No.”

“Did you try?”

“Yes. I figured I might as well get up rather than tossing and turning.”

“You shouldn’t be ‘tossing and turning’, you should have that foot elevated on a pillow.”

“I know, Doc. That’s why I got up, it was hurting too much turning from side to side. How did things go at the hospital?”

“Very smoothly. Textbook delivery.”

“You look beat, Doc. Let’s go back to bed. Maybe I will be able to sleep this time.”

A bit later, lying in bed, Doc had his arms wrapped around me from behind and he started giggling. Doc never giggles.

“What’s so funny, Doc?”

“I’m sorry, Meredith, I can’t help it.” And he started laughing.

“Doc! What’s so funny?” He kept laughing. This was so unlike him.

I turned over to face him, despite the pain in my foot. “Doc, tell me what’s so funny!”

He finally stopped laughing and said “I’m sorry, hon. It was just the image of you scrambling to get off the table and then getting hung up in that restraint and hanging over the table upside down. I should have taken a picture. You sure looked a sight!”

“I have to admit that must have looked funny, Doc. But I was in too much pain to see the humour in it.”

“I know, that’s why I stopped laughing when I found out you‘d hurt yourself.”

“And I also have to admit it’s good to hear you laugh like that. You don’t do that enough, Doc.”

“Yes, you’ve told me that before. Now, let’s get some sleep.” He kissed me and I turned over again and let him snuggle up to me. This time, we both got to sleep.

A few days later, Doc came home from work and said “Hon, I need to talk to you.”

“You sound serious, Doc.”

“Remember Jane?”

“The bitch that hurt you?”

“Now, let’s not call names, hon.”

“That was mild, Doc. I have some others I could use. What about her?”

“She tracked me down, called me at work. Of course, I was with a patient so she left just her first name and number, but no message. I called her back, thinking she was a patient that was too shy to give Ms Jamieson any details. She said she wants to get back together. Of course, I told her that I’m not available and even if I was, I’d not be interested. She didn’t like that and I had to hang up on her. But she showed up after work, hung around the entrance to the clinic until I came out. She followed me to my car, trying to talk me into giving her a second chance. I told her I‘m happily attached and not wanting to change that and got in my car and drove away.”

“Oh, Doc, I’m sorry to hear she bothered you like that.”

“I can handle it, hon. I just wanted you to know about it. If she ever shows up here when I’m not home, you let me know, okay?”

“Of course I will, Doc. After I throw her out on her sorry ass.”

“Don’t you get into any skirmishes, hon. It’s not good for your cyst. Speaking of which , how is your pain level?”

“It’s not too bad.”

“Number?”

“4.”

“Meaning 5. Which is pretty good for you lately. I’m so glad you’ve agreed - again - to the surgery, hon. You are first on the list for any cancellations between now and March 20.”

“Doc, if anyone needs a cancellation spot more than me, you put her in it.”

“I don’t have a patient that needs it more than you, Meredith. No backing out!”

“I won’t, honey.”

A week later, I had a big urge to go riding. I’d not ridden since I’d taken Jack for a run on Valentine’s Day. Months ago, I’d promised Doc I wouldn’t ride off the property when he wasn’t home, so I got Karen to saddle Midnight for me, then mounted her in the barn aisle and rode to the indoor arena. My ankle was getting better, but I was still not allowed to put weight on it. It couldn’t be helped, though. I had to put weight on it to get up on my horse. I gritted my teeth and got up on my mare.

I had a nice ride, well as nice as you can have riding indoors. When I was done, I rode her back to the barn and dismounted, landing on my good foot. Karen said “Julian is not going to be happy with you, Mer.”

“Julian doesn’t need to know.”

“You know he will find out.”

She had a point. He always finds out when I do something I’m not supposed to be doing. In my defence, he had not told me I couldn’t ride in the arena. I asked Karen to take care of the horse for me, then I went inside and had a shower, wrapping my foot in plastic and sitting on my shower seat. After that, I got some lunch and lay down for a nap. My foot was hurting so I took a couple pain pills first.

I woke up to Jessie barking. I looked at the clock. 5:45 pm. Julian was home. Jessie always barked when he pulled in the laneway. I figured he’d let her out, so I got up and went to the bathroom. I exited the ensuite just as Doc came in the bedroom. He leaned down and gave me a kiss. “Sit down on the bed and tell me what you did today, hon.”

I sat down. He sat beside me. “Well, after you left his morning, I worked on my website for a bit, did some reading, went to the barn, rode Midnight in the arena, had lunch and a shower, then lay down and fell asleep until you got home. How was your day?”

“My day was fine. You know you are supposed to be off your foot, yet you went to the barn and rode.”

“I’m off my feet when I’m riding, Doc.”

“You aren’t when you are getting the horse ready to ride.”

“Karen did that for me.”

“I must speak to Karen about enabling you.” I rolled my eyes. “When you get on a horse, how do you do it?”

“You’ve seen me mount, Doc. I put my left foot in the stirrup and swing my right leg over the horse.”

“You put your left foot in the stirrup. Meaning that your whole weight is on that foot while you are getting on the animal.”

“Doc, it’s only for a few seconds.”

“Doesn’t matter, Meredith. That’s enough time to harm yourself when you have a sprained ankle. What is your pain level?”

“Which pain?”

“Your foot.”

“4”

“Did you take meds?”

“Yes, before my nap.”

“How’s your cyst?”

“6.”

“You aren’t minimizing?”

“No, Doc.”

“Meredith, please - no more riding until your foot has healed and you’ve had your surgery and healed from it.”

“Aw, Doc…”

“Don’t ‘Aw, Doc’ me, Missy. I’m putting my foot down. No riding, understand?” I sighed again. “Hon, do you want me to be worrying about you while I’m seeing patients?”

“No, Doc.”

“Then, please do as I say.”

“Ok, Doc.”

“And I really need to see if I can find out the cause of that sighing.”

“Haha, Doc.”

“Thank you for agreeing to not ride, hon. Now, let’s go downstairs. You can talk to me while I get supper together.”

“Hey, Doc”, I asked while sitting on a stool on the other side of the side counter as he got supper ready, “have you heard from Jane again?”

“No, I haven’t. I hope she’s given up, though I fear she hasn‘t. I think someone followed me home shortly after seeing her at the clinic, but I can‘t be sure. If she ever comes here, don‘t let her in the house.”

“I won’t. Doc, I‘m going to go lie down for a bit.” I headed out of the kitchen on my crutches.

“You okay, hon?”

“I’m tired.”

I went to the ground floor bedroom to lie down as I did not feel like trying to climb the stairs on one foot. I lay down on my side and curled up. Doc came in a few minutes later. He sat on the bed.

“What’s wrong, hon?” he asked as he pushed hair out of my face. “You don’t normally get this tired before supper.”

“My side hurts.”

“Your cyst?” I nodded. “I wish your surgery date would hurry up and get here.”

“Me, too, Doc.”

“I know it’s bad when you say that! When did you take your pills?”

“Around 2pm.”

“I’ll give you a shot of the good stuff before bed. I’ve been bringing it home for a while now, ever since it got so bad. I want you to let me know if your pain goes over 9, if you have nausea or vomiting, if you get bloated, if you have pain in your lower back and thighs, okay?”

“Yes, Doc.”

“Do you want supper in here, hon? And yes, you have to eat something.”

“I’ll come out to the dining room.”

“It will be ready soon.”

The next day, I was feeling somewhat better, but still having cyst pain. I was so fed up with it by now that, despite my fears, I wanted the surgery date to get here. I even hoped for a cancellation that would get me in earlier. I was kicking my butt for not having done it months ago.

Doc had me under a “Do not do *any* work!” order. Though I was tempted to defy him, I knew that would put me in more pain and I didn’t want that. Besides, I couldn’t walk on my sprained ankle.

I settled for going through some old photographs and putting them in albums - remember those relics from the past? I’d been meaning to do that for years but never got around to it. I got Karen to get them out of the closet and put them on the dining room table for me and immersed myself in sorting through them. After a while, the house phone rang. I got up and hobbled to the kitchen to answer it. The display said “private caller”, meaning they’d blocked their number. There was silence on the other end, then a click. They had hung up. I thought maybe they were in the process of hanging up when I finally answered as it took quite a few rings before I got there. No worries, they’d call back.

After lunch, I went to the tv room to see if I could find something to watch. I’d caught up on my soap episodes I’d recorded, so I looked at the listings and picked a nature show to watch. Halfway through it, the house phone rang. I looked at the phone on the end table. Private caller again. I picked the receiver up. Same as before. Silence, then a click. This time I knew they weren’t just hanging up at the same time that I answered.

A little later, my cell rang. It was Doc. He always called my cell first as he didn’t know if I was near the landline. “Just calling to see how you are feeling, hon.”

“I’m okay, Doc.”

“What are you doing?”

“Watching tv.”

“What did you do earlier?”

“Sorted through some old photographs. There’s a mess on the dining room table.”

“No work?”

“No, Doc.”

“Good. You are behaving for once. Need me to bring anything home?”

“I’m fine, Doc but thanks for asking.”

“Ok, I’ll see you after work.”

I was going to tell him about the calls, but decided against it. I didn’t want to worry him while he was at work. I’d tell him when he got home.

“I love you, Doc.” I made a point of telling him this every time he called and even when he was at home.

“I love you too, Meredith. And I’m so glad you are trusting me and doing as I say.”

I had just tapped “end call” when the house phone rang again. I picked it up. Silence. “Who is there?” I said “Have the balls to say something.” Click. This was becoming really annoying.

When Doc got home, I told him about the calls. He got a worried look on his face. “Is the number listed, hon?”

“Yes.”

“Change it and make it unlisted.”

“That is such a pain in the butt for a few hang-ups, Doc.”

“I think it might be Jane.”

“Why would she hang up without saying anything? And how would she know my name to look my number up?”

“If she followed me home, it’s on the mailbox.”

“Oh, yeah. Still, it‘s an awful big hassle to give a new number out to everyone. Let’s just wait and see if it stops.”

“Hon, if it keeps up, I will insist.”

The next day, there were three more blocked number calls. I did not answer any of them. I didn’t want to tell Doc as I didn’t want to change my house phone number and I figured the calls would eventually stop. But he called me in the afternoon and asked if there’d been any. I won’t lie to him, so I said yes, three.

“Meredith, call the phone company and change the number. Please.”

“Doc, do you realize how many people and places I’d have to notify?”

“Isn’t it worth it to get rid of the problem caller?”

“Let’s wait a while longer, honey. They aren’t calling when you are here, so it’s just me that has to put up with it and I’ve been ignoring the calls. They will give up.”

“I don’t like this, hon. I’m really uneasy.”

“Doc, you worry too much.”

“You don’t worry enough, Meredith.” I sighed.

Once again, there were no calls after he got home, but the next morning, I got one about an hour after he left for work. This time, I picked it up. “Hello, Jane”, I said. Silence. “Come on, Jane, have the stones to talk to me. Don’t be a coward.” That worked.

“Break it off with Julian. He’s mine.”

“That’s up to Julian who he wants to be with. I’m not keeping him captive, he can leave if he wants. He doesn’t want to. Now, kindly fuck right off and don’t call here again.” I hung up the phone. I had no more calls that day.

When Doc called to see how things were, I told him about the call. “Meredith! You should not have engaged her, let alone told her to fuck off!”

“Why not? It worked. She hasn’t called back.”

“Oh, Meredith, what am I going to do with you?”

“I have some ideas, Doc, but I shouldn’t tell you while you are at work.”

Later, when he came home, Doc had a worried look on his face. There had still been no more calls. “I don’t like this”, he said. “I have a feeling she is up to something.”

“Well, we can’t live our lives being afraid at every turn”, I replied.

“No, but we can take precautions. I think it would be a good idea to stay at the apartment for a while. A few days at least. I’m on call Monday anyway.”

“What if she shows up at the apartment?”

“I don’t know how she’d know about it, but if she did, it’s a security building. We’d have to let her in the front door and we won’t.”

“I’m not sure I want to leave the farm, Doc. What if she comes here and takes it out on Chey or Karen when she finds out we aren’t here? From what you’ve said, she is violent.”

“That was different, it was in the context of a relationship. I don’t know if she would hurt someone else. We can stay here for the weekend and like I said, I’m on call Monday night so I have to be in the city anyway and you like to be there with me.”

“Ok, Doc.”

“I will call a security company tomorrow and see what I can get arranged for a surveillance system on short notice. Will you agree to go to the apartment tomorrow while I‘m at work? I‘d feel a lot better if you do.”

“Ok, but I need to talk to Karen and tell her what’s been going on. If she is uneasy about Chey staying here or either of them being here alone while doing chores, then I’m not leaving the farm.”

“Fair enough, hon. Call her and see if she can come over after supper and the three of us can talk about it. Maybe she should bring Chey and her husband, too.”

Karen, Chey and Kevin came over and we sat around the kitchen table with coffee and cake that I’d made earlier in the day. Doc told them about Jane and what she’d done to him. He even lifted his shirt and undershirt to show them the scars. They gasped when they saw them.

Kevin spoke first after Doc sat back down. “Julian, do you think she would hurt someone if she came here?”

“I don’t think so”, Doc replied. “But I can’t say for sure.”

“I don’t want Chey staying here alone until things settle down, but if Karen is willing, her and I can stay here. We are both licensed to carry a weapon, so we will be prepared if she shows up with one or if she tries to hurt us.”

“I’m not sure I’m comfortable with guns being in what Meredith keeps telling me is also my house now.” Doc does not like guns. I have a rifle in case I need to defend my horses from a predator and he tolerates that, but he doesn’t like it. “How do you feel about it, hon?” He looked at me.

“I’m okay with it, Doc. You know I’m fine with them being used for self defence or defence of others. We won’t be here, anyway. Hopefully they won’t have to use their weapons.”

“I guess I’m outvoted.”

“If you are that uncomfortable with it, we can stay here instead of the apartment, honey.”

“No. I don’t want you here until this is resolved, hopefully by Jane stopping the calls.”

“Doc, do we really want to subject our friends to her? I would feel awful if she harmed them.”

“Don’t worry about us”, Karen piped up. “We can take care of ourselves. If she shows up here and gets physical, it won’t be us that will need medical attention.”

“I agree”, Kevin said. “You go stay in the city and we will be fine here.”

“Now it looks like *I* am outvoted.”

“Yes, you are”, Doc said.

“So, we’ll go Monday morning.”

“I would prefer tomorrow, hon.”

“Aw, Doc….” I gave him a look that dared him to say “Don’t ‘Aw, Doc’ me” in front of our friends. “Let’s stay the weekend, I want to spend some time with the horses.”

“I have a better idea, Meredith. Why don’t we see if there’s a cabin somewhere we can rent for the weekend? Let’s just get away for a couple days. You‘ll have lots of time with your horses after this problem is resolved.”

“Ok, Doc. I’ll call the same place we rented from in January and see if they have anything on short notice.”

Later that night, when we got into bed, I said to Doc “I know how hard that must have been for you to do, honey - to show them your scars and tell them what happened.” I snuggled up to him, with my head on his chest. I could hear his heartbeat.

“It wasn’t easy, but I had to impress upon them how violent Jane can be.”

“I’m still not so sure we should be going away, Doc.”

“I am. If it were just me, I would stay. But I don’t want to risk your life.”

“Why would she harm me?”

“She may see you as her competition. Notice how she only calls when I’m not here? That says to me that her beef is with you, not me.”

“I hope we aren’t putting Karen and Kevin in harm’s way.”

“We aren’t. I doubt Jane will come here with us gone.”

“Well, I am going to keep in close touch with them and if anything happens, we’re coming home right away.”

The next day, I called and was able to rent a cabin for the weekend. Doc had packed what he wanted to take the night before and I drove him to work so I could pick him up and head right out at 5:30. Fortunately, I didn’t need my left foot to drive.

I told Karen to be careful and if they felt they were in any danger, to leave. “Don’t worry about us, Mer”, she said. “We will be fine. You and Julian relax and enjoy yourselves. We’ll see you on Sunday.”

When I picked him up, Doc told me he had been unable to get a security company to come out before the middle of the next week.

The weekend started out a bit tense, but we relaxed more each time we heard from Karen that all was quiet. I couldn’t go for walks in the woods due to my sprained ankle, but Doc and I just enjoyed being together with no interruptions. He brought his bag and we had some “play” time as well. Overall, we managed to have a nice weekend and Sunday came all too quickly.

We drove back to the farm, where we’d stay for the night, then go to the city in the morning. Our plan was to stay at the apartment for the week and if all was calm, go back to the farm Friday night.

There had been no blocked calls or hang-ups all weekend. I felt silly going to the apartment for the week, but Doc insisted. “I know you don’t like being in the city, hon, but I have an uneasy feeling. Besides, I’m on call tomorrow anyway and you usually stay at the apartment on those nights.”

“Yes, that is not a problem. Staying the whole week is going to drive me nuts during the day when you aren’t there.”

“Take lots of things to occupy yourself with, hon.”

Doc drove us in Monday morning and dropped me off, then went to the clinic. First thing I did was go back to sleep as I was still tired. When I woke up, I made some coffee and after having a cup, decided to do some baking. I couldn’t do very much because I had to be off my injured foot. While the pain had greatly diminished, I still couldn’t put my whole weight on it. Baking was something I could do. The apartment kitchen was not big, so everything was handy and I sat on a stool to do the measuring and mixing. I made a cake and cupcakes for Doc to take to work the next day. I was in the middle of mixing a cookie batter when there was a knock at the door. Nobody had called to be buzzed up, so I figured it was someone from within the building.

I hobbled to the door on my crutches and opened it to see a woman I had never seen before. “I’m sorry, Julian isn’t home”, I said, figuring she was looking for Doc.

“I know”, she replied and pushed me, then came in and shut the door. I stumbled backwards and ended up putting my whole weight on my left foot. I couldn’t help but call out in pain. “Do you know who I am?” she asked, ignoring my obvious distress. I shook my head no. “I know who you are, Meredith. You are the reason Julian won’t have anything to do with me.”

Jane! How the hell did she get in the building? “You have only yourself to blame for that, Jane. Now, get out.”

“I’m not going anywhere until you write a note for Julian telling him it’s over and then let me drive you home to your farm.”

“You’re daft if you think I’m going to do that.” She pushed me again but this time I was ready for her and had braced myself so that I didn’t budge.

“He doesn’t love you. He’s only with you because he feels sorry for you.”

“Why would he feel sorry for me?”

“Because you have that cyst that you won’t let him take out.” How on earth did she know about that?

“Why would that make him feel sorry for me?”

“He’s worried that it will rupture. Once he removes it, he’s going to leave you.”

“Oh, really? Why are you here trying to talk me into leaving him if he’s going to leave me in a few weeks?” The look on her face said it all. She was caught in a lie. “Now, I have a few things to say to you, you miserable excuse for a human being. Then, you are going to leave. I know what you did to Julian. I’ve seen the scars on his back.”

“Did he tell you what he did to deserve those scars?”

“There is nothing that that dear, sweet man who wouldn’t harm a fly could have done to deserve being treated like that by the woman he was in love with. Absolutely nothing. There’s no excuse for what you did to him. It took him a long time to even date again, let alone get involved with someone. Even when he fell in love with me, he was afraid to tell me what you’d done for fear that I’d think he was a sissy for putting up with it.”

I could see her face was getting red with anger, but I kept going. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I was so mad, I wasn’t thinking.

“Of course, I’d never think that of him. Anyone who would hit their partner doesn’t deserve to have him/her. You aren’t a real woman, Jane. You’re a coward. Only a coward feels a need to hurt the person they claim to love. Do you really think he’d go back to you if I broke up with him? He wouldn’t go back to your sorry ass for all the tea in China.” I saw the swing coming and was able to duck. Another one came after that and I brought my crutch up to stop it. She yelped as her arm hit it, but she came back for another one and this time connected with my jaw. I had had enough by now, so I threw my crutches down and landed a few blows myself.

I guess it was adrenaline that kept me going, despite the fact I had to put my bad foot down on the floor. I wasn’t even feeling the pain, I was so focused on my adversary. I don’t fight like a girl. I do not slap, scratch or bite. I punch and I kick. So did Jane. Somehow, we ended up in the living room and Jane pushed me and I went crashing into Doc’s stereo system, bringing it down on me. She jumped on me, but I managed to throw her off. I stood up, she did, too and I got a few more punches in, then she threw one that hit me hard in my left pelvic area. I felt the worst pain I’d ever felt go through me and then the lights went out.

I came to to someone standing over me. It was the building superintendent, Mr. Novak. I felt an incredible pain in my side and I groaned. “You stay still, Meredith”, he said. “Julian is on his way, as are the police and an ambulance.”

“What time is it? How long have I been out?”

“It’s just after 3pm.”

“Julian doesn’t get off until after 5.”

“I called him, he’s taking off early to come home.”

Just then, Doc came through the door. “Meredith? Where are you?”

“In here”, his super called out. Doc came into the living room and knelt down beside me.

“I’m so sorry about your stereo, Doc.”

“Don’t you worry about that hon.” I tried to get up. “Stay right there, Meredith. I want to check you over. Who did this or do I need to ask?”

“Jane. I don’t know how she got into the building. There was a knock at the door and I thought it was a neighbour so I opened it. Doc, I‘m going to be sick.”

“Hang on, hon. I’ll be right back.” Doc went to a closet and came back with a basin. “Here you go”, he said as he set it down beside me. When I was done, he brought a glass of water to me so I could rinse my mouth out and he took a cool washcloth to my face, then he started feeling around my lower left quadrant.

“Doc, keep that up and I’ll throw up again.” I tried to get away from him.

“Hon, did she hit you down here?”

“Yes, really hard. That’s when I passed out.”

“I think she may have ruptured that cyst.”