Yvonne sat up, and Jarrod sat down in the chair her feet had been propped on.
“What time is it?” she asked him.
“A little after eight.”
She rubbed her eyes, trying to focus. “Where’s Toya?”
“I took her home so she could change clothes. She’s at work now.”
“Thanks for taking her home,” Yvonne said as she stood up. “I need to go check on Tia. You keep your dad company, and I’ll be back.”
Yvonne went upstairs and stopped in the doorway of Tia’s room. Robbie was lying on a cot at the foot of Tia’s bed and snoring. Tia looked wide awake, propped on an elbow and channel surfing. “So, how is my baby girl doing this morning?” Yvonne asked when she walked into the room.
“Much better, Mama,” Tia said, beaming at her. “How’s Uncle Thomas? I feel so awful that he got hit by that car because he was coming to the hospital to see me.”
“It’s not your fault, sweetie, and I don’t want you to blame yourself. The person driving that car is responsible for what happened to Thomas last night.”
“I know, but—”
“I don’t want you worrying, Tia. Worrying is probably what got you rushed to the hospital in the first place. So, just concentrate on staying well for my grandchild. Okay?”
Robbie turned over, and his snoring became louder. Yvonne pointed at him. “Do you hear what you’ll have to put up with if you marry this man?”
“Leave him alone, Mama. Robbie had a rough night, too. He was so worried about us, I don’t think he went to sleep until about five this morning.” Tia leaned over and whispered. “He’s got a job here in Detroit. He starts next week.”
Yvonne smiled. “That’s great news, Tia. You get some rest, and I’ll come back up to see you before you leave.” She bent down and kissed her daughter on the forehead. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Mama.”
Yvonne called Toya to make sure she was all right and then headed back to the intensive care unit. When she entered Thomas’s room, she saw a police officer standing next to Jarrod at Thomas’s bedside with a pen and pad in hand, talking to Jarrod. Yvonne thought it was odd for the officer to be standing there like that when Thomas could not provide any information right now. But then, she heard a voice that brought tears to her eyes.
“It was Marvel Williams,” Thomas said. “I looked directly at him as he ran me down.”
Jarrod turned around, and Yvonne met his gaze with a questioning look.
“He woke up a few minutes after you left the room,” Jarrod said, coming closer to talk to her. “He got a little excited when he noticed that you weren’t in the room, but when I told him that you went to check on Tia, he calmed down.”
When the police officer left the room, Yvonne walked over to Thomas. “Hey, you,” she said.
Thomas beamed up at her. “Is that all you have to say to me?”
She raised her eyebrows in question but then figured he wanted to know how Tia was doing. “Tia is doing fine,” she said. “They kept her overnight for observation, and she’ll be going home in a few hours.”
“That’s great, but that wasn’t what I wanted to hear.” When Yvonne gave Thomas another puzzled look, he said, “I want you to whisper in my ear again.”
Laughing, Yvonne said, “You scoundrel. You were probably awake the whole time, just pretending to be knocked out so you could get me to confess my secrets.”
“Come here,” Thomas said, gesturing with his arm.
She didn’t need a second invitation. She sat down on the bed, leaned over, and kissed Thomas as if the doctors had asked her to revive him by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. When she sat up again, she said, “I love you, Thomas. You will always have my heart.”
“I couldn’t ask for more than that,” he said, wrapping his bandaged arms around her for another kiss.
Epilogue
Three months later, they were all at the hospital again. But this time, it was for a joyous occasion. Tia had just given birth to a baby girl, Jayden Trinity Carter. She was seven pounds and two ounces of pure beauty, even if she was still all wrinkly and reddish-brown.
Robbie sat on the edge of Tia’s bed and held his little girl as if she were some rare, irreplaceable jewel that could break if mishandled. “She’s so beautiful. I can’t believe this is really our daughter,” Robbie said with tears glistening in his eyes.
“Hey, speak for yourself,” Tia said. “I am more than capable of making a beautiful child.”
The room erupted in laughter. Thomas was standing next to Yvonne with his hands on her shoulders. They had weathered many storms in the short time they’d been together, but with the help of the Lord, she and Thomas had come through it all. The authorities still hadn’t located Clarence Brown or any part of the four hundred thousand dollars he’d stolen from the church, but they were thankful that Marvel had been arrested and would soon be serving time for his deeds.
Yvonne was also thankful that over the past few months, Thomas had been patient with her as she’d grown more comfortable with accepting her love for him.
Toya sat in the rocking chair next to the window, waiting for a chance to hold her niece. Behind her stood Jarrod, who smiled as he asked, “So, if Auntie Yvonne is my godmother, does that make Jayden my god-niece, or what?”
“She could be just your niece if you’d pick up the pace and ask Toya out already,” Tia chided him.
Seeing the embarrassed look on Jarrod’s face, Yvonne retored, “Hey, you leave Jarrod alone.”
Robbie stood up and handed the baby to Toya, then turned back to Tia and cleared his throat. “Tia? I…uh, I’d like to be more to you than just your baby’s daddy. I understand why you didn’t marry me before, but I’ve changed. I’ve been on my job now for about three months and haven’t missed a day or gotten written up or anything. I want to be a family. So, what I’m asking is, will you please marry me?”
It’s about time! Yvonne thought as she looked at her baby daughter, anticipating her reply.
Tia smiled, but then hesitated. “That depends. Will you come to the wedding drunk again?”
“You know I haven’t had a thing to drink in months. I’m a Christian, Tia, and that means something to me. The Lord is helping me to stay sober.”
“Well, all right then, Robbie Carter. I guess I’ll marry you,” Tia said.
The room erupted in cheers. Yvonne had secretly been rooting for Robbie ever since that night at the hospital when Robbie had refused to leave Tia’s side. She’d seen then that the boy had grown into a man—a man well able to take care of his family.
“Okay, why don’t we give them some privacy?” Thomas suggested.
Out in the hallway, Thomas invited Toya and Jarrod to lunch with him and Yvonne, but they both declined. She figured that they would probably hang out by themselves.
After they’d said good-bye to the new parents and baby Jayden, Thomas helped Yvonne into her coat, and they headed to the car. Thomas opened the passenger door for her, but before she could get in, he took her hands in his and grinned. “Well, what about you, Yvonne? Do you think you’ll ever marry me?”
“That depends,” she said with a hint of mischief in her voice. “Are you going to come to the wedding drunk?”
“Drunk in the Spirit and drunk in love? You bet,” Thomas answered, then wrapped his arms around her and kissed her tenderly.
When he released her, Yvonne gave him a sly smile. “Well, in that case, I guess I have no choice but to marry you.”
“You always have a choice.”
Yvonne shook her head. “I never had a choice, Thomas. You stole my heart, and I don’t ever want it back.”
“So, it’s mine forever?”
Yvonne closed her eyes. She had promised David forever love, just as he had to her, and now she realized it was impossible to promise something she had no control over. When she opened her eyes and found the man she loved gazing at her, she said, “How about for ‘as long as we both sh
all live’?”
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