Isaiah understood, but his heart broke all the same.
Time crawled at a snail’s pace and after a week there had been no change in Jaleel’s condition. Both sets of grandparents arrived and everyone tried to encourage one another. Mother and father held vigil day and night, while Isaiah faded more into the background.
Then one morning, Isaiah arrived at Jaleel’s room and overheard Brooklyn and her mother.
“Evan needs you right now,” Karen, Brooklyn’s mother, said with a note of authority. “Surely, you see that.”
Brooklyn didn’t answer.
“Look, sweetheart. I know that whole business with him and Macy is still a sore issue with you and I understand. But sometimes men do things that…well, just sometimes they don’t think. They reach a certain age—”
“Mom, I don’t want to talk about this right now.”
“But you need to think about it,” Karen insisted. “I know you still love him. He’s the father of your child. You have too much time invested to just throw it away.”
“Did Dad ever suffer from a midlife crisis?”
Karen didn’t answer.
“Mom?”
Her mother drew in a deep breath. “Do you remember when you were eight years old and you got to spend the summer with your grandparents?”
“Y-yes.”
“Well, your father and I came very close to getting a divorce. He had an affair with a woman who’d fallen in love with him. I didn’t know about it until one day she called to tell me.”
“I don’t believe this. Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“You were too young. But I’m telling you now because I know what you’re going through. Your father made a mistake and we were able to work through it. I think you and Evan can do the same.”
Isaiah turned and left the hospital.
As another week passed, Georgia tried her best to keep her son’s spirits up, but life had sliced him a piece of reality he couldn’t fully comprehend. At the hospital, he’d watched the bond between Evan and Brooklyn strengthen and he didn’t know how to handle his growing jealousy.
“Why do you have to go back to Austin?” Georgia asked, watching as he packed.
“I’m not helping anyone by staying here,” he answered, careful to avoid eye contact. “You’re doing great, and Brooklyn…has to take care of her family right now. I’ve run out of excuses to stay.”
“This is a difficult time for her.”
“I understand that, Mom. I’m not blaming her. I’m not angry.” He released a frustrated sigh at the obvious lie. “The first time Brooklyn and I met, she told me a relationship was impossible and, like an idiot, I ignored her. I was so sure I could change her mind—bend her to my will, you might say. Now, the truth is too big to ignore.”
“You think she’s still in love with her ex-husband?”
He closed his eyes in an effort to block out the pain of the possibility. It didn’t work. “I don’t know.”
Georgia crossed the room, but he still refused to look at her. He didn’t want her to see his pain.
“Talk to her.”
He gave a tired laugh. “Don’t you think that would sound a little selfish right now—considering the circumstances? She might lose her son and I’m whining about my hurt feelings.”
“Then you need to stay. Wait till this storm passes.”
Isaiah shook his head, his mind made up. “I didn’t go to the hospital yesterday,” he confessed. “I got tied up doing some errands around here.”
“Those could have waited.”
He shook his head. “Brooklyn never called to give any status reports. I doubt she noticed I wasn’t there.” He caught how his voice quivered and then forced resolve back into his tone. “I’ve put my life on hold long enough. Brooklyn is where she needs to be.” The memory of Evan asking Brooklyn to take him back kept resurfacing. They had a twenty-year history and a teenage son—how could he compete with that?
Georgia grabbed his hand and recaptured his attention. “I wish you would reconsider.”
He ignored the stinging in his eyes and the hollow ache in his heart. “It’s over.”
Brooklyn sat beside her son’s bed in the ICU, content to just stare at his still form. Their fights in the past year vanished from her memory. All she remembered now was the laughter of his childhood. In the past two weeks, she could remember every birthday, sporting event, and Christmas with remarkable clarity.
Her promises to God for Jaleel to open his eyes grew wild and more desperate with each minute. When her prayers went unanswered, her pain intensified while an endless river of tears fell from her eyes.
Across the room, Evan wrestled with his own demons.
As much as Brooklyn wanted to ease his burden, she couldn’t. Just as she couldn’t silence the voice within that also blamed him for their son’s accident.
She had difficulty accepting solace from her own parents, despite their good intentions. Their insistent mantra for Evan and Brooklyn to put aside their differences and become a family again rode her last nerve.
To believe them was to believe Jaleel’s accident was punishment for the failure of their marriage. She refused to accept that—just as she refused to accept that she’d lose Jaleel.
She stood from her chair and kissed her son’s warm cheek. “It’s time to wake up now,” she urged softly and took his hand.
Jaleel didn’t move.
Closing her eyes, she allowed sorrow to rule over her emotions.
Evan placed a hand against her shoulder, and without thinking, she shrugged it off. She wanted him to leave them alone. That’s what he wanted to do two years ago—why should now be any different?
“Brooke, why don’t you take a break?” he asked.
She ignored the hurt in his voice while she struggled with the desire to punish him.
“Brooke?”
“I don’t need a break,” she said, her voice edgy.
Silence stretched between them before Evan spoke. “Don’t do this.”
There was no point feigning ignorance, she knew exactly what he meant. He didn’t want to fight, but she did—no matter how pointless.
Then she felt it. The tiniest squeeze to her hand. “Jaleel?” she asked. Her eyes widened in surprise.
“What is it?” Evan asked, inching closer.
“He moved.” She glanced down at her hand and wondered if she’d imagined it. Then he squeezed again.
“I saw it,” Evan exclaimed with a thunder of incredulity.
Slowly, Jaleel’s eyelids fluttered open.
A rush of tears flowed down his parents’ faces as Jaleel’s eyes sharpened with recognition and an awkward smile lifted the corners of his mouth.
“Hi, Mom.”
Chapter 27
A week later, Brooklyn arrived home exhausted. Her mother had finally convinced her to go home and get a full eight hours of sleep. As Brooklyn entered the house, images of having one of Isaiah’s famous massages brought an instant smile to her face.
Come to think of it, she wouldn’t mind if he did a few other things to help her relax. Opening the door to her bedroom, she felt as if it had been aeons since she’d last been there. Since the accident, her brief visits home usually consisted of her sleeping in Jaleel’s room. Tonight, however, she’d sleep in her own bed.
She made a beeline to the bathroom and peeled off her clothes. In the shower, her thoughts returned to Isaiah. She definitely needed to see him tonight. It had been too long.
She frowned as her hands stilled on her body. Just how long had it been? She searched her memory and honestly couldn’t remember.
Quickly, she rinsed off, grabbed a nearby towel, and draped it around her as she made a mad dash out of the shower. Had something happened to Georgia?
She struggled to ward off a rising panic and paid no heed to the trail of water she dripped across her bedroom. She reached for the phone and dropped down onto the edge of the bed, and then jumped back up when somethin
g crinkled beneath her. Turning, she stopped cold at the sight of an envelope with her name written in Isaiah’s unmistakable penmanship.
After a full minute, the erratic pounding of her heart slowly died, just long enough for her to gather her courage, reach for the envelope, and open it.
Dear Brooklyn,
I love you. It’s important for me to tell you this first and foremost. But over the past week, I’ve concluded that my loving you might not be enough. For the first time, it has become clear that there’s no room in your life for me. Our summer affair has been wonderful, but what happens when Jaleel returns and Evan wants you back again? He loves you—you’d have to be blind not to see that. My heart goes out to you and your family in your time of need and I’ll keep Jaleel in my prayers. But seeing you with your family, I understand your reasoning for why a relationship with me is impossible. Whenever you’re with your family, I see something I can never be a part of and to be honest, I’m jealous. I’m jealous of every part of your life that doesn’t include me and I’m hurt by your insistence on keeping me out. Could it be because your heart still belongs to Evan? I love you…enough to let you be happy with someone else.
Sincerely yours,
Isaiah
Brooklyn blinked as the letter slipped through her trembling fingers.
He was gone.
Jaleel never planned his accident, and he definitely wouldn’t recommend it as a course of action to get one’s parents back together. At first he couldn’t argue with the unexpected results. Now, he wasn’t so sure. His parents visited him every day, but as the days passed, he noticed they’d started coming in shifts.
Despite his mother’s insistence that nothing was wrong, Jaleel sensed her sadness. Sometimes when she thought he was asleep, he’d watch her stare out of his hospital window as if she was waiting for someone to return. A few times, he’d even caught her crying. It was at those times when it became difficult to cling to his selfish desires.
Since the accident, Jaleel couldn’t explain his change of heart. Yes, he’d love it if his parents were able to get back together, but he no longer wanted it at any cost. Certainly not at the expense of his mother’s tears.
During the month of October, Isaiah and Yasmine zipped across the United States for one business meeting after another. The hectic schedule was meant to keep Isaiah’s mind off Brooklyn Douglas, despite what he told his friends.
That is until the morning Yasmine quit.
“What do you mean you quit?” Isaiah thundered, staring up at her from his desk. “I need you to go to Hong Kong this Saturday.”
Randall cleared his throat, but the tension in the room remained thick.
Yasmine tossed the folders from her hand onto Isaiah’s desk, and then jammed her fists into her sides. “Look, if you want to kill yourself—fine. But I’ll be damned if I’ll let you kill me, too. I need a day off. I need a life outside of Rotech—and so do you.”
“I’ve had three months off.”
She clapped. “Good for you. While you were off recreating 9 ½ Weeks, we were here busting our butts.” She gestured to Randall.
“Fine. I’ll go alone. Take the week off and come back with a better attitude.”
She slapped her hands onto his desk as she leaned in. “Who do you think you’re talking to?” she snapped.
Isaiah’s retort crested his tongue but died when he grabbed hold of his anger. Instead, he clenched his jaw and forced himself to lower his glare. “I was out of line.”
Yasmine pulled herself erect. “Why don’t you just call her? Make the rest of our lives easier.”
Flinging his pen onto his desk, he leaned back in his chair and risked meeting her stare. “We agreed not to talk about this.”
“I never agreed to such a thing. I did, however, elect to let you try to work this one out on your own, but since you’re not using the good sense God gave you, it’s time I helped you.”
“I don’t need help—from either of you.” His sharp gaze swung to Randall just as he was opening his mouth to comment.
“You need something—a pill, a drink, God—something.” She moved to the empty chair across from his desk. “If you won’t talk to her then talk to me. I’m your best friend, remember?”
Their stares held for an indeterminable amount of time before Isaiah looked away. “I did the right thing, Yas. For both of us.”
She stared at him while she chose her words carefully. “Let me tell you what I know.” She crossed her arms. “I know you’re in love with Brooklyn. I hear it in your voice. I see it in your actions. You walked away to prove how much you love her. You want her to be happy, even if it’s not with you. It’s the same thing you did with Cadence.”
“I think your memory is a little off.” Randall successfully jumped into the conversation. “Cadence left him, remember?”
“And he didn’t fight for her, either. I expected him to fight for Brooklyn.”
“I’m still in the room, you know.” Isaiah popped up from his chair and walked over to his wide view of downtown Austin. “Brooklyn isn’t some business acquisition I can wrestle and win with smooth words and a politician’s smile. I thought so, at first. I thought if I did everything right, I could tear down that damn wall she built between us.”
“Don’t you think you did that?” Yasmine asked.
Isaiah closed his eyes and in his mind saw the diamond ring he kept in his briefcase. “I thought I did.”
Randall shook his head. “Your walking away was either admirable or foolish.”
Isaiah tensed.
“Foolish because it’s a gamble,” Randall continued. “You’re hoping that she’ll pick up the phone and beg you to come back. Not simply call and leave updated reports on her son and noncommittal chatter about wanting to talk, but to lay it on the line and say that she chooses you over her ex-husband.”
“Refusing to play first runner-up is foolish?”
Yasmine moved toward him. “It is when you don’t tell her that’s what you’re doing. You’re hoping she’ll figure it out.”
He opened his eyes and turned to face them. “Did I tell you that her husband asked to come back?”
Yasmine blinked. “What?”
“Come again?” Randall said.
He shrugged. “To be honest, it didn’t worry me too much. Call it arrogance.”
“Did she?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged again. “But when I saw them together at the hospital, suddenly there was something there I never saw before—an invisible bond, perfectly intact.”
Yasmine stood and joined him at the window. “You left her before she could leave you, didn’t you?”
Isaiah shifted beneath her tight scrutiny, but was determined to have this conversation so they would stop badgering him. “Brooklyn kept telling me that a relationship was impossible. Then I remembered how she’d stormed over to Evan’s house that night, and Evan coming back. Suddenly, everything made perfect sense. They still love each other.”
“Did she tell you that?” Randall asked.
“Did she have to? She kept offering me everything but her heart. There’s a reason for that, don’t you think?”
Yasmine shrugged. “Yeah. Maybe she was just afraid of getting hurt again…just like you. Either way, with your leaving the way you did, we will never know the answer to that question, will we?”
Isaiah slid his hands into his pockets. “I believe I have my answer. I’ve been gone for nearly a month. If I was wrong, she would have called by now.”
Chapter 28
In early November, Evan surprised Brooklyn when he attended Sunday morning church service. Before she knew it, she heard their names whispered from the lips of people around them. It was Jaleel’s first appearance in the choir since his accident, and she quickly assumed Evan came for support. But when he joined her and Toni in their pew, her suspicion changed.
The moment service ended, Sister Loretha swooshed up to them like a hawk after its prey. “I knew y
ou two would get back together,” she gushed. “I can’t tell you how good it does my heart to see you guys as a family again.”
Before Brooklyn corrected her, Evan cut in. “Thank you, Sister. Sometimes it takes a tragedy to get you to realize what you’ve lost.”
Brooklyn elbowed him.
“Amen,” Sister Loretha said with a grand show of approval.
But Brooklyn could tell she was just dying to know what had happened to Isaiah. When she’d brought him to church this summer, Loretha positively fawned over him.
However, Big Trouble Freddie quickly joined the group, and Brooklyn felt the beginnings of a headache.
“My brother, my brother.” Freddie pounded Evan hard on the back. “It’s good to see that you’ve finally come to your senses.”
“Better late than never, I always say.” Evan laughed and swung his arm around Brooklyn.
She elbowed him again and impaled him with a murderous glare before turning her emotionless smile toward Freddie and Sister Loretha. “Actually, we’re just—”
“Here to support Jaleel.” Evan squeezed her shoulder.
She caught his hint to roll with everyone’s assumptions. Most likely it was because he didn’t want to be embarrassed by the truth. But what about the embarrassment he’d caused her? She jabbed him again.
Evan lowered his arm.
Freddie rocked his enormous weight on the balls of his feet as he laughed. “You know, I was a little worried when I saw Brooklyn and that gray-eyed pretty boy in here this summer. You couldn’t have slid a slip of paper between them, I tell ya. And this is the Lord’s house, too.” He chuckled.
Evan’s smile disappeared.
Sister Loretha’s mocha complexion turned a deep burgundy as her eyes darted uneasily around the small group. “Well, it’s good seeing you both. I have a few things I need to discuss with the reverend before he leaves.” She smiled awkwardly and avoided eye contact with Freddie.
Brooklyn’s quick prayer for help was answered when Toni and Brian appeared at her side.
Comfort of a Man (Arabesque) Page 18
