Comfort of a Man (Arabesque) (15 page)

I
saiah drove Brooklyn to Gwinnett Hospital. The trip passed in a blur as the sound of Evan’s horror-laden voice echoed incessantly in her head while a steady stream of tears poured from her eyes.

“He bought him a Jet Ski,” she said, shaking her head.

“He’s going to be all right.” Isaiah slid his free hand over to grasp her cold, clasped ones.

She squeezed her eyes closed and clung to his declaration. The last time she’d spoken to her son had been two nights ago when he’d made his anger clear that she hadn’t accepted Evan back with open arms.

She, too, had been angry and, once again, allowed her temper to get the best of her. The frustration of her
family trying to force her back into a life she didn’t want made her lash out at the wrong person. Now, regret suffocated her.

Opening her eyes, she turned and stared out her side window, but saw nothing.

Isaiah glanced at her and took note of how she seemed to shrink before his eyes. They parked outside the emergency room, and then rushed inside together. In the waiting room, they found a devastated Evan slumped in a chair. “Evan?”

He lifted his head, his features twisted into a mask of misery that humbled Isaiah.

“Brooke?” Evan’s voice cracked beneath the weight of the world pressed against his shoulders.

When Brooklyn moved from Isaiah’s possessive embrace and crossed over to the arms of her ex-husband, something tugged inside Isaiah.

He moved to the nearest chair to avoid intruding on their privacy.

“What are the doctors saying?” Brooklyn asked, her voice a replica of Evan’s.

“Samuel hasn’t been out here. They’re still in the operating room.”

“Have you been in?”

“They won’t let me.” His bloodshot eyes held hers. “It’s bad, Brooke.”

She closed her eyes and fought like hell to block the horrific images surfacing in her mind. “He’s going to
be all right,” she reinforced, though the words lacked conviction.

She reopened her eyes when Evan’s arms fell away. His gaze had now discovered Isaiah and she was ashamed to realize that she’d forgotten him.

Evan said nothing as he refocused his attention on her and shoved his hands into his pockets. “This is all my fault.” His whispered confession just barely reached her ears.

“What happened?”

“I should’ve listened to you and never bought him that damn Jet Ski, but I was looking for ways for us to bond. Lord knows I don’t spend enough time with him. Even this summer the only thing we did was that two-week camping trip in June. Other than that, he spent more time with Macy than he did with me.” Brooklyn stiffened.

Evan shook his head. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have brought her up.”

She expelled a long breath. She didn’t want to fight. Fighting never solved their problems—no sense in believing now would be any different.

“What happened?” she asked again, trying to keep her impatience at bay.

“It was just a little after sunset, we were out on the lake, he was speeding…I kept telling him not to get too close to the boats and to practice courtesy on the water.”

Evan was trying either to pacify her or shift blame.
She was unsure of which, but she continued to wait for the full story.

“Where were you during all of this?”

“I was riding, too, but was quite a ways behind him.”

The truth struck her. “Were you racing him?”

Evan squeezed his eyes shut and she got her answer. “Th-then what happened?”

“I don’t think he saw the boat. I know I don’t recall seeing it, but suddenly the boat was right on him.” Evan’s body trembled as his voice croaked. “He tried to turn, but it was too late.”

Brooklyn turned away from him to wrestle with her grief as Evan relayed the extent of Jaleel’s injuries.

For more than an hour, the three parties occupied three different sections of the waiting room. None of them wanted to trespass on the others’ space or impose on their thoughts.

Brooklyn shattered the stalemate and sank in the chair next to Isaiah.

His arm instantly draped around her shoulders and pulled her close.

She drew comfort from his warmth and his underlying strength. He was her rock—that much was as clear as the air she breathed. Fresh tears trickled over her lashes, but by some strange miracle she didn’t collapse in the emotional whirlpool around her.

Another hour passed and finally Dr. Samuel Aguilera
made his first appearance in the waiting room; his expression was as somber as their own.

Evan crossed the room to his colleague. Brooklyn and Isaiah closed in behind them.

“Just give it to us straight,” Evan directed with bated breath.

“He’s out of surgery and is being moved to ICU,” Samuel began gravely.

Brooklyn squeezed Isaiah’s hand as a ripple of hope coursed through her.

“He’s still in critical condition…and he’s in a coma.”

Brooklyn slumped back against Isaiah.

“Oh, my God,” Evan muttered.

“When can we see him?” she asked.

“Give us a few more minutes to get him situated, and then we’ll take you to his room.” He flashed them an uncertain smile and then vanished.

Evan turned toward Brooklyn and for the second time that night, she abandoned the safety of Isaiah’s arms to embrace her ex-husband.

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.”

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 something 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.

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.”