After a nod, he began, “Your husband is in serious condition. He suffered a penetrating wound to his brain.”
I swallowed and pressed the tips of my fingers against my lips.
“He was lucky in the sense that the bullet didn’t pass through any vital brain tissue or vascular structures. But when we went in to remove the bullet, he suffered some excessive bleeding.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, that complicated the surgery, but we think he’ll recover.”
I released a long breath. “So what happens next?”
I OPENED MY eyes and remembered how the doctor said it was all a waiting game now. They were still concerned about the bleeding and what that could mean; the next twenty-four hours were the most critical. He asked me if I’d had any other questions, and then Melanie made sure that he, the nurses, and Ms. Scott in the business office all had my cell number, since she let everyone—including me—know that after I took care of the insurance papers, she was taking me home.
She’d done that, and I’d lain here recalling all of the worst moments of my life. There was one question that haunted me, though—what would this mean for my mother?
As if my thought was a cue, there was a quick knock on my door, and then it opened. That made me smile; little had changed. There was no waiting for Come in with my parents.
“I thought you’d be awake, princess.” My father balanced a teacup on a serving tray as he stepped inside, then rested the tray on the nightstand.
I pushed myself up, and he hugged me, holding me the way he had this morning, when Melanie had brought me home. I asked him now what I’d asked him then: “How’s Mom?”
“Sweetheart.”
I glanced up, and the sight of my mother wrapped in her robe, her hair flowing free past her shoulders, brought tears to my eyes. But when she rushed into the room and wrapped me in her arms, I sobbed. “I’m so sorry.”
“Sweetheart,” she whispered as she held me. When she leaned back, she wiped away my tears. “There’s nothing to be sorry about.”
She sat, easing onto the bed in front of my father. He held her as she held my hands.
“I’m so glad you’re all right. I was so scared,” I said.
“I was, too, but we’re both fine now.” She held my hands as if she never planned to let go.
Looking down, I whispered, “I don’t know if we’ll ever be fine, because I wasn’t honest with you.”
There were tears in my mother’s eyes when I glanced up. “I can’t believe you’ve been going through this. When Melanie told me what had been going on and then when I rushed there and saw…” She sounded like she choked on the rest of her words. Then she finished, “My prayer had been that the police would have gotten to you first, but…”
I hugged her again. “I’m fine, Mom,” I assured her. “Kelvin said that I’ll be sore for a few days, but I’m fine. I’m more worried about you and the police.”
When she nodded and said, “I had to answer their questions,” my father’s arms tightened around her shoulders. “I shot Xavier, so I had to tell them why.”
“Because he was beating me.”
“Yes, and because he came after me.”
“What?” I shrieked.
“The door was open, and when I rushed in, Xavier tried to stop me from getting to you. That’s when I shot him, because the look in his eyes… I knew what he was going to do.”
“Your mother went there to save you, but in the end it was self-defense.”
“Oh my God, Mom, if he had hurt you…”
She inhaled and held her breath before she relaxed. “We don’t have to worry about that. I’m fine and you are, too.”
“The only thing,” my father said, “is that you’ll have to talk to the police.”
“Oh, I’ll go right now.” I swung the covers away, ready to do whatever to save my mother.
“No,” my parents said together. My dad said, “I asked them to give you some time; they’ll call.”
“And then”—my mother paused—“they’ll want to talk to Xavier.”
My parents didn’t know! My father and I hadn’t talked about Xavier this morning; I’d only been concerned about my mother, and he only cared about me. Just as I was about to share what I knew, my cell phone vibrated on the nightstand. I didn’t recognize the number, though when I saw the words MAYBE: HARLEM HOSPITAL on the screen, I picked up right away.
“Hello, Mrs. King?”
“Yes,” I said.
“This is Dr. Bell. I wanted to update you on your husband.” He paused. “He had a stroke…”
“What?”
“We had to take him back into surgery.”
“All right, I’ll be right there,” I said… and then I looked into the faces of my parents.
Slowly, I put down the phone.
My mother said, “It’s about Xavier?”
I nodded, but then added quickly, “He’s alive, but he just had a stroke.”
The shock on their faces matched my own, and now I was more than confused. “I don’t know what to do.”
“What do you mean?” my mother asked.
“He doesn’t have anyone. He doesn’t have any relatives and just one friend that I know of, and I just feel like…” I paused. “I don’t want to be married to him anymore, but I feel like I should be there to make sure he has the best care.”
My mother nodded, though it was my father who surprised me when he said, “I understand.” He stood. “We’ll get dressed; we’ll go with you.”
“No!” my mother said. But then she held my hands when she added, “You should go. You and your father should go. But I…” She shook her head.
“I’m not leaving you,” my father said. To me, he added, “I’ll call Melanie.”
“Thank you,” I said as I hugged them both. “Thank you for understanding.”
“This is the right thing to do,” my mother said.
Her words were so shocking. It was just about twelve hours ago when she’d shot a man who’d beaten me and would have attacked her if given the chance.
But then, when she added, “Be merciful as the Lord says mercy triumphs over judgment,” I understood.
Showing mercy wasn’t just something my mother believed, it was what she lived. And that made me hug her again.
* * *
EVERYTHING ABOUT US had been so fast and so hard. The way we met, the way we married, the way we ended. Standing, I pulled the chair from the wall and scooted right to the edge of Xavier’s bed. My heart ached. In the early hours of this morning, he’d looked as if he’d just been asleep. But now his face was contorted, his suffering obvious.
I reached for his hand, but pulled back before we touched. I’d fallen fast; I’d fallen hard: the carriage ride in Central Park, the intimate conversations about his life, the romantic weekend of our wedding—that was what I remembered, but who I was now was the woman who survived last night.
“Here’s your coffee.” Melanie’s voice floated over my shoulder.
My thoughts had been so far away, I didn’t even hear her come back. But without taking my eyes away from Xavier, I grabbed the cup.
“Has the doctor been back?”
I shook my head.
She said, “This is so messed up, all the way around.”
“I know, but I feel like I have to be here. There’s no one else to make decisions for him.”
There was a pause before Melanie said, “I told you I understood. The part I left out is that you’re a far better woman than I am.”
My eyes stayed on Xavier. “Maybe I just have more of my mother inside me than I thought. All those years that I criticized her for staying with my father. And now here I am.”
I felt the heat of Melanie’s glare from behind me. “Are you saying you’re staying with Xavier?”
For the first time, I wondered if Xavier could hear us. “I’m not saying that at all.” Then I wondered if Melanie and I should step out of the room,
just in case. But I stayed in the chair, and, with my eyes still on my husband, I said, “I’m not staying with Xavier. I’m just doing what I have to do now.”
The door to the room swung open, but still I didn’t move my eyes from my husband until I heard Melanie say, “Hi, Ms. Scott.”
“Hi.” And then to me, she said, “May I talk to you for a moment outside?”
I glanced at Melanie and then said, “Sure.”
She didn’t take me far, the way Dr. Bell had done early this morning. This time, standing right outside Xavier’s room, she said, “These are your husband’s belongings—what he had on him when he came into the hospital.” I nodded my thanks as she handed me a plastic bag with Xavier’s cell and his wallet. “And I need to discuss your insurance. I contacted your husband’s insurance company, and he hadn’t added you to his policy.”
I waved my hand. “No worries. I told you, we were just married. We didn’t have time to take care of all of that. I can just give you the insurance information from my job.”
“That’s fine. We can do it that way or you can be added to his, it’s up to you. All his company needs is your marriage license, and the rest they will be able to handle at a later time. And the marriage license will be good for our records, too, since he’s unable to make his own medical decisions and you’ll be doing that.” She shook her head. “You know, with all these medical laws.”
“Oh, I understand,” I told her.
“Again, don’t worry. We’ll still process everything, but if you can get that license to us sometime this week.”
“Definitely.”
She nodded her good-bye, and when I returned to Xavier’s room, Melanie asked, “Is everything all right?”
“Yeah”—I sighed—“it’s just that with everything else on my plate, now I have to hunt for our marriage license.” I explained what Ms. Scott had told me.
“You don’t know where it is?”
“I don’t know where Xavier put it after the magistrate mailed it. Can you believe this?” I slid back into the chair. “I didn’t know him long enough or well enough to even know where he kept his important papers. I guess I’ll go back to the apartment tonight and search for it.”
“Well, you’re going to have to go back there at some point because you can’t keep wearing your mother’s leggings, which look like capris on you, along with your mink coat.” It must have been the look on my face that made Melanie add, “But you don’t have to do that right now. Just go online and have a copy sent to you.”
“That’s a perfect idea. I’ve had to do that a couple of times in the middle of divorces… but, oh, wait.”
“What?”
“Why don’t I just call the magistrate and have him send it? That’ll be faster than even doing it online.”
“Yeah.” Melanie nodded. “He can fax it to my office and I’ll pick it up.”
“Perfect.” I paused. “Except I don’t remember his name… but his brother was Xavier’s friend.” I scanned through my memory. “Will, that was his name.” Then I had another thought. “But it should be in Xavier’s phone.” I slipped it out of the bag, then awakened the screen. Only 12 percent of the battery was left, but that was enough to make one call.
When I tapped the screen, Melanie chuckled. “Well, one thing was good. Y’all were close enough to know each other’s passwords.”
I shrugged. “Not a big deal. It was a joke with us. We used our birthdays, which are the same, so…” His home screen appeared. “I’ll have to search for ‘Will’ in his contacts ’cause that’s all I got.” And a moment later, I said, “And that’s all I needed, because here he is. Will Allen.” As I tapped on his number, I stood and walked to the window. For a moment, I glanced out onto Lenox Avenue, still in wonder at how much my life had changed.
And then, “Yo, bruh, what’s up?”
I recognized his voice from our wedding day.
Will said, “I didn’t expect to be hearing from you so soon.”
“Will, this is Chastity, Xavier’s wife.”
“Oh, yeah, what’s up? How you doing?”
“Well, there’s a lot going on, but I was calling to get your brother’s telephone number.”
“My brother?” he asked, as if he had no idea what I was talking about.
“Yes, I can’t find our marriage license, and I need a copy.” When he was silent, I frowned. “It’s really important.” More silence, and I sighed. “Xavier is in the hospital,” I said, wondering why I had to go through all of this. “I need it for the insurance, and I can’t find the one you mailed.”
“Man, Chastity, this is messed up.”
“It is,” I said. “But we think he’s going to be all right. So if you can put me in touch with your brother or if you can send it yourself, I would appreciate it. I really need it.”
“Man, Chastity…”
When he repeated that, I frowned.
“I can’t do that for you,” he said.
“Why not?”
“Because… because,” he stuttered. “There isn’t a license. You and Xavier were never married.”
Epilogue Chastity
Six months later
I eased the car’s bumper to the double wrought-iron gates, then glanced up, squinting at the day’s bright light, which shined through the rental car’s sunroof. The cameras above whirred before the gates parted. I rolled over the narrow graveled road, which was lined on both sides by century-old trees with limbs like bulky arms opened wide to welcome me.
It took a couple of minutes to make it up the winding road to the welcome center, and within another minute, I was inside and stepped to the guest check-in desk at Abundant Care.
“How are you, Ms. Jeffries?” The receptionist, who’d greeted me every time I’d been here, smiled.
“I’m great, Andrea. And how’s your son?”
Like she’d done over the last two months, since I’d finally found this rehabilitation and care center, she shared another story of her five-year-old. “Well, I’ll let you go.” She chuckled. “They’re out back today.”
The hallway was as winding as the road that led here. At the double glass doors, I paused, then stepped outside into air that felt ten degrees cooler than the ninety degrees I’d left behind in the city.
Today, Bryce sat at one of the picnic tables by the pond, and as I approached, he glanced up and welcomed me with his smile.
“Hey, you,” I said before I gave him a hug.
When he stepped back from our embrace, he said, “You’re looking good.”
“You say that every time.”
He laughed. “And I always mean it.”
I dumped my bag onto the table and then rounded it so that I could get in front of the wheelchair. Xavier glanced up and smiled. And just like all the other times, I was reminded of that half smile that had captured me that first night. He still half smiled, only now it was because the entire right side of his body was paralyzed.
“Hey.” I leaned over and hugged him.
When I stepped back, his lips moved. He grunted his greeting; that was all he could do.
“How are you?”
This time, he gave me several grunts and kicked his left leg forward.
“He’s happy to see you.” Bryce chuckled. “As always.”
With Bryce’s words, Xavier kicked again, and now I smiled.
“See?” Bryce said. “He’s trying to tell you that I’m right.”
“Hi, Ms. Jeffries.” Bryce and I turned to the woman, dressed in sweats. “I hope you didn’t just get here. It’s time for Mr. King’s physical therapy.”
Which was exactly why I’d come at this time. I said, “Don’t worry, I’m good.”
The physical therapist kicked off the wheelchair brakes, and as she began rolling Xavier away, he grunted loudly, as if there was more he had to say. Bryce and I stood until they were out of sight, and then we sat at the picnic table.
“So, how is he?” I asked.
“No
change physically, but they still work with him every day. The physical therapist, the speech therapist. The doctors say it’s good that his brain is functioning. He’s aware, knows everything that’s going on around him. He responds to them the way he responded to you.” Bryce sighed. “I guess we can all be hopeful.”
With a nod, I pulled a large envelope from my bag, then slid it across to Bryce. He stared at it before he glanced up at me.
“You’re still going to do this?”
“I told you, this is how it should be.” Now I paused so that he would really hear what I said next. “You’re his family.”
“So are you.” When I pressed my lips together, he continued, “I know. I still can’t believe he did that, but he only faked that wedding because he didn’t want to lose you, because he loved you.”
“His reasons don’t change the fact that he and I are not family.”
“It takes more than a piece of paper to make a family, Chaz.” He lightened it up with “Look at us. After all we’ve been through together these last six months, you’re my sis.”
I grinned. I did feel that way about Bryce. He’d been by my side from the moment I contacted him, the day I’d found out that Xavier and I had never been married.
“I’m so grateful for you,” I said. “But it’s time for me to move on. It’s time for you to officially become Xavier’s guardian.”
He glanced at the folder, which he still hadn’t touched. And then he surprised me with “I was so happy to hear about your mom. The case is closed.”
His words lit up the space. “Thank you and thank God. We didn’t think there was going to be too much of an issue, especially once I gave the police my statement, but you never know. I just didn’t want her to be punished because…” I left it there.
Bryce shook his head. “The man who did that to you that night is not the man I knew. I mean, yeah, for years I’d been worried about his anger, but I never thought…”
“Neither did I. But it has ended, and all is well. Bryce, I’ve done my part. I went to court to legally get him to this point. And he’s settled now, here in Bear Mountain, a place that means something to him and where he’s getting the best of care.” I paused. “But I’m not his wife.”
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