healing-hearts

by Yvette Hines

  “You’ve already disturbed me, Jason.”

  Jason noticed something flickering in her eyes at that statement, but he decided not to process what it may have meant.

  Jason watched as she flung the covers back and revealed to him once again the old-fashioned night apparel, with its high collar, long sleeves and tiny row of buttons down the front that didn’t stop until they reached the hem at her feet.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll get up with the kids Saturday mornings if need be and you can sleep in until nine-thirty.”

  “I usually do it until ten, but I’ll compromise.” She smiled as she got out of bed, opened up a set of drawers located in the mirrored dresser and pulled out some clothes, then padded out of the room and down the hall. “I’ll even be the one to get up with them on Sunday’s before church.” She called back down the hall.

  “Deal,” Jason yelled and proceeded to fill his designated drawers.

  ~ML~

  “You have a lovely family.”

  Jason turned from nailing up the final picture on the wall in the living room to see Yasmine standing at the bottom of the stairs staring at the pictures he had just put up.

  After her shower she had put on a plain brown, short sleeve cotton v-neck shirt and dark denim skirt that fell mid-thigh, and open-toed brown sandals. She had tamed the bed-tousled hair, but wore no make-up. She looked fresh and Saturday morning comfortable. That’s what he liked about her, she didn’t try to impress with a glamour image. She dressed simple; which held its own appeal and affect.

  “Yeah, they’re all right.” Jason teased.

  He had only brought over five pictures to add to her collection, one of his entire immediate family together, one of he and his brother, he and his sister, and another picture from their reception; which he had placed dead center on the mantle. He also had framed a picture that had been in the collection from the Neptune festival that had been snapped with them standing together unaware, laughing at something. That one he had placed on an end table. But compared to her one family picture it was evident that she and her family weren’t as close as his were.

  Jason watched as Yasmine walked over and picked up their wedding album from the center of the coffee table, where he had moved it.

  “You’re really setting the stage,” she remarked.

  “I can’t help it, when I do something I tend to go all out.” Jason offered her a smile from across the room.

  Placing the book back, she asked, “Are you hungry?”

  “Oh, yeah, you must have heard my stomach growling from upstairs.”

  “Then how about wheat germ, fruit, and yogurt?” She graced him with a large grin, when she entered the kitchen.

  “If I have to eat it, my counselor, I will, but I won’t like it.” Jason countered.

  “Don’t worry, you don’t have to...I’m making tofu eggs.”

  “Yuck.” He couldn’t even pretend to like it.

  ~ML~

  Jason and Yasmine made breakfast bagels with light cream cheese, turkey bacon with scrambled eggs whites. Jason was impressed how easily Yasmine incorporated the healthy suggestions she had given him into her own life. She only used lemon pepper to season the eggs, pan spray instead of the heaping amounts of butter that he normally would have used. He was also glad to see that although she was a health nut, she opted for light instead of fat free. He hated that stuff.

  When he had jokingly asked her what she did with the yolks, she’d told him something about using them with mayonnaise to condition her hair.

  He couldn’t hide the look of disgust that crossed his features at the thought of putting something that was basically salad dressing in his hair, but he did enjoy the sound of Yasmine’s laugh at his expression.

  “It’s just one of women’s secret beauty tips. If you let me condition your hair with it you’d love it.” Her lips curled up on the ends and humor lit up her eyes.

  He rubbed the top of his head, fingering the longer strands of his short hair. “No thanks, I’ll pass. How about these dishes, care to help me get them cleaned up?”

  “You got it.”

  Yasmine turned on the radio to the local station and they began to put the kitchen back in order.

  Jason was treasuring the moment he was having with Yasmine, as she stood unencumbered in her own environment. He noticed her humming and bobbing her head to the different songs that came across the airwaves. He occasionally joined her in a song or two.

  They began washing dishes. He scrubbed them while she dried. She was standing so close that they sporadically bumped elbows or brushed fingers in the rinse water. Jason was using everything in his arsenal to keep his mind focused on the mundane task and not concentrate on how good her bath soap smelled, mingling with her natural fragrance.

  “This is one of my favorite songs, I don’t actually get to hear it enough being hovelled in my office all the time.” Jason commented about a Shakira and Beyoncé song that came across the radio, trying to distract himself. He began to sing the lyrics aloud.

  “Oh, brotha...” Yasmine was saying.

  “What? You ought to be glad you got me when you did, otherwise Miss Hips Don’t Lie or Miss Crazy in Love would’ve been my future wife. I had it all planned out.”

  “Riiight. In your dreams, buddy. I have a better chance at marrying Boris Kodjoe.”

  “Don’t believe me? One day Shakira’s going to hear my lyrical style and beg me to accompany her in a duet of love.” Jason began to sing again, this time using a spoon as a microphone.

  He watched as Yasmine laughed at him, then stepped back away from the sink and began to perform what only could be described as the silliest dance he had ever seen. He was speechless at how fast her movements turned him on as he watched the dramatic playful sway of her hips as she mimicked the two artists.

  Jason stopped singing and moved toward her slowly.

  Yasmine was breathless and beautiful from dancing and laughing.

  He didn’t stop his progression until he stood in front of her; he recognized the moment when what was on his mind became clear to her. He noticed her pupils constrict and her eyes begin to darken. Neither of them closed the gap. They continued to stare at each other as the atmosphere around them became charged.

  Standing this close he could smell her, the fresh scent of her bath wash. Some sort of passionate nectar that caused his manhood to tighten and swell.

  Yasmine began to take hesitant steps backwards.

  That didn’t avert him from his goal. He was a man on the prowl, stalking his sexual mate, the one whose pheromones called to him—tempting him beyond thought or reason.

  The counter stopped Yasmine from retreating any further.

  They stood toe to toe, as he reached his hand out and brushed his thumb across her bottom lip. Her pulse beating rapidly on the side of her throat, he watched it, timing his own and finding it beating to the same rhythm. Before she could say anything to distract him, he leaned in and connected his mouth to hers. The kiss was magnetic. It seemed to pull all of his thoughts of how wrong this was and the knowledge that it would not lead anywhere out of his mind. Jason deepened the kiss and still couldn’t seem to get enough.

  Yasmine’s moan of enjoyment encouraged him. Aiming to level the playing field Jason lifted Yasmine’s petite frame up onto the countertop. His hands now had better access to what was within reach and he located the hem of her T-shirt and began to explore the soft skin underneath.

  As Jason’s mouth continued its onslaught of attention, his hands moved up her tiny ribcage to her full, firm breasts that were held captive in a lacy bra.

  ~ML~

  His kiss wrapped her in a lust-filled fog, but the feel of Jason’s hands molding her breasts caused her to shudder with need.

  “Jason, what are we doing...?” she asked in between Jason’s ardent kisses.

  “Kissing, sweetie...” Jason began to nibble on her bottom lip as his hands made quick work of the fastening located in the front of h
er bra.

  “We should...stop...” She stammered and her breath hitched, as his thumbs began to brush across her erect nipples. That feels so good, she confessed to herself.

  “I know...Yasmine,” Jason groaned as he gave her mouth one last thorough kiss before he lowered his head to her breast capturing one pert bud in his eager mouth.

  His sensuous mouth seemed to worship each of her breasts in its attention. Ahh, I love this, she thought as her body tingled from her breasts down to her sex, every place yearned for re-acquaintance.

  Gripping the back of his head she urged him not to stop as she wrapped her legs around his hips. Taking full advantage of the position, Jason went to his knees, pressing his face firmly against her aching sex restrained behind the lacy triangle at the front of her panties. He pushed her skirt to her waist and discovered she wore thongs.

  Winking, he removed them then grasped her full hips sliding her to the edge of the countertop toward his mouth.

  “Hmm, intoxicating,” he moaned.

  She panted as Jason’s considerate mouth loved her to ecstasy. His tongue slide between her slick folds, stroking and toying with the opening at her core, only to retreat and swirl around her distended clit, urging her gyrating her hips toward his clever mouth. He was persistent and unrelenting in his attention. When he grabbed her hips, held her firm and flushed to his face as he suckled the taut bud of her desire, her body tensed, then released and shattered into erotic oblivion.

  Deep in the throes of climax, she was vaguely aware of Jason unzipping his jeans and entering her body in one deep, hip raising thrust that made her breath catch in her throat.

  There was no finesse in the way Jason submerged his manhood within her heated sex. As he rotated his hips, caressed her sensitive spot with his bulbous head and rigorously pumped his solid length into her, Yasmine knew this was not going to be the same slow, gentle loving Jason, she had known on their wedding night. This was the all-consuming side of him. He left her no choice but to concentrate fully on the man deep inside of her, touching her soul. Jason serenaded her senses, commanding her to release all to him.

  The utter abandonment of their coupling brought them to an almost simultaneous trembling climax.

  They were still wrapped in each other’s arms and basking in the aftermath of the lovemaking when they were startled apart by the sound of Yasmine’s doorbell.

  Ding. Dong. It sounded again.

  Yasmine watched Jason snag a paper towel from the wooden spool and turn his back to her. She didn’t hesitate as she slid off the counter and grabbed her underwear from the floor.

  “I’m sure that’s the furniture guys. I’ll get the door, you take your time”, Yasmine heard him say as he tossed the wadded paper in the trash and headed toward the front door.

  Feeling awkward and self-conscious about what had just happened, Yasmine didn’t respond as she rushed into the downstairs bathroom.

  ~ML~

  “Charmagne Shakoor, I take it?” An hour later, after the furniture deliverymen had come and gone, Yasmine opened her front door to their last applicant for the part-time nanny position.

  Charmagne was buxom in form, Yasmine’s height, in her early thirties and a dark skinned woman who was the color of tropical wood. She had wide, cat-shaped mahogany eyes, thick curly lashes, high cheekbones, short jet-black hair and a smile as big as her bosom, showing beautiful white teeth.

  “I sure am.” She spoke in a jubilant voice.

  The sound of it made Yasmine smile and she liked the woman instantly.

  “Come in, please. I’m Yasmine Richardson and this is my husband Jason.” She escorted the woman over to the couches where Jason was sitting with the clipboard of questions they had created.

  Jason stood up when they approached and shook the other woman’s hand before they all took their seats.

  “It’s very nice to meet you both.” The woman sat on the loveseat located at a ninety-degree angle beside the couch. “Please, call me Charmagne,” she requested, as she handed them a copy of her resume.

  After the pleasantries, Jason asked, “Tell us about your experience working with children and which age groups you’re more comfortable around.”

  “Well, first of all I have four nephews from fourteen to seven and a niece that is thirteen. I took care of all of them when they were smaller in the evenings while my sister and brother in-law were getting their restaurant off the ground. I worked in a daycare center part-time while I was in college and for the last five years I have been a kindergarten teacher.”

  “So, do you plan to leave that job?”

  “For heaven’s sake, no.” She laughed good-naturedly. “I love my job.”

  “Then why do this? Aren’t you married or don’t you have children of your own?” Yasmine asked.

  “I’m married to a man I’ve loved since I was sixteen. But he’s a longshoreman who works well into the night, we only get to see each other on the weekends, so it makes for some very lonely long nights.”

  “And children?” Jason asked, in reference to the question she had left unanswered.

  “God just saw fit to give me fifteen new kids every year.” She held the sweetest smile on her face.

  Satisfied with the answer, Yasmine questioned, “So, how are you going to do this job if you’re at work all day?”

  “It was my understanding, ma’am, that you only need a part-time caregiver from two until six in the evening, because the children will be at a daycare during the morning.”

  “That’s correct.” Jason assured her.

  “Well, the private school where I work at lets the kindergartners out at twelve. There aren’t any afternoon sessions. I’m finished by one and on my way home by one thirty at the latest. Have you chosen a daycare center?” Charmagne asked.

  “We’re sending them to Step-by-Step; which is fifteen minutes from the house.”

  “I know them well. A friend I went to college with owns it with her mother. She’s planning to take it over in a few years when her mother retires.” Charmagne pondered for a moment. “Matter fact, it will take me twenty minutes to get to it from school and about thirty minutes if I was coming from my house on down days at the school.”

  Yasmine was glad to hear that. It would be nice to have both of their child providers familiar with each other and on good terms.

  She and Jason asked Charmagne about discipline and meal plans, activities and a variety of other questions and all of them the woman answered to their liking. She had even done what the other applicants had not, asked about the children and their personalities.

  They told the woman about the children and the circumstances in which they would be acquiring them.

  When the interview was over, they shook her hand and showed Charmagne to the door, telling her they would have their decision made by Monday.

  “So, what do you think?” Jason asked Yasmine after the woman had driven away in her full size sports utility vehicle, and they had closed the door.

  “I’d like to offer the job to her.” Yasmine gave him a broad smile.

  “So, would I. Can you contact her references on Monday and if everything checks out call her and offer her the position?”

  “Yes.”

  Tension filled the room as she and Jason stood staring at each other in silence.

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  Yasmine knew what he was referring to, but wanted to let the situation drop. “No, we just need to forget about it and leave it alone.” She walked deeper into the living room, until she stood in front of the mantel, gazing at their picture.

  “Can we honestly do that?” Jason asked.

  No, Yasmine’s body screamed. “Yes.” Her mouth lied.

  “Remember, we already tried that before. Evidently it didn’t work.”

  “We’ll just try harder.” She turned around to gaze at him, still standing across the living room with his hands slid into his back pocket and elbows akimbo at his sides. Stopping him, befo
re he could make any further arguments, Yasmine continued, “Look, Jason it’s getting late and I’m tired. I’m going to bed. Are you staying tonight?”

  “The way I’m feeling right now, I think it would be best if I went back to my apartment,” his voice was quiet, tinged with anger.

  Yasmine’s heart sank a little. She told herself she was glad she wouldn’t have to fight the sexual pull always between them tonight. Silently, she admitted to herself that a part of her longed to be held in his arms through the night.

  “Are you coming by here tomorrow?”

  “Probably not. Just call me when you hear from La-Tonya about when we can pick up the kids.”

  There her heart went again, lowering another notch.

  Yasmine nodded, not trusting her voice to speak now.

  “G-night, Yasmine.”

  “Good night, Jason.”

  She watched him exit the house without another word, locked her door, and went to bed.

  Sixteen

  She’s the kind of woman that makes a man make love in a heavy rain and not care that he’s getting wet or chancing pneumonia. She’s worth it.

  Jason thought to himself as he and Yasmine drove to the orphanage to pick up the twins. She had called him in the morning two days ago at work and told him that the children would be ready by noon on Wednesday for pick up. The afternoon of the same day, they had met for lunch at the orphanage and gave the news to the children. He could tell by the tension around Yasmine that day; she had been nervous that the children wouldn’t want to come and live with them. But, her fears had been useless, because from moment they had told the twins they had begun jumping up and down with excitement asking when they could leave.

  He hadn’t spoken to her since then and they had barely exchanged ten words when he had picked her up.

  He knew he should have called her during the week, but the only thing he could think about was being with her in a way she wouldn’t allow. Tonight would be the first night they would share a bed since Williamsburg. If she isn’t nervous about that...hell, I sure am.

  He pulled up to Angelic Refuge and parked the car. He walked around to her side of the vehicle and opened the door.