A Hustler's Promise 2 Promises Kept

by Jackie Chanel

  “If he’s conscious,” he answered. “If he’s conscious and can talk, I can perform a quick ceremony but it won’t be legal. If that’s what you want, I’ll be happy to do it.”

  Jaicyn nodded. “It’s what we want.”

  There was no way she wasn’t doing it now. That episode had scared the hell out of her. If he didn’t survive the next twenty-four hours, at least he would go with the comfort of knowing that he’d done everything that he promised her. And he never promised her that he’d be around forever.

  After a brief visit to the restroom to compose herself, Jaicyn, Dayshawn, Autumn, Rickie, Bobbie, and the chaplain gathered around Rayshawn’s bed. Autumn had spent the ten minutes Jaicyn was in the bathroom trying to get Rayshawn to wake up while his brother sulked in a chair. Rayshawn looked as alert as he could and Jaicyn stood by his side, holding his hand that wasn’t bandaged.

  “Dearly beloved,” the chaplain started. Autumn and the girls hit record on their cell phones.

  “We are gathered together here in the sign of God to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony.”

  Dayshawn glared at the pastor. He was tempted to stop the ridiculousness. The marriage wasn’t even real! Jaicyn had lost her damn mind!

  The chaplain continued. “This occasion marks the celebration of love and commitment with which this man and this woman begin their life together. I only know what these girls told me about Rayshawn and Jaicyn, but from what I can see, this relationship stands for love, loyalty, honesty and trust. Knowing this, it is my opinion that they are ready to take this most important step in their relationship.”

  “Do you Rayshawn take Jaicyn to be your wife? To live together in the holy estate of matrimony? To love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sadness and in joy, to cherish and continually bestow upon her your heart’s deepest devotion, forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her as long as you both shall live?”

  “I… do,” Rayshawn said in the loudest voice he could manage.

  The chaplain repeated the vows to Jaicyn.

  Jaicyn had tears running down her face when she nodded and said, “I do.”

  “Rayshawn and Jaicyn have pledged their faith and declared their unity before their friends and family and so, by the power vested in me by Almighty God, I now pronounce you man and wife.”

  Jaicyn leaned over and planted a soft kiss on Rayshawn’s lips. At the feel of his new bride’s lips against his, Rayshawn closed his eyes. He may have been severely injured and struggling to hold on but he could think, see, and feel.

  For that moment, he didn’t feel any pain. He didn’t feel tired. He didn’t feel anything but a sense of peace. Jaicyn was his wife. He’d done everything he could to get to this very moment, the moment he could officially claim her to be Mrs. Rayshawn Moore and the mother of his child. Although he couldn’t will his muscles to show it, Rayshawn was smiling inside.

  “Let’s give the newlyweds a minute alone,” Autumn said. She hugged her friend. “Congratulations Mrs. Moore.”

  When the chaplain and their family left the room and Rayshawn and Jaicyn were alone for the first time, as husband and wife, Jaicyn sat down next to the bed.

  “I know why you wanted to do this,” Jaicyn said softly. She hoped Rayshawn was still awake and listening even though his eyes were closed.

  “But you can’t give up now. We’re married and we still have long lives to lead. You kept your promise but you’re stronger than you realize. I know you’re hurting, but you have so much to live for.”

  “I…can’t,” Rayshawn whispered.

  “Don’t keep saying that,” Jaicyn wept. “Don’t ever say you can’t. You’re the one who use to tell me that we can do and be anything that we want as long as we have each other. Well, I’m here, Rayshawn. You have me.”

  The heart monitor blared again and again the team of nurses and doctors bum rushed the room.

  “Rayshawn,” Jaicyn cried. “Please baby, hold on.”

  Jaicyn couldn’t hear Rayshawn’s voice as she was being pushed out of the room by the nurses but she could see his lips moving as he mouthed ‘I Love You’ before Jaicyn was completely out of the room and the nurse slammed the door.

  Jaicyn watched in horror again, as the same procedure was repeated. The nurse pushed the needle into Rayshawn’s chest but this time nothing happened. Jaicyn’s eyes stayed focused on the heart monitor. The up and down lines were becoming less frequent. Jaicyn felt queasy as the lines became flatter and flatter. The room started to spin and she was on the ground and had fainted before she could hear the doctor announce sullenly…

  “He’s gone.”

  Chapter 21

  Jaicyn eased her eyes open and gripped the sides of the hospital bed she was lying on. A horrified scream caught in her throat and she grabbed her stomach.

  Her baby!

  Rayshawn!

  “Shh, shh, Jaicyn,” Autumn put her hands on Jaicyn’s shoulders and eased her back against the pillow. “It’s okay.”

  “My baby?”

  “The baby is fine,” Autumn assured her. “Just relax.”

  “Why am I here?”

  “You fainted. They gave you a sedative.”

  Jaicyn looked around the dim room. The sun was just beginning to rise over Baltimore. She took a deep breath. Her son kicked a painful kick right in the ribs that brought a smile and sense of relief. Her son was fine.

  Rayshawn wasn’t.

  Jaicyn’s breath caught in her lungs. Autumn was in the chair next to the bed. Rickie and Bobbie were sitting on the second bed in the room, watching television half asleep. Dayshawn was the only one missing. That only meant one thing. Rayshawn was really gone. Jaicyn started to cry.

  “What? What is it?” Autumn fretted over her friend.

  “Rayshawn,” Jaicyn wept. “Oh God! He’s…he’s gone!”

  “No, he’s not,” Autumn told her. “He’s still alive…sort of.”

  “Sort of? What the fuck does that mean?”

  Jaicyn sat up and snatched the IV out of her hand and set off one of the machines. The beeping made her sisters wake up.

  “What are you doing?” Rickie asked. “You look insane, snatching needles out of your arm. Lay back down.”

  “Where is Rayshawn? And what the fuck does sort of alive mean?” She glared at Autumn. “Don’t lie to me.”

  “He’s…” Autumn tried to think of the easiest way to tell Jaicyn what happened. “He’s on life support.”

  “He’s on what?” Jaicyn yelled. “Where is he? I want to see him!”

  “Jay-Jay, calm down. He’s in ICU still. You can see him. Dayshawn’s in there.”

  Jaicyn looked like a mad woman as she walked as fast as she could down the hospital corridor. She walked into the room that had R. Moore on white strip on the door.

  Dayshawn was sitting beside his brother’s bed. The respirator breathing for Rayshawn was the only sound in the room. Dayshawn didn’t look good. His eyes were bloodshot red and his shoulders heaved as he cried silent tearless cries. He didn’t even look up when Jaicyn walked into the room. She sat in the other chair opposite Dayshawn and stroked Rayshawn’s cast.

  The pair sat in silence for a long time, listening to the respirator and staring at Rayshawn’s broken and motionless body.

  “They say he probably won’t wake up.” Dayshawn’s voice was so low that even in the quiet room, Jaicyn couldn’t hear him.

  “What did you say?”

  Dayshawn lifted his eyes and gazed at Jaicyn. His stomach twisted and turned. He didn’t want to repeat the words but he had to. She was the woman that Rayshawn would have died for. He loved her more than he loved anything else. As much as it hurt her, Jaicyn had to know the same information that Dayshawn had spent the last four hours coming to terms with.

  Rayshawn was gone. He wasn’t coming back. The sooner they all dealt with it, the better.

  “T
he doctors don’t believe he’ll ever wake up,” Dayshawn answered. “They want to take him off the respirator.”

  Jaicyn blinked rapidly and tried to control her breathing. She couldn’t pass out…not again.

  “That’s not happening,” she stated.

  She continued to stroke Rayshawn’s hand and gripped the sheet on the corner of the bed with her other hand. The damn doctors didn’t know what they were talking about. Rayshawn had survived surgery in Washington Heights, the helicopter ride and the second surgery, despite the doctors thinking he wouldn’t.

  “We’re not pulling the plug,” Jaicyn whispered as her lingered over her man. “That’s not an option.”

  “You can’t make that decision.”

  “What do you mean? I’m his wife. I’m the only one who can make that decision.”

  Dayshawn shook his head. “You’re not his wife, Jay-Jay. That little ceremony shit wasn’t legal. You heard the reverend say that. I’m next of kin. I have to make the decision.”

  “You’ve already decided, haven’t you?” Jaicyn whispered, still staring at her man. She couldn’t bear to look at his brother.

  A single tear rolled down Dayshawn’s cheek. “He’s not coming back from this,” Dayshawn moaned. “What kind of life is this? Machines breathing for him, never waking up to see his child or his family? Come on Jay-Jay, you know my brother wouldn’t want to live like that. That’s not living!”

  Jaicyn’s shoulders hunched and she leaned forward to rest her head on Rayshawn’s bed. Dayshawn was telling the truth, but she couldn’t let him go. She wasn’t ready.

  “He’s your brother, Dayshawn. You can’t do this to him.”

  “I didn’t do this to him,” Dayshawn yelled angrily. “I didn’t kill my brother!”

  “He’s not dead!” Jaicyn cried.

  She hadn’t heard what the doctors had told Dayshawn. She hadn’t spent the last four hours hearing the words “won’t wake up” swirling around in his head, like a scratched CD. In every sense of the word, Rayshawn was dead. Only the respirator and the machines were keeping him alive. Someone had killed his brother in Washington Heights and no one was doing anything about it.

  “I’m going back to Washington Heights,” Dayshawn told Jaicyn. “You can sit here and cry, but I’m going to find out who did this to my brother and take care of it.”

  Jaicyn looked up and laughed. He was going home to do what? Dayshawn had never gotten his hands dirty doing anything. He didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.

  “You’re going to take care of it?” she said skeptically. “You?”

  “Yes.”

  Jaicyn laughed again. “You’re going to get yourself killed. I will handle this. Don’t you know me at all? No one is scared of you, Dayshawn, but those niggas back home know me. They know I’m not going to let this shit go unhandled. They will feel my wrath. You just be cool. As soon as Rayshawn wakes up, I’ll take care of this. So stop with all the going home and pulling the plug shit you’re talking. Maybe you should go back to the hotel and get some sleep.”

  Dayshawn watched as Jaicyn went back to stroking Rayshawn’s hand and staring at him. He’d let her have her moment because she still hadn’t talked to the doctors. He didn’t want her too stressed because she was still carrying his brother’s child. Once she heard Dr. Sanji’s opinion on the situation, she’d understand that they didn’t have a choice but turn the machines off.

  But no matter what she said, she couldn’t keep him out of Washington Heights. At seven months pregnant, she couldn’t do anything to anyone, but he could. He needed to right the wrong that had been done to his brother. Rayshawn wasn’t the type of person who caused trouble and hurt people just for the sake of hurting people. He didn’t deserve to have his life snatched away from him before it really began.

  “I’ll be back,” Dayshawn said and started to walk out of the hospital room.

  “Take my sisters with you!” Jaicyn called after him.

  Dayshawn kept walking with no intention of doing what she asked. He was on his way home. There were some people he needed to talk to. Plus, he had to see a man about a gun.

  ****

  “Miss Jones?” Rayshawn’s surgeon walked past his room and stopped when he saw Jaicyn sitting on the chair next to the bed.

  Dr. Sanji had been away from the hospital for almost a week. He hadn’t expected to come back and find Rayshawn still on life support and his family still waiting it out.

  “Oh hey, Dr. Sanji,” Jaicyn smiled wearily at the doctor.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “We’re just watching TV,” she answered.

  Dr. Sanji’s brow wrinkled as he walked into the room. He was familiar with the kind of situation that Jaicyn was in. She didn’t want to accept the fact that the man she loved wasn’t going to wake up. He saw it often with mothers and wives. That’s why he explained the dire situation to Dayshawn.

  “Miss Jones, we need to talk about this.”

  Jaicyn shook her head. “No, we don’t. I’ve heard everything from every doctor on this floor…every day for the last week. And I don’t care. I’m not giving up on him. He will wake up.”

  Dr. Sanji shrugged. He’d give her a couple more days. Jaicyn rolled her eyes at the doctor’s back as he walked out of the room. No one was pulling any fucking plugs…not on Rayshawn.

  Jaicyn’s phone vibrated on the table. She answered it.

  “Has Dayshawn called you?” she asked Autumn.

  “No. He hasn’t talked to anyone at his firm either. No one knows where he is,” Autumn answered.

  “Fuck me!” Jaicyn grunted into the phone. “What the fuck is he doing? I have all my people back home looking for him. I swear, Autumn, if he got himself killed…” her voice trailed off. The idea of losing both brothers was unbearable.

  “I’m sure he’s okay,” Autumn said. “He’s not stupid. He’s just dealing with this the best way he can. To him, Rayshawn is dead. He lost his twin brother, Jay-Jay. Rayshawn was the only family he had left. Give him some time.”

  “What about me? When did I stop being family?” Jaicyn sighed. “Will you just let me know if he shows up in Atlanta?”

  “Are you sure you want to do this? The girls want to stay with you.”

  “Yes, I’m sure. I don’t care what Rickie and Bobbie want. They’re getting on that plane and going back to school. Who knows how long I’m going to be here.”

  “Well, I’ll stay with them as long as necessary,” Autumn said. “You just take care of yourself. And don’t do anything stupid, like go to Washington Heights looking for Dayshawn.”

  “I’m not leaving this hospital. Call me when the plane lands.”

  Jaicyn sat the phone back on the table and looked at Rayshawn. “You’re brother is going to drive me nuts. At least the girls are going to be alright.”

  She pulled a book out of her purse and leaned back in her chair. Her sisters were in Autumn’s care, whether they liked it or not. Her doctor’s visit had gone fine that morning, and Blaque was driving in from Ohio so they could discuss their next plan of action. Only one thing was wrong.

  Where the hell was Dayshawn?

  Chapter 22

  “Rayshawn,” Jaicyn said, “our wedding is still on, you know. You only have four months to keep up this charade.”

  “Wake up!” She pounded her fists on the thin mattress in frustration. Rayshawn didn’t stir. A few minutes ago she thought she saw his eyelids flutter and hours ago she saw his finger twitch. That kind of thing only happened if the coma patient was about to wake up. But nothing had happened.

  “I heard he wasn’t going to do that,” said a voice from behind her. Jaicyn spun around and Blaque groaned.

  “You look terrible,” he said bluntly.

  Jaicyn ran her fingers through her hair. She needed a wash and style badly. She wanted her clothes but sitting around in designer clothes didn’t make sense. She was alternating between her jeans and some scrubs a
nurse had given her. She couldn’t do anything about the dark circles under her eyes.

  “Glad you finally showed up,” was Jaicyn’s sarcastic reply. “You were supposed to be here yesterday.”

  Blaque stood over Rayshawn’s bed and stared down at his friend. “Had a stop to make,” he simply answered. “Sit down. We need to talk.”

  “Duh. I called you, remember? You sit down.”

  Blaque’s dark eyes turned even darker. “Don’t give me any of that ‘I’m the boss’ attitude. That shit doesn’t work with me. You need to listen to somebody else other than yourself right now. Sit down.”

  Jaicyn didn’t like being bossed around by anyone but Blaque was serious so she sat.

  “Dayshawn’s still missing,” she told him before he said something that she didn’t want to hear.

  “Twin is not missing. He’s on his way back to Atlanta.”

  Jaicyn’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “What?”

  “He went to see King then he came to Washington Heights. We talked. He told his grandparents what happened and what you’re doing. He doesn’t want this-” he pointed to Rayshawn’s respirator, “for his brother.”

  “He’s going to wake up!”

  “Don’t kid yourself, Jay-Jay. As hard as I know this is for you, you have to start listening to the professionals,” Blaque told her. “We knew he wasn’t going to make it. They tried, Jaicyn, but it didn’t work.”

  Jaicyn’s eyes started to water but she tried not to cry in front of Blaque until he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and urged her to let it out.

  “You have to let this go, baby-girl. You, Dayshawn, and his family need to start healing. You need to mourn. That can’t happen like this.”

  “I’m fine,” Jaicyn wiped her eyes. “You don’t need to worry about me. I know what I’m doing.”

  “This time you don’t,” Blaque said. “This time, it isn’t just about you. Rayshawn has family, Jaicyn, and they don’t want this.”