Chapter 4
Jasmine stood as the orderlies wheeled Tyrone into the room, and watched as they laid his limp body on the bed. The nurse followed and hooked him up to the IV. A hand rested on her shoulder. “He’s out of it, huh?” Renee said.
Jasmine nodded.
“You want to grab a bite to eat?”
Jasmine shook her head. “No. I’m not hungry right now. Go and get you something. I’ll be right here.” She retook her seat and stared hard at her son. There was a niggling feeling in the back of her neck that something was skewed. He looked drugged. She looked at the IV and realized that was a possibility. Leaning forward, she rested her fist beneath her chin and looked around the large room. Everything in this place was plus-sized, made for big people like her sister said. She chuckled at the absurd thought.
Her cell rang, and she dug it out of her bag, checking to make sure the noise didn’t bother him. Her heart pounded with profound relief when she looked at the caller ID.
“Rese? Rese how’re you doing, sweetie?” Her throat tightened when she heard the deep timbre of his voice. Her boys were now men.
“I’m okay, Mom. I got your message, where’s Rone?”
“He just came back from tests and he's asleep now. But it was close for a minute.” She didn’t want to get into everything with him being so far away, but she knew he wanted to know.
“I know. It was… well, it was weird. I felt him leave. It freaked me out and almost cost the lives of my unit when I fell flat on my face. They said I was unconscious for five minutes.”
Her hand flew to her mouth in horror. “Oh my God,” she whispered, closing her eyes. This was too much. Both her sons had been at risk. She frowned. How was that possible?
He released a long sigh. “I’m being sent back for testing. My commander doesn’t want to risk me passing out again. I’ll be stateside, Bethesda in twenty-four hours. I had to wait to call you until I got clearance.”
Her heart ached for him. “Are they putting you out of the service?” She knew how much he enjoyed his work. She didn’t like it or understand why he courted danger, but she tried to be supportive.
“I’m not sure. The connection with Rone isn’t my fault or something within my control. But when he winked out, he took me on a ride with him. That’s never happened before now. Maybe with these tests, they’ll figure out something.”
On one hand her heart ached for him, but on the other she was jumping for joy that he’d be here tomorrow. She’d have both her boys. “We’re at another hospital, one that specializes in the trauma Rone had. Whatever they’re doing for him, it’s working. When we got here a few days ago, he looked like he was on his last leg. Now, he sits up, talks, and eats. I don’t know why that doctor at the other military hospital said it would take him months to recover.”
She heard his breath whistle through the phone. His silence concerned her. “Rese? Rese, he’s going to be alright. I’ll tell him you’re coming and that’ll cheer him up. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine.”
“Ma… Ma, I…”
“Yeah, baby?” She waved over her sister, who was holding a tray of food.
“I love you and can’t wait to see you.”
She smiled. “I love you, too. Your aunt just walked in, say hello.” She held the phone out to her sister, picked up a fried pickle from the plate and popped it into her mouth.
Renee squealed. “I can’t wait to see you, Boo. You sound good and have just made my day.”
Jasmine looked up and noticed a handsome man standing near the entrance. He wore sunglasses. His thick dark hair was brushed back from a widow’s peak. As he stepped into the room, her eyes roamed across his wide chest, flat, narrow stomach, and long thick legs. The short-sleeved shirt he wore stretched taut across his chest and protested the large muscular arms pulling at the seams. He wore a tailored pair of dress pants and dark leather loafers.
A tingling started at the base of her neck, slid down her back, and settled in her core. Her face warmed when she realized he’d been watching her stare at him.
“Can I help you?” she asked, pulling her eyes to his face. High cheekbones, a straight nose, full firm lips and nice teeth. She couldn’t see his eyes, but was sure they enhanced his looks alongside everything else. He wasn’t pretty. Two words came to mind, masculinity personified. One hundred percent all man.
“I came to check on Tyrone. I met him earlier this morning, and he asked me to stop by later to meet his mom and aunt.”
“Oh.” She looked at Tyrone who was stirring, but not fully awake, and then at the man who had to be almost six and a half feet tall. They sure grew them big out here.
“Sir?” Tyrone whispered, struggling to sit forward.
All thoughts of sexy man flew out her mind as she walked to Tyrone's bed and fluffed his pillow. The tall male followed.
Renee eyed him and pointed at his back. “That’s him. That’s the one,” she mouthed.
The man turned to look at Renee. She handed Jasmine the phone and walked to the other side of the bed. “How you feeling, Rone? Do I need to call a nurse?” Renee asked, avoiding looking at the handsome stranger.
“No, just a few ice chips, please.”
“Sure.” She picked up the bucket, shook a small amount of ice into his cup and placed one on his lips.
Eyes closed, his head flopped back. “How long have I been out?”
“Just a couple of hours,” Jasmine said, looking over her shoulder at the silent giant. “You have a visitor, someone other than me and your aunt.”
His eyes opened and she could have sworn they flashed. But it happened so fast she wasn’t sure. “Rone?”
He turned his gaze to her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m just waking from a deep sleep. I think the meds were too strong, I shouldn’t have been out that long.” Although he was talking to her, he kept looking at the guy behind her.
“Should I call a nurse, have her check it out?”
“No, I’ll talk to the person in charge to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
There was a grunt behind her. She spun around, and the man looked down at her. Sticking out her hand, she introduced herself. “Hi, I’m Jasmine Bennett, Tyrone’s mom.”
He took her hand. “I’m Silas Knight, an administrator of this facility.”
“Why didn’t you just say that when were in the first hospital?” Renee asked, her tone testy.
He shrugged and released Jasmine’s hand. He stepped forward and spoke to Tyrone. “How are you feeling right now? Rested?”
Nodding, Tyrone looked at the man for a second or two. “But I might take the doctor up on the therapy tomorrow.” He said it as if it were an afterthought.
“What time tomorrow?” Jasmine asked, frowning. She didn’t know how much time Tyrese would have to spend with them and she didn’t want Tyrone to miss him.
“Uh… I don’t know.” He glanced up at Silas. “I guess I can ask the doctor in the morning.”
Jasmine eyed their visitor and spoke. “Good. Rese called while you were out.”
“He did?” A light flared in her son’s eyes.
Jasmine nodded, so pleased with his response she forgot the stranger. “Yeah. He should be here tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Tyrone beamed. Then he frowned. “Are you sure? How’d he get leave?” His eyes slid to Silas and then returned to her.
Hesitating, she bit her lip, not wanting to talk family business in front of a stranger.
“We’ll talk about that later,” Renee said. “Silas, do you know how long they intend to keep my nephew here? Can he be transferred to St. Louis and receive treatment there?”
“That is something we can discuss with the doctor in the morning. I’m not exactly sure what therapy is planned for Tyrone, so I cannot say.”
“Thanks.” Renee nodded and turned back to Jasmine, her brow raised.
“Something smells good.” Tyrone lifted to see over the footboard.
Jasmine looked back at the tray with quite a few goodies on it. “Your aunt brought back lunch, but none for you until the doctor clears it.”
His face fell as he slumped back on the bed. “Tomorrow. I need real food to get better.”
She and Renee laughed.
Silas smiled. He had a nice smile, Jasmine thought.
“Mom, Aunt Renee, I wanted both of you to meet Silas Knight. He’s the top man in charge.”
Silas looked at her and then Renee. “If you need anything or have any concerns, feel free to come to me.”
“How do we contact you?” Renee asked.
With an economy of movements, he handed Jasmine a card, nodded at Tyrone, and walked out the room.
When she could no longer hear his footsteps, Jasmine sat on the edge of the bed and held Tyrone’s hand.
“Now that’s a man.” Renee blurted.
Both Tyrone and Jasmine stared wide-eyed at her.
“What? Because I prefer women don’t mean I can’t appreciate a good-looking man. I do. I just don’t want to do more than look.”
“Okaaay,” Jasmine said, turning from her smirking sister and looking down at Tyrone. “Rese is being sent stateside for testing. When you…” She couldn’t say died. “Went under, he fainted in the middle of a tense situation.”
Tyrone’s eyes widened.
“It… it caused a problem for his unit.” She swallowed hard, feeling him tense. “So he’s being sent back for testing and to see if he can still serve in the military.” She watched as his eyes closed tight. His head fell to the side away from her. Wary, she sought Renee to get her take on what she’d said.
Her sister shrugged. “They’ve always been close. I imagine this separation has been hard for each of them. Maybe they have to serve together.”
Jasmine shook her head. “Rese is Marines.”
Her sister frowned.
“Rone is Army.”
“Oh. I got it. Can’t mix the two.” Renee brushed Rone’s cheek. “It’s going to be okay, your brother will be here tomorrow and the two of you can work it out.” She looked at Jasmine. “With Rese here, chances are they’ll both have to do some psyche stuff.”
Jasmine nodded, she hadn’t thought about that. But it didn’t matter, there was no place other than right here she needed to be. She’d paid off her house. Her few bills were on automatic bill pay. Her car remained safe in her garage and her mail sat at the post office. Plus she had great neighbors who looked out for one another.
“Probably, but we’ll get it all worked out.”
Tyrone turned and looked at her for a few moments. He squeezed her hand and lifted up on the bed. “Ma,” he whispered and fell into her arms.
Rubbing his face and back, she whispered. “It’s going to be okay, Rone. You’ll see. Things have a way of working out. You’ll see.” She kept rocking him until his tense muscles relaxed, and he kissed her on the cheek. He reached for his aunt. She leaned over him and held him close for a while.
“Your mama’s right, Rone. Things always work out in the end. We don’t understand everything, but we have one another and we stick together.”
He nodded. When he looked up at her again, his eyes were uneasy. With the threat of his brother being put out the service, and him as well, he had a right to be troubled. So she let him be. But her gut churned in apprehension.
They’d always been able to fix problems by meeting them head on. As a single parent for the most part, she’d had to think outside the box and many times, create a whole new box. But this was the government and her influence was non-existent. Her husband had spent almost twenty years serving Uncle Sam, but she had never met any of his unit or any of his friends. He’d kept her separate from his career. They'd never lived on base. From the very first, he'd always rented a house far away from town and base.
She pulled herself from the dark muddle of yesterday. “That’s right, Sis.”