THERE WAS A constant thumping or hammering. Not sure where it was coming from, Cynthia moved her head in the direction she thought the sound was originating. The slight movement made it very clear the pain and thumping were inside her head. Opening her eyes didn’t help. She closed them hoping the spinning of the room would slow down. The stillness eased the pain slightly, but not completely. Fingers caressed the area on her forehead that was causing the pain. “Rest, Sleeping Beauty,” a voice said, “You’re not alone.” The quiet voice had an immediate calming effect, an unexplainable sense of security from the gentle touch guided her deeper into the recesses of her mind and moments later she was lost in her dreams.
Hours later she cried out, “Turn the lights out!” When the light remained, she slowly opened her eyes. At that point, she realized it was the sun shining through the window. Looking around, somewhat disoriented, her eyes fell on a man sleeping in the chair by the door. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t quite focus on who he was. His long legs were stretched out and crossed at the ankle. Nice shoes, she thought as she continued her silent evaluation. She noticed the jeans fit his thighs rather well. Her eyes traveled up over the turtleneck sweater covering his expansive chest. That she remembered. As her scan reached his face, his eyes met hers. She could read the amusement in the coal-black eyes as they stared back at her. Now, if she could just remember his name.
“LaVere’,” he said as if reading her mind. “Good morning.”
Cynthia looked around. She was certain he was not the man that brought her to the hospital. Nor was his the voice she heard during her sleep, but that was no reason to be rude. “Good morning,” she mumbled as she attempted to sit up. The discomfort from the movement showed on her face. LaVere’ went to her aide, lifted her as if she was a feather, and gently sat her up in the bed. Holding her against his strong chest he positioned the pillows behind her and slowly laid her back down. He then pushed the button for a nurse.
“Is that better?” he asked concerned.
Amazed at how gentle he was, she smiled, “Yes, much. Thank you.” She looked around the room, “Is Brian here?”
LaVere’ put his hands in his pockets, “I’m not sure who Brian may be, but if he was the gentleman that was here when I arrived, he indicated there were issues he had to handle.”
Cynthia frowned, “Describe him.”
“Six two or three, light brown skin, close hair cut and rather mean-looking.”
Cynthia nodded her head without thinking of the pain it would cause and squinted, “Yeah, that’s him.” She grabbed a fist full of the sheet and squeezed as the pain literally shot through her head. The pain was so severe she thought she would throw up. Sliding down the pillow and her pain began to ease.
The nurse walked in and began to check her vital signs. “Good morning Ms. Thornton, how are you feeling?”
“As if my head was sandwiched between two Mack trucks going one hundred and twenty miles an hour before they slammed into each other.”
The nurse chuckled, “That’s quite descriptive.”
“Is there something you could give her for the pain?” LaVere’ asked.
She began to administer medication. “The doctor anticipated some discomfort and left instructions to give you this. It will help until he arrives.”
“Any idea when that will be?”
The nurse looked at her watch, “He usually makes his rounds around eight. For now, you should rest.” The nurse smiled and left the room.
“Keep your eyes closed and relax.” LaVere’ suggested. “Just relax.” That was the last word Cynthia heard as she drifted back to a less painful place.
* * *
“Doesn’t it seem like an awful long time for her to be asleep? Are you sure she was awake earlier?” Ashley asked LaVere’. The concern for her friend was very clear on her face.
“Yeah, are you sure Prince Ashro? I don’t mean to question you, but Cynthia has never been a late sleeper. It’s after ten in the morning. Surely, she should be awake by now.” Tracy sighed from where she sat on the side of the bed holding her friend’s hand as she slept.
Before LaVere’ could respond, Rosaline who was on the other side of the bed exhaled. “I want to know where the damn doctor is. The nurse I spoke with said he would be here around nine, and that was an hour ago.” She began to stand, “I need to go find her again.”
“No!” the men in the room yelled in unison. They were desperate to keep Roz away from the nursing staff who had threatened to throw them all out if she returned to the desk.
“Roz, let’s wait until she’s awake. The doctor can’t examine her until then anyway.” JD suggested as he displayed that smile, which most people believe got him elected into office. “I’m sure the nurse understood our concern the first five times you told her.”
“JD, you are the Attorney General of the State, can’t you make them find the doctor or do something?” Rosaline pleaded.
“Yeah JD, can’t you make them wake her up?” his sister Ashley questioned.
JD looked at the two women and wondered why they believed he would have any authority over the hospital. The court system in the state, yes, he has a say in that. The district attorney offices across the state, yes he also had a say in that. But to his knowledge, nothing could move doctors to show up for rounds until they are ready to.
He was about to share that knowledge with them when his wife Tracy turned to him. “Sweetie, you are so good at convincing people to do things. Would you please ask the nurse to place a call to the doctor? I am so worried about her being like this.”
All eyes went to JD as he melted from the beautiful brown eyes staring so sadly at him. There was nothing he could refuse Tracy. He turned to look at James who had nothing but a sympathetic look for him. The bond between the two was more than brother-in-law to brother-in-law. It was one of mutual understanding. Neither of them could say no to their wives. Nevertheless, he also knew patience was what was needed in this situation. JD stepped over and kissed his wife’s cheek. “I’ll try babe.”
Tracy rewarded him with a smile, “Thank you.”
“JD, while you’re out there, tell that nurse to bring some more of those really great drugs they gave me before. Cynthia said as she turned over on her side.
“Cyn,” Rosaline cried out, “girl, how you feeling? Are you okay? Do you need anything? You want some water, or something to eat?”
Cynthia turned back towards them just as she saw Ashley run over to stand at the foot of her bed. “I feel like a sledgehammer is using my head for drums. No, I’m not okay, but I don’t think I’m dead, yet. Yes, I need that nurse with the really good drugs. No, I don’t want water or anything to eat.”
“Okay babe,” JD said to Tracy, “Cynthia is back to her normal bitchy self. Can we go home now?”
“Jeffrey,” Tracy scolded. “She is just waking from a terrible ordeal. How else do you expect her to act?”
“Um, babe, I just had a traumatic ordeal also. I’ve been away from my wife, whom I love dearly, for two weeks. I have been a very patient man, waiting for the day I could come home and make love to my wife again. This is that day. And since she is neither dead nor dying, I will be damned if I am going to allow Cynthia to block that.”
All eyes were once again on JD. He looked around at the expressions on his friends' faces. “Oh, like you don’t understand?” he said to James.
James chuckled, “I feel your pain. Been there, done it.”
LaVere’ smiled, “I haven’t been there, but I feel your pain also.”
Cynthia looked at the embarrassment on Tracy’s face and patted her hands. “Tracy, go home with JD. I think he needs you a lot more than I do right now.”
Tracy was still looking at him in shock when Brian came into the room. He looked around at the silent faces and asked, “Okay, what did Tracy say this time?”
Rosaline and Ashley could not hold it in any longer and began laughing. James attempted to stand by JD and not join in with the women, but it did not last long.
JD shook Brian’s hand, “Hey B.”
“JD,” Brian acknowledged as he continued to look around the room amused. “Tracy?”
Not at all ashamed by his statement, JD spoke up. “I was just explaining to my wife how much I was looking forward to staying in bed with her this morning. But since she insisted, and I, being the loving husband that I am, brought her here to see about Cynthia. Now that we know she is not on death’s door, I was merely suggesting that we go home and resume the activities I had in mind.”
Brian looked from his JD to Tracy and then back. “Uhh huh, in other words, you’re horny.”
“As hell!” JD replied.
“I see,” Brian smiled and then looked at the group of women and smiled.
Tracy joined JD at the door and kissed his cheek. “I missed you too, babe. And since you were kind enough to bring me here in the snow to see Cynthia, let’s go home,” she smiled up at him. “You can teach me that blow job thingy that Brian wouldn’t show me.” Ignoring the shocked look on her friends’ faces, she turned to Cynthia. “I’ll see you when you get home.” She turned and walked out of the room.
JD cleared his throat, then smiled at his friends, “Check y’all latter.” and took off behind Tracy.
“With that, I believe it’s safe for us to go home also,” James said to Ashley as he took her hand in his.
“What about Cynthia?”
“She is not going home with us,” James ardently stated.
“I will take Cynthia home, just as soon as the doctor releases her. Which he indicated would be around noon.”
“Thank you, Brian,” James smiled. “LaVere’, we will see at the house.” He then turned to Cynthia, “I do hope you feel better.”
Ashley blew her a kiss, “I’ll talk to you when you get home.”
Cynthia smiled at LaVere’ as he walked by to leave. “Thank you for staying with me.”
“Anything for a princess,” he nodded and left the room.
Once the room was clear, Brian gave her the clothes he brought from her house. “I thought you might need these.”
“Thanks,” she said as she eased her legs to the side of the bed. “Can you stop the room from spinning?”
He smiled, as he looked at the awful hospital gown she had on. “No, but once you get out of the prison getup, you will immediately feel better. Here, let me help you.”
This was a constant in her life. Whenever she was in need, Brian was there to help her. Now that he had his own business, Thompson Protection Agency, she knew he was busy, but he still was there for her, just like when she was a little girl. He turned around and allowed her to balance against his back to get dressed. “Umm Brian,” she said, “there was a man here last night. I think he was the man that helped me at the accident. Did you see him?”
Brian was sure she was referring to Samuel Lassiter, the man he had tailing her. Since the telephone call he received, he had assigned one of his new agents to trail her. He wasn’t ready to tell her about the call until he checked things out. “When I left last night, LaVere’ was here.”
“Oh,” she replied in a disappointed tone. Maybe it was just her imagination. The craziest thing was she was sure she recognized the face, the touch, and the voice.
* * *
On the ride home, Cynthia was unusually quiet. Any other time she would have complained about his driving or something by now. Brian looked over at her. She was looking out the window. The look on her face bothered him—it always did when she was unhappy. “Are you okay over there?”
She slowly turned her head towards him and presented a sad smile. “Brian,” she said in a sad voice that was very uncharacteristic of her, “is there a reason you and I never got together?”
Brian jerked his head towards her so quickly the vehicle veered into the next lane. He corrected the error quickly and took another quick look at her. Something warned him to tread lightly on this topic. “I am an asshole and you can be a little bitchy. It doesn’t make for a good combination.”
She stared at him, “You’re right. You can be an ass.” Then she turned and continued looking out the passenger side window. “And I can be a bitch.” A few minutes went by before she continued, “At heart, I think I’m a good person. I don’t understand why no one loves me.”
“What are you talking about? There was a room full of people at the hospital and each one of them loves you.”
She slowly exhaled, “JD was there because he loves Tracy. James was there because he loves Ashley. Rosaline was there because,” she hesitated “well she has just always been around. There was no one there for me.”
“What about LaVere’?”
“He was there because of his friendship with James.” Brian didn’t believe for one minute the Prince was there for James. In fact, when he left the hospital, it was LaVere’ that indicated he would stay with her overnight. But sensing she simply needed to talk, he decided to just listen. “I get tired of being the third wheel and I’m sure you are too. When we are all out, you and I end up dancing together. And lately, even you have had someone there. Is there something wrong with me? Am I such a bad person that no one can love me?”
“You have a tendency to go after the wrong men for the wrong reasons. You haven’t discovered that sex and love are two totally different animals, Tracy, Ashley and Rosaline have.” He looked over at her, “When the time is right someone is going to see the beautiful heart you have and love you regardless how hard it is to look at your face.”
A small smile creased her lips, “You believe someone will take the time to look into my heart.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Do you think you could send them soon? At the moment I feel terribly alone.” She closed her eyes and dozed off for the remainder of the trip home.
Something in her voice worried him. Cynthia was always so spirited. Brian has known her since she was very young. He had never witnessed the type of despair he was seeing today. Nothing ever seemed to bring her down. Even when he knew she was hurting, he had seen her put on her makeup and smile. That smile never wavered, until now. Most of her friends thought it was just the way she was, nothing ever got to her. That was what she wanted them to believe. The truth was things touched her deeply, she had learned to mask the hurt, and keep smiling. Looking at her like this, he felt it was time for her to be happy. In his mind, he began to wonder where to start. Does he start with the family that abandoned her? The man that he believed used her? Or should he begin a search for a man that will love her the way she deserves? He smirked, a man that will look into her heart and love her for her.