Jamaica Dreaming (Caribbean Heat) (19 page)

Sebastian shifted in his seat and wished the helicopter could go faster. Had Julissa asked someone to call Earle? Asked him to come to her? The thought of it filled him with dismay. She hadn’t turned to him, she hadn’t asked for him. He toyed with the idea of asking Theresa to turn back, but then decided against it. If, after he arrived, Julissa told him she didn’t want him there, then he would leave. After all, she hadn’t sent him away from her, he had made that decision, himself, out of anger and frustration. He remembered the misery in her voice and face when she asked him if he wouldn’t come to her concerts and thought he had behaved badly. Yet how was he to bear the sight of her without being able to touch or hold her?

If Earle was indeed with her, seeing them together would bring a fresh, raw pain, worse than any he’d ever felt. Sebastian gritted his teeth with impatience but, eventually, the familiar landscape of the island’s north coast appeared, and then it wasn’t very long before they landed at Boscobel. Sebastian tossed off a hurried ‘thanks’ to Theresa and ran to where Lori waited beside a rented Mitsubishi Montero.

“Where is she?” he asked after offering her a terse greeting.

“Back at Sun View’s guesthouse. They released her at eleven. She said—” Lori cast him an apprehensive glance. “She said she doesn’t think she can do the concert.”

“I don’t care about the concert, Lori.”

“It’s tonight, Sebastian. In six hours time, to be precise. Carly says she can’t make the decision to cancel it alone, but Julissa goes back and forth. One minute, she says she’ll do it, then, the next minute, she says she can’t.”

“Lori, honestly, I don’t give a fuck about the concert.” He raised a hand to forestall whatever she was going to say. “I know it’s important. I know, okay. And, we’ll make a decision about it but I need to speak to her first. Understand? I’m not going to make any decision about anything until I speak to Julissa, first.”

“Understood.”

“What’s he like?”

“Earle?”

He nodded.

“Well, he looks like a cross between Boris Kodjoe and Prince. Er, do you know who they are?”

Sebastian sighed. “I’m not quite senile yet, Lori. Kodjoe was that guy in Avatar and who doesn’t know Prince?
Purple Rain. Money Don’t Matter 2Night
. Classics.”

“Well, all right.” Lori grinned. “But, Kodjoe wasn’t in Avatar. Resident Evil? Barbershop?”

Sebastian shrugged. The only time he really watched movies was when he took Sean and Tracy to the cinema.

“He’s almost as handsome as you. But, not quite. Anyway, I don’t know, there’s something about him I can’t put my finger on. The way he speaks to Julissa.”

“What?” Sebastian was immediately concerned. “He’s abusive?”

“No, no. Nothing like that. I’m sorry, I can’t really explain it and everybody seems to like him, Carly, the doctor who attended to her, so maybe it’s just me.”

Sebastian let this pass, but he was thinking that, from the first time he’d met her, Lori had struck him as a sensible girl, not one given to gossip and drama.

He tried to visualize the man at the hospital in Chicago, the one who wouldn’t even let him place his flowers at Julissa’s bedside. He supposed there was something about the man’s eyes and sharp chin that looked like Prince’s.

“Did anything happen before you all left Kingston? Was she okay then?”

“Sure, far as I could tell. I took her to rehearsal and she looked a bit tired but I figured, maybe it was because Earle was here. You know what I mean.”

Sebastian
did
know what she meant and his heart tightened. Thinking of Julissa in another man’s arms killed him.

“Go on.”

Lori shot him another of her sidelong glances but he made sure to keep his expression poker–neutral. “We went to Joyce’s school afterward. Julissa had asked Carly to set it up so she could meet the kids and give them all a pep talk.”

“Oh.” This was news to him.

“Yeah, it went well. She’s got a way with kids. They hung on her every word. She talked about how it’s important to value the skin you’re in, and told them she’d been teased about how dark she is, too, when she was a kid. Then, she said, she got into singing and people stopped talking about how she looked and started talking about her singing, instead. The kids really sopped it up. And then, after that, we took Joyce and two of her friends out for ice cream. Carly got permission from the parents first. That went well, too.”

“Then, what?”

“Then, I dropped everybody off, Julissa last. She was really happy, all bubbly and everything. I didn’t see her again until I went to pick them up at the airport.”

“And, how was she?”

“Okay, I guess, but she spent the whole flight looking out the window. I figured she was just enjoying the view. We took the scenic route like you said so we flew along the coast. Thing is, you know how like, when you’re somewhere new with somebody, you might point things out to them. Earle did that with her, but she never did it with him. It was almost like she was trying to pretend he wasn’t there.”

“And, then, when you got here?”

“I dropped them off at Sun View. Gave them the keys, showed them where everything was, checked there was food in the fridge. Everything was all right so Carly and I drove to our hotel. I didn’t see Julissa again until the next day when I picked her up at nine thirty to take her to practice. She seemed fine, maybe a little subdued but….” Lori seemed about to say something else then changed her mind. “Anyway, I didn’t stay in the rehearsal room with them. The Dark Light Players were doing a full costume rehearsal on Stage Two so I went to watch. Then, next thing, this woman, I don’t know who she was, came and got me. – Troy Evans had sent for me because Julissa had collapsed.”

Lori turned off the A3 a few minutes after passing the road to Rose Hall and they left the noise and traffic behind. Usually, Sebastian enjoyed the ascent to Sun View through the lush vegetation of the island but now it was just a blur to him. Lori sensed his impatience and they fairly flew up the gravel driveway leading to his second house. As soon as the Montero came to a stop, Sebastian flung open the door and was halfway down the path leading to the guest house before Lori had turned off the engine. Distracted out of his mind, he didn’t stop to knock, but burst in and strode down the short hallway to the living room. Three startled faces turned to look at him, but he only had eyes for one.

“Julissa.” He crossed the room to her but, then, came to a stop, feet away, his heart breaking at the sight of her. Her eyes were huge and a world of hurt and fear swam in their depths.

“I’m so sorry, Sebastian,” she whispered, rising to her feet.

“For what, Julissa? What could you have to feel sorry about?”

“I can’t––. I don’t think I can perform tonight. Oh, God. I feel so awful.” She burst into tears and Sebastian couldn’t help himself. In two strides, he’d wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight, and feeling like he never wanted to let go.

“Is this Chung?” He heard a masculine voice ask. “Who is this? Julissa?” The man moved behind Julissa and put his hand on her arm. It was the same man who hadn’t let Sebastian in to see her at Northwestern Memorial. If the recognition was mutual, the man made no sign of it.

“Yes, this is Mr. Sebastian Chung.” Carly worked her way around so Sebastian could see her, hovering just behind the stranger, her expression worried. “Sebastian, this is Earle Kendall. He’s Julissa’s fiancé.” Sebastian didn’t let go of Julissa to shake hands, but he nodded at Earle. Yes, he could see why his facial features reminded Lori of Prince.

Carly’s introduction seemed to recall Julissa to herself and she pulled away from Sebastian, leaving his shirt damp. Earle pulled her into an embrace of his own, his arm encircling her shoulder, as he glared at Sebastian.

“Julissa’s in no condition to sing tonight,” he said. “The concerts must be cancelled.”

“Both concerts?” Carly sounded shocked. “I didn’t know you were thinking of cancelling the Kingston concert, too.”

“Of course. I mean, look at her. I need to get her back to Chicago, as soon as possible. Would you look into the earliest flight?” He looked past Sebastian at Lori who was standing by the door.

“If that’s what my boss wants.” Lori looked at Sebastian who thought she was trying to signal some message with her eyes, but he couldn’t understand what she was saying.

“Julissa.” Sebastian turned back to her. This time she allowed her gaze to meet his and he flinched from the despair he saw there. “Is this what you want? Do you want to cancel the concerts and go back to Chicago?”

“I don’t know, Sebastian. I mean, I
do
know. I want to do the concerts but, suppose, I have an attack on stage like I did at rehearsal? That would be horrible. I can’t face that.”

“You’ve faced worse.” Sebastian felt rather than saw Earle shift, but he didn’t look at the other man. Julissa’s gaze didn’t slide away, either. It was as if they were the only ones in the room, everybody else and everything else, just a blur. “You’ve survived, no, you’ve triumphed over worse. A year ago you were flat on your back with all kinds of tubes going in and out of you.”

“It was you!” Earle exclaimed. “I knew you looked familiar. You were at the hospital. Julissa, did you know that? Oh, my God. He’s been, like, stalking you.”

Sebastian would have liked to swat the man away. Instead, he ignored him. “If you want to do the concert, you can do it. I believe in you, and I know you can do it. Everything will be all right.” She was so amazing, so beautiful and brave, how could she doubt herself?

“I don’t know. I don’t…. I feel so strange.”

Sebastian let all his feelings for her, his love and his admiration, rise to the surface and shine out from his eyes. “You can do this, Julissa,” he said, speaking softly as if they were the only two people in the room.

“Do you really think so, Sebastian?”

“I do.”

“Julissa, don’t listen to him,” Earle snapped, his irritation showing in his voice. “He just doesn’t want to lose his investment. They’ll have to pay everybody back for the cost of their tickets.”

Sebastian kept his eyes on Julissa’s face. “The money is nothing, Julissa. If you really don’t feel you can do this, just say the word. I know you’ll give Ochie a fantastic performance, but it’s your decision to make.”

“If you collapse on stage, the media will pick up on it, Julissa,” Earle said. “Imagine how embarrassing that will be. How will you ever get your career back on track? People won’t book you back in the US once they hear you can’t get through a performance.” Earle’s voice took on a truculent tone. He dropped his arm from around her shoulders. “And the stress of any bad publicity could make your condition worse.” He looked around at Lori and Carly. “She was really bad after the accident. Anything at all would set off one of her attacks. Baby, you don’t want to go back to being like that, do you? You need more time and you need familiar surroundings.”

Sebastian’s fingers curled into his palms. Julissa’s self–doubt wasn’t really hers. It was coming from her fiancé. Earle was the one pouring doubt and fear into her. When he first met her just before her Devon House concert, Julissa had looked wary and uncertain but, as the days went on, that expression had lifted. She’d begun to enjoy herself and he’d seen how happy and relaxed she became in just a few days. Now, her fears had crept back. Earle had brought them back. Sebastian scrutinized the shorter man. On the face of it, nothing the man had said seemed very wrong but, instead of bolstering Julissa’s confidence, Earle appeared to be deliberately sapping it. Why couldn’t Julissa see through him?

“Julissa, honey.” He heard Carly’s intake of breath. “You’re a beautiful, brave and fabulous woman. We can’t let the bad events of our past minimize or define us. You’re bigger than The Event. I believe in you.”
And, I love you
. He couldn’t say that with Earle standing right there, but he hoped she could read it in his eyes. And it seemed as if she did because she stood up straighter and her eyes brightened.

“Thank you.” Julissa took a deep breath and held her hands out to Sebastian who grabbed them in his. “I
will
do the concert.” Her chin jutted defiantly as she glanced at Earle before looking at Carly.

“Are you very sure, dear?” Carly looked relieved, but, clearly, felt she had to ensure her star didn’t feel pressured.

“Yes. Yes, I am. Even if I
do
have an attack, it won’t be the end of the world, will it?” She smiled at Sebastian.

“No,” he responded. “It won’t.”

Turtle River Park, a six–acre expanse of parkland teeming with birds and other wildlife, took Jullisa’s breath away. The leaflet about the place that had been included in her welcome package hadn’t done justice to the leafy, peaceful ambiance of the place. Tall flowering trees and wide flower–bordered lawns dotted with ponds of varying sizes gave it the appearance of an urban oasis.

“It’s beautiful,” Julissa said to Lori.

“Yes, very pretty,” Earle agreed from the backseat. He’d been making a herculean effort to be agreeable and Julissa was grateful.

“I’ve never been here before,” Lori admitted. “In fact, this is just my second time in Ochie.”