STRINGS of COLOR (19 page)

Today as he sat watching the house, the curtains remained closed.

He couldn't move. Fear, anticipation, and grief overwhelmed him. His hands were locked firmly on the steering wheel.

To be honest, he wanted to drive off. He kept looking at the living room windows.

Jake thought about his dad. He felt so many mixed emotions. He loved his father deeply. Something he never really took the time to realize until now. He hated his father's actions, his hurtful words as he had grown up and his inability to believe in him, to be proud of him. Those were the feelings, which Jake tried to shake.

Jake kept thinking,
what went wrong between us
?

Another hour passed by. Finally, Jake saw the curtains open.

As he got out of his car, his mother stood in the window watching him. He could see the pain and the lack of sleep on her face.

What am I supposed to say to her? How can I be of help, when I'm so unsure of so many things myself?

As he approached the door, he could smell something strange coming from the house.

Jake fumbled for his keys. He watched his mother standing there at the window. She didn't move.

That's when he saw it, the smoke.

He took a step back and used all of his strength to kick the door in.

Smoke was everywhere. He called out to his mother. She didn't answer.

Jake fought his way through until he could see her. He reached out and took hold of her hand.

She wouldn't move.

"No, Jake. Let me be. Let me be."

He didn't listen. He dragged her out of the house.

The neighbors had called the police. Seconds later, Jake heard the fire trucks racing up toward the house.

He took a few steps back and saw that the house was almost completely engulfed in flames.

He stared at this mother.

Disbelief, fear, and anger hit him.

"What were you doing?"

She didn't answer.

"Mother, please tell me." He was afraid of her answer, but needed to know.

"I was fixing breakfast."

That's when he saw her. Her legs were giving in. He reached out and grabbed her.

"Stay with me Mom. Please stay with me. I can't lose you both."

Jake held on to her hand as they rushed her to the hospital.

"Stay with me Mom, stay with me."

"He's gone Jake, he's gone."

"You've got to stay with me. Please don't give up."

He felt her squeeze his hand.

Jake sat in the hallway as the doctors fought to help his mother. As he looked down the corridor, he thought he saw a face he had seen before.

The person was coming toward him.
Jonathan Creek
, Jake said to himself.

He walked past him and stopped at the nurse's station just a little ways from where Jake was sitting.

"My wife, she needs some ice. She says her mouth is dry."

"Yes sir, a nurse will bring them to her in a second."

Jake tried not to stare as Jonathan walked past him again.

Any other time, the reporter in Jake would have kicked in, but not today.

Today, Jake had only one concern—saving his mother.

He paced the floor. He thought about calling Misty.

She's got her own problems to deal with
. Still, he needed someone.

It was the first time in Jake's life that he was honest with himself about that very fact. He needed someone. Seeing the love for his father on his mother's face had helped him to come to that realization.

He placed his head in his hands and fought to hold back the tears.

A few minutes later, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Aren't you the reporter who is doing the book on my mother?"

Jake looked up to see Jonathan standing over him.

He let out a weak reply—yes.

"I would ask if everything is okay but I can tell they aren't. Is there something I can do?"

"No, it's my mother. I think she tried to kill herself."

Jonathan took a step back.

"My father passed away yesterday and I think she didn't want to live without him."

"Love is a powerful thing. I'm sorry about your father but I hope she will be okay."

Jonathan sat down next to him.

A few minutes later the doctor came out.

Jake jumped to his feet.

"Your mother is going to be okay."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes sir, we are sure. She is very weak but she will be okay."

"Is it okay for me to see her now?"

"Give her an hour or so before you go in. Why don't you wait in the waiting room? I will have a nurse come and get you when it's okay."

Jonathan stood up.

"I'll show you where it is."

"Thanks."

"Is everything okay with your wife? I'm sorry but I couldn't help overhearing you at the nurse's station."

"Yes, she is doing much better. She was involved in a serious car accident. Some teenager was going too fast and didn't see that the driver in front of him was trying to make a U-turn. He hit my wife's car instead. We lost our baby."

Jake could see the tears in the corners of Jonathan's eyes as he spoke.

"Wow, I'm so sorry."

"We are too. The police still haven't been able to speak to the driver that was trying to make that U-turn. They don't have enough information except that witnesses said it was a black Lexus with the letter 'M' on the license plate. I still would like to find them. They were a witness to all of this and I want to be sure that kid doesn't get off."

"I'm sure the kid will not get off regardless of whether you find this person or not. If he was going too fast and not paying attention, he will be charged."

"Yeah, that's what the police told me. But you never know in situations like this. I'm going to be honest, at first; I wanted them to throw the book at him. You know what I mean. Lock his butt up for the rest of his life for taking the life of my baby and putting the life of my wife in danger. However, Felicia helped me to see that none of that will bring our baby back. So now, I just don't want him to get away with it. I want him to be charged and never able to drive again."

"I can understand that. I'm glad your wife is okay."

"She is hanging in there. Doctor's said it would be a slow recovery, more mentally than anything else."

They both went quiet for a moment until Jake spoke.

"By the way, I heard about Jazzmyne's husband. I'm so sorry. How is she doing?"

"She was here believe it or not, but she is hanging in there too. It has been rough for her and I didn't make things any easier. The funeral is scheduled for the day after tomorrow."

"I read that it's at an undisclosed location, no media is allowed."

"No media." Jonathan smiled. "I think that's a good thing. She doesn't need this to be any harder than it already is."

"I agree."

Jake watched Jonathan leave.

He fell into a chair and thought about what Jonathan had said. He only knew one person whose car matched that description.

It scared him to think that she would have left the scene of a crime like that and not say anything to anyone.

But then again he thought…
we are talking about Misty here
.

He reached in this pocket to dial her number.

There was no answer.

He got up and walked down the corridor toward his mother's room.

He found her staring at the window. When he saw her tears, it made him afraid to approach her.

"Mom," he said as he eased his way toward her.

She reached out her hand.

Jake went to her and cried like a baby. He didn't care.

She ran her fingers through her son's hair.

"I wasn't trying to kill myself," she whispered.

"What happened?"

"I woke up this morning and went downstairs to start breakfast. I knew you were on your way. I had just put the bacon on when the phone rang. I forgot to take the pan off the stove.

"When I came back downstairs, I saw the smoke. I started walking toward the door but then I saw that I hadn't opened the curtains. You know how your father hated me opening those curtains in the morning. He would fuss about it all the time."

Jake watched a weak smile come across her face.

"I got in the living room, by then the smoke was moving throughout the house and I just couldn't move, Jake. I couldn't move and I didn't have the strength to fight it."

"Why didn't you answer the phone downstairs? There is one in the kitchen."

"That phone has been broken for years. Your father was supposed to replace it but he never did. That's why I went upstairs."

"You scared me, Mom."

"I scared myself. I don't know what came over me Jake. I saw you sitting in your car and my feet just wouldn't move.

"I want you to know something, Jake."

He looked at her as he tried to wipe away his tears.

"I know you and your father had your differences. He acted like a fool that day you told him you were going to work for the paper. I think that he just saw something in you that he felt was bigger and he wanted that for you.

"It wasn't that he wasn't proud of you, you were his son. He just couldn't see the bigger picture. He couldn't see your happiness with what you were doing.

"I bet you didn't know that he read your column. He sure did. He read it every Thursday. He would cut them out and save them. Sometimes we would argue over them, especially the ones you sometimes did on relationships. It was always a good argument, if there is such a thing. He always took your side. Said you had it right. It was the woman's fault. He loved your articles on music. He framed the one you did on county music; said that was his favorite.

"I don't want you to remember the bad things about him Jake. I want you to remember the good times. He was a good father to you, and a great husband to me. He made his mistakes but he loved you with all his very being. He never once doubted that and don't you either."

"It's hard to believe that, Mom. He said some pretty mean things to me."

"Yes, and he regretted it. His pride didn't let him say that he was sorry, but he was. He told me so, many times."

"I wish he had of told them to me."

"I know, son. I wish he had of done that too, then I wouldn't have to see your heart so conflicted. Now, I want you to go home so your mother can get some rest. My bones are tired, son."

As Jake walked out of the room, he watched his mother turn back to stare out the window. She always did that when she needed to think. Right now, he knew she was thinking about his father and about her husband.

She was still trying to find a way to say good-bye.

"What? Tell the truth? Isn't that what this is supposed to be, a moment of truth? A moment when a never-to-be mother, stands in front of her never-wanted daughter, and they have a moment of truth with each other?"

N
aya watched as the woman she had dreamt about all her life, got out of her car.

The woman that left her with the beast.

The woman she thought was dead.

Naya felt as if her feet were frozen. Her lips had been sewn shut and her mind had completely shut down.

Nothing could have prepared her for this.

Yes, she had thought about how they would meet. She had even considered when it would happen, but she could never quite imagine how she would feel face-to-face.

Monà's legs shook horribly as she tightly clutched her cane. At this very moment, she felt every bit of her sixty-five years. She prayed she didn't look it. Her heart wasn't beating, no; it was running down the street at a pace that scared her.

JK grabbed his chest again as he eased himself out of the car.
Here we go
.

Suddenly the driver's smile faded as he watched the expression upon Naya's change. Then he saw the tears.

She can't be a fan
, he thought to himself as he slowly walked back to the car.

Out of the corner of her eye, Monà spotted JK.

There they stood all three of them with nothing but silence between them.