STRINGS of COLOR (23 page)

M
isty sat outside the hospital parking lot. She had been sitting there for over an hour, watching cars come and go. Her knees wouldn't move.

She watched an ambulance pull into the emergency entrance. She watched a mother rush her child inside. She watched an older gentlemen wheel his wife out to their car. She saw a couple bringing their newborn baby outside for the first time.

She saw tears, laughter, joy, and pain.

She watched life happen and wondered if she had the right to start her own.

She thought about Ken. She thought about how it could have been. How it should have been and that's when she found the strength to make her knees move.

As she walked into the hospital she wasn't sure how she would find him, but she knew she had to.

A young nurse sat behind the counter. Long fingernails painted with pink and blue nail polish. Black hair with gold streaks pulled back into a ponytail. Large hooped earrings.

"Hi, I'm looking for a patient; an older woman with Pitts, as her last name. I believe she was a burn victim."

The nurse didn't even bother to look up at her. She scanned her list of patients, wrote the room number down on a piece of paper and held out her hand toward Misty.

Misty had to catch herself.

Now is not the time
. She grabbed the piece of paper and looked around.

"It's the room down on the left. Just keep walking straight and you will see it." The young nurse said as she smacked on a piece of chewing gum.

Misty headed in that direction without looking back at the nurse. She knew if she did, she would have been on the other side of that counter.

Misty stood staring at the door.

What are you doing Misty? You hung up on the man after he told you that his father had just passed away and that his mother was in the hospital. Go home, girl. Forget about love and just go home. Maybe your father was right.

"Misty?"

She turned around and saw Jake standing there with a vase full of flowers in his hand.

"Jake."

"What are you doing here, Misty?"

"Is there somewhere we can go and talk?"

"I think we did all the talking we needed to right before I heard the dial tone."

"I know I had that coming. I'm sorry, Jake. You called me just when I was feeling the anger from everything related to Monà. I took it out on you and I'm sorry. I really am. Please, I just want to talk."

"Let me put these in my mother's room first."

"They are beautiful."

"Thanks, come on in."

"What? Go in there with you?"

"Yes."

Misty followed Jake into his mother's room.

Mrs. Pitts was sitting up. The television was on but she was barely watching it. She smiled as she saw Jake enter into the room with the flowers.

"Who is this?"

"My name is Misty."

"Misty? I'm not sure I've ever heard a name like that one before. It's beautiful."

"Thank you."

"Where do you want these, Mother?"

"Put them over there on the counter so I can see them."

Misty took a seat.

"I'm so sorry to hear about your loss, Mrs. Pitts."

"You can call me Patty. My husband used to call me Mrs. PP. He always got a kick out of that."

Misty smiled. She could see the depth of sorrow in her eyes.

"The doctors said that you could go home in a couple of days," Jake told his mother.

"Do I still have a home?"

"I don't know. I'm going to go by there in a little bit to check on the place. In fact, I was thinking that maybe you could come and stay with me until we figure everything else out."

"I don't want to come and stay with you. I'll get my own apartment. I was thinking that I don't want to stay in that house by myself anyway. It's too big for an old lady like me, too big without your father."

Jake saw the tears form in her eyes. It broke his heart and he fought to hide his own.

He tried to smile.

Misty watched the two of them. She felt like she needed to leave, like maybe she shouldn't be there.

"Mom, Misty is my girlfriend."

Misty glared at Jake. It caught her by surprise.

"Oh, that is so wonderful." Mrs. Pitts smiled at Misty. "Welcome to the family, dear. I wish it could have been under better circumstances."

"Me too," Misty said to her as she kept eyes on Jake.

Jake smiled for real this time. His mouth said girlfriend, but Jake knew. He knew he wanted it to be more than that.

He had wondered if he had been the only one that felt that way. When she had hung up on him, he thought maybe that was the case. But when he saw her standing outside his mother's room, he looked into her eyes and he knew that the feeling was mutual.

Mrs. Pitts watched her son as he walked over toward Misty and stood by her side. She knew that it was just a matter of time before she would have a daughter-in-law.

She only wished her husband could have been here to see it as well.

"Why don't you two go and check on the house now. I think I need to get some sleep."

"Sure, Mom."

Misty and Jake headed toward the door. Misty stopped; she walked over to Mrs. Pitts and gave her a hug.

Jake tried to remember if there was a jewelry store on the way.

As Misty followed Jake toward his parent's house, she watched people on the sidewalks. She saw people going into stores, coming out of stores, pushing strollers, pulling dogs, talking on cell phones, and pecking on computers in front of coffee shops.

She realized that she couldn't just watch life happen; she needed to make life happen, her life with Jake.

You just met him
. She could hear herself saying.
Sure did, and thank goodness I did
and I dare anyone to say something about it. I want happiness. I need happiness. But most importantly, I want love. Misty is tired of being on her own.

Jake pulled up to the house. The damage was bad. The fire chief saw him and came over to explain.

"It looks as if something was left cooking on the stove. We tried to save it but the fire got out of our control. I'm glad you and your mother were able to get out in time."

"Thanks."

Jake stood there looking at his childhood home; only half of the house was still standing. Misty walked up to him and grabbed his hand. Together they made their way inside.

Jake didn't know where to start.

"Why don't we look for any photos for your Mom, I'm sure she would want those."

Jake nodded. He couldn't believe that almost everything was gone, including his Dad. He squatted down and tried picking up some of the items that were still recognizable. Tears streamed down his face.

Misty saw him but she knew he needed a moment to himself so she pretended to look for photos amongst the damage.

Jake saw a box that he recognized. It was his father's. He remembered how much his father loved that box. It held some of Jake's high school track and field awards and various other awards he had received. Those were the days when Jake saw how proud his father was of him. Anytime someone came by the house, his father would run and grab that box and show them all of Jake's awards.

He ran his fingers on the top. His mother had gotten the top engraved as an anniversary gift. It read, "The Life of My Son."

The tears came down harder. Misty went over to him and kneeled down by his side.

"I really loved him, Misty. I really loved him."

Misty's own tears came. She reached over and took the box out of his hands.

"It's beautiful," she said as she noticed what was engraved on the top.

Jake sank to the floor as he watched her open it.

"It's just some old track and field awards from my glory days of high school."

"So you ran track and field. No wonder you have such nice legs."

They both laughed.

Misty reached inside but she didn't see any awards. What she pulled out left Jake completely speechless.

Inside the box, his father had wrapped in plastic all of the columns that he had written. There was even a clipping of a photo taken of Jake when he received an award for one of them.

Jake held them in his hand. He honestly thought his mother was lying to him when she told him that he actually read them. But here they were, in his Dad's special box.

Misty could tell that seeing those clippings inside the box meant something to Jake. She smiled because he was smiling.

"Thank you for being here with me."

Misty leaned over and touched the side of his cheek. He grabbed her hand and kissed it.

"I'm going to marry you, Misty. I just want you to know that. I want you to understand my intentions."

She nodded.

Misty found some bags and they put as much as they could find that seemed salvageable in them.

As they walked out into the sunlight, Jake looked back and said his good-byes.

"As Jonathan listened to the sincerity of his mother's plea, it was the first time he felt as if he finally understood. He finally understood what color Jazzmyne is. In her were the colors of love, the love of a mother for the love of her son."

N
aya watched as her son came and sat down next to her. She could see the tiredness in the depths of his green eyes. She smiled at the tiny wrinkles that had formed around their corners.

His broad shoulders still carried his strength; his confidence, and his stubbornness. She watched as he ran his hands through the waves of his thick hazel brown hair. She admired the soft hues of snow that took on the depth of his skin. It gave him character but didn't define the man within.

The last time they sat down together on this white leather sofa, she was meeting him for the first time. It was also the first time that the words "my son" had dropped off the tip of her tongue.

"How long will she be in the hospital?"

"About another week it looks like. She wants to come to the funeral tomorrow. The doctors aren't sure if they will allow it, we should find out later today."

Naya looked away. Her heart skipped a beat as she thought about the pain that tomorrow will bring.

Jonathan reached over and placed his hand on top of hers.

She smiled.

"We've been through a lot."

"I'm so sorry, Mother, so sorry for everything I've done. Everything I've said. Please forgive me."

"I know. I forgive you, but now I have to ask that you do the same. You have to forgive me, Jonathan."

"I have."

"No, you have to forgive me from here." She placed her hand over his heart. "I remember when we first met. You were so angry. So hurt and I tried to understand. I tried to feel what you were feeling but I couldn't completely. I couldn't see how right you were in some ways."

"I don't understand."

Naya got up and walked over toward the window.

"You once said that you couldn't understand why it took me ten years to find you after I knew where you were. I remember your tone; I remember the pain in your eyes, the pain in your heart as you said it. I know you felt like I didn't want you.

"You were right. Not right about me not wanting you but right in that I should have never waited that long. Here is the truth. I want you to know it and I hope you understand it.

"I was scared. I was terrified of meeting you and having to look you in the eyes. I knew that I would have to tell you everything that had happened to me and that scared me something awful. I couldn't find the strength and I couldn't push past the pain of what JK had done to me and what I thought had resulted from it.

"I was scared that every time I looked at you, I wouldn't see my child but I would see what happened to me.

"I really did think that you and Simone were his children. I didn't know anything different until the day you told me that you had gotten a DNA check."

Naya turned toward Jonathan.

"That information gave me so much more than you know. The reality of that test calmed me and gave me a small piece of sanity.