The Game Has Changed (27 page)

“Just a few years, I promise you,” he beseeched
as he became cognizant of the glances turning in their direction
throughout the busy airport garage. “I'll sort this out and I'll
come back for you!”

She couldn't control her weeping or her anxiety
any longer as Evan pulled her across a congested street and into
the terminal. Suddenly, she no longer doubted that the events of
that day would soon haunt her for the rest of her life.

Evan's heart raced as he saw several security
guards speak frantically into their walkie-talkies. The sound of a
police siren cut through the cacophony of noises outside. People
were being shuffled out of harm's way and a few screams could be
heard reverberating throughout the terminal.

Evan knew the end was near. The realization of
the situation at hand finally penetrated Jaime’s clouded mind. She
cried out with fright, taking the blame for the scene that was now
unfolding before her. Her crying stopped abruptly and her heart
pounded in panic. She clutched Evan tightly as a veritable army
made up of security guards and policemen surrounded
them.

“Let go of her!” one of the policemen
demanded.

Evan found that he couldn’t do so. He knew it
was the end of the line for him. This time, though, there was no
escape for him as there had been in the past. There would be no
talking their way out of it like Jaime had done for him several
times before. Despite everything, Evan needed a few more minutes
with her. He couldn't let it end like this.

He pressed his lips against Jaime's ear and
whispered apologetically, “Forgive me for what I'm about to do, my
Darlin’!”

He whipped his gun out from under his jacket
and shoved the barrel against the side of Jaime's head. She
released a terrified squeal as he did so. More than a dozen police
officers drew their guns on him at the same time.

“Back off, or I'll do it!” Evan
screamed.

It was then that all hell broke loose. People
ran in every direction as the police tried to rationalize with him.
“Drop the gun! Don't hurt her!”

Evan could hear the swirling resonance of the
commands they yelled at him, but nothing got through. Jaime gasped
with apprehension as she felt Evan drag her back toward a wall
behind a check-in counter that was currently deserted. The people
servicing it had been cleared out because of the
commotion.

He pulled her down quickly behind the desk. The
look of fright upon her face broke his heart. Tears stained her
cheeks, but never once did she look away from him.

“Do it fast,” she begged, clutching his arms
with both hands. “Don't let it hurt!”

He sniffed repeatedly and rubbed at the tears
streaming down his cheeks with his free hand. “I'm not gonna kill
you, my love. How could you even think that I would do that to
you?” He took a deep breath in hopes of regaining his composure. “I
just needed more time to tell you . . . to make sure that you
understand!”

“I understand!” she wept. “But it didn't have
to end like this. We could've run forever. I would've run with you
forever! Why didn't you listen to me for a change? Why did you have
to do this? I'll never see you again! I – I'll never have you
now!”

He shook his head, his shoulders slumping with
defeat. “No. You will see me again, because I made a promise to
you,” he said reassuringly and reached out to wrap his fingers
around the necklace that hung around her neck. He held it within
his fist for but a moment. “This promise means that I'll be back
for you. I won't break it!”

“But anything could happen . . .” she
moaned.

Evan wiped away his tears with conviction.
Through the sound of the commotion that surrounded them, he could
hear the police shouting through megaphones in hopes of gaining his
acquiescence. “Lots of things will happen,” he agreed, “but you
must be strong! Through all of this, you have to be strong . . .
for me. Promise me!”

Her eyes never left his as she nodded. “For you
. . . I'd do anything!”

He curled his hands about her cheeks, his
tender touch stirring the tendrils of her heart. “I'll be back for
you, trust me!”

She reached out to clasp his face between her
hands, needing that one moment of closeness between them before
their lives were changed forever. “I trust you.”

Evan pressed his mouth against hers in one
final long, wet, and hard kiss. “Always remember!” he urged her
once the kiss ended. “I'll love you for all eternity, my
Jaime!”

With that declaration, he quickly pulled
himself out of her embrace and ran out into the open. Jaime’s
screams rang out throughout the terminal as she heard the loud
resonance of a gunshot. She stood there, frozen in place, and
watched as Evan's gun hit the ground and slid toward her. He fell
to the ground nearby. Without hesitation, she threw herself against
him, screaming and weeping hysterically as she wrapped her body
protectively around his. The police surrounded them, their guns
held aloft in their direction.

“Step away from him, Ma'am!” one of the
policemen ordered.

She clung tightly to Evan, refusing to obey.
She buried her face against his neck, her heart constricting
painfully as she heard the soft coughing and gurgling sounds that
spilled from his lips. Pulling back slightly, she saw a trickle of
blood pouring down his chin.

“Oh my God!” she wailed. “Oh my God! Evan,
please don't leave me!” Screams and moans like that of a wounded
animal were rent from her as she held onto him. “You promised you'd
come back to me! You promised me!”

A policeman aimed his gun at Jaime. “Step away
from him now!” he ordered.

She refused to listen and pressed her head back
down upon Evan's still warm body. She held onto him as her life
depended on it. Yet she didn’t remain in that position for long.
She was soon violently dragged away from him by a
policewoman.

She started screaming again when she caught
sight of a group of officers as they surrounded Evan’s body as if
they were vultures swarming down upon an animal’s carcass. A couple
of policemen were searching him for additional weapons. Another one
pulled his limp arms down and handcuffed him.

An ambulance stretcher was rushed to Evan's
side. She trembled fearfully as the policewoman held her back.
Several EMT’s crowded about his body as they took his vital signs
and prepared his body for transport. She pressed a shaking hand
against the curve of her throat as she watched four attendants lift
Evan's lifeless body onto the stretcher.

“I love you, Evan!” she cried out passionately
as the stretcher was wheeled away, though she knew he couldn't hear
her anymore.

EPILOGUE

Eighteen months later

Jaime felt daunted by the idea of attending the
prestigious Ivy League University of Pennsylvania and often
wondered how she’d gotten accepted in the first place. Surely, it
must have been a mistake. After all, it had been a very traumatic
time for her over the last year and a half. Never-the-less, she had
received admission into the Biomedical Science program and had
started last September.

As she walked across the cold, rainy campus on
that March afternoon, she was suddenly reminded of the fact that it
was her nineteenth birthday, not that she celebrated her birthdays
anymore. They were quite joyless now. Yet her saving grace was the
fact that in just three months, there would be a happy birthday to
celebrate, that of her sweet son, Evan Jr.'s first
birthday.

She couldn't wait until little Evan was old
enough to understand things a little better. She would tell him all
about his brave and handsome father someday. She had only known her
son's father for ten short days, but she felt that she had lived an
entire lifetime with Evan Baedeker.

Of course, for months after his death, it had
felt as if her world had literally come to an end. But she had
promised him, after all, that she would be strong. Now that Evan
had given her the greatest gift of all, their beautiful son to
raise, she knew she had to make the effort to carry on for both
Evan and their child. She had to make a good living and give their
son the best life that she possibly could. So she tried to study
hard and persevere, for her child and for the memory of her beloved
lover. Yet, at times, it was so very difficult to do.

After picking Evan Jr. up at the University
daycare, she loaded him into his car seat in the back of the new
car her uncle had purchased for her several months ago. Sometimes,
she wondered as to what had happened to her blue Acura, the car
she’d left abandoned at the airport in Los Angeles.

That day still haunted her. She still blamed
herself for what had happened to Evan. It was the hardest thing she
dealt with, the overwhelming guilt she harbored over his police
shooting. She realized it had been her fault that Evan had been
shot and killed by the police in that confrontation.

Why had she broken down? Why had she called
attention to themselves because of it? He would have gotten away if
she hadn't. He would have gotten arrested quietly and without a
fuss. He could have attempted the plea bargaining he’d thought of
making. He might have been back for her by now. Yet because of her
fleeting, but childish and careless, exhibition when she’d lost
control, she’d lost everything. She had forsaken the only true love
she would ever be destined to have and had thus robbed her son of
his father.

Months and months of therapy had not eased her
suffering in the least. Dealing with the guilt over Evan's death
and the mistreatment that she endured from fellow students during
her pregnancy made every moment of her life unbearable. Despite the
joy that Evan Jr. brought her, life wasn't getting any easier for
her.

She thought of Evan every waking moment. She
dreamt about him every single night. He consumed her life
completely. His dramatic murder by the police played over and over
within her head every day. Never was there a day that she wasn’t
thinking about it. Day after day, she agonized over it. In the back
of her mind, she knew there was no hope for her to do well in
school. It was hard to concentrate on the tasks at hand. It was
even hard for her to take care of her son.

How she got accepted to the esteemed UPenn was
a true mystery to her. Yes, her academic father had gone there, but
did she really deserve going to school there? Deep inside, she
didn’t feel worthy.

She continued her weekly therapy sessions in
order to attempt getting back the tools she needed to deal with the
loss and guilt she felt so severely. Yet, it seemed so hopeless.
She feared she was slowly losing it and felt that she would soon
have no other way of dealing with her guilt and
depression.

But I promised Evan!
she would continuously remind herself when all seemed
lost.
I promised him I would be
strong!

Yet it did nothing to quell the pain she felt
inside. Every moment of every day, she remembered. Never once did
she forget what he meant to her. Never once did she let go of the
love she knew she could never give him. Hers was a love that had
grown out of a desperate situation. A love that had given her the
one thing that would always remind her of the man who’d given his
life in hopes of saving hers in the process, a little boy that
would forever be her pride and joy.

***

Since it was her birthday, she decided that she
didn't really relish the idea of going home to her lonely
apartment. Her aunt and uncle had invited her to dinner, but she’d
politely declined, telling them she just wanted to spend the
evening with her son. Yet she needed a little pick me up and felt
compelled to visit a very special place.

After parking the car in front of the ice cream
parlor, she held her nine-month-old boy within her arms and gazed
at the parlor with melancholy. It used to have good memories
associated with it. A fleeting memory of her and her father
laughing over a shared cherry float as they talked about his
adventures all over the North-East when he traveled for business
surfaced. Yet now the place had a bittersweet memory tied to it
that obsessed her greatly. The memory of meeting Evan for the very
first time was one she remembered at every given moment.

Tears filled her eyes as she walked into the
establishment with her son cradled within her arms. She ordered for
the both of them, overjoyed to spend the time with her little boy.
An untouched cherry float sat in front of her as she placed a small
dish of vanilla ice cream on the high chair tray before her happy,
brown-haired son. She talked to him cheerfully and then placed a
small spoon within his hand in order to prompt him to use it to
feed himself some of the sweet treat. He tossed the spoon aside and
curled a mound of ice cream within his tiny fists
instead.

She managed a small, proud laugh for her
adorable son as she brushed back a long lock of her own light
blonde hair that had escaped from her ponytail. While Evan Jr. gave
her immeasurable joy, it was the memory of his father that often
robbed her of that happiness. She missed him terribly and wanted
him back, then and there.