“Son, what happened?” Her eyes were glossy with tears on the brink of her eyelids.
“Galleria, Ma. She…”
“Don’t you say it. She’s not dead until them doctors say she is. How long has she been back there?” she asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. A lil’ ova an hour, I think. I can’t lose her, Ma. I can’t.”
“Stop. If they haven’t come out yet, then she’s still back there fightin’. Let’s have a seat and pray.”
GILLS
I sat in Journei’s hospital room thanking God for keeping her alive. My better half was almost taken away from me along with my child, and I knew the only person who had the last say-so was Him.
Her surgeons let us know that she came in with a weak pulse and was on the line of being done. It was her coding on the table and them having to bring her back that did it for me.
I heard those words and broke down. Granny had to get me to calm down after that. Journei was very much alive, but to know that she was almost gone took me out.
As a man, I loved and showed affection for her proudly. My feelings for her weren’t hidden, so the way I loved her privatelywas shown publicly. There wasn’t room for anyone to second-guess anything.
Throughout the events she endured, my son was unharmed. She was put on bed rest for a few weeks, but she was in the clear.
No major arteries were hit from Galleria’s bull junk, so the time she needed to heal was goin’ to be used for bed rest. Her grand opening was gettin’ pushed back whether she wanted it to or not.
Alexis and Galleria both were out of the picture, so there was no one gunning for either of us. I could be there for her in any sense she needed me. I didn’t plan on leaving her side ever again.
Her head moved from side to side slowly. She was starting to wake up for the first time since her surgery. I grabbed her hand and waited for her to gain consciousness. I couldn’t release the breath I was holding until I saw her brown eyes.
It took her a minute to get them open, but when she did, I wasn’t her favorite person. She snatched her hand away and glared me down. I was confused on what I did wrong.
We exchanged no words. There was pure silence surrounding us outside of the baby monitor. She reached for her call button, alerting a nurse. One walked in shortly, avoiding eye contact with me.
“Yes, Ms. Evans?”
“I would like this man removed from my room please. If he has any visitation rights, take them away as well. The only person allowed in here are Hunz and Belle Air Sinclair. Thank you,” Journei spoke as if I didn’t mean a thing to her.
“Mama, I’m not leaving.”
“Oh, you gettin’ the fuck up out of here today. Leaving is what you do best. No need to stop now,” she sassed.
She was upset. She only wanted me gone because I left to handle her now-dead wife. Having me removed from her room was her way of teaching me a lesson. It hurt, but I went with it.
I bent down to kiss her stomach, then pecked her forehead before placing my lips on hers. She didn’t push me away like I thought she would. I gently cuffed her neck and kissed her as if it was my last. Technically, it would be until she was ready for my love again. Mama was worth the wait and then some.
“This is your request. Whenever you’re ready for me again, you know where to find me.”
Those steps were heavy as I walked away from the only thing that made sense in my life. She wanted space, but I wasn’t goin’ to give her much.
Journei
All he did was give me his back and walk out like I asked. I was in tears from somethin’ I wanted. There should’ve been some type of joy from seeing him, but I was furious. It took me gettin’ hurt for him to show, which was bullshit.
Why couldn’t he understand that I didn’t care about no one else but him? My thoughts revolved around him. He was my safe haven and protector. I just wanted him to realize he was enough.
Leaving me was so easy for him, and that was what pissed me off. I didn’t want to let him off the hook yet. He needed to see how it felt to not have access to me.
“Is there anything else I can help you with, Ms. Evans?”
I wiped my face and pulled myself together. Hunz and Belle had always been my go-to. That dialed back when everything unfolded with Christian. I needed them again.
