SWEET SPOT

CHAPTER FIVE

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Jackie was in her office,rounding up what she was doing to join other doctors at the cafeteria for lunch.

      I left a good job in the city

   Workin' for the man every night and day

   And I never lost one minute of sleep.

   I was worried about the way things might            have been

Jackie sang dryly, her mother would be turning in her grave if she heard her daughter. "Proud Mary should be sung with passion, just like the great Tina Turner did".

She was interrupted by a swift and loud knock on the door, but, before she could answer, the door opened and Emily's head popped in .

She saw the fright in Emily's face and immediately knew lunch would have to wait.

"Doctor Sanders, we need you"she managed to catch her breath "It's an emergency".

Without any second thought she grabbed her lab coat and followed behind her.

"What happened?" Jackie managed to say as they made their way down the long hallway to wherever Emily was headed.

"There's a patient in the ER. Got shot in the shoulder, has so many bruises from falling off his motorcycle" Emily said and she made a right and Jackie walked side by side with her.

"What about Dr. Davidson? This is his shift" Jackie asked almost out of breath. She was getting tired of his inconsistency. If he didn't want to work anymore, he should just say so.

"He isn't at the hospital yet, besides, the mother requested for Dr. Miles, but, he refused to show up".

Jackie's face had gone from sturdy to confused. Why would the woman ask for Dr. Miles and why on earth would he refuse to respond to a patient. It didn't sit right with her, but she had other things to do than to pry, but she did anyways

"Do you know why?"she asked.

She was just a little curious, but, Emily wasn't the one to satisfy her curious nerve "No".Emily said simply.

Of course she wouldn't know, nobody knows anything about Dr. Miles. Except her. Apparently, she knows nothing but at least she knows something.

They finally got to the front of a door that read EMERGENCY ROOM in big red letters and looked sympathetically through the glass and saw a tiny white woman on her knees leaning on the hospital bed and two other nurses cleaning his wounds and blood.

This woman was in grave pains and if Dr. Miles would not do anything, she would.

"I'll go bring a file" Emily said and left Jackie standing there.

Jackie took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

A beautiful face covered with tears and worry and fear ran to her with her dress and hands stained with blood.

"Where is Miles?" the woman asked, her eyes open looking behind Jackie, hopeful.

Jackie hated this aspect of her work. Seeing the tears and fear and worry on people's faces always broke her heart, but this was the life she had chosen for herself. "Dr.Miles is not available right now"Jackie said softly "I'm the only one available ma'am "she moved to the patient, observing quietly as she waited for Emily to return with a file so she could write what she saw.

"He was hit. They wanted to kill my baby" the woman said, finding comfort on the wall "They didn't get him where they wanted" she sniffed and fresh tears began to rush down her cheek. She cried uncontrollably that Jackie could somehow feel a sharp pain in her heart. If she hadn't taken her eye drops, she would have broken down and cried with the woman. "Please don't let my son die. He is all I have in this world. He's all I'll ever leave in this world" she looked at Jackie with red eyes, almost as red as the blood in her hands. Held on to her hands firmly, not wanting to let go.

Emily soon came in with a file in her hand. She handed it to Jackie who looked at it and looked back at Emily "He has no record here?"

"Yes," the woman said "please just help me. He can't die, not because of me"

"Okay ma'am just go wait out" Jackie said and turned to Emily "Help her out please". Emily did as she was told and rushed back.

She stood beside Jackie.

"He is a fine,black man" Emily said "So sad something like this had to happen to him."

Jackie took a long look at the man in front of her. Emily was right,he was good looking. He had to be saved.

She imagined her Andy in this state. She knew she had to do her best. She didn't know anything about that woman but, she sensed something wrong and had to do what she could. It was her job anyway.

* * * * * * * *

Mrs. Samantha Miles sat in the waiting room whimpering.

Her bones exposing themselves from her cheek to her chest down to her hands and legs. She looked emancipated, unlike the woman she was before her life began to crumble before her eyes.

Her youth were the most glorious time of her life.

She had eyes, blue like the ocean, hair like pearls, a perfectly structured body and skin as soft as cotton and white as milk.

Her beauty was glamorous and she was admired by all.

Connor Miles, unlike every other man that wooed her was an interesting man.

Every other man was a goody goody, but he wasn't. He charmed her with his eyes, his arms, his reputation.

A man who always went to functions with daddy and mommy never interested her pallet. One who was caught in gunfights and had dreams and a future of independence always caught her eye.

A man as remotely dangerous as Connor was not the ideal man for a Reverend's daughter to get cuffed with.

Her father and the society would never accept their love and the safest way to ever have a peaceful love life was to elope to a different country. A place not void of her father's connection, but safer.

He was now and has always been the best looking man she'd ever seen and what other combination than a beautiful woman and a handsome man.

They were always there for one another.

He was there when she needed to get her master's to become an event planner, supporting her even when she was ridiculed. Thirty two wasn't the age to be in school. He saw her potential and supported her through that and every other crazy decisions she made.

She was there for him too. When he came back to their apartment at 3am, bloodstained shirt and hands. She would warm up the bath and with love she would gently clean up the blood and wash the other bruises. She didn't believe in God but would always pray he got back alive. Whoever was available to answer her prayer could go ahead.

He got back from one of his missions and lay in her arms. He looked in her eyes and told her he wanted to be a doctor. Yes, he had studied medicine in college, but he never wanted to master it.

He was suddenly tired of killing and wanted to save.

That was the most vulnerable he had ever been and she could see the regret in his voice, in his eyes, in his actions.

She would do whatever he wanted and get would do same for her.

Together they worked, raised funds, threatened, framed until they finally got to the top.

Their love was toxic, but they had love.

Tears ran down her cheeks.

She looked down at her blood stained dress.

She could still recall the incident like it was happening right in front of her.

It was all her fault. She started it all.

She was the reason her husband left. She was the reason her son was mad at her.She was the reason he was shot. She was the reason they were in this mess. It was all her fault.

She had invited him to a restaurant to talk to him. The one she had always taken him. The one where she always went to when she felt low and when she felt high.

Now, this was where she chose to meet with her son after all these while. Bringing him here wasn't just going to build back the relationship she had lost, but after years of begging she was glad he finally agreed to meet.

Cancer ate her up earlier than she had expected.

It came like a wave of shock when the doctor told her what she had wasn't mere illness.

She quickly accepted it after the scan results came out. Cancer. Perhaps that's what she deserved after all she had done.

There was nothing much she could do to right her wrongs, but she hoped this meeting would be the beginning.

She had to make things right between them. She had a few weeks or so to live, the doctor didn't seem sure. She could not die without her son still upset with her.

She sat at the restaurant, waiting. Anxious. Nervous. Scared.

She was feeling alot of things when he walked into the restaurant. Her boy, looking almost as pale as she did. His eyes had disappeared and his face was numb. It was hard to figure out if he wanted to strangle her or stab her, or both

He walked to the table close to the window where she was and sat in front of her. His eyes gazed around until it finally settled on the table cloth in front of him.

Not even once did he wince at her and that pinched her at the heart.

She smiled nervously, searching for his eyes, something to give her a go ahead.

"Hello son"she started after minutes of silence "Thank you so much for coming. I have missed you" she said and reached for his hand, but he withdrew, redirecting them to his laps.

"Can you get on with it?" his deep voice made her jump in her seat. She was lucky he didn't strangle her.

He was just like his father. Loyal till the end of time, but when loyalty is breached, they become monsters.

"I wanted to apologize to you "she sobbed "Life hasn't been the same without you" she broke down before she could make a point.

"You should have thought of that before you killed my family" he yelled and hit his hand hard, on the table.

She saw his hand shaking. He could hit her. She felt the pent up anger in the vibration his hands lay on the table "Isaiah,listen to me." She jumped in before they attracted more attention "I did it to protect our family name. I... I did it because I love you. You got a woman pregnant..."

"Yes," he snapped "Getting her pregnant in the first place was a dumb thing, but, I loved her. I was going to marry her, but..." he drew in a long breath "You decided to throw her, my woman and unborn child off a three storey building goddamit and you couldn't even own up, claimed is was suicide. Suicide!" he sobbed. It hurt like it was yesterday. The memory tore his soul. "I had plans for my child. I was going to be a good father, a loving husband. Yes, I was going to marry her. You took it in your hands and ruined my entire life" he yelled.

At that point it seemed like a smart choice, but now she didn't only break her son's heart, but also put her entire family at risk.

"I did it for your own good..." she managed to utter between sobs. It hurt her that her son hurt.

"That's bullshit" he hit the table and rose up "I wish you die" he said and walked out on her.

He strode and left the her with her tears.

She sat on the chair crying. Hoping he would, at least, look back at her.

She looked out of the window as her son got to the parking lot and jumped on his motorcycle.

Her eyes hovered around as she caught a glimpse of a man dressed in all black. It wasn't an unnoticeable thing, considering the weather, but another thing she could not help but notice was the black figure this man pulled out of his pants.

Paying one more long attention to the man, her eyes moved to her son and back to the man.

She cleared the tears from her eyes as Isaiah rode out of the parking lot. It was like a wind had whizzed pass as she heard a loud gunshot, and caught the sight of her son falling off his motorcycle candy landing roughly on the floor.

It was all so sudden. It seemed unrealistic.

"No!" she screamed and ran out to help her son.

She felt a soft tap on her shoulder and she jolted back to reality.

"Ma'am"Jackie said

Samantha stood up hastily and reached for Jackie's hands, holding them and looking into her eyes, hoping to hear something positive. "Is he..."she stammered. Wishing that Jackie would just say something, break the silence.

"He survived" Jackie said with a cheerful smile as Samantha's sadness slowly faded into relief.

She led her to her office and made her sit down.

"I understand how you feel, I too I would die if anything were to happen to her". Jackie said with a slight smile but got a long face instead.

Death. That word again.

"Thank you, I just wish all doctors could be like you" she said and looked down " I really appreciate what you have done for me". she continued.

"Well, we were able to get the bullet out and a nurse is still treating his wounds. We are waiting for his full recovery, then we can discharge him. Luckily, it seemed the gun man was far from him and the jacket he happened to have on made it hard for the bullet to go deeper, but it was there."

"Thank you so much doctor...?"

"Doctor Sanders, Jackie Sanders"

"I want you to do me a favour,promise me you'll do it"

Jackie hesitated before she answered "Promise".

What was she promising this woman she had never met before?