Color of Love (44 page)

“It’s the only thing that’s safe to swallow around here.”

He took a very small sip and put the cup down on his nightstand. He was still weak and exhausted, and his head fell back against the raised pillows. “Still saving my life, eh? You know the Chinese have a saying. When you save a person’s life, it belongs to you.”

“I’m not Chinese,” Leah said quietly.

Jason squeezed her hand, pulled her closer. “Want to adopt me?”

Leah had to laugh. He seemed so irrepressible, so like himself. But the tension snapped within her, and the laughter quickly turned to threatened tears. Jason murmured something gentle and urged her against his shoulder. Leah hesitated, afraid to hurt him, but practically climbed onto the bed with him.

“It’s okay. This is the good side.”

They held each other as tightly as the pain permitted.

“This is all my fault,” she mumbled.

“You know what? It could have been you he shot. That would have made me feel worse, Leah. I expect to get shot at. I’m better prepared for it.”

“I’m sorry, but that doesn’t make it okay.”

“Well, we’re both in agreement on that. Anyway, I was lucky. He missed the first shot altogether.”

They hugged each other, just being able to touch working miracles.

“Jay, what will they do to him?”

Jason looked openly at her. His eyes, heavy-lidded, nonetheless read clearly her question. He was honest with her. “He’ll be charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault. He shot a cop. That’s not going to make it easy for him. We’re becoming an endangered species.”

Leah felt her heart constrict. Her eyes held poignant concern and sadness. “So are young black men.”

He nodded. “I know. I’ve already asked Joe to keep on top of it. I can’t say what will happen. We’ll have to see.”

She nodded. Her eyes filled with tears again. “It’s so confusing. He could have killed you.”

“The bullet broke a rib. The doctors “took it out. I didn’t need it anyway.”

“Please don’t joke about it—”

He put his hand over her mouth, and his eyes seemed to hold a bemused smile. She frowned at him.

“Stop talking for a minute.”

She pulled the hand away. “Why?”

He grinned, putting the hand to the back of her head; he kissed her with a great deal of satisfaction. And he took his time. The kiss vanquished the rest of her guilt.

For the next half hour there was the joy of just the two of them together. The nurse poked her head into the door again, and quickly disappeared with a knowing smile. A doctor came by and did likewise, indicating that he’d return later. And mostly they just held each other and talked in peaceful whispers about how much they loved and needed each other. It was the best medicine for them both.

Feeling safe and settled at last, Leah kicked off her shoes and drew her legs up onto the bed. Lying next to Jason, she felt blissful and calm. “So what about this serious talk we were going to have?” she asked, threading their fingers together.

He tilted his head against hers. “I was thinking, why don’t I buy out Gail’s share in the house? Then you and I can get married, too,” he said smoothly, not missing a beat.

Leah looked sharply at him with a series of conflicting emotions—stunned surprise, a fleeting look of apprehension, and heartbreaking longing.

Nonetheless Jason smiled warmly at her. He squeezed her hand. “I bet you didn’t think I could go the distance, but … I’m in love with you, Leah Downey. I think we belong together. I want to marry you.”

Leah felt an overwhelming rush of relief burst through her chest. Jason had just confessed that he loved her. He’d just said he wanted to marry her. She’d wished for months that it was possible, and suddenly there it was. Spoken out loud.

Jason laughed softly at her expression and took advantage of her inability to speak by kissing her into further silence. The startled expression disappeared and her eyes shimmered with tears. Jason slowly put the good arm around her shoulder and gathered Leah as close as he could.

“Boy, am I going to look like a jerk if you don’t feel the same.”

Her shoulders shook, and she wrapped an arm around his neck. “I do, I do!” Leah sobbed.

“Good,” Jason mumbled, his voice thick and ragged. “That’s what I wanted to know.”

“I didn’t think you’d want to get married again.”

“I never thought I’d want to, either. But that was before this past year. That was before I went away to Pine Grove and missed you before I’d even gotten past the city limits. I knew then what I wanted us to do. I
knew
that the thing I wanted most was to be with you.”

She looked down at their joined fingers and the two colors intertwined so evenly. For a second it was almost a surprise. She almost never noticed that anymore. She examined his wrists, the veins and sinew in relief beneath his skin. Leah’s fingers rubbed the fine layer of light brown hair.

“What about the police force? What about your family and friends?”

“I like my job and I’m good at it. But that’s all the department gets out of me. My private life stays private. As for everyone else, forget them. I think we know by now who our friends are.”

Leah felt her body begin to go soft, begin to loosen as the surprise finally settled in. She glanced at Jason with a poignant kind of sadness. “Just think,” she whispered, once more on the verge of tears. “If we’d gotten together the other night, you could have saved yourself a bullet.”

“I would have preferred skipping that part, too. So?”

She began to nod, to smile lovingly at him. “I accept.”

His grin was boyish, almost foolish. “Do you want a ring?”

Leah shook her head. “This is so romantic. Just like a real old-fashioned proposal.”

“I hope you don’t mind if I don’t ask your father for his approval. I’m getting too old to wait that long.”

Leah put her head on his shoulder. “Jason Horn, I love you so much.”

Jason was quiet for a moment, and chuckled softly. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever told me.”

He kissed her forehead, raised her chin so he could kiss her mouth again. The kisses held so many expectations.

“Then all is forgiven? I forgive you and you forgive me and we forgive the world?”

“No more apologies, please. We haven’t done anything wrong, so let’s just live in peace and try to be happy.”

“Hey, we can do anything. Bend steel with our bare hands, leap tall buildings …”

She laughed, pulling the red baseball cap from his head. She eased herself from the bed against his protests but bent to kiss him once more.

“You’re beginning to sound delirious. Maybe I should get the doctor—”

He grabbed her hand. “No, don’t. Stay with me ’til I fall asleep.”

“All right …”

His eyes drifted close, and his head sank back into the pillow. “Leah, we’re going to be great together.”

She stroked his cheek, but he was already almost asleep, still holding fast to her hand.

“I love you, Jay,” she whispered.

She thought she saw him smile as he fell to sleep.

I
WOULD LIKE TO
also thank Police Officers Kevin O’Connor of the Midtown North Precinct in Manhattan, and William Gamble of the Police Benevolent Association.

A special thank-you to Police Officer Ronald Singer of the 70th Precinct in Brooklyn, New York, for answering hundreds of questions, and for being patient.

Finally, I’m grateful for the medical information given by Dr. Anthony Mustalish, former Chief of Emergency Medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, and for his wonderful sense of humor.

Sandra Kitt is the author of more than twenty novels, including
The Color of Love
,
Significant Others
, and
Close Encounters
, as well as numerous short stories. Her work has been nominated for the NAACP Image Award and has appeared on the
Essence
and Blackboard bestseller lists. She is the recipient of the Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award and the Zora Neale Hurston Literary Award. A native New Yorker, Kitt previously worked as a graphic designer, creating cards for UNICEF, illustrating books, and exhibiting her own work, which is included in the collection of the Museum of African American Art in Los Angeles. She formerly served as the managing director of the Richard S. Perkin Collection in Astronomy and Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1995 by Sandra Kitt

Cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa

978-1-4804-3878-1

This edition published in 2013 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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New York, NY 10014

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