CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“Nita, look!”
Janita looked where Von was pointing. They were in the overcrowded hospital waiting room, where they’d been for hours waiting for news on Hawk’s condition, when Von saw Mr. Webster and Matty by.
They both jumped up and hurried out the door. “Mr. Webster? Mr. Webster?”
William and Matty turned when they heard Janita call that name. That was when they saw her and her brother as they were hurrying up to them. “Hello sir.”
“Minka said you were the one who found my son.”
“Yes, sir. But how is he? They won’t tell us anything.”
“Where have you been?” Matty asked. “They told us you weren’t at the hospital.”
“We got here as soon as the LAPD finished questioning us and allowed us to leave. We’ve been in the waiting room.” She motioned toward the room.
William and Matty could see through the glass that it was overfilled with people. “Why aren’t you in his suite with the family?” Matty asked her.
Why did he think? Those bodyguards on duty was going to let them anywhere near the family, nor that suite. “I didn’t even know y’all were here,” she said.
“Of course we’re here,” William said. “When you phoned Minka and told him what happened, every one of us got on my plane and got here as fast as we could.”
“How is he?” Janita asked again.
William could see the concern on her face. She could see the distress on his face. Matty spoke up for his father. “Not good,” he said. “He’s still in a coma. The doctors don’t expect any change for a while.”
Janita nodded, but they could see her disappointment. “What about Kemberly?” she asked. “That’s why he rushed back to L.A. He said she attempted suicide, but I couldn’t find anything about it online.”
“That’s because it wasn’t true,” said Matty. “The police told us that she and her brothers lured Hawk back to L.A. and then they broke in somehow and jumped him in his own home. Now they’re on the run. An arrest warrant has been issued for all three of them.”
“Wow,” said Von. “I didn’t think she was nothing like that.” Kemberly was his favorite artist.
“But what were you doing in Los Angeles?” William asked her. It seemed odd that she would have been the one to find his son.
“I tried to call him over and over, but he wouldn’t return my calls.”
“Which is typical Hawthorne,” said Matty.
“Yes sir, but I just felt something was wrong. I don’t know why I felt that, but I did. And everybody I was trying to tell it to weren’t taking my concerns serious at all. They just blew me off. But I had a feeling.”
Willliam and Matty were touched. “The doctor said had you not come to his house to see him, he would not have survived,” William said. “Thank you for acting on your feeling, young lady.”
Janita nodded. “Yes sir.” Then she decided to get bold. “Can I see him, sir?”
“Of course you can!” William said. “Follow us.”
And Janita and Von, stunned that it was that easy, did just that.
But just as they were turning to go down a hall, they all heard somebody yell out. They all turned around and saw a black man who looked to be around Hawk’s age running toward them. “Who’s that?” Von asked.
“That’s Shelly,” said Matty. “That’s Hawk’s best friend and the CEO of Eagle Records. Hey Shell.”
“Is it true?” Shelly, virtually out of breath, stopped in front of them. “Hawk asked me to handle negotiations for him at Sony. We were locked in a room all day and had no information. I just found out. Is it true? They say he’s on life support?”
“That part isn’t true,” said William. Then he exhaled. “But he is in a coma, Shelly.”
“Damn.” Shelly had unshed tears in his eyes. “I was on the phone with him just this morning. We were all on a conference call with him. And now he’s in a coma? And they’re saying Kemberly was behind it?””
“Her and her brothers, yes,” said Matty. “The cops are looking for them now.”
Shelly couldn’t believe it. “I thought she loved him. I still can’t believe this shit. I thought Kem was in love with Hawk.”
“Some love,” said Von, and they all agreed. And then they made their way into Hawk’s private hospital suite.
Family members immediately went to Shelly and hugged him.
He fit right in. But when Janita entered that hospital room, and saw his entire family in that space, including his mother, it all felt so overwhelming.
But when she saw Hawk, and how many machines he was hooked up to, it felt downright depressing. And so hopeless. He looked so sick!
Shelly, too, was blown away by how Hawk looked. And his face was so bloated. He could hardly bear it.
But when Reecie saw Janita, she got up, went to her, and began sobbing as she threw her arms around her. “You saved his life,” she was saying in tears. “I knew you were going to be good for him.”
Janita was too overcome by the sight of Hawk to understand what she meant, but Von understood it. Was that why she wanted Janita to go with her to L.A. that time? To play matchmaker?
But Hawk and Janita were so different that, to the average person, such a union would make no sense whatsoever. But even Von knew that Resheda Webster was never average.
“Come sit with me,” Reecie said and Janita went and sat near the bedside with Hawk’s mother.
They were in a luxury hospital room, one that was undoubtedly designed for VIPs, and an extra bed and many chairs were also in the room.
Von stayed near the door as if he was on duty.
He had to make himself useful some kind of way.
But all Janita could think about was Hawk. She sat there with tears in her eyes as she watched that big, strong man unable to breathe on his own. She couldn’t stop crying.
And every one of Hawk’s family members saw how devastated she was. Were she and Hawk much closer than they had assumed?
Apparently so. Why else would somebody travel all the way from Tennessee to California just to make sure an acquaintance was okay? He had to be more than an acquaintance to her.
But soon their attention turned back to Hawk too. They were devastated too. They had no idea if he was going to live, or die.
And it remained that way for several days. Everybody stayed in that hospital suite. Reecie had new clothes purchased for everybody, including Janita and Von, since nobody thought to bring anything from Tennessee but themselves.
But when the doctor said that Hawk could remain in that coma for days, weeks, months, or even years, they all knew they had to get back to some semblance of their own lives too.
Nightclub owner Nat, who knew how to manage people well since he had many employees whose schedules constantly changed, decided they should make up a schedule of who could come to stay with Hawk and on which days. Especially since the doctor ruled out transporting him to Tennessee for his recovery.
But when Nat got to Janita, it was a simple answer for her. “I’m staying,” she said.
“That’s not my question,” the always-impatient Nat said. “My question is on what days can you come and stay?”
“Every day,” she said.
They all looked at her. “What do you mean every day?” Minka asked her.
“I’m not leaving.”
“You aren’t leaving until?” asked Nat.
“I’m not leaving until Hawk walks out of this hospital on his own two legs,” she said.
Although the entire family was touched by her devotion to Hawk, William and Reecie were especially touched. “You mean you’re staying here day and night until he recovers?” William asked her.
Janita nodded. “Yes sir. If it’s alright with y’all.”
“It’s alright with me,” Minka said, and all of Hawk’s siblings agreed too. His parents were even more so in agreement.
“What about you, DeVontay?” Reecie asked him.
“If my sister is staying,” he said, “then I’m staying too.”
“Good. She’ll need company. Considering yourselves on the clock.”
They knew what Reecie meant. She was going to pay them as if they were still working for her. But because they were running out of money fast, with none coming in, neither one of them could object. But Reecie already knew that Janita would stay regardless.
And over the course of three weeks, the family left and came back and left again in various groups of two, three, or sometimes all of them all at once. But Janita never left Hawk’s side.
There were some hiccups. Like when William showed up with his four out-of-wedlock children, at least the ones they knew of, and Reecie was already there. Janita and Von were amazed at how she played it off with a smile like it was no big deal to her.
But as his children gawked at Hawk like he was some circus side show, and as a look of distress could be seen behind Reecie’s smile, Janita could tell that William regretted the move.
He even told his children to wait for him outside and he went to his wife and apologized.
“I didn’t know you were going to be here.
I was the only one on the schedule for today. ”
“I don’t go by Joe Nathan’s schedule,” Reecie said bluntly. “I will come see my son whenever I take a notion. On the spur of the moment. Whenever the mood hits me. You know that about me. But you do it anyway.”
“They’re my children, Resheda. Despite the fact that it was wrong, and I have nothing more to do with their mothers, they’re still my children. They had nothing to do with the circumstances of their birth.”
“That’s the only reason I tolerate it. But don’t push me, William.”
Janita and Von expected William to explode. They’d seen him do that too in the time they’d been in Los Angeles. But he held his peace.
And Hawk’s condition never changed. He didn’t get better. He didn’t get worst. He just remained comatose.
Until one bright Friday afternoon, after nearly a month-and-a-half of seemingly no changes whatsoever, the entire official Websters, along with Janita and Von, were in Hawk’s hospital suite.
Janita and Von decided to take a break and go downstairs to the cafeteria.
But when they had returned and were just getting off of the elevator, Dray was running to them. “Janita! Von!” he cried out.
When they saw him running to them, they hurried to him. “What’s wrong? What is it?” a very nervous Janita was asking.
Dray was nearly out of breath. “He’s awake,” he said breathlessly. “And he’s asking for you!”
Neither one asked which one Dray meant. Because they already knew. Janita dropped those cups of coffee in that Styrofoam cupholder and took off running back to Hawk’s suite.
And when she got to his room, and saw smiles on the faces of every member of his family as they were gathered around his bedside, her heart squeezed.
But when they moved aside as she hurried to the bedside, and she saw that Hawk’s bed was lifted up and he was propped up as if he was sitting up for the first time in a month-and-a-half, her heart soared. “Oh Hawk!” she cried out.
Tears appeared in his eyes for the first time since he had awakened. “Janita,” he said as if he had been waiting to say it forever. And he pulled her into his arms even though he had little strength. Janita was outright crying by now.
But Hawk was emotional too as they held each other. Then they released their embrace and their foreheads touched. Then Hawk hugged her again.
His voice wasn’t strong, but it was clear: “I heard you,” he said.
Janita leaned back and looked at him. “When?” she asked him.
“At my house.” He had to clear his throat. “When you showed up at my house, I heard your voice. When I heard you, and when I knew it was you, that was when I was certain I was going to make it. That was when I knew I was going to be alright.”
Everybody was in tears when he said those words. Including Von. They were all crying happy tears.
But it was so much more than that for Janita. She placed her hands on both sides of his face. Seeing Hawk alive and well again wasn’t just a happy moment for her. It was the happiest moment of her entire life. None other could compare.