Full Figured 9 Page 14

  “Excuse me. I just need to check the patient’s chart.” The nurse peeked inside just as Tami was adjusting his pillow.

  No sooner had the nurse returned the cream-colored folder to the door slot than the disillusioned female was back at it. Sympathetically examining the small bruises and abrasions scattered about his face, her declarations of love and loyalty continued. “You know, bae, when Mom told me the caller said your injuries weren’t considered life-threatening, I was relived, but I was still terrified just the same. Hell, I still don’t know the entire story, but I can bet it was your fake-ass wife’s fault. She was probably yelling at the driver, trying to convince him he was going the wrong way or something. You know Tori’s been a true bitch since birth. Why didn’t you just pick me from jump?” Tami leaned in closer, kissing his cheek. Using her left hand, she gently stroked the side of Vance’s jaw line.

  “Oh my God, Tami! What in the hell? Hell, naw!”

  Startled by the thunderous tone of a man’s voice, Tami stumbled backward. In hopes of avoiding knocking over Vance’s IV, she reached for the wall. Face to face with what seemed to be a sea of royal purple and gold, her chills instantly turned to shame. Guilt from kissing her sister’s husband consumed her thoughts as she struggled to speak.

  “Oh, hey, Courtney,” Tami greeted Vance’s frat brother, who’d just rushed into the room.

  Courtney was dressed in a tight-fitting T-shirt. With camouflage pants and black combat boots, he looked more like he was going to a Greek step show than coming to check on his best friend. “Wow, girl! What happened to my boy? Your parents told me it was a car crash, but any details? I mean, what did the driver have to say for himself? Was it on the interstate or what?”

  Tami was bombarded with question after question about Vance’s well-being and what had caused the accident. Glad they were about that and nothing that might be deemed inappropriate, she took a deep breath. Tami took great comfort in realizing her secret crush had not been revealed. She’d not been discovered hovering over the semi-conscious, drugged patient, and all was well.

  “Well, the nurse told me there appeared to be no internal injuries. From what they could tell, my sister got the worst of it. They said besides the cuts on his face, the only thing of major concern is his legs. They both seem to be pretty badly banged up.”

  Panicked and bewildered, Courtney was now standing shoulder to shoulder with Tami. “Oh, hell naw. His legs? What’s wrong with them? Please don’t tell me he can’t move them! Please don’t tell me that!”

  Once again lifting the blanket, Tami aided him in seeing the multitudes of bandages and thick cream ointment that covered both Vance’s legs. “No, Courtney, calm down. They don’t think it’s any type of spinal damage. There’s just a series of breaks in his bones. His right leg is much worse than the other, but other than that he’s good.”

  Patting his frat brother on the shoulder, Courtney couldn’t believe what was going down. Less than twenty-four hours prior, he was holding the entrusted rings at his best friend’s wedding; now this tragedy. “Dang, Tami girl, that reminds me. I got so caught up in seeing him like this, I almost forgot. Your parents ask me to tell you your sister is about to go to surgery and you can see her for a few moments before they take her down.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Tami seemed unbothered by what he’d just said. Her main focus was still on Vance, but she didn’t want to appear so obvious. Although she knew it’d be hard to see Tori and not burst out laughing at her misfortune, Tami put on her game face. “Well, since you’re here with him, I’ma go check on Mom and the old man. They’re probably both falling apart right about now.”

  “That’s cool. I tried to get in touch with Vance’s auntie and two cousins to tell them what happened, but no one picked up. I’ll try to get back with them later.”

  “I know, Courtney. My stepdad tried as well.” Tami stared at a helpless Vance from the doorway. “Maybe one of us should try again before they do any more procedures on him and see what they think.”

  After finishing up several texts to other frat brothers, Courtney reminded Vance’s new sister-in-law that besides those three family members, his fellow Que was on his own. “Tami, now you know Vance people aren’t that stable in the money department. He was the one who had to finance their trip here. So you know nine outta ten times they can’t afford to hop back on another flight just like that.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” Tami pretended to be sad, when all along she was feeling blessed that there was a strong possibility Vance would be all hers—at least if her little sister succumbed to her injuries or one of the surgeons was having a bad day.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  It had been a dreary and grueling two weeks of operations after operations, not only for her sister, but Vance as well. After the first exploratory procedure, it was discovered Tori was worse off than initially believed. Knowing she was in great pain, they put her on heavy doses of morphine along with several other medications. Tori suffered brutal damage to her upper torso. Having been ejected out the rear window when the Town Car flipped over, she was lucky to be alive. Both lungs had small puncture wounds and leaked fluid. Reading the results of the emergency CT scan, doctors also discovered bleeding near the brain. Immediately the decision was made to place Tori in a medically induced coma. Certainly the bruises on her face, hard to look at, would heal; however, her having any type of normal life after this hospital stay was not at all something to be optimistic about.

  With her father, mother, and a slew of happy-go-lucky friends marching in and out of her hospital room, Tori would not be alone. Tori’s husband was not as fortunate as she was. His family could not be by his side. Besides Vance’s frat brothers, who all had nine-to-fives and families of their own to deal with, Tami was the one person who unconditionally stepped up to the plate. She would be his designated caregiver and was happy to do so. Proving to her mother as well as the doctors on staff that she was capable of aiding her ailing brother-in-law, Tami grinned, content with the opportunity.

  Conniving in her intentions, she turned the top deadbolt on the suburban condo Vance and her little sister shared. Reaching down, she swooped the mail off the floor, sticking it into her purse. Tossing the keys on the dining area table, she took a quick assessment of the one-bedroom apartment. Slowly walking past a bookshelf, Tami causally knocked over each and every snapshot of the “faithfully in love” couple. Letting a few drop to the plush carpet, deep in her emotions she had no problem whatsoever stepping on them.

  Heading into the kitchen, Tami swung the refrigeration door open in hopes of grabbing a quick snack. Met by nothing but a jug of water, a few granola protein bars, a stick of butter, and an aging orange, she was peeved.

  I should’ve known that uppity, lightweight bitch don’t do no cooking for her man. But it ain’t no thang. When Vance gets over Momma’s, I’ma keep him fed! I’ma make him feel all the way at home.

  Ignoring the fact that her sister was still knocking at death’s door, Tami stayed in a vindictive state of mind.

  Per Vance’s instructions and wishes, she removed a small duffle bag from the top of the hallway closet. As his cosmetics and daily grooming aids were packed in their now missing luggage, Tami only had to gather undergarments, T-shirts, and a few pairs of track pants.

  The moment she stepped into the bedroom, her anger grew. Every bit of her soul told her that should be the room she and her beloved Vance shared. Tami rubbed her hands together to try to regain her train of thought.

  Glancing over at the perfectly made bed made the mentally drained sister practically sick to her stomach. Not caring what side Vance slept on, she fell back onto the mattress. Snatching one of the pillows, she took in the aroma. It smelled of jasmine and sunflowers. Without hesitation, she threw it across the room, knowing who it belonged to. Taking the other, she followed the same procedure as the first. Closing her eyes, a smile of satisfaction graced her face as Vance’s signature scent filled her nostrils.

 
; Caught up in the moment, she pulled the covers back. Tami then crawled underneath them, fully dressed, shoes still on. Surrounded with the scent of him, she eased her hand in between her legs. Before she knew it, Tami had gone as far as pushing her track pants down to her knees. Moving her panties to the side, she squirmed with thoughts of Vance’s hands being all over her.

  Minutes later, with wet fingers, Tami snapped back into reality. Turning her head to the side, she saw the digital clock was blinking in her face. Time was ticking and she had to pick her adored brother-in-law up from the hospital. Shortly he’d be released and in her capable care. All would be good in the universe.

  Knowing she was the only one with keys, her attitude was one of happiness. Having total access to their personal property, Tami knew she could return anytime she’d like to partake in more of the same foolishness. Deciding not to even wash her sticky hand, she stood to her feet. Wiping it on the end of the blanket, she smirked. Adjusting her clothes, Tami caught her breath then fixed her hair. Walking to the other side of the bed, she then evilly hawked in the area she assumed baby sis rested her head. Jealously and hatred for her bloodline had taken over, consuming Tami’s entire mind.

  Standing in front of the dresser, she used her forearm to clear everything off the top that obviously belonged to her “competition.” With the keen skills of a detective, she searched through the dark oak dresser. Eager to please, Tami quickly retrieved every item her sister’s husband requested. She wanted to steal some of her sister’s lingerie sets, but knew it’d be damn near impossible for her to fit half of a breast or a tiny portion of her lower butt cheek in any of them. Instead, she threw them across the room, landing them near the place Tori’s discarded pillow rested.

  After grabbing a few of Vance’s shirts that she wanted to sleep in, along with his needed belongings, she zipped up the duffle bag. Just to get her mind right, Tami took one more whiff of his pillow before heading toward the front door. After a fast stop by Walmart, then the pharmacy, she’d be hospital-bound to get her imaginary man.

  “As I was saying, it’s indeed a happy day for you since you are going home.” The doctor stared down at his chart before looking up. “I know it’s bittersweet because your lovely wife won’t be accompanying you, but all in God’s time.”

  Vance’s overall state of mind was not yet at a hundred. Disheartened, he wondered why the driver from the limousine company they’d used the day of the wedding had taken the shortcut route he did in the first place. Vance’s impromptu mood swings could only be controlled by a prescription of antidepressants the doctor handed to Tami.

  “Look, I know I should be happy, Doc. And I also know I’m blessed. It could’ve been so much worse on both our parts, but I’m good. And I’m glad the love of my life is still alive, still fighting.”

  “Yeah, she still hanging in there fighting,” Tami sarcastically mumbled underneath her breath, reaching out for Vance’s arm.

  Still cursing us with her presence on this earth.

  With his right leg broken in three places and his left extremely sore, Vance grimaced while accepting Tami’s help. Making the agonizing transition from the hospital bed to the wheelchair caused the grown man’s eyes to water, but being a soldier, he fought through the pain. Getting as comfortable as possible, he thanked the entire staff for their compassion and care, physically and mentally. Each knew of his wife’s dire medical condition and sympathized with his ongoing grief. Besides a handful of his frat brothers barking from time to time, attempting to keep his spirits up, Tami, his sister-in-law, was the only constant light throughout the dark tragedy he was facing.

  Vance, doped up on pain meds most of the day, had several dreams with visions of Tami. The cloudy-minded dreams of her touching his manhood, holding his hand, and kissing his lips seemed more real at times than he cared to admit. He knew they couldn’t be reality. Knowing his sister-in-law was not that type of person, he could only attribute the inappropriate hallucinations to the drugs. Vance felt sheer disgust for even imagining such actions from a female who clearly wasn’t his type, being his wife’s sister or not.

  As Tami helped him get dressed, he felt more and more ashamed of his thoughts. Tami was a champion in his eyes, the real MVP. Whether it was her bringing him a warm washcloth for his face or pushing his wheelchair to therapy, she was there. When it came to cleaning the gash in the side of his head or bringing him a bedpan, his wife’s sister was on point. Even when he suggested hooking her up with his best friend Courtney, Tami adamantly refused, claiming the family needed all her spare time and nothing else mattered. Vance, heavily medicated most of the day, had no worldly idea the devoted caregiver wasn’t including his comatose wife or his in-laws in her twisted equation or definition of family.

  Some of the more attentive hospital staff took notice of Tami’s strange devotion to Vance while hardly ever going two floors up to visit her younger sibling. Clearly, it wasn’t their place or in their best interest to openly speak on it; however, they noticed it just the same. Tami had given several of the more attractive nurses’ aides the serious side eye on more than one occasion for showing Vance extra care. And moreover, no one wanted to dare run the risk of losing their job over the next female’s husband.

  Waiting for the elevator, Tami placed Vance’s discharge papers and prescribed medications in her purse alongside of his and Tori’s mail that she’d clipped earlier. Slightly agitated because he’d corrected her in hitting the top button instead of the lower, she tried not pouting.

  Each time over the past few days that Vance had been allowed to leave his floor and visit Tori, Tami did as she was asked, pushing his wheelchair. Although she took no real joy in delivering the man she believed should’ve been her husband to his wife, the deranged plus-size diva sucked it up, knowing the evening and night would soon belong exclusively to her.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “Is everything okay for you in here? We tried to transform it from just the den to a place you can heal in properly.” Mr. Lewis was more than happy to welcome his new son-in-law into their home. He knew Vance had no family in state and could not afford to have his elderly aunt relocate to try to take care of him. “We would’ve put you in Tori’s old bedroom, but those stairs would be too much considering the cast on your leg, especially with all the various doctors’ appointments you have coming up.”

  Having been sitting in an upward position by his injured wife’s side for at least thirty minutes, Vance’s lower back was throbbing. Coupled with the bumpy ride home from the hospital, Vance was weary and out of sorts. Normally in great physical condition, the former captain of the football team yearned for nothing more than to lie down in the rented hospital bed. He didn’t just want his medicine; he needed it. Vance wasn’t accustomed to taking even a mere Tylenol for a headache, but this pain he’d been experiencing since the accident was excruciating.

  “Wow, he’s good. I’ll get him all settled in. Don’t worry about him.” Tami escorted her stepfather out of the den and into the living room. “I told you and Mom not to concern yourselves with Vance. I know you two have enough on your hands with Tori. I know the insurance company is fighting her coverage. I heard you guys talking about it.”

  “Yes, that’s true, but—”

  “But nothing, Dad. I got Vance. He’s family now. I’m gonna look out for him.” Tami sarcastically grinned. “After all, it’s the least I can do for my sister. I mean, if my husband was ill and I wasn’t able, I know she’d do it for me.”

  It was no secret that Mr. Lewis didn’t love both his daughters equally. He never got over the fact that Tami was tragically a product of rape. As the years went by, he tried to soften up and not play favoritism. Even though he’d never speak it out loud, he knew Tami seemed to be miserable more times than not, especially when Tori was around. But now, since this tragedy, he felt it was time he spoke up.

  “Listen, Tami, I know you must be feeling some sort of guilt for not being as close to your sister as you sh
ould have been. I get that.”

  “Say what now?” Tami loudly puzzled. Not wanting Vance to overhear her family’s dirty laundry being aired, she made sure the den door was closed.

  “Yes, isn’t that why you are doing so much for her husband? Kinda a way of making amends to your little sister. You know life is too short for you to always be bitter toward Tori because she’s so pretty.”

  “Bitter? Me? Are you serious?” Tami rolled her eyes and waved her hand, dismissing her stepfather’s outlandish statement.

  “Yes, Tami.” Mr. Lewis sat down in his favorite chair. Resting before he had to pick his wife up from the hospital, he continued to read his wife’s firstborn. “Your mother and I saw the way you were behaving at your sister’s wedding—and after we begged her to let you be her maid of honor. She felt you were a little too plump for the style of dress she picked out, but your mother insisted.”

  “Begged? Insisted?” Tami grew more heated hearing each hurtful word escape her stepfather’s old lips. “And I’m plump, huh? That’s code word for fat, right? Y’all, my own family, calling me fat?”

  “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just if maybe you dropped a few pounds you could get you a husband like your sister did.” His words cut like a knife, and Tami waited for the one-line statement she’d grown accustomed to hearing. Seconds later, as if on cue, there it was: “You have such a pretty face.”

  Tami was insulted. What colossal nerve her mother’s husband had. How dare he think her eagerness to care for Vance was based solely on that bony, anorexic daughter of his? Resisting the urge, she wanted to run up in his face and shout out, “Negro, please!” Then tell him not to play himself.