Page 40 of Mafia Kings & Wedding Rings

Cambrie

“ H i. I’m Cambrie Rhodes. They called me about my daddy, Carlos Rhodes.”

I was sure I broke a few speeding laws on my way to the facility.

The whole time my palms were sweaty and it felt like I would throw up.

Like always, I regretted that I wasn’t taking care of my dad full time.

It made me feel like a bad daughter. I was all he had.

None of our other family ever stepped up or checked on us.

When my mama died, any connection to her side went with her.

I don’t know what was wrong with those people, but they didn’t behave like family, and I understood why my mama kept her distance from them.

The lady behind the greeting desk clicked away on her keyboard a few times and studied her computer screen.

“Yeah, it looks like they have him in exam room five. Let me give you a visitor’s pass.” She grabbed a sticker and slid it across the counter to me. “I just need you to sign in right there.” She pointed to a clipboard to my left.

“Thank you.” I snatched the sticker off the paper and stuck it on my hoodie after scribbling my name on the visitor’s log.

“Just go down the hall there and make a right. The exam room has a number outside the door.”

Following her instructions, the sterile aroma invaded my nostrils as I arrived outside my daddy’s room just moments later.

There was a janitor at the end of the hall mopping, so there was this pine scent also lingering in the air.

I tapped on the door and poked my head inside.

There was a doctor and nurse present, both staring down at my father and speaking low among one another while going over his chart.

A single exam table sat in the middle of the room, and counters lined the walls on either side.

Different instruments and jars of cotton swabs and Q-tips were arranged on top, and right next to him there was a fluid bag hanging and a blood pressure monitor.

“Where is she? Where is my wife? I need to see Christine,” Daddy pleaded weakly.

“Daddy.” I rushed to his side, and the doctor and her nurse straightened up. “I’m here. It’s Cambrie.”

“Cambrie?” he repeated, slowly rolling his head across the pillow and facing me.

His dark eyes were glossy, and I hated that far-off gaze when he reached out his hand to me. I grabbed it in my own and stopped beside him.

“What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

“Your mother. I just want to see her. Where is she?”

Immediately, my heart felt like someone had slit it open with a fresh wound.

It was one thing to lose my mama, but it was another when he forgot and had to be reminded.

Reliving his agony and pain took its toll on me.

Sniffling and wiping away a tear that had slipped through, I smiled and leaned in to embrace him and kiss his cheek.

“She’s parking the car right now, Daddy. How are you feeling? Did you eat today? Is there something I can do for you?”

“I want to see Christine.” His words drifted, and he started to slip off.

“What’s wrong with him?” I asked as his hand relaxed in mine, and I peered up at the doctor.

“He had to be sedated. I’m Dr. Adkins.” The older black gentleman extended his hand to me.

“Well, what’s going on? Is he going to be okay? What do we need to do to prevent these things from happening?”

“I’d like to do a workup on him. Run a few tests so we can see where we are with his prognosis. I know that he is new to the facility, but I like to have all my data in real time so I can assist my patients the best way I can.”

“That makes sense.” I nodded and reached out to stroke some of his thick salt and pepper curls. “Do whatever you need to do. I just want him to be okay.”

“You’re welcome to sit with him for a while. I’ll have the nurse here draw his blood and we’ll go from there.”

“Thank you, Dr. Adkins.” I offered a tight smile and sighed.

He was now sleeping like a baby without a care in the world. If only. I hadn’t meant to doze off, but hearing my father yell in his sleep forced me out of my slumber. I’d been in this big leather armchair in the corner watching him when I drifted off myself.

“Daddy.” I inched closer to him in alarm.

“Brie?” His bushy brows knitted together, and that calm, confident glint in his eyes that I remembered was there.

Most of the time when we were together, he barely even acknowledged me. I spent most of it with him watching him read or watch old movies and TV shows. When we had conversations before it was like he was talking to me like I was still nine years old or something.

“Yeah, it’s me. How are you feeling?” Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, I leaned forward to kiss his cheek, and he relaxed his head against his pillow.

“So damn tired,” he complained. “Where am I?” Confusion marred his features as his eyes took in the small procedural room.

“I had to move you to a new place. The last one was having trouble treating you and keeping track of you. This place has more security.”

“Sounds like it costs more too. How can you afford this?”

“Don’t worry about it,” I assured him. “What matters is you’re good.” I grabbed his hand, and he placed his other one on top.

“I told you a while ago I didn’t want you putting your life on hold or making sacrifices for me, Cambrie.”

“You’re my father. You have taken care of me my whole life. How am I not supposed to do the same thing for you?” I croaked, fighting the urge to fall apart right here.

“Come here.” He grabbed me and pulled me to his chest.

Listening to his heartbeat and smelling the familiar scent of his go-to soap, I cracked.

All the frustrations and years’ worth of pain and heartache came pouring out of me while he stroked my back and let me cleanse in his arms. I didn’t think the stream of tears would ever stop.

The hug he wrapped me in brought me back to a simpler time.

Immediately, the memories of him tucking me in at night, or us sitting up late to eat snacks and watch horror movies, flooded me.

“What happened?” Nudging me away, he searched my face with concern.

“Nothing. It’s just… hard. You being here. I miss you.”

“I miss you too.”

“Before you woke up, you were asking for Mommy,” I informed him.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered, instant heartbreak breaking out across his face.

“I try to forget about that night, but it’s so hard.”

“Brie, you can’t drive yourself crazy with ‘what if.’ We’ve talked about this.” Daddy stroked my hair like he used to when I was a little girl.

“I know. Sometimes, it’s just… I can’t help but wonder if it was the accident that triggered the aneurysm.”

“The doctor’s all said it was inevitable,” he reminded me gently.

“But that night, that accident… she was in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up losing her life because some stupid ass person decided to have a shootout. I can’t not think about that regardless of what the doctors said.”

“I know. Come here.” Drawing me into his chest, he continued to stroke my hair when someone tapped on the ajar door.

“Staten.” I quickly wiped the tears off my face and hopped up off the bed. “What are you doing here?”

“Sol told me what was going on. I just wanted to make sure you were good. I know you were alone and everything when you got the news,” he said, his large presence now filling the room.

He was the last person I expected to just show up.

When it came to being there for my daddy, the only person who really got it was Plum.

She was my rock. She also had genuine love for my daddy and would come visit on her own too.

It was hard trying to have relationships with people because I went through life since his diagnosis waiting on the other shoe to drop.

At one point, I thought Sayer understood that, but he became resentful and jealous all the time.

I’d let so many red flags slip when it came to him all because he was there for me.

“Who is this?” Daddy asked, cutting into my thoughts.

“Oh, Daddy, this is my boss, Staten. Staten, this is my father, Carlos Rhodes,” I introduced them.

“Kind of late for the boss to be checking on you,” Daddy observed, causing me to snicker and roll my eyes at his tone.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. This job is helping me take care of your bills too. So be nice,” I warned, knowing how overprotective he could be.

He never liked Sayer. To the point where when I would bring him for visits, it only agitated Daddy, whether he could remember him or not.

“Does Staten have a last name?”

“Marek,” he answered.

“Staten Marek,” Daddy repeated. “You related to Justus Marek?”

“He was my father.”

“Was?” Daddy quipped, narrowing his eyes curiously.

“He passed away recently,” Staten informed him.

“Oh. Condolences.”

“The doctors said they were running some tests. Let me go see if I can find someone to talk to us about what’s going on. I’ll be back.” I kissed his cheek and started toward the door with Staten not far behind me.

“This is the first time he’s been lucid in months,” I revealed when were alone in the hall.

“What you need me to do?” Staten offered.

Just like that. I hadn’t expected it, but it gave me a sense of calm, and the tension finally eased out of my shoulders.

I envied people with siblings the older I got.

At least they had someone to share the burden with.

It only piled on to the guilt because it always seemed like I wasn’t doing enough.

God forbid something did happen to him, I wouldn’t have any immediate family left.

“I don’t know. I have to find this doctor and see if these test results came in. You don’t have to stay. It’s all routine stuff.”

“Sol is with the kids. I can hang out for a minute and keep you company.”

“I just… I don’t know how long this is going to last and… I want to be here and talk to him, catch up with him until he falls asleep.”

“Do whatever you need to do,” he insisted.

“Are you sure? I just started this job. I need it to help take care of him?—”