“Mom, we’re hungry!” Justin announced, taking Dominique’s mind off worry and, for the time being, placing it on food. She was glad for the distraction.

“What’s wrong?” As soon as Faith saw Dominique’s face, she knew there was trouble.

“It’s Jake’s brother,” Dominique said, eyeing Aaron, Michael, and Justin as they walked inside the comfortable Inglewood residence while the sisters remained outside. “Yesterday, he had a heart attack.”

“Oh, no.” Faith immediately reached out for Dominique, giving her a nice, long hug. “I’m sorry, sister.”

Dominique welcomed the embrace. “Me, too,” she said, hugging her back.

“If you need to go down there, don’t worry about Justin. We’ll take care of him. He can miss a few days of school without a problem.”

“Thanks, sister, but right now, Jake wants me to hold tight. They don’t know whether Harold is going to make it and quite frankly I’m not sure Jake wants me to see him in this frame of mind.”

“But you’re the woman who loves him. Where else would you be than by his side?”

“I feel the same way,” Dominique replied as the two made their way up the sidewalk and into the house. “And even though it goes totally against my nature, I’m trying to let Jake take the lead.”

Over the next three days, calls from Jake were sporadic. Dominique’s days were busy, spent planning the issue that would feature her life and profile as the lead story. But not busy enough not to notice that Jake seemed more and more distant. The pain of his brother’s life hanging in the balance was evident every time she heard his voice. Dominique recalled the brothers and their closeness, how Jake had looked up to Harold as a father figure when their father had died. Please let him live, Dominique found herself praying. Please don’t let Jake lose his brother. Not now, not when we have just found love.

By Thursday evening, Jake was still in Alabama. His brother’s condition still remained critical. Everyone still prayed.

“Where’s Jake?” Justin asked, shortly after they’d eaten dinner and Tessa had left.

“He’s still in Birmingham, honey,” Dominique replied. The day following Harold’s attack, Dominique had explained to Justin what had happened, that Jake’s brother had gotten very sick and had surgery, and that Jake had flown to Alabama to be by his side.

“Is his brother going to die?”