"So you'll go to her?"
Pause. "Of course I will, Sam."
"Great. Mom was right about this."
"What do you mean?"
"She got the news first and then told me to tell you. She thinks there was a reason you were invited to tour that place in Brazil this particular week."
That statement stayed with Jesse as he walked through the hospital doors. After a brief stop at the front desk, he set out to find his mother's precious goddaughter. As he went through the corridors and to the elevator, he was grateful for his affinity for languages and the fact that he had no trouble reading the signs in that facility. Here and there they were in English, but speaking the local language was serving him well.
His experience with medical facilities also helped him, too. He knew lots of people didn't like the smell and the ambiance in a hospital, but for Jesse it was like returning to his alma mater dorm room or a sports locker room. It wasn't that he didn't care about the sick people but in his mind this was where the unwell should be. He found he got more concerned when he saw someone struggling outside of a health institution because then he couldn't be certain that they would get help and that bothered him. Knowing this about himself, Jesse contemplated whether that was part of why he worried about Pearl and maybe even why he'd been uneasy of late. Being in the hospital wasn't a problem for him as much as why he was in the hospital was.
A great part of him wanted to believe that the foreboding that he'd been carrying around for the past two days had no valid basis for existing. Mentally shaking his head, he tried to shrug off his anxiety. It wouldn't help Pearl to see his worry, so he made every effort to start blocking his concerns.
Arriving in the correct ward, Jesse spoke to the nurses and got a bit of information about the American patient who had been rushed in the previous day. The report he got instilled no confidence in him and he could feel his chest tightening again, as if he was the one with some sort of respiratory condition. Thanking the nurses he had just had a conversation with, he went in the direction they pointed him.
Jesse paused outside her hospital room door for a moment, hoping silently that he wouldn't find her in a bad condition but knowing what the nurses had just told him meant that it was unlikely. He knocked on the door and walked in. His eyes immediately sought Pearl's face. Once they found their target, they widened and his mouth fell open.
When Pearl woke up, the last thing she imagined she would see was Jesse Murray seated beside her with a book in his hands, reading quietly.
"Jesse?"
He looked up and smiled. "Good. You're awake."
"What are you doing here?"
His smiled widened as he said, "As soon as you left, I became the go-to guy. The family sent me to check on you."
"Oh, no… seriously?"
"Yes," he chuckled. "Seriously."
"Don't you have a life? Aren't you supposed to be doing interviews or something?"
Her face was going pink and Jesse couldn't tell if it was the exertion of speaking or discomfort.
"Calm down, Pearl. I was doing an interview but I volunteered to come. Besides I was in the area," he finished easily.
She regarded him dubiously.
"I was in Brazil," he almost laughed.
At that her almond brown eyes widened. He nodded.
She didn't say anything for a moment but eventually Pearl looked at Jesse, who was standing by her side now and said, "Thank you for coming."
"Think nothing of it."
"Have they told you when I can go home?"
"Not yet, but I did take a peek at your charts. You could be released soon."
Pearl felt herself go limp with relief. "Thank God." Pause. "I hate hospitals."
Jesse reached out and squeezed her hand. "You'll be okay and out of here soon enough."
She smiled gratefully. "That puts me at ease. Needles hurt and the bed isn't soft enough." She feebly wiped away a tear of frustration.
Jesse frowned a little but only said, "Do you want to tell me what happened?"
At first Jesse thought that she might refuse to share the incidents leading up to her being hospitalized. He saw the hesitation but he also saw when she changed her mind and started telling him about the last few days. As she spoke, he watched her face and he tried to focus on her words, not the way her current condition was worrying him.
Pearl had gone back to the little café almost every day. Occasionally she would talk to the old flower man, but most of the time she would just listen to him sing. She would take in the sights and the smells of the area and meditate on whatever came to her mind.
She still hadn't gotten a reason for why she had to go to the café but she was willing to wait for the answer.
On her last visit to the café, it had been a slightly cooler day. There was a gentle breeze and Pearl told Jesse that she remembered coughing a bit. She knew that he would understand that it was a tell-tale sign that things could possibly go wrong.
As she was leaving, the old man had called to her and handed her a huge bouquet of the most beautiful flowers. He had thanked her for coming back to his country and for showing such compassion and grace to the locals and said that he hoped the flowers would inspire her to return regularly as she had when she was younger.