Come Back To Me Read Online Free Page B

being there was more than Tess could handle. She lay in silence for two days, finally asking Alice to leave, “I just need some space.”
    Kevin had stopped by a few times. He cut the grass and tried to comfort Tess, his own private pain hovering like a dark cloud.
     
    Iraq
     
    The sun shone brightly in the clear sky, filling the tent with a heat so dry that as quickly as sweat poured off Suha, it immediately dried up. Suha focused on the task at hand, rousing the injured man.
    She wiped his brow with a damp rag and spoke softly, “Wake up, Jameel .” Suha was surprised when the word rolled off her lips. The Arabic word, Jameel , translated to beautiful male in English. She sat next to the man that she’d dragged to safety, the man she’d monitored throughout the long nights, dressing his wounds, and had come to care for. His dark hair, the color of stones in a riverbed, not quite brown and not quite black, had grown in the passing weeks, sticking out in odd places. It was much less coarse than the hair of local men. Suha tried to attribute his peaceful look to his medications, but something told her that the man who lay before her was not a mean-spirited man. She was not afraid of this man. Suha thought of her kind father, grateful that he’d insisted on schooling her in English. A woman in the medical field would need such knowledge, he’d told her. She’d spent years studying her father’s library of English dictionaries and learning to translate medical books. The memory warmed her. She wished she could see her father once again, thank him, hear his voice. The American’s eyes fluttered.
    Hope soared through Suha. She asked him to open his eyes, told him that he was safe.
    He moaned.
    Samira rushed to Suha’s side.
    Suha reached for the American’s hand, urging him to open his eyes. He moaned again. She wiped his face with a cloth, hoping to revive him.
     
    Sounds washed over Beau. Pain coursed through every inch of his flesh. He tried to open his eyes. His eyelids were too heavy. He wiggled his toes, sending searing pains through his calves and thighs. He listened, trying to figure out where he was, trying to remember how he had gotten there. His mind was too foggy, he could not focus. He felt a hand on his wrist and heard the softly-spoken words that accompanied the tender touch. Damn , how he wished he could understand what was being said. He tried to speak, but his voice failed him.
    Suha spoke excitedly, her heart racing. “Jameel, please. Open your eyes,” she pleaded.
    His eyelids fluttered. Beau’s mind drifted in and out of fogginess. He’d heard a woman’s voice, but it was not Tess. Tess . The thought of her made his heart beat faster. He felt a warm hand caress his own. He tried to lift his index finger.
    Samira felt the slight pressure of the movement. “Suha!” she called and held his hand as if it were a delicate piece of art.
    He moved his index finger slowly around her palm. The message he drew was lost on Samira. He could hear the Arabic words flow from her mouth, and his heart sank. He wasn’t home.
    “Yes, Jameel,” Suha said. “That’s it, my son. Move your fingers. I knew you were in there.” Tears brimmed in her eyes.
    Zeid approached his mother from behind. His high-pitched voice carried anger, though his Arabic words were cautious, “Why are you helping this ugly soldier? Father would be angry.”
    Suha glared at him, and he shrank away. She turned back to Beau. His left eye, the side that had taken the brunt of his fall, was still swollen shut, the muscles pulsated beneath the swollen flesh. “Jameel, wake up,” she said.
    Beau tried to open his eyes, but his left eye hurt too badly. To his surprise, his right eye opened, just a slit. He could not make out the blurred images before him. He closed his eye again and felt Suha’s warm, capable hand on his head, lifting the back of his neck off of the blankets.
    “You must drink,” she said. She injected water into