Free If She Only Knew by Lisa Jackson

what?”
    â€œAs soon as we hear from the hospital. Nick, here, said she woke up and talked to him. But I stopped by to see her and she’d lapsed back into the coma.”
    â€œWhat? Can she do that?”
    â€œShe did it.”
    â€œNo way.” Cissy blinked hard. “I mean, once you wake up, you wake up, right?”
    Alex downed his drink and touched her on the shoulder. “Dr. Robertson thinks it’ll be soon now.”
    â€œHe’s been saying that ever since the accident.” Cissy looked from one adult to the next, searching their faces, expecting to find lies. “This is nuts!” She dropped onto a camel-backed sofa of pale green velvet. “I just want her to wake up and everything be the way it was.”
    â€œThat’s not going to happen,” Alex said with more tenderness than Nick would ever give him credit for.
    â€œWhy’d this have to happen?”
    â€œCissy, we’ve been over this. It just did.” Alex’s nerves were beginning to fray and Nick was surprised. His brother had always been a cold, level-headed bastard; someone who could handle any situation with surprising calm. An old girlfriend, the one before Marla, had once accused him of having ice water rather than blood running through his veins. Alex, at the time, had considered it a compliment.
    But tonight he was shaken. Big time.
    Maybe he really does care about Marla. Maybe he’d married her because he loved her, not because he was only interested in besting his brother.
    â€œI could be at the ranch right now,” Cissy complained.
    Eugenia snorted contemptuously. “You have school tomorrow. And it’s raining.”
    Cissy muttered “Big deal” under her breath and stared out the window. The girl reminded Nick of a house cat sitting on a windowsill, tail switching, eyes focused on the birds sitting on a branch just on the other side of the window pane.
    The phone rang and Alex jumped, strode around the corner to the foyer and grabbed the receiver before the second ring. “Alex Cahill. Yes . . . good, good . . . wonderful. We’ll be there directly.” He slammed the phone down. “About time,” he growled as he reentered the room.
    â€œMom?” Cissy asked, and some of her fake snotty teenage attitude melted into the woodwork. Without her sneer and the mistrust in her expression, she was pretty and probably would blossom into a beauty. Like her mother. “Is she okay?”
    â€œLet’s hope so,” Alex said but managed a smile. “That was the hospital. It looks like she’s finally rousing.”
    â€œThank God,” Eugenia said as she rose to her feet and Nick felt a mixture of relief and trepidation. “Fiona and Carmen are here to look after the baby, but I’d better let them know what’s going on.” She marched quickly to the back of the house.
    â€œWe’ll take the Jag,” Alex said, reaching into his pocket for his keys.
    â€œI’ll drive my own rig.” Nick didn’t wait for any further arguments. He needed his own set of wheels, his “out” if things got too intense in the hospital. There just wasn’t any telling what would happen when Marla finally came around.

    She opened one eye a crack but the shaft of piercing light forced her to shut it again. Her headache was a low throb, and the pain in her jaw more pronounced. She was vaguely aware of some music, a tune she should remember, floating in the air around her.
    â€œMrs. Cahill?” a soft female voice said.
    That name again. Oh, God, why did it seem wrong? Her eyelids fluttered open and she winced against the blaze of light, then realized the lamps were turned down low, the blinds drawn, the room semidark.
    â€œDo you know where you are?”
    Marla nodded. Her mouth tasted terrible, her skin itched from lying in bed and her hair felt stringy, her scalp gritty. Good Lord, she must be a sight. Slowly, the