Free Matthew's Choice by Patricia Bradley

you’ve been able to file the paperwork. And when Mariah regains consciousness, I’m sure she will agree.”
    “It’s not that simple, Matthew.”
    His phone beeped, and he glanced at it. A text from Allie. Noah and I are at the hospital. ICU waiting room. “I’ll contact you when I reach Cedar Grove, Peter.” Matt broke the connection. In a pig’s eye he would.
    Maybe he should call his attorney. He hated to on New Year’s Day, but on the other hand, Matt needed to know his rights. He scrolled through his contacts and found his attorney’s cell phone number. Ten minutes later, he disconnected, satisfied that all he needed to do was get a notarized statement from Mariah giving him temporary custody. And one of the attorneys in the office would be available to attend Tuesday’s hearing if he needed one.
    An hour later, Matt turned off the highway onto the street to the hospital as dusk edged toward night. He hadn’t planned to stop there first, but he wanted to take custody of the boy before Peter got to him. He parked near the door and glanced at the kitten. Check on Mariah, get Noah. Shouldn’t take fifteen minutes. Kiddo should be fine.
    He hurried to the waiting room. Allie sat on a small sofa in a corner of the room, cocooning a sleeping boy in her arms, and it hit him—this was a living, breathing nine-year-old boy. With needs. What was he thinking? He clenched his jaw. Peter Elliott had him cornered. No. Truth smacked him in the face. Nothing but his pride had painted himself into this corner.
    Allie saw him and held her finger to her lips. Matt nodded. It was better if he visited Mariah first, anyway. He pointed to himself and then to the double doors. Allie nodded she understood and Matt approached the reception desk. “I’m Mariah Connors’s brother. I live out of state and just found out she was here. Is there any way I can go back and see her now?”
    The receptionist frowned.
    Before she could give him a no, he pointed toward Allie and Noah. “My sister’s son is really worn out, and I’d like to get him home. If I could just go back for a couple of minutes, see for myself how she is, it’d be great.”
    She waved him back. “But just this once...since you’ve come from out of town. Room twelve.”
    Inside the steel doors, his muscles tensed as he counted the glass-encased rooms. Near the end his mother had been in one of these very rooms, struggling for each breath. He stopped outside the door of room twelve to collect himself. Somehow he hadn’t gotten here in his mind. Matt sucked in a deep breath and squared his shoulders, but nothing could’ve prepared him for what waited inside the cubicle.
    The woman in the bed could not be his sister. And for a second, she wasn’t. Instead his mom lay in the bed, a tube sending a steady stream of oxygen in her nose. Matt shook his head hard, and the image of his mother cleared. But not the deep pain in his heart. This slip of a girl looked nothing like the Mariah he remembered, even taking into account the swelling in her face and hands.
    His Mariah sang and danced and filled a room with her lively spirit. Matt’s hands curled into two fists as he tried to hold on to the Mariah in his memories. He fixed his gaze on the rise and fall of her chest then leaned over and stroked her arm. He’d give anything if she’d just open her blue eyes and laugh at his tears. “Oh, Mariah...what happened?”
    He pulled a chair beside the bed and sat beside her, stroking her arm. “I haven’t met your son, yet. Why didn’t you tell me about him? I’m going to take him home with me. He’ll like it in Memphis. Then when you get better, you can come live with us.”
    He had no idea where the words came from. Of if he even meant them. But it seemed important to say them. A piece of paper lay under her hand. Matt pulled it out and unfolded it. Some sort of note. The words he read seared his heart. “I don’t know if you can hear me, Mariah, but I want to read