It was silent inside the car. Dad and Annalise sat in the back, lost in their thoughts and apprehensions. I tried not to think about what we would be told once we arrived at the care facility, focusing instead on getting us there as quickly as possible. I drove fifteen miles over the speed limit and wished for the first time that the police would pull us over. If they did, I would insist on an escort with flashing lights. It didn’t happen.
The lobby was empty. We ignored the elevator and ran up the stairs. I almost didn’t quite understand our collective rush. If Mom was gone, getting to her a minute sooner wouldn’t mean anything.
The young nurse sitting behind the desk looked up at us with a smile. “Can I help you?”
I explained who we were.
“You’ll need to wait here for the doctor,” she said. Her good-natured smile didn’t waver.
“How long will that take?” There was no way I was going to take a seat and twiddle my thumbs while Mom’s condition was so uncertain. The nurse seemed to notice our stricken faces for the first time.
“You haven’t been told yet, have you?”
Behind me, Annalise sucked in her breath. My stomach clenched, and I felt seconds away from falling to the floor.
The nurse took pity on us. She got up from her chair and leaned across the desk. “It’s against policy for me to tell you anything because that’s the doctor’s job,” she said, her voice low. I nodded, hoping it was enough to encourage her to break policy and give us the information we had raced here to get.
She glanced down the hall. “The doctor is in there with her now.”
“She’s not dead?” I blurted out.
The nurse’s smile returned. “Far from it. She’s awake.”
“What?” I’d heard wrong. My hopeful imagination had twisted the nurse’s words. I couldn’t trust what she was saying. She had the wrong patient and it would turn out to be a horrible mix-up and our hearts would be smashed when the truth was revealed.
“She regained consciousness this morning.” The nurse put a finger to her lips. “But you didn’t hear that from me.”
If she was right and this was real, I vowed to send the nurse a huge bouquet of flowers to keep on her desk.
I turned around to face Dad and Annalise. They looked as shocked as I felt, and just as wary. We weren’t ready for this. All along, the doctors had told us that change would be gradual, the road to improvement slow. At no time did anyone suggest that she would simply wake up.
Annalise reached out and hugged both me and Dad. We squeezed her back. Still, we said nothing. The nurse suggested we sit down, but we were too wound up. Finally, a doctor emerged from the end of the hallway.
Dad practically pounced on him. “What’s going on?”
I recognized the doctor as the same one who had explained Mom’s vegetative state without glancing at me. “Mr. Silver, we have good news.”
That was all we needed to hear. Dad charged down the hallway. Annalise and I were close behind.
“Wait!” the doctor shouted.
But we weren’t waiting any longer. Dad pushed open the door to Mom’s room. And for the first time in five months, she was sitting up in her hospital bed. I knew right away that she was not completely healed. She didn’t turn her head when we came in, but she did begin blinking rapidly.
“We’re here,” Dad said. He knelt by her bedside and hugged her carefully. Annalise and I did the same, lightly embracing her and then standing back to wait for her reaction.
“She has limited movement and hasn’t regained her capacity to speak,” the doctor said. He was standing behind us. “If you’d allowed me a minute to explain before you came in here I could have prepared you better.”
“But she’s out of the vegetative state,” Annalise said. “And she can see us and hear us, right?”
“Yes, but it’s more complicated than that.”
Maybe it was complicated to the doctor, but it was simple to us: Mom was awake. And, we discovered, she could communicate with us. She could answer yes or no questions by blinking. One blink meant yes, two meant no. While the doctor droned on about the need for additional tests, we stood on one side of Mom so she could see all of us and we could talk to her.
There was so much to say and we had no idea how to begin. After telling her that we missed her and loved her, we wanted to give her only good news.
“Shane and Trisha are getting married next week,” Annalise said. “Isn’t that great?”
One blink.
“And now you can be there!”
“No, she can’t.” The doctor stepped forward. “I’m sorry, but your mother’s condition is still delicate. She’ll be here for a few more weeks, at least.”
“Then we’ll bring the wedding to her,” Dad decided. “I’ll set up a live feed and you can watch it from your room. How does that sound?” One blink.
Dad beamed. “And I’ll be here with you. We can watch it together.”
Two blinks.
“I think she wants you to be at the wedding,” I said.
One blink.
“All right, but I’m coming here immediately afterwards. Is that okay?”
One blink.
Annalise clapped her hands together. “Shane and Trish are going to be so happy! We have to call them.”
A blink from Mom confirmed that yes, we should. The doctor left to complete his rounds but promised to return within an hour. Annalise went out into the hall to call Mills and Beth. Dad followed so he could call Shane. I stayed behind.
“We’ve missed you so much,” I said. “And I have so much to tell you.”
Her eyes were focused on mine. She was trying to squeeze my hand, but it was a very light pressure. There was something urgent about her gaze. “Are you trying to tell me something?”
One blink.
“Is something wrong?”
One blink.
“Are you okay?”
One blink. I wasn’t sure how I could ask yes-or-no questions when I had no idea what my mom wanted me to know. Something popped in my head and I asked it before really thinking.
“Am I okay?”
Two blinks.
“Is it the Watcher?”
One blink.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” I said. “He’s gone.”
Two blinks.
She was still stuck in the memories of that night so many months ago. She had been attacked and had no idea what had happened afterward. Maybe to her it was still that same night and no time had passed. And even though now there was a new threat, she didn’t need to know that.
“He’s gone,” I said again. “You don’t have to worry about it. The only thing you need to do is get better.” Two blinks.
I didn’t have the words to reassure her, so I continued to hold her hand. Annalise came back in and announced that Beth would be visiting the next day and that Mills was thrilled with the good news. After Dad returned, I went outside to make my own calls.
Noah was the first person I dialed. “My mom just told me,” he said. “It’s such great news, Charlotte. Everyone here is thrilled.”
There was no trace of the sick and exhausted guy I had discovered in my yard the night before. “You sound good,” I said. “How are you feeling?”
“Great.” He paused. “I’m sorry about last night. I don’t know what happened.”
“Don’t be sorry.” I wanted to ask him more, such as how he had gotten home and if he remembered following the burgundy car to my house, but I needed to call Avery and get back to my mom. I was satisfied that Noah sounded better and was safe with his family. I told him we’d talk later when I had more time, then I called Avery.
She squealed with joy when I told her about Mom. “Charlotte, this is wonderful! Will we get to see her at the wedding?”
“You’re coming to the wedding?” I hadn’t been a part of the invitation mailing. All I knew was that the guest list hovered right around fifty.
“I’m holding the invitation in my hand right now,” Avery said. “Jared and I are both coming and we’re so excited.”
My day was getting better by the minute. I missed my best friend, and knowing that I would be seeing her in a little over a week was an unexpected slice of good news.
The last person I called was Michael. He was with Bliss, and when he repeated my message, she cheered in the back ground. I laughed. It was an amazing feeling not only to receive good news, but to be able to share it with others.
With all of my calls made, I returned to Mom’s room. The nice nurse was there, unfolding a cot. “I figured you would all want to spend the night,” she explained. “These aren’t the most comfortable things, but they’re better than sleeping in a chair.”
I learned that the nurse’s name was Mary Ruth. She was officially my most favorite person in the world, and I told her that. She smiled. “I’ve been here six years,” she said. “And I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve had this kind of reunion. Anything I can do, you let me know.”
The doctor said we had to keep Mom awake for as long as possible. It wasn’t a problem. We had five months’ worth of stories to tell her. When I got tired, I curled up in my cot. I closed my eyes and listened to Dad talking to Mom, and Annalise laughing softly.
It was the best sleep I’d had in months.