My eyes fly open as the beeping goes crazy. Everything is blurry and my heart feels like it’s going to explode. I can’t breathe. Everything is focusing too slow. What’s wrong with my eyes? Wait, I’m choking, what the hell is in my throat?
A shadow moves over me followed by muffled voices. They touch me and I’m going to kill someone. My hands barely come up off the bed though. Wait . . . they’re tied to something cold. I run my fingers along it. It’s metal.
Suddenly, something feels like it’s slipped from my throat, and I take the deepest breath I’ve ever taken. The muffled voices clear and I blink rapidly, willing my vision to catch up to my brain.
“Ms. Williams, listen to my voice. My name is Dr. Mumbhari. You’re at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. You’ve been asleep for quite some time.” The doctor speaks calmly. His tone controlled. Slowly, I calm down and my vision clears. “Good. Just relax. I’m going to look over you, and then I’ll let your family in. Can you tell me your name?”
“Lily,” I say in a rasp. My throat is so dry it’s painful. “Water?”
“Nurse,” the doctor says over his shoulder. “Ice chips, for now, Lily. You’ve been in a coma for two weeks and your body is nowhere near healed. Stay still for me, okay?”
“Yes.” The nurse gently places some ice chips in my mouth while the doctor looks me over. The ice is so refreshing, I smile to myself.
Holy shit . . . I’m alive. But how in the world?
After a few moments, the doctor stands and comes to my side. “Would you like to sit up?”
I nod and instantly regret it. It feels like someone liquefied my brain and then hit me in either temple with an ice pick.
“I’ll have the nurse bring you something for the pain, though it may knock you out. You have a catheter in, so don’t even remotely try talking someone into getting you out of that bed. Not to mention you can’t walk right now anyway. One of your hips was completely shattered as was one of your kneecaps. And that’s just the start of your injuries. So please, stay in the bed and don’t try to kill any of my staff.” He smiles down at me again and I chuckle, giving him the thumbs up.
A new nurse enters the room with a capped needle in her hand. She preps it and sticks it into my IV. “This is Tramadol, Ms. Williams. It should take the edge off, but it shouldn’t knock you out. Your family is waiting to see you.” She sets the needle on a metal tray and then takes the Velcro cuffs off my wrists.
“Thank you.”
I stare around the room after the doctor and nurse leave. How the hell did I get to Baltimore? Before I can give it any more thought, the door opens again and Sorina bounds into the room with Rhett close on her heels. She sits on the bed and takes my hand in hers, kissing the back of it, tears running down her face.
Rhett takes my other hand and gently squeezes. I’m actually surprised when I look up into his face and notice unshed tears in his eyes too. “Welcome back, Lily.”
I lift Rhett’s hand to my lips and kiss his knuckles. “Thank you.”
He leans over and kisses the top of my head. “Any time.”
Someone clears their throat by the door, startling me. Blake stands just inside the doorway, my biological mother and sister at his side. Delia doesn’t move, but Sorina gets up and from the corner of my eye, she motions Marcela over.
I stare into the eyes of the younger version of me, unable to pull my gaze away from her face. She looks down at my hand and places something soft in it. I look down, and gasp at the worn, ratted old doll.
“I kept it. For 25 years, I’ve had this doll. I’m sorry for everything, Lily. We both are.”
I lift the doll and examine it, broken memories trying to make their way to the surface of my mind. When I look back at Marcela, she’s staring down at her hands, tears falling from her face onto my hospital blanket. I set the doll in my lap and gently splay my hand across the back of her head and pull her down to hug me. She starts sobbing and for some reason, the only thing I can think to do is kiss the side of her head and let her cry it out.
After a while, she sits up, wipes her eyes, and she and my mother leave with Sorina to get something to eat. Rhett also excuses himself to make a phone call.
Blake sits on the side of my bed and cups the side of my face.
“I’m glad your back, baby.”
“How in the hell did you find me?”
He laughs and I’m nothing but confused. “Do you remember the night you came back from Jax. When Teresa brought you pain meds and that water?”
“Yeah . . . and?”
“Well,” he says with a smirk. “The water was laced with the same shit you kn
ocked us out with. That’s why you passed out right after. While you were under, Sammi implanted a NanoTracker in your arm. We tracked you the moment you closed the front door. We just had to stay far enough back that Jax didn’t see us coming.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “Someone better have taken the tracker out.”