grandmother they’d believed long dead.
The grandmother who had quickly become their entire world.
On her eighteenth birthday, Gia asked Grammy why their mother had told everyone that her mother was dead when she wasn’t.
Staring out at the ocean with tear-filled eyes, Grammy had murmured, “It was a different time.”
Gia wanted to ask what that meant but Grammy looked so sad, she’d let it go and vowed never to bring it up. When she’d asked her sisters about their theories, Madison said Grammy had given her a similar answer, and Shelley, the girl who preferred a superficial life, had said it was none of their business.
Heartbroken now, she studied her grandmother’s slack features and saw nothing of the strong, vibrant woman she loved so fiercely. She reached for Grammy’s hand.
Cold.
Her skin was so cold. Interlacing her fingers through her grandmother’s, she slid their joined hands underneath the covers to warm her.
“Grammy,” she whispered. “It’s me, Gia.”
Was it her imagination or did Grammy’s eyelashes flutter? Hope lent her heart wings. Maybe, maybe she would pull through.
“Madison and Shelley came home. I let them read the letter you left me. Madison didn’t want to finish the quilt. She’s still so mad at Shelley that she doused the quilt with lighter fluid and tried to burn it. You should have seen her. She looked crazed. Not the family reunion I bet you were hoping for.”
Gia glanced over her shoulder, making sure she was still alone in the room, and lowered her voice. “But I got Madison to agree to stay and finish the quilt. Unfortunately, I had to tell a whopper to make that happen.” She confessed to her comatose grandmother about the fake engagement to Mike Straus. “He was really sweet about it. I don’t think many guys would have agreed to play along. Mike even loaned me an engagement ring. He was almost engaged once. Did you know about that?”
A soft knock sounded at the doorway and she turned to see Dr. Hollingway enter the room.
Gia got up.
“Please, sit.” The woman pressed a palm downward. Her face was grim.
But Gia didn’t sit. Sitting felt like a disadvantage. Her stomach rolled, and her pulse slowed. The tips of her fingers turned icy and a sour taste filled her mouth. She wanted to plaster her palms against her ears, and hum, tra-la-la. Or dig out her cell phone and escape into Candy Crush.
Fighting her fear of unpleasantness, she popped on a bright smile. “How is she this morning? I thought I saw her eyelids flutter. After you stop the medication that’s putting her in a coma, I think she’ll be just fine.”
The doctor shook her head. “Miss Clark, I—”
“Let me go get my sisters.”
“I’m in a hurry. Can I just tell you what’s been happening and let you relay the information to your family?”
Um, no. She needed her family. Madison should handle this. She moistened her lips. “Let me just—”
“We’ve already withdrawn the drugs we administered to keep her comatose.”
Gia blinked and glanced from the doctor to Grammy lying lifeless in the bed. “What does that mean?”
“It’s no longer a medically induced coma. She didn’t regain consciousness when we took the drugs away.”
Her breathing jacked from the slow lane to autobahn fast. Each breath slammed into the next with no space in between. She sat down in a hard chair, pulled her knees to her chest, clasped her arms around her knees, and swayed to and fro to calm herself.
“I know this is distressing news,” Dr. Hollingway said. “But don’t give up hope. This happens sometimes. It doesn’t mean she won’t eventually wake up.”
Where was Madison? This was too much for Gia. “Wait, what . . .” She was having trouble pushing words through her constricted throat. “What does this mean?”
“We’re here for the long haul. I suggest you and your family pace yourselves. Set up a schedule to take turns being with her. Get plenty of rest.”
“Okay.”
“Any other questions?”
She couldn’t think. Her mind blanked. Numbly, she shook her head.
Dr. Hollingway stuffed her hands in the pockets of her lab coat. “We’ll get you through this.”
“Thanks,” Gia whispered, but she was too scared to ask what “this” was.
After the doctor departed, Gia stumbled into the waiting room, her mission to finish the quilt more essential than ever. She needed it completed by the time Grammy woke up. She’d insist they get started right after lunch.
Not that she was great at insisting.
She must have looked wrecked because the second her sisters spotted her, they hopped to