LITMIR.BIZ

       Chapter One

      He’s awake.

      Harrison is awake.

      Mariella Santiago-Marshall hurried down the corridor of Whispering Oaks, her heels playing an off-tune staccato beat to the rest of her family’s as they raced after her. She tried to draw comfort from their presence as they headed for Harrison’s room. But her heart was beating too hard, her insides churning anxiously with what awaited them.

      Harrison was awake, which meant she would finally get a few much-needed answers. But would she like those answers? Would her beloved husband redeem himself with his words, or would what he had to say drive a deeper wedge in the family she feared was fracturing beyond repair?

      The other question, the one she’d tried to hide from but hadn’t been able to avoid lately was, what about her and what she’d done with Joe? How could she look Harrison in the eyes now without exposing herself as a cheater, too? Was she a good enough actress to hide her sins from the man she’d been intimate with for several decades? The man who’d fathered her children?

      Her steps slowed as she reached the closed doors.

      So much had changed in so short a time. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that she wasn’t the same woman who’d raced to her husband’s side that first day following his accident. Trouble was, would Harrison be able to live with the new Mariella?

      Only one way to find out.

      Hand shaking, she grasped the handle, swallowed and turned it.

      A strong male hand touched the small of her back. She started a little, at once relieved and disappointed when she turned to find Luc beside her rather than Joe. She smiled at her son before her gaze flicked to Joe. Her lover’s gaze met hers, but the look in his eyes was a little hard to read. Much like how she was feeling, she couldn’t tell whether he was pleased or anxious about the news of Harrison’s return to consciousness. For one blind second, she wanted to go to him, comfort him.

      Of course she did no such thing. Instead, she braced herself and pushed the door open.

      Dr. Aebischer and a clutch of nurses stood clustered around Harrison’s bed, barring her immediate view of her husband.

      She quickened her footsteps. “Harrison?” Her voice emerged as shaky as she felt, perhaps because she knew nothing would ever be the same again. She straightened her spine as she crossed the last few steps to her husband’s bedside. And found him just as unresponsive as he’d been yesterday.

      She frowned. “Harrison?” Her voice was sharper this time, because now that she could see him better, he looked even worse than he’d been before.

      “What the hell is going on, Doctor?” Rafe demanded, his frowning gaze moving from Dr. Aebischer to Harrison’s prone form.

      “You told us my father was awake,” Luc accused, turning to face the doctor.

      Dr. Aebischer pocketed the penlight he’d been shining in Harrison’s eyes and cleared his throat. “And he was. For a brief period, he was conscious and aware of his surroundings.”

      “But?” Mariella demanded, her hand gripping the foot of the bed frame for support as her gaze flitted over the beeping machines and returned to Harrison. From where she was standing, nothing had changed. Surely if he’d woken up there would be some positive signs?

      “Is he...is he...?” Elana stumbled toward the bed, her hand pressed against her mouth, unable to complete the sentence everyone was too afraid to ask. When her chest began to rise and fall in agitation, Thom laid a calming hand on her shoulder.

      “He’s still alive, but I’m afraid he’s slipped back into his coma,” Dr. Aebischer informed them.

      “But how is that possible? Weren’t you supposed to bring him out of his coma and keep him out?” Luc snarled, his hands bunched into tight fists.

      “There are certainly positive signs. His brain activity

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