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CHAPTER ONE
THE siren was loud
Painfully, agonizingly loud
The sound was a live thing, burrowing deep into her skull, tunneling into the marrow of her bones
Make it stop, she thought, oh please, make it stop
But even when it did, the silence didn’t take the pain away
“My head,” she whispered “My head”
No one was listening Or perhaps no one could hear her Was she really saying anything or was she only thinking the words?
People were crowded around, faces looking down at her, some white with concern, others sweaty with curiosity Hands wereher; oh, God, it hurt!
“Easy,” somebody said, and then she was inside a…a what? A truck? No It was an aan to ain and they were flying through the streets
Terror constricted her throat
What’s happened to ht desperately
She tried to gasp out the words but she couldn’t form theh the city
Had there been an accident? A picture for paveain the bleat of a horn and the squeal of tires seeking a purchase that was not to be found…
No No! she thought, and then she screale with the wail of the siren as she tumbled down into velvet darkness
She lay on her back and drifted in the blue waters of a dreaht overhead
Was it the sun?
There were voices… Dise around her with the coldness of snow
“…five more CC’s…”
“…blood pressure not stabilized yet…”
“…wait for a CAT scan before…”
The voices droned on It wasn’t anything to do with her, she decided drowsily, and fell back into the darkness
The next ti
“…no prognosis, at this stage…”
“…touch and go for a while, but…”
They were talking about her But why? What rong with her? She wanted to ask, she wanted to tell the her as if she weren’t there because she was there, it was just that she couldn’t get her eyes to open because the lids were so heavy
She groaned and a hand closed over hers, the fingers gripping hers reassuringly
“Joanna?”
Who?
“Joanna, can you hear me?”
Joanna? Was that who she was? Was that her name?
“…head injuries are often unpredictable…”
The hand tightened on hers “Da about her as if she weren’t here!”
The voice was as er and command Blessedly, the buzz of words ceased Joanna tried to ainst the ones that clasped hers and let the rateful for what he’d done, but she couldn’t Though her mind willed it, her hand wouldn’t respond It felt like the rest of her, as lifeless as a luers caught within those of the stranger’s
“It’s all right, Joanna,” he murmured “I’m here”
His voice soothed her but his words sent fear coursing through her blood Who? she thought wildly, as here?
Without warning, the blackness opened beneath her and sucked her down
When she awoke next, it was to silence
She knew at once that she was alone There were no voices, no hand holding hers And though she felt as if she were floating, her mind felt clear
Would she be able to open her eyes this time? The possibility that she couldn’t terrified her Was she paralyzed? No Her toes s…
All right, then
Joanna took a breath, held it, then slowly let it out Then she raised eyelids that felt as if they had been coated with cement
The sudden rush of light was alainst it and looked around her
She was in a hospital rooh ceiling and the bottle suspended beside the bed, dripping so pale and colorless into her vein, confirmed it
The rooht and filled with baskets of fruit and vases of flowers
Was all that for her? It had to be; hers was the only bed in the room
What had happened to her? She had seen no cast on her legs or her ar ached in her body or her li into her arht have awakened from a nap
Was there a bell to ring? She lifted her head from the pillow Surely there was a way to call some…
“Ahh!”
Pain lanced through her skull with the keenness of a knife She fell back and shut her eyes against it
“Mrs Adams?”
Joanna’s breath hissed from between her teeth
“Mrs Adams, do you hear me? Open your eyes, please, Mrs Adams, and look at me”
It hurt, God, it hurt, but she ed to look up into a stern female face that was instantly softened by a smile
“That’s the way, Mrs Adairl How do you feel?”
Joanna opened hercame out The nurse nodded sympathetically
“Wait a moment Let me moisten your lips with some ice chips There, how’s that?”
“My head hurts,” Joanna said in a cracked whisper
The nurse’s s wonderful had happened
“Of course it does, dear I’ for it as soon as he’s seen you I’ll just go and get him…”
Joanna’s hand shot out She caught the edge of the woman’s crisp white sleeve
“Please,” she said, “what happened to me?”
“Doctor Corbett will explain everything, Mrs Adams”
“Was I in an accident? I don’t remember A car A taxi…”
“Hush now, dear” The worasp and made her way toward the door “Just lie back and relax, Mrs Adams I’ll only be a moment”
“Wait!”
The single word stopped the nurse with its urgency She paused in the doorway and swung around
“What is it, Mrs Adams?”
Joanna stared at the round, kindly face She felt the seconds flying away fro beat of her heart
“You keep calling , ‘Mrs Adams…”’
She saw the sudden twist in the nurse’sof sympathetic realization in the woman’s eyes
“Can you tell me,” Joanna said in a broken whisper, “can you tell me who… What I mean is, could you tell me, please, who I am?”
The doctor caentle touch and another, an olderat her as if she weren’t really there while he poked and prodded but that was OK because Joanna felt as if she wasn’t really there, surely not here in this bed, in this room, without any idea in the world of who she was
“Mrs Ada, she learned within moments to answer to the na, to say “Yes?” when one of them addressed her by the name, but as Mrs Adams?