The older man took her hand in his. “Please come back, Ali. Jake and I need all the encouragement we can get.”
Ali knew that if she agreed, there was no turning back. Not for her. Not for Jake. And not for their daughter.
Darkness surrounded him. Jake tried to move and realized he was unable to, but he could still feel the teeth-clenching pain that tortured his body. A lead weight seemed to press on his rib cage, pinning him down. His leg throbbed. But at least the pain let him know he was alive. He was hurt. Bad.
How had it happened? How had he ended up here? Where was here?
Voices penetrated the pounding pain in his head, fading in and out as he fought to speak but couldn’t. When he heard his dad, Jake wanted to cry out, but his mouth refused to obey the command. He tried with all his strength to talk, but he lost. Finally he let the drugging oblivion take him.
Later the voices came again, tugging and pulling him to the surface. It was a woman’s voice this time. Her soft, caressing tone lulled him, just as her touch soothed his body. Who was she? Why did her voice, her hands seem so…familiar?
“Well, how did it go?” Margo asked as she joined Ali at the cafeteria table on her break.
Ali pushed back her hair. “Terrible.” She looked at her friend. “Tell me the truth, Margo. Is Jake going to survive?”
Margo sent her a concerned look. “I won’t lie to you, Ali. It could go either way. That’s why it’s so important for you to be here. I know it sounds crazy, but you may be a big help. We need to give him the will to fight.”
Margo was right; Ali did think she was crazy. Jake hadn’t been part of her life, except for their one night together. After that, she’d stopped believing in silly dreams and concentrated instead on raising her child…alone.
But if there was a chance she could help bring Jake out of the coma, she couldn’t walk away. A familiar pain gripped her as she thought about Darcie.
Although her sister telephoned almost every week, and despite the fact that Ali had gotten pregnant and had a baby, Darcie hadn’t returned home since she left Jake at the altar. She’d gone to New York to build a career. “Maybe we should call Darcie….”
Margo blinked, then reached for Ali’s hand. “I’m not a good person to ask about that. You know I’ve never cared much for your sister. She was self-centered and spoiled. I can’t believe you two are sisters let alone twins.”
It was equally hard for Ali to believe. Darcie had always been the glamorous one. Though they shared the same green eye color, Darcie’s eyes looked richer, larger. Her sister had always known how to do her hair and makeup so she looked as though she’d just stepped out of a photo session. Ali had been plain by comparison. And Darcie’s hair wasn’t just red, but a beautiful auburn—with the help of a rinse.
There was more of a difference now in their builds, too. Though both twins had always been slender, since Joanie, Ali’s hips and breasts were fuller. From pictures she sent, Darcie still appeared model thin.
“The only good thing Darcie ever did in her life was not marry Jake,” Margo said.
“But…he’s always loved her.”
“If that’s true, why did Jake call for you? Why did he ask for Ali-cat?”
Three days later, there was still no change in Jake’s condition, but he was able to breathe on his own, and was moved from ICU to a private room. At least now Cliff and Ali didn’t have to worry about keeping their visits down to only ten minutes. In fact, the doctors encouraged friends and family to spend time with Jake. They thought that having people around, talking to him, might help him.
Ali had been coming by on her lunch hour from her dispatcher job at the sheriff’s office. When she’d arrived this afternoon, she scooted her chair closer to Jake’s bed. She fussed with him, touching his arm, brushing his hair off his forehead.
“How do you like your new room?” she asked, glancing around at the peach-colored walls. There was a television high on the wall across from the bed. She glanced back at Jake. “Pretty classy place you got here. Of course, I remember you were a classy guy.”
No response.
She didn’t give up. “Jake, do you remember that time…on the Fourth of July, when a bunch of us kids took off for the lake to watch fireworks? Darcie and I were seniors that year and thought we knew everything. I think Darcie wanted to be alone with you, but you talked her into making a party out of it.” Jake had always included her. That had been one of the reasons Ali had loved him so much.
“Anyway, when we got there, that jerk, Jerry—what’s his name?—Huddleston. He suggested we all go skinny-dipping.”
Ali had been in shock, more frightened than anything else. Flat-chested at the time, she hadn’t been about to strip and have everyone laugh at her. She looked down at herself now, thankful she’d filled out some since she gave birth to Joanie.
She leaned close to Jake. “Darcie was so mad when I spoke up and dared you boys to go in the water first. Until I got the other girls behind the bushes and told them my plans to trick you guys. And you all fell for it hook, line and sinker.”
She rose from the chair and sat down on the edge of the bed, feeling her face heating up as she recalled what had taken place that night. The room was silent except for the monitor beeping overhead, which echoed the pounding of her own heart.
“Jake, I have a confession.” She studied his features for a moment, noticing that some of the swelling had gone down. She reached out and touched his jaw. “When the guys were finally all in the water, I was elected to sneak out and steal their clothes while the other girls distracted them by pretending to be getting undressed. Well…I made it to the tree closest to the water when I discovered not all of the guys had gone in. You hadn’t. You were still getting undressed.” She drew a long breath and released it. “And I stood behind the big maple and watched you take off your clothes.”
Ali’s body grew warm as she remembered how the moonlight had made it possible for her to see Jake’s broad chest after he stripped off his T-shirt. She swallowed, recalling how he’d popped each button open on his Levi’s, how her mouth had gone dry as he’d slid the worn jeans down his long legs. His white briefs had followed, and he stood before her, naked and beautiful.
“You were the first man I ever saw naked,” she whispered. “And the last…”
Ali remained on the bed for a long time. How she had missed him. She’d give anything to have him open his eyes. She picked up Jake’s hand, rubbing it between hers as she studied his face. He’d always been great looking, and now at nearly twenty-nine, there was a ruggedness about him that was breathtaking, bruises and all. Her blood pulsed through her body, making her warm all over as she inhaled his familiar scent. Oh, God. She couldn’t let him get to her again.
She released his hand and averted her gaze, remembering how hard she had tried to forget him, to move on with her life. But it seemed no man could compare. The guys she’d dated in high school certainly couldn’t compete with Jake Hawkins, captain of the football team, star quarterback and valedictorian of his class. To make it worse, he was a nice guy.
And he had been totally in love with her twin sister.
She looked down at Jake’s face again. The one man she wanted had never been hers to have. He was Darcie’s. Even when her sister had left him at the altar, Jake still loved her. Ali told herself she should call Darcie home. Jake might wake up for her.
Ali got up and moved across the room as the familiar feeling of jealousy tightened her stomach. Even when Darcie was little, she had to have all the attention. She’d demanded it. Maybe because they had been abandoned by their mother so many times, Darcie was afraid to be left alone. And whatever Ali had, Darcie wanted.
But