Cliff seemed relieved at her answer. “Does my son know he’s a father?”
Ali’s heart raced a hundred miles per hour at the thought of answering the questions she had known would come some day. But not now. She wasn’t ready. Jake should be told first.
“No, he doesn’t know.” She spoke barely above a whisper. “He left town before I could tell him.”
“Why didn’t you call me, Ali?” he asked. “I was here. I would do anything to bring Jake back.”
“But I wouldn’t.” Ali squared her shoulders. “If Jake cared, he would have stayed around.”
She looked up to examine Cliff Hawkins’s unreadable face.
“I take it this happened between you two…after Darcie left him?”
“Of course. I would never…” Ali couldn’t finish. She didn’t want to go into any details. “Jake loved Darcie. That’s the reason I didn’t try to contact him. I couldn’t trap him.” She shuddered as she took a long look at Jake. “But what if he doesn’t come out of this? He’ll never know….”
Cliff was the one to comfort her this time. “Hey, who’s been telling me everything is going to be okay? You’ve been the one who has been here every day getting him to respond. So don’t give up now.”
“I’ve been telling him all about Joanie, but I’m not sure he hears me, or…if he’ll ever hear anything. What if he never wakes up?”
“I think he does hear you, Ali,” Cliff offered as he looked over at his son lying in the bed. “I think his kiss was a way of communicating with you. But maybe we should try something else.”
Ali went to Jake’s side and picked up his hand. “Like what?”
“Maybe you should bring Joanie in.”
Ali gasped. “I can’t. She’s just a baby.”
“But she’s Jake’s daughter. Her being here could be just the thing to bring him around.”
Ali drew a long breath. “I don’t know….”
“What if it helps Jake?”
Ali studied Jake’s lifeless hand. “But the hospital has rules. How could I get them to let her in?”
Cliff began to smile, reminding her so much of his son. “Let me worry about that.”
She nodded. And somehow she knew that her and Joanie’s lives were about to change…forever. “I want you to know, Cliff, that I’m a good mother. I’m doing my best to provide a secure, loving home for my daughter. I’d do anything for her.”
“I know, Ali. And I can’t thank you enough for what you’re doing for my son. After he comes out of the coma, he’ll still be facing surgery on his leg. So as his father, it’s Jake’s welfare I’m thinking about now, and he needs his daughter.”
Ali tensed. Ever since she found out she was pregnant, this child had been hers…alone. Now Joanie would belong to her father, too. She glanced at the hospital bed where Jake lay half-alive. She had no choice. Her daughter might be the one to help him. She drew a long breath and released it. “When do you want to do this?”
“As soon as possible.”
It was worse when Ali was gone. He missed her touch. Without her encouraging words, the darkness surrounded him, drawing away the warmth, the hint of light. He needed her.
Don’t leave me, Ali.
His heart started to race as he fought to speak, to bring her back to him. He didn’t want to be alone. He tried to cry out, but all he managed was a garbled sound, then the darkness pulled him back in.
The next evening, Ali returned to the hospital with Joanie held protectively against her chest.
Once the elevator reached the fourth floor, she stepped out and started down the hallway toward Jake’s room, her heart pounding in her chest. Luckily her friend was waiting for her.
“Margo,” Ali whispered.
The nurse quickly glanced around, then hurried toward Ali. “Hurry, the head nurse, Brenda, is on her dinner break,” she said as they ducked into Jake’s room. “I figure you have about thirty minutes before she returns.”
Ali opened her coat to reveal her sleeping daughter. Margo smiled at her goddaughter as she caressed Joanie’s head, which was covered in a red knit hat. The baby’s heart-shaped face was fringed with strands of silky black hair. Her little mouth puckered as she made sucking sounds.
“If this precious cargo doesn’t bring Jake out of his coma, nothing will,” Margo said. “Go get ’em, kid.” She kissed the baby’s head and left.
Ali glanced around the quiet room, and a shiver of panic sliced through her. She looked down at her daughter and stroked the baby’s back. “It’s time to meet your daddy, sweetheart.”
After taking Joanie from the sling carrier she’d outgrown months ago, Ali gently removed her daughter’s coat and hat. Joanie usually woke up cheerful. Ali hoped this was one of those times.
A little dazed, Joanie blinked her big brown eyes, then gave her mother a sleepy grin and cooed softly.
Ali’s heart tightened. “That’s my girl.” She hugged her baby as she carried her toward the bed.
“Hello, Jake. It’s me again. Ali. I guess you know my voice by now without me telling you.” Why was she rambling? She drew a deep breath, reached down and touched his arm.
“I stopped by tonight to introduce someone to you.” She studied Jake’s face as she balanced Joanie in her arms. “I brought your daughter. Your dad and I thought that her visiting you might help.”
Ali sat on the edge of the bed and placed her daughter on her lap. Joanie raised her arm and pointed, chatting something unrecognizable.
“Yes, sweetheart. This is Daddy.” She looked at Jake. “This is your daughter, Jake. Johanna June Pierce. She was born February 16, at 3:06 a.m., weighing in at seven pounds eleven ounces. I know I’m a little prejudiced, but when she was born she was the most beautiful baby in the nursery. She still is, for that matter. When you wake up, I know you’ll feel the same way.” She kept her gaze glued to Jake’s expressionless face. There was no change.
Tears formed in Ali’s eyes. “Joanie has your dark hair and beautiful brown eyes. She’s smart, too. She learned to crawl at five months, can play pat-a-cake and loves to sing along with Sesame Street. She even talks. We don’t know what she’s saying, but she tries.” Ali kissed her daughter’s head. “Gran June and I have tried to give her a secure home and lots of love. Joanie has a lot going for her, but there is a big void in her life.”
Ali wiped the tears from her eyes. “She needs a father, Jake. She needs you. Please come back to her.”
Ali took hold of Jake’s hand and scooted closer so Joanie could touch him. Her daughter immediately grasped on to her daddy’s fingers and tugged. Ali listened to her daughter’s gentle chatter and watched as she patted Jake’s large callused hand. Anguished, Ali prayed Joanie’s touch might trigger some reaction.
“Daddy’s hurt, baby,” Ali whispered. “He can’t talk yet, but I’m sure he knows you’re here.” The words choked off in her throat.
To Ali’s surprise, Joanie climbed off her lap and crawled up beside Jake, still cooing her sweet nonsense syllables.
“Daddy’s taking a nap, sweetie.” Ali rubbed the baby’s back as guilt and sadness swept through her. How could she have kept father and daughter apart?
Joanie looked at her mother, then cuddled next to Jake, her tiny fists rubbing her eyes in an obvious display of sleepiness. Ali swallowed back the