"Too late for that," she snapped. "And I need to see her for myself."

"Can Steve come with you?"

"He's in court today."

"I hate for you to drive here alone. I don't think Steve would like it, either."

"Well, it's not your decision or Steve's. I'm coming. You should have told me yesterday."

"I didn't want to ruin your night. I love you, Dani."

"I love you, too." She paused. "Maybe you're right, though. Maybe I shouldn't go to San Francisco. Perhaps you should just come home. Mom stayed away from us for twenty years. She didn't want us in her life, Brynn. You don't owe her anything."

"I have to know what happened. I need to find out why she left us. But I can do this on my own." I didn't want to do it on my own, but I did want to protect my sister.

There was another long silence. "No, I'll come. But Brynn, do you really think the truth will make it better?"

"It can't make it worse," I said. But as I ended the call, I wondered if that was true.

CHAPTER SIX

After talking to Dani, I refilled my coffee mug, cleaned up the kitchen, and then called the hospital. Several minutes later, I got Dr. Elizabeth Ryker on the phone. She was a sharp, fast-talking woman, who used a lot of medical terms that made little sense to me.

"Can you just tell me if she's going to recover, if she'll wake up today?" I asked when she finally took a breath.

"We're going to keep her sedated for another twenty-four hours," she replied. "We're monitoring her condition closely, and we're hopeful that tomorrow we'll be able to make additional decisions about her continuing care and prognosis."

"Hopeful?" I asked, grabbing on to that one word. "Does that mean she will recover?"

"I can't be more definitive, but your mother is holding her own, and that's good."

"Okay. Thank you. I'll be in later today to see her." After ending the call, I tapped my fingers restlessly on the kitchen counter, then went out to the car to grab my suitcase. I'd been in such a hurry to leave the day before, I had tossed random items of clothing into my overnight bag, not sure what I'd need or how long I'd be gone. Now, I was glad I'd probably over packed since I had no idea when I'd be leaving.

When I left the house, I saw the truck still in the driveway. I had assumed it belonged to Kade, although there were two garage doors, so maybe it was my mother's vehicle. It seemed strange that she would drive a truck, but then, what did I really know about her?