Kristi was there again, talking softly to him about the wedding…the damned wedding. He wanted to smile and tell her he was happy for her, but the words wouldn’t come.

Her words slowed, her voice softened, and then was gone entirely. Had she left? If he could only open his eyes.

He tried and failed.

There was a slight stirring. Just a breath of cool air.

In that second he knew he wasn’t alone.

There was someone else in the room, someone other than Kristi.

His skin prickled. The temperature plummeted, as if a soft gust of wind had slipped through an open window. Within the cold was a fragrance…something familiar and vague that teased his nostrils, a woman’s perfume with an underlying scent of gardenias.

What was this?

He felt someone take his hand, then link smooth, slim fingers through his. “Rick,” a woman whispered in a soft voice that teased his psyche. A familiar voice. A faraway voice. “Honey, can you hear me?”

His heart nearly stopped in his chest. The room seemed suddenly silent, all noises of the hospital muted.

The fingers slipped from his and the stirring gust of wind kicked up again, brushing his cheek, as if someone had left an icy kiss upon his skin.

The perfume floated past him…the same intriguing scent Jennifer had worn whenever they’d made love….

Jennifer!

His eyes flew open.

His breath fogged in the coldness. He blinked his eyes several times, wondering at the phenomenon. He couldn’t move his head, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw the doorway to the room and beside it a chair. In the chair, Kristi slept, her head lolling forward.

In the doorway, backlit by the outside hall, was a woman in a black dress.

Tall.

Slim.

Mahogany-colored hair falling down her back.

Oh, God! It couldn’t be….

She looked over her shoulder and smiled.

That sexy, come-hither smile he knew so well crossed her red lips.

He felt as if he’d been thrown back in time. His heart nearly stopped.

“Jennifer,” he whispered, saying his dead ex-wife’s name for the first time in years. “Jennifer.”

He blinked.

She was gone.

“Dad?”

He slid his eyes toward the only chair in the room. Kristi was staring at him, her own eyes anxious, a line of worry creasing her smooth brow. Jesus, she looked like her mother!

“You’re awake!” Kristi was out of the chair in an instant, tears catching on her lashes. “Oh, God, you’re okay!” she said, standing over the edge of his bed, taking his hand and squeezing it. “You old fart, you nearly scared me to death!”

“Your mother,” he said anxiously, wondering if he was losing his mind. “She was here.”

“Mom?” She shook her head. “Wow, what kind of drugs are you on?”

“But she was here.”