“I’ve been thinking,” Jill said.

“About?”

“Aidan. He’d want to know about Maggie.”

“Don’t you think that’s up to Mom to decide?”

“She’s not thinking clearly. I’ll bet she’d be happy to see him right about now.”

“I don’t know, Jill. She might not appreciate that.”

“I’m going to call him anyway.” Jill reached for her cell phone. “I still have his number in my phone.”

“If this goes bad, I had nothing to do with it,” Kate said.

Clare was sitting with Maggie at six o’clock the next morning when the girl stirred.

“Maggie? Honey? Open your eyes.” Clare cried out when one magnificent blue eye fluttered open, followed by the other. “Oh, baby. Can you hear me?”

Maggie blinked and grimaced when she tried to move arms encased in plaster.

“Stay still, honey,” Clare said, tears tumbling down her cheeks. “You took a bad fall. You hurt your head and broke your arms. But you’re going to be just fine. Let me get Daddy, okay?” Clare ran to the door, calling for Jack and the doctor.

Jack rushed into the room. “Oh, thank God,” he said when he saw Maggie’s eyes were open.

“Daddy.”

“Oh, baby, you scared us,” he said.

The doctor checked Maggie’s eyes with a flashlight. “You have a severe concussion, Maggie, so you need to stay really still for a while to give your brain time to recover. Okay?”

“Okay.”

The doctor turned to Jack and Clare. “We got very lucky,” he said and left the room.

“What happened?” Maggie asked.

“You fell backward off the ladder to the attic,” Jack said. “Do you remember?”

When she tried to nod, her face tightened with pain.

“What were you doing up there, honey?” he asked.

“I was putting away my Barbies.”

“Why?” Clare asked. “You love them.”

“They’re for babies.”

Her parents exchanged glances over her bed.

“No one thinks you’re a baby,” Clare said.

“You all do! Everyone treats me like I’m a baby, so I thought if I stopped acting like one…”

Jack hung his head. “Is this because we wouldn’t tell you about Kate?”

“Sort of.”

“I’ll tell you what,” he said. “When you’re feeling better, Kate can tell you all about it herself.”

“She can? Really?”

He nodded. “She’s here. She came home to see you.”

Maggie’s eyes widened. “She did? Wow, you guys must’ve been freaking out.”

Jack’s entire body sagged with relief. “Yes, baby,” he said, his voice tight with emotion. “We were definitely freaking out.”

Clare smiled at him and nodded in agreement.

Clare spent an hour with Maggie until the nurses shooed her out so they could care for Maggie. Leaning against the wall, she tipped her head back to say a silent prayer of thanks.

Aidan burst through the swinging doors, his eyes wide with fatigue and fear.