On the third floor, we stop off at the nurses station to ask for directions to Jewel’s room. The nurse frowns. “The patient gets easily agitated.” She gives us the once-over. To Ree, she says, “You must keep your visit calm and brief.” You can tell she doesn’t think Ree has ever done anything calm in her life.

I touch Ree’s arm and pull her away from the nurse before she can say anything back. “Yes, ma’am,” I assure the nurse as we walk away. “Calm and brief.”

Ree stops in front of room 102. She looks down at me, raises one eyebrow, and pushes the door open.

Jewel seems a lot smaller in the bed than I remember. Without the flowered dress, she looks all washed out.

“Hey, Jewel,” Ree says softly, touching her friend’s hand.

Jewel’s eyes flutter open. Her gaze swims around the room until they come to rest on Ree’s face. “Oh,” she says. “Is it really you or am I just dreaming it’s you?”

Ree smiles and squeezes her hand. “It’s really me.” She motions me over. “And this is my friend, Piper.”

Jewel’s faded blue eyes search my face. “Piper,” she repeats. “What a lovely name.”

“Thank you,” I say. I want to tell her all about taking care of Baby and where he is now and how I promised him I’d find a way to get him back with her, and that I never break my promises, ever, but my tongue is as stiff and dry and useless as a dead fish.

“Piper helped me take care of Baby after you came to the hospital, Jewel,” Ree explains. “And she’s doing everything she can to help you and Baby be together again.”

Jewel’s eyes widen and fill with tears. “Baby!” she cries. “Where’s my Baby?” She sits up taller in her bed and rakes her fingers through her silver hair. “I keep asking and asking everyone, ‘Where is my Baby?’ and they won’t tell me. They won’t tell me anything,” she sobs.

Ree slips her arm around the old woman’s shoulder and says in the tenderest voice, “Baby’s okay, Jewel. He’s in a safe place being taken care of.” She shoots me a look that says, don’t say a thing. “Now we have to make sure you’ll be okay too.”

My tongue gets unstuck and rises from the dead. “Miss Knight,” I ask. “Were you on your way to see your sister when you, um, stopped here?”

Jewel’s eyes dart around the room. “Sis? Is she here?” Before we can answer, she pushes the blankets off her legs and starts to get up. A machine beeps. “I have to find Sis!” she insists. “She’s waiting for me!” The beeping gets louder.

The door to Jewel’s room swings open. It’s the nurse, and she doesn’t look too happy.