“Well . . . yeah, I guess. I mean, we all know the backstory about how you saved her life that night in the snow. Will she go that route?”
Jack closed his eyes and tried not to think about that long-ago night. “Lizzie is a different person today than she was back then. She has a son now. That will help. But to get back to the question you didn’t ask, I don’t know.
“While I was waiting for the people at Dip Sing, I googled Dr. Joe Wylie. Man, that guy is one impressive dude. Leave it up to Annie to hire the best of the best. He’s the top neurosurgeon in the country. He’s second in the world. Brain surgery scares the living shit out of me. Spinal cord surgery scares me just as much. Cosmo had both surgeries done by someone other than Wylie. I googled Simon Simmons, and he’s good, but he’s no Wylie. He studied under Wylie, however. Not sure where that little toad Brackman who tried to kick us out fits into all of this. Say something, Harry.”
“Oh, so now you want me to say what you’re thinking,” Harry groused. “You want me to say Cosmo could end up in a vegetative state or paralyzed. There, I said it. You happy now?”
“No. But at least it’s out in the open. That’s what Lizzie was dealing with these last four days. It’s all she had to think about when she sat there, refusing to leave. All we can do now is think positive, pray, and hope to God Wylie will get Cosmo through this.”
Harry’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He fished it out. “It’s Charles.”
Never one to say five words when two or three would do, Harry said, “Talk to me.”
Jack watched in horror as the color left Harry’s face and his hands started to shake so badly that he almost dropped the phone. “I’ll tell Jack,” Harry said, in a voice Jack had never heard before.
Jack’s heart kicked up a beat as he waited for whatever Harry was going to say. Finally, he barked, “What?”
“They just took Cosmo back into surgery. Wylie is the surgeon. Something went wrong, but Charles doesn’t know what it is. He said nurses and doctors all came running, and they were told to leave. They’re all in the chapel right now.”
“Oh shit!”
“Oh shit is right,” Harry said.
“How do we play this?” Jack asked. “Do we wake Lizzie up and head back to the hospital? Or do we let her sleep and get some strength back so she can . . . so she can deal with whatever happens?”
Instead of answering Jack’s question, Harry said, “You know what I wish right now? I wish that damn dog Cooper was here. I really do. Things always worked out the right way when he was with us. Does that make sense, Jack?”
“As much as anything I could come up with.”
Harry’s voice was fretful and strange. “So we’re going to let Lizzie sleep, eat, then we tell her.”
“Hell no! Well, you had part of it right. We let her sleep and eat, then we go back to the clinic, where a doctor will tell her what she needs to know. Unless you want us to end up dead right here when we tell her.”
“I see your point,” Harry said. “Let’s go eat some of that soup.”
“You know, Harry, that’s a great idea. I guess we’re going to skip the veggies, or we put them in and let them cook while we eat it as it is. Lizzie is going to need the veggies. I got a ton of noodles. I know how you love noodles. I like noodles, but not so much that I crave them. Lizzie must like them a lot. Noodles! Who knew?”
“Jack, you’re ranting. Will you just shut the hell up already?”
Jack clamped his lips tight as he stomped his way to the kitchen.
Harry slumped down into the captain’s chair with the bright red cushions and closed his eyes while Jack heated up the chicken soup. Then his eyes snapped open almost immediately. He looked at Jack, his voice full of panic when he said, “Holy crap, we forgot about the boy! How could we have forgotten him? Where is he, Jack?”
“Easy, Harry, easy. Little Jack is at sleepaway camp. It’s a swim camp; LJ is into swimming. It’s July, school is out, and kids go to camp. You told me yourself that Lily is at camp.”
“How do you know that?” Harry asked, not sure if he believed Jack or not.
“Because he sent me a text the first week asking for advice.”
Suspicion rang in Harry’s voice. “What kind of advice. Why would he ask you and not his parents?”
Jack grinned. “Because he thinks I know everything. I have no idea where he got that idea, but it’s in his head. But to answer your question, it was girl advice he was looking for.”
Harry groaned. “The kid is ten years old! What kind of girl advice does a ten-year-old need?”
“Seems a girl named Emily, same age as LJ, is his competition on the swim team he was assigned to. It would appear, according to LJ, that she is better and faster than he is, and it’s rubbing him the wrong way. She seems to be a little more mature than LJ and knew which buttons to push, because she told him the reason he was so slow in the water was he had fat knees. LJ was wounded to the quick over that. Plus, she’s cute; she has curly hair and big blue eyes and dimples. Here’s the thing, though—her front teeth protrude a little, and she has an overbite. He’s smitten and jealous at the same time. End of story.”
“No, it isn’t,” Harry sputtered. “What did you tell him? I know you told him something. Fat knees! What?”
“Well . . . I might have said something. What you need to understand is this, Harry. Women, girls of all ages, they stick together, and it’s a sure bet that the female counselors are telling her how to get to LJ, and because male counselors are all macho and crap like that, they aren’t really equipped to counsel kids like LJ. So, I just . . . you know, helped out my godson. The kid’s goal in life is to go to the Olympics and outdo Phelps. Cosmo is even having an Olympic-size pool built out back for him to train, and when he gets back from camp, he’s going to have his own personal trainer. True or false, I don’t know. LJ told me that, so who knows. It might be wishful thinking on his part. He is good, though—swims like a fish. How’s the soup? Are there enough noodles?”
“It’s okay. Not great but passable. Yoko’s is better. I don’t think Lizzie will complain.”
“We should have heard something by now,” Jack said fretfully.
“It’s three o’clock in the morning, Jack. Surgeries take hours, and then the patient is in recovery. Call Charles if it will make you feel better.”
Jack had his phone in hand when he looked past Harry to see Lizzie standing in the doorway dressed in what he thought was Cosmo’s bathrobe, her silver hair soaking wet, her face shiny and scrubbed. “Is there news?”
“Um . . . no, guess not. No one is answering their phones. It’s late. How about some chicken soup? With noodles. You need to eat something.”
“You made chicken soup! That was so sweet of you, Jack. Sure, I’ll have some with lots of noodles. You can talk to me while I eat. Then I want to go back to the hospital. I don’t care if it is the middle of the night.”
“Sure, sure, whatever you want, Lizzie. Eat up,” Jack said, putting in front of her a bowl of soup that was loaded with skinny noodles. He crossed his fingers that Lizzie wouldn’t mention the lack of vegetables in the soup.
“This is good. Kind of tastes like Dip Sing’s soup, but they put wontons in it.”
“No kidding!” Jack said, feigning surprise. “Harry and I will take that as a compliment.”
Harry winked at Jack as he handed him his empty bowl.
Time froze when Jack’s phone, which was lying in the middle of the table, chirped to life.
Lizzie stopped eating. “Someone should answer that.”
“Yeah, someone should.” Jack reached for the phone.
Photo by M2IFOTO©2006
FERN MICHAELS is the USA Today and New York Times bestselling author of the Sisterhood, Men of the Sisterhood and Godmothers series and dozens of other novels and novellas. There are over ninety-five million copies of her books in print. Fern Michaels has built and funded several large day-care centers in her hometown and is a
passionate animal lover who has outfitted police dogs across the country with special bulletproof vests. She shares her home in South Carolina with her four dogs and a resident ghost named Mary Margaret.
Visit her website at fernmichaels.com.
THE TRUTH WILL RISE
Tessa Jamison couldn’t have imagined anything worse than losing her beloved twin girls and husband—until she was convicted of their murder. For years she has counted off the days in Florida’s Correctional Center for Women. Proving her innocence holds little appeal now that her family’s gone. But on one extraordinary day, her lawyers announce that Tessa’s conviction has been overturned due to a technicality, and she’s released on bail to await a new trial.
Tessa retreats to the small tropical island owned by her late husband’s pharmaceutical company. There, she begins to gather knowledge about her case. For the first time since her nightmare began, Tessa feels a sense of purpose in working to finally expose the truth and avenge her lost family. One by one, the guilty will be led to justice, and Tessa can gain closure. But will she be able to learn the whole truth at last . . . and reclaim her freedom and her future?
“Will keep readers on the edge of their seat with the perfect amount of fear and surprises . . . New revelations about the plot and its characters are around each corner.”
—RT Book Reviews, 4 Stars
In this stirring new novel, acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author Fern Michaels delves into the remarkable ways in which moments of crises can lead to our greatest acts of courage . . .
When Carol Ann “CJ” Jansen lost her beloved older brother, Kick, in a boating accident, she came adrift. Kick had taken on the role of caring for his little sister after their parents were killed in a car crash. Inheriting half his fortune has left CJ financially secure—yet needing a purpose. As administrative assistant to powerful congressman Snapper Lewis, she’s immersed herself in the exciting and often tumultuous world of politics.
But suddenly, the career that anchors her life is threatened. CJ stumbles upon information that could implicate her boss in corruption. When the congressman goes missing, the closer CJ gets to uncovering the truth, exposing one shocking secret after another, the more she wonders if she’s also in jeopardy.
Moving to a small New England town for her own protection, CJ gradually begins to engage with her new surroundings. Her blossoming friendship with the owner of a charter fishing boat offers the promise of much more. But before she can claim happiness, CJ must navigate a course through all her doubts and fears, and trust that this time, the water that took so much from her might just lead her safely home . . .
The Sisterhood: a group of women from all walks of life bound by friendship and a quest for justice. Armed with vast resources, top-notch expertise, and a loyal network of allies around the globe, the Sisterhood will not rest until every wrong is made right.
Isabelle Flanders Tookus isn’t expecting to involve the Sisterhood in a new mission when she strikes up a friendship with a curly-haired boy in her local park. Ben Ryan is an eight-year-old child genius, the grandson of millionaire Eleanor Lymen, who hired Izzy years ago to design an institute for gifted children. Ben’s mother passed away and Ben now lives with his stepfather, Connor, and Connor’s wife, Natalie. They’ve been using Ben’s trust fund to support their lavish lifestyle while shamefully neglecting Ben. And with Natalie getting greedy, Ben’s safety is now in jeopardy.
Izzy’s first step: call in the Sisterhood. The second: track down Eleanor, who has mysteriously vanished on a secret mission of her own. Izzy, Annie, Myra, and the rest of the Sisters come together at Pinewood, thrilled to be united once more. Together they’ll lay a trap for Natalie and Connor, one that will protect Eleanor’s beloved grandson, get him into the happy home he deserves, and provide the kind of creative, satisfying payback the Sisters dish out so well . . .
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