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to withdraw her hand from Jonas’s. Their moment was interrupted by the best possible reason, but the opportunity was not gone. They would have more time alone on their upcoming date night.
    She scooped up their little girl, who had Jonas’s eyes and her brown curls, and snuggled the warm, sleepy toddler close. She caught Jonas’s gaze over the top of Madison’s downy head. His look was amazingly full of warmth and tenderness and a deep, heartfelt wish.
    A wish she could feel.
    Thank the Lord they were on the same page, still wanting the same things in life. Jonas might be lost to her, but she believed not for much longer. Hope lifted her up as she took off for the kitchen.

Chapter Five
    J onas took the photo album marked Our Wedding off the closet shelf. Since he was ready for their date and waiting on Danielle, maybe this album would help. Please, Lord, let me remember.
    He wished his foot didn’t drag as he made his way across the bedroom floor. He wanted his hand to stop spasming as he eased down onto the overstuffed chair by the big window. If only he knew how to put the frustration he felt into words.
    He wished for a lot of things these days, but he did not waste his prayers on himself. It was Danielle he thought of as he turned to the first page. It was Danielle he prayed for as he fought to find a single scrap of recognition in the professional-quality photograph of the two of them smiling together, hand in hand, wedding rings gleaming.
    Please, Lord, let me remember for her sake.
    It had been such a tough week. Their family minister, Pastor Green, had stopped him after the morning service and asked how he was adjusting to being back home.
    “Fine, just fine,” he’d told the minister, because Danielle had been at his side. He hadn’t wanted her to hear the truth. She’d been beside him, holding on to his arm to steady him in the crowd. That killed him but he’d allowed it, not wanting to hurt her feelings. She kept watching him with those big brown eyes of hers, so sad and hopeful all at once. It destroyed him that he was letting her down.
    Just fine had been the truth. At least, part of the truth; he hadn’t lied to their pastor, but he hadn’t added the whole truth, either. The unsaid words haunted him now. Fine, except I’m a stranger to myself. I have a life that doesn’t feel like it’s mine. I can’t remember my fantastic kids. I don’t know my own wife, the woman who stood by me this far through my rehabilitation.
    Danielle’s picture stared back at him, her lovely smile making his soul brighten. As if down deep he did remember, as if she had made him come alive once. He suspected the days before her were colorless in comparison, as if he’d been simply walking through life.
    Her face was younger in the picture, softer, untouched by the fine lines of worry his injury had carved there. He would give anything to be able to wipe away that worry. To make things right. She was an amazing woman, and from the moment he’d woken from the coma to see her at his side, he’d been blown away by her.
    What kind of wife fought so hard for her husband? Who rarely had left his side during his coma. Who had broken down in tears of gratitude, pressing close in a hug, holding him so tight.
    The kind of woman who was true and good and loved deeply, that’s who.
    How could he not have been awed by her? Even through the pain and fog the coma and accident had made of his brain, it took him all of a second to appreciate how blessed he was to have such a wife.
    He turned the page, stopping to listen to the snippet of her soft alto that carried down the hall. She was talking with her sister Rebecca, the one in college, who had arrived to stay with the kids. She was the one who’d missed all their family get-togethers—including church—over the week since he’d come home. Trouble with the boyfriend, Danielle had explained quickly, promising she wouldn’t be with her sister for long.
    He didn’t mind