Read Online The Way Home by Jean Brashear - Free Book Online Page A

“What can you tell me about her condition?” Cam and Cele both moved closer.
    “She was found on the side of a road, bleeding and unconscious. She had no identification with her.”
    “But she’s conscious now?”
    “Yes. And healing well, for the most part.”
    “I need to see her. Our children do, as well.”
    “So you have children. Any of them with dark hair?”
    “Our son. Why?” He could feel Cam and Cele’s frustration at hearing only one side of the conversation.
    “Are they adopted?”
    “What does it matter? And why haven’t you asked Bella that? You said she came out of a coma.” He heard Cele’s gasp.
    “She did. And I apologize. I’m new at this screener duty.” Dr. Lincoln paused. “Her physical condition is improving every day. She’s pretty much back to normal except for some lingering soreness.”
    “But?”
    “She has retrograde amnesia.”
    “Amnesia.” Beside him erupted questions. He held up one hand for silence as he struggled to absorb the idea. She hadn’t called or returned home because she couldn’t. His shoulders sagged in relief. “Explain that, exactly.”
    “Your wife, if she is your wife, emerged from the coma with no memory of her past.”
    “She’s mine. I can prove it. Do you have e-mail?”
    “No. Tell me something that isn’t in the photo I took.”
    James thought hard. She had a birthmark her children didn’t know about. She wasn’t a prude, but he wasn’t sure she would be comfortable with them present as he described it. “She has funny second toes. Longer than the big toe.”
    “Lots of people do.”
    “She’s five foot nine. Curvy.” Voluptuous, really, but he was uncomfortable talking about her figure with this man. “Her voice is sexy as hell.” Cele’s eyes popped wide, and Cam’s worried expression eased into a grin.
    “Any birthmarks?”
    You bastard. “Kids, go in the other room. Just for a minute.” They grudgingly complied. “You know she does, and I hate like hell that you’ve looked.”
    “I’m her doctor. It’s no big deal.” But something in his tone had James on edge. “Tell me where it is.”
    “I would like nothing more than to clean your clock right now.”
    Lincoln chuckled. “She’s a hell of a woman. I don’t blame you.”
    James tried to relax, but the Twenty Questions was killing him. “On the inside of her right thigh.” And he’d kissed it a million times.
    “Thank you. The sheriff says he’s gotten confirmation, but I just want to be very careful. Would you answer me one question? Where do you live?”
    “In Parker’s Ridge, Alabama.”
    “The Southern drawl.” Lincoln paused. “Here’s the deal. We don’t know what happened to her because she has no memory of anything before she woke up in the hospital.”
    “She doesn’t even recall her family?”
    “Nothing at all until night before last, when she had a sudden image of a baby with dark hair in her arms and a man’s hand stroking them both.”
    The kids peered around the door, and he waved them in, glancing at Cameron, whom they’d adopted as an infant. Cele had been nearly two when they’d found her. “Our son.” But James was more impatient than ever. “Why can’t I talk to her?”
    “Mr. Parker, you have to be patient. I’m her doctor, and her welfare is my only concern.”
    “She ought to have her family with her.”
    “Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.”
    “What?” James was outraged. “You are out of your mind. I’ll track down this number and be there before—”
    “Whoa, there.” Another chuckle. “It’s been said I have a great bedside manner, but you and I might want to start over. Hear me out, please.”
    “This better be good.”
    A long sigh. “The thing with retrograde amnesia is that pressure doesn’t help. Expectations can do more harm than good. So if you and your children showed up and she didn’t recognize you, it would be traumatic for her and you both, plus it could set back her