Page 27 of Shimmering Emeralds
I whirled around to look at my daughter. “What?” I almost couldn’t believe my ears. Movement from Harper was the best news imaginable. It made my spats with Mom and Levi seem trivial.
Staring at Harper’s hand, I willed it to move. I needed to see it for myself, but she remained completely immobile.
After waiting for several minutes and not seeing any change, my mother spun around to glare at Levi. “Are you sure you saw her move? If you’re giving us false hope, you won’t be able to run far enough away to hide from my wrath.”
I gave Levi an apologetic smile to help soften my mother’s harsh words, even as I wondered if I sounded that aggressive when I was fired up about something. It was obvious which parent had passed her passionate temper on to me.
Levi answered her question, but he was looking at me. “Yes, I’m positive that I saw her move.”
He and I beamed at each other for a moment before I said, “This has to be a really good sign, right?”
“Let’s find out,” Mother suggested, already reaching over to push the call button to request medical help.
The nurse that responded quickly tracked down the on-call doctor to come speak to us about Harper’s new development. I recognized the grandfatherly-looking man as one of the doctors who had checked in on Harper during his rounds.
As soon as he approached the bedside, the words rushed out of me. “Harper moved. Her hand jerked.” Looking to Levi for confirmation, I said, “Right?”
Levi jumped right in and showed the doctor with his own hand exactly what he had seen Harper’s do.
The doctor took it all in before asking, “What was going on in the room when this happened?”
“Meg was yelling at me,” my mother interjected before angling a narrow-eyed glare at me.
I instantly felt guilty for my previous outburst. The doctors had warned us to keep the stimulation and noise to a minimum. Had my yelling harmed Harper in some way or set back her healing progress? I had assumed that her sudden movement was a good sign, but what if it wasn’t?
Needing the doctor’s opinion, I asked, “Her hand moving is a positive sign, right? Does it mean she’s getting closer to waking up?”
The doctor removed his wire-rimmed glasses and swiped a hand over his eyes before saying, “Her movement was an early generalized response, quite possibly due to your agitated yell.”
Jumping ahead, I asked, “So, should we yell more to help her come back to us?”
“No.” The doctor said firmly, dashing my hopes that we might be able to reach her if we were loud enough. “She’ll come back if and when her body’s ready and not a moment sooner.”
The ‘if’ he’d thrown in there made my stomach tighten into an uncomfortable ball. Desperate to grasp onto any bit of hope, I said, “But this has to be better than her not moving at all, right?”
“It’s perfectly normal for her to twitch and have some random body movements,” he answered before adding, “But I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that she might still have quite a long road ahead to recovery.”
The hope that had surged through my veins deflated like a week-old balloon as I nodded and said, “I understand.”
And I did understand. This doctor was of the opinion that Harper wouldn’t wake up for a very long time.
24
Levi
It was obvious by the way Meg’s shoulders folded inward that she had believed––as I did––that Harper’s condition was temporary and would be short-lived. Her hand movement had seemed like proof that she would be awake soon and enjoying her life as a little girl should.
Deep down, I had assumed that the child would be up and talking to us any day now, but her doctor’s stern warning implied that might not happen for months or even years. Although he hadn’t explicitly stated it, the insinuation hung heavily in the air that Harper might not ever wake up.
Stella’s face was sheet-white as she looked from her daughter to her granddaughter. I knew she blamed me for this, and I couldn’t deny my culpability. But I also couldn’t bring myself to leave this room or Meg’s side. If my departure was what Meg truly wanted, then I would exile myself to the hallway, but my heart was desperate to believe that Dani was right and Meg secretly wanted me to stay, despite being too proud to admit it.
The doctor kept his head down and made a quick exit, which left the three of us to stare at each other and try to deal with the devastation of losing that quick surge of hope caused by Harper’s hand twitch.
Stella lifted her hand to her mouth and sobbed dramatically into it before practically wailing, “Two of my innocent grandbabies are hooked up to all of this dreadful equipment. It’s not fair.”
I openly glared at Meg’s mother. Not only was her hysteria most likely upsetting her daughter even more, but also, the doctor hadjustreminded us not to make loud noises or disruptions in Harper’s presence. Somehow, she was trying to make this tragedy all about her, even though it obviously wasn’t.
“You need to calm down,” I said to Stella, even though I was aware that telling an upset woman that she needed to settle was rarely a smart move.
