Angel Falls by Kristin Hannah Read Free Book Online Page B

but Rosa thought she could feel a little more softness in the flesh than had been there yesterday.
    She picked up the brush from the bedside table and began brushing Mikaela’s short hair. “I will wash your hair today,
hija
.”
    She forced her lips into a smile and kept talking. “I am still not used to this short hair of yours, even though it has been many years like this. When I close my eyes, I still see my
niña
with hair streaming like spilled ink down her back.”
    Rosa’s thoughts turned to the bleak days when her daughter had been so unhappy that she’d chopped off her own hair with a pair of drugstore scissors. Mikaela had been waiting for
him
. Waiting and waiting for a man who never showed up, and when she realized that he had no intention of returning, she’d cut off her lovely hair. The thing he liked best about her.
    You cannot make yourself ugly—
that’s what Rosa had said when she’d seen what Mikaela had done, but what she’d meant was,
He isn’t worth this broken
heart of yours
. She hadn’t said that; she was the last person in the world to devalue a woman’s love for the wrong man.
    She had thought that Mikaela would get over him, and that when she got over him, she would one day grow her hair long again.
    Yet still, Mikaela’s hair was as short as a boy’s.
    “No,” Rosa said aloud, “I will not think about him. He was not worth our thoughts then and he is not worth my words now. I will think instead about my little girl. You were so bright and beautiful and funny. Always you make me laugh.
    “You had such big dreams. Remember? You used to pin all those
fotografías
up on your bedroom wall, pictures of faraway places. You dreamed of going to London and France and China. I used to say to you, ‘Where do you get such big dreams, Mikita?’ And do you remember your answer?”
    She stroked her daughter’s hair gently. “You told me, ‘I have to have big dreams, Mama … I have them for both of us.’
    “It broke my heart when you said that.” Rosa’s hand stilled. She couldn’t help remembering how her daughter’s swollen dreams had shriveled beneath the hot California sun.
    It had happened years ago, so many that the scent should not remain in the air, and yet here it was.
    “I am the one with big dreams now,
querida
. I dream that you will sit up in this bed and open your eyes … that you will come back to us.” Her voice cracked, fell to a throaty whisper. “I have a dreamnow. Just like you always wanted. I am the carrier of my dreams now … and yours, too, Mikita. I am dreaming for both of us.”
    Later that afternoon, Stephen called Liam and Rosa into his office.
    “The good news is, she has stabilized. She’s off the ventilator and breathing on her own. We didn’t need to do a tracheotomy. She’s being fed intravenously. We’ve moved her out of the ICU—to a private room on Two West.”
    Liam barely heard the words. He knew that whenever a doctor started a sentence with “The good news is,” there was a hell of a right hook coming.
    Rosa stood near the door. “She is breathing. This is life,
sí
?”
    Stephen nodded. “Yes. The problem is, we don’t know why she isn’t waking up. She’s healthy, stable. Her brain activity is good. By all measures, she should be conscious.”
    Rosa asked, “How long can a person sleep like this?”
    Stephen hesitated. “Some people wake up in a few days, and some … stay in a coma for years and never wake up. I wish I could tell you more.”
    “Thanks, Steve.”
    Stephen didn’t smile. “She’s in Two forty-six.”
    Liam rose to his feet and went to Rosa, gently taking her arm. “Let’s go see her.”
    Rosa nodded. Together they left Stephen’s office and headed for Mikaela’s new room.
    Once inside, Liam went to the window and shoved it open, sticking his head out into the cold afternoon air. Turning, he went to his wife’s bedside and gently touched her swollen cheek. “It’s winter, baby. You went to sleep