“Yeah,” Thatch said.
“If that’s Allegra’s home, let her go. But I don’t recommend she fly for at least another two weeks. Allow the brain to heal before we introduce it to a pressurised container,” Dr Mayo stated.
“Can she be released today?” Gramps asked.
“Yes, Allegra’s paperwork is in order. I’ll send the nurse in, and Allegra can shower and dress. If she manages okay with no dizzy spells, I’m happy to discharge her.”
“Great,” I said, but it lacked enthusiasm. I was about to enter a terrifying world where everyone was a damn stranger. Even those I’d grown up with.
Chapter Nine.
Shotgun
“Found her,” Leila declared, and Shotgun sighed.
“No offence, Lelia, that took fuckin’ time.”
“With good reason. You said you fought with Allegra last Wednesday, eight days ago?” Leila asked.
“Yup,” Shotgun ground his teeth. The videos from that were still doing the rounds, and people felt quite free to comment.
“Three hours later, Allegra was admitted back to the hospital. She’d been involved in a terrible car accident. The report says that she swerved to avoid a deer, but the car behind wasn’t paying attention and rear-ended her. Allegra was forced through the barrier and crashed into a tree. Firemen had to cut her out, and Allegra was rushed in with traumatic head injuries.”
Shotgun froze. “Is she alive?”
“Yes. But from what I’ve discovered, Allegra had a bad brain injury and was medically put into a coma for three days before being woken. They reckon Allegra’s got retrograde amnesia. Poor woman doesn’t recognise anyone.”
“Why was it so hard locating her?” Shotgun demanded.
“Because I was looking for her, but Allegra’s clearly not used her cards or been out and about. I only did so because I noticed the grandfather had two hospital charges on his card.”
“Two?”
“His wife had a stroke, and obviously, he was paying her bills. The second one was Allegra’s,” Leila said.
“Shit. And Allegra’s still there?” Shotgun asked.
“Yes. I’ll send you everything over.”
“Thanks, Leila.” Shotgun hung up and stared at the wall. What did he do next? He’d contacted legal counsel to seek access to the kid, but the attorney had claimed that they had no proof there was one. No birth certificate in the USA had Allegra’s name on, or Rain’s, or his, had been registered.
Did Allegra even know they had kids? What if she’d left it with someone and failed to remember? Or was Allegra playing dumb, using amnesia to get away from him because he’d mentioned a lawyer? No, Shotgun couldn’t imagine her doing that. That would hurt her family too much, and Allegra wasn’t sneaky. She’d attack face-to-face. There was only one thing for it. Shotgun had to see her.
Allegra
Aghast, I stared at my reflection.
Holy fuck.
I looked rough. There was bruising on my face, and my left cheek sported a nasty shade of sickly green. That was where the branch had slammed into me. Seems the accident was a real ding-dong. I’d crashed into several trees before being spun sideways. A branch had torn through the passenger-side window and smashed into my head, simultaneously smacking me into the driver’s side window, which had shattered in the impact.
There were no words for the way I looked, but I winced and glanced at my hair and swallowed a shriek. Damn! Had Frankenstein operated on me or what?! A large patch had been shaved off, and, boy, was that noticeable. In the bald spot was a jagged line of stitches. The branch had torn my scalp open, hence the brain trauma.
I stared in horror. Holy crap, I looked like a freak.
My family, in concern, had covered all mirrors until today when they deemed I was strong enough to face myself. The mirror offered only a partial view of the rest of my body, but peering down was sufficient. Various colours of bruises smothered me, and I flinched. No wonder I’d been so sore. Gingerly, I stepped into the shower, washed quickly, and felt one hundred times better for it. But every time my hand touched the scars on my head, I winced. It was awful, and where my hair was long, it was highly conspicuous.
Slowly, I dried off and dressed, holding a conversation with the nurse lingering outside, and walked out after dressing. Thatch had brought me a wraparound summer dress and a cardigan so that I could slip them on.
