“In a hospital,” the female repeated, her concern evident.
“No, I mean,where?”
“Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.”
Manhattan? What was Manhattan? Where?Wherewas Manhattan, assuming it was a place? And if so, how did she get here?
“I’m going to step out,” a younger female wearing a similar outfit to the other one, only in navy, said.
“We’ll be fine. Won’t we?”
Oh, she was talking to her. Not sure what response was necessary, she nodded, tried to relax against the pillow, ignoring the scratchy sheets and the strong chemical smell that permeated the room.
The door opened. One female slipped out; another appeared, this one wearing a white coat over a red silk shirt and black slacks. She was smaller than the female standing at her bedside, younger, too. Her dark hair hung over her shoulders, sleek and smooth. Her equally dark eyes were calm yet assessing.
A smile pulled at the stranger’s mouth when she approached, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Good morning. My name’s Dr. Chopra.”
She stared at the female, confused. “Are you a healer?”
The female gave her an odd look but nodded. “I am. We’re glad to see you’ve woken up.”
Had she been asleep? For how long? And why?
The two females shared a quick look, the one at the bedside offering a quick shake of her head.
“How did I get here?” she asked the two females, feeling a strange sensation in her chest, a tension of some sort that made it difficult to breathe again.
“You’re having a panic attack,” the older female said softly. “It’s okay. Just breathe through it.”
Panic attack? What was a panic attack? Would it kill her?
“How … how did … I get here?” She clutched her chest to stave off the tightness and pressed her head into the pillow.
“You were brought in by ambulance,” the young healer explained. “You were found unconscious in an alley. Someone called the paramedics. They noticed you had a contusion on your head. Brought you here.”
Contusion? What did that mean?
Oh, God. What was going on?
“Do you have any family you’d like for us to call?”
She stared up at the older female, studied her face. Did she have family? She honestly didn’t know. In fact, she didn’t know anything.
“It’s okay,” Dr. Chopra said, her soft, cool hand gently settling on her wrist. “Right now, we only need you to rest. From the looks of it, you took a nasty fall, bumped your head. You’ve also got a broken ankle. I’ve had a few x-rays ordered, to make sure you haven’t broken any other bones that we can’t see.”
Broken bones, contusion.
What the hell was going on?
More importantly, who was she?
“Well, good evening,” Penelope greeted with asmile when Acadia joined the female in the nursery.
“Good evening,” Acadia replied kindly. “I thought I’d stop in, check on our sweet angel baby.”
The proud mother’s smile grew immensely. “She’s in a good mood this evening.”
Acadia peered over the side of the crib, her heart swelling at the sight.
