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hand.
    “They told us you woke up earlier,” Mama was saying. “Cara mia, I should have stayed with you all night. I shouldn’t have listened when they said go home.”
    It sounded like Mama was trying not to cry. Mama cried easily, so Gemma couldn’t gauge the gravity of the situation from her. She’d know better when Papa came. She could always tell from the timbre of Papa’s voice exactly how serious a thing was.
    But it was Sera she really wanted. Sera could tell her the things Gemma needed answered, and she’d tell her the truth. One thing about Sera, she was big on truth.
    Somehow Mama knew. “I called your sister. She should be here soon.”
    Staying awake was hard. The blackness ate her without warning, and again it seemed that no time elapsed before she heard a voice. Sera’s voice.
    “Em? Hi, Gemma. It’s me.”
    Gemma moved her hand, blindly searching for Sera’s, and there was incredible comfort in the strength of her sister’s cool, firm grasp.
    “They’re going to take your breathing tube out as soon as you’re fully awake. Then it’ll be easier for you.”
    Gemma tugged impatiently on Sera’s hand. She needed to find out...
    Sera understood. “I don’t know how much you remember, Em. You got hit in the face....” Sera gulped and when she went on Gemma knew that it was pretty radical.
    “You got hit in the face with a two-by-four. The bones in your face are smashed.”
    Her face was smashed? Gemma’s heartbeat accelerated, and icy fear sluiced through her veins, but she tugged again on Sera’s hand. She had to find out everything; had to.
    “You’ll be able to see as soon as the swelling goes down. Your eyes are fine. Your doctor’s Ben Halsey. He’s il primo as far as plastic surgeons go. He’s going to fix everything as soon as you get stabilized. He’s going to use me as a model, so you’ll look exactly like me all over again unless you tell him you want some changes.”
    Gemma understood that Sera was trying to diminish the impact of what had happened. But she could tell just by the way Sera sounded that it was major.
    "Personally, I’d hit him up for a shorter nose and smaller ears, Em.”
    They’d always joked about getting Papa’s nose and Nonna’s ears.
    “We all feel pretty helpless. There doesn’t seem a lot we can do to make this easier for you. Papa and Mama are staying here, but I have to go to work for a while, there’s a problem with the set. I’ll be back, probably by noon. It’s seven thirty now. I have to run. See you in a couple hours, Em.”
    Gemma felt Sera lift her hand, open the palm and press a kiss into it. “Bye, Gemma. Hang in there. I’ll be back soon.”
    Gemma wanted to scream at Sera, tell her that she had no right to leave. Didn’t she understand that Gemma needed her? But she couldn’t talk and her entire head was hurting again, sharp and terrifying. She scrabbled desperately at the sheet, and suddenly her father’s work hardened hand enfolded her fingers.
    “ Be still, principessa. Papa’s right here. I’ll be right here beside you all day. You go to sleep now.” She felt incredible comfort and reassurance in her father’s presence, and with a sense of relief she allowed herself to slip back into oblivion and let time pass.
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
     
     
    Four days had passed since the accident, and Sera sat for the first time in Ben Halsey’s office, in a high backed upholstered chair that looked beautiful but was decidedly uncomfortable. The seat was too shallow and the back didn’t adjust. The angle was exactly wrong for any human spine.
    She shifted from side to side, cursing whoever had designed such a monstrosity, wondering nervously just exactly what Halsey required of her. She’d changed her clothes twice this morning before deciding on the straight cut navy twill skirt and the short sleeved baby-blue vest over a white T- shirt. Why she’d fuss over her clothes just to come to see a doctor she