Dani looked out the window at Alex as she pointed something out to Madison. "She told you she was hit by a car while jogging in the street, didn’t she?" She looked back at Maria and saw her nod.
"Is that not what happened?"
"Yes and no. She was out jogging, but she was on the sidewalk. My daughter ran past me into the street, and into the path of a speeding car." She watched as understanding dawned on Maria’s face. "She ran out, scooped up Madison, and ran. She wasn’t quite fast enough to get out of the way, but she did save my daughter’s life."
Maria looked out into the courtyard and felt the tears well up as she watched Alex play with the young girl. "Oh, Tesoro," she whispered.
"We didn’t know her name at first, so we called her Madison’s guardian angel. That is why Madison calls her Angel." She started to head outside with the others but stopped and turned back to Maria. "Why would she not tell you the whole story?" she asked.
Maria looked out the window at Alex as she responded. "She has been hurt deeply, and taken advantage of by many, this has caused her to become a very private person. She no longer trusts easily, and has learned to keep her own counsel in certain matters. When she was younger, she would boast of her accomplishments in some things, but this she would have kept to herself even then. It is who she is. Some things you just do because they are the right thing to do, not because you want recognition for them." She watched as Alex smiled up at Nikki. "You are all good for her, she needs you." She turned back to Dani with a smile. "If you will excuse me, I have duties to tend to."
Later that afternoon Nikki returned with a suitcase full of belongings and went in search of Alex. She finally found her in the sparsely furnished office. She was sitting at the desk with a laptop open in front of her, typing furiously. She waited until the keystrokes slowed considerably before she interrupted. "Hey, I’m back."
Alex looked up at her, startled. "Oh, hey. Um, the guest room is up the stairs, first door on the left. You can put your stuff in there. Maria is making dinner tonight. It should be ready in a couple of hours." She looked down at the computer screen and grimaced. "I really need to get more work done before then. Call me when dinner's ready and I’ll stop." Nikki nodded, disappointed. "I’ll give you the full tour after dinner."
"Sure thing," Nikki said as she watched Alex immediately zone in on the computer, tuning her out. She listened to the clicking of the keys for a moment before walking away.
Chapter Five
Alex opened her eyes to a dark room, something she hadn’t done in a while, as there were always lights on in hospital rooms. She turned toward the window and saw a sliver of lightening sky at the edge of the curtain. The bright green numbers on the clock beside the bed said it was almost six. She lay back and reveled in the feel of the familiar pillow, the six hundred thread count Egyptian cotton sheets, and expanse offered by a king size bed. This was a far cry from the hospital bed she’d woken in yesterday.
She closed her eyes and thought about the tour she’d given Nikki the night before. There was a sense of pride and accomplishment when she saw Nikki’s appreciation for her home. With darkness threatening, the tour was cut short though she promised Nikki a tour of the grounds when she returned from work this afternoon. Alex found she was looking forward to seeing what she thought of the rest of the place she called home.
Rolling to the edge of the bed, she sat up with a grimace. She’d worn the brace to bed, as she was still finding it near impossible to get either into or out of it by herself. "Not one of your better ideas, Alex," she told herself as she rubbed her knee through the straps. ‘I’ve got to get this damn thing figured out if I want to get some decent rest,’ she thought. She grabbed her crutches and headed for the bathroom so she could start her day.
Alex looked down at the clock on her computer and smiled. She’d accomplished quite a bit in a few short hours. With the time she’d spent last night and this morning, she’d finished the last chapter in her book and was now ready to start editing. She was going to need to contact one or two of her beta readers to see if they could rush this one through without compromising their work. She refused to put out sloppy work, but hated to miss a deadline, even one that was self imposed. Before her accident she’d been ahead of schedule and had announced the planned release of the book on Facebook and Twitter. Now the release date was just over two weeks away, and she was behind schedule. She saved her work one more time before opening her personal phone book, and looking up the number for the rehab center she’d used nearly twelve years earlier.
A quick phone call later and she had an appointment to see a therapist at eleven thirty. She’d been fortunate that they’d had an appointment cancel just that morning. Making a quick call Dani to see if she would be available to drive finalized her plan for the afternoon. With a little more than two hours before her appointment, she shut down her computer and headed out to find Maria. Moments later she found her in the kitchen putting groceries away. She leaned against the island out of the way. "You’ve been shopping already?"
"Yes,
