The Horse Whisperer

After the first week, A

Robert's partners at the law firm had as always been kind, taking as much off his shoulders as they could. A

'My dear, dear A

'Crawford…'

'No, A

Far from reassuring her, this only made A

A

The coffee machine gave a last gurgle and A

'She's looking good today,' the nurse said as they passed.

'You think?' A

'Yes, I do.' She paused at the door and it seemed for a moment as if she wanted to say something else. But she thought better of it and pushed the door open, going.

'Just you keep working those muscles!' she said.

A

Looking good. What did looking good mean, she wondered as she walked back to Grace's bed, when you were in your eleventh day of coma and your limbs were as slack as dead fish? Another nurse was changing the dressing on Grace's leg. A

'It's healing nicely,' the nurse said. A

'I think her tape's run out,' she said, nodding toward Grace's Walkman on the pillow.

The nurse was giving her an escape from the scar and A

She wiped a trickle of saliva from the corner of Grace's mouth and tidied a strand of hair. She let her hand rest there and stared down at her. After a while she became aware that the nurse had finished dressing the leg and was watching her. They smiled at each other. But there was a trace of something perilously close to pity in the nurse's eyes and A

'Workout time!' she said.

She pushed up her sleeves and pulled a chair closer to the bed. The nurse gathered up her things and soon A

It was oddly sensual this new intimacy she had with her daughter. Not since Grace was a baby had A

She moved on to the elbow, opening and closing the joint fifty times, then massaging the muscles. It was hard work and A

It was so small and so quick that A

'Grace?' she said, quietly. 'Gracie?'

Nothing. Grace's face was blank. The only movement was the top of her chest which rose and fell in time with the respirator. Maybe what she had seen was merely the hand settling under its own weight. A

Eighty-five, flicking to eighty-four as she watched. A

This time she squeezed Grace's hand and, looking up, saw the heartbeat monitor go crazy. Ninety, a hundred, a hundred and ten… 'Gracie?'

A