Clara smiled again and it hurt her lips. They were dry and cracked. Pretty much every part of her body hurt, except her heart. That part was buzzing warmly with happiness. With love. No matter what else happened, her heart was content. She had her girl by her side, Molly’s smile beaming down on her. She hadn’t stopped smiling since Clara opened her eyes. And she had Sam, standing at the foot of her hospital bed, grinning and admiring from afar, a look of amusement on his face as he watched her and Molly. Somehow they had all wound up together, even Bren, the three of them being there just as Clara opened her eyes from the deepest and darkest sleep she’d ever had.

But she still felt that sleep. Even now. It lingered on, worse than a sleeping pill hangover. Something still had hold of her, of the back of her brain. She could feel its tight grasp, its pressure. She could still feel the heavy fog. At times, she could even see it. It would come seeping into the room, sometimes getting thick and sleepy and she would doze off again. Then she would open her eyes and there would be a new set of faces looking down at her. Strangers. Nurses and doctors. They were nice and fine and all. And they likely saved her from whatever had happened back at the courthouse. But they weren’t her people.

For now, Clara was fighting to stay awake. She wanted to stay with her people.

“Do you think you need another nap?”

Clara looked over to find Bren at her usual spot, in a chair next to the bed with a happy Molly on her lap.

“You should probably sleep if you feel like it,” Bren said. “The doctor said it would help you recover.”

Clara sat up a little, cleared her throat, and said “No.” Her voice felt and sounded a little strange. A little rough, foreign.

Bren smiled. “No?”

She cleared her throat again. “No, I can sleep when you guys leave.”

“What if we don’t ever leave?” asked Molly. She was twirling her finger in her hair just like usual. Clara was glad to see how tough and unaffected she seemed through all of it.

Clara smiled, her cracked lips feeling fine now. “If you don’t ever leave, then that means you’ll miss school.”

“Aaaand?”

“And if you miss school, you’ll be grounded.”

“Awww . . .”

“Don’t worry, Molly. We’ll take care of you,” Sam said. He walked around from the foot of the bed, joining Clara at the other side of the bed. “Don’t you want to go swimming?”

Clara turned her head to see Molly nodding emphatically.

“That’s right,” Bren said, turning to Clara and talking quieter. “I’ll find a store downtown and pick up a swimsuit. I don’t care how overpriced it is.” She laughed. “I’m not driving all the way home and all the way back.”

“What pool?” Clara asked.

“Mine,” Sam said. “Well, the hotel’s.”

“We were there the whole day,” Bren said. “The Grand Marias. Molly got to abuse the movie rental channel while we tracked you down. And now that she’s feeling better, she wants to abuse the pool. Isn’t that right? She won’t stop talking about it.”

Molly held her fists together in the air and cried, “Cannon Balllll!”

They all laughed at the surprisingly good-spirited child It was amazing how quickly Molly had rebounded, now she was sure her mom would be okay. Clara felt more relieved than ever. Sure, there had probably been a few rough spots early on. Clara imagined there were quite a few of those . . . God bless her friends for taking care of things. Taking care of Molly. And now, her.

Clara looked away from her little shining star for a moment, looking back to Sam. Behind his light smile, concern was lurking. There must have been so much he hadn’t yet told her about what happened that morning. Clara had questions of her own. But she was okay with enjoying the moment.

“Ohhh, I see you’ve got some visitors.” It was the high and sing-songy voice of a nurse. She walked in holding a clipboard, tapping a pen against it and saying, “We were hoping someone would come around and claim you.”

“Yeah,” Clara said, clearing her throat again. “Lost and found, huh?”

“That’s correct, Jane Doe Number Forty.”

Gosh . . . Had there really been forty unidentified victims? Just at this hospital alone?

The nurse scratched something out at the top of her clipboard and said, “I mean, Clara Miles.” And then she wrote something else in its place.

Sam had been smiling down at Clara the whole time. “And just like that,” he said. “Back from dead.”