And then, almost imperceptibly, she saw Allie's head move. She seemed to be turning it slowly toward her, as though she sensed that Page was there. Page watched her, feeling her breath catch. It was as though she knew that someone was there, as though she herself were back in the room again, and Page could feel it.
“Allie? Are you there? …can you hear me?” It wasn't like the time she had almost died, it was much stronger, and much more real, although that had seemed real at the time too, but this was very different. “Allie …” She put down her pencil and pad and took Allyson's hand in her own, intent on reaching her if there was any chance at all. “Allie …open your eyes, sweetheart …I'm right here …open your eyes, baby …it's okay …don't be scared …it's Mommy …” She spoke very softly to her and stroked her hand, and then weakly, Allyson squeezed her hand, and Page started to cry. She had heard her. She knew it. She had heard her. “Allie … I felt you squeeze my hand … I know you can hear me, baby …come on …open your eyes now …” And then ever so slowly, as the tears streamed down Page's cheeks, she could see Allyson's eyelids flutter, and then they stopped. As though it were all too much for her, and she was exhausted. Page sat looking at her for a long time, wondering if she had slipped deeper into her coma again. There seemed to be no sign of life now, and then suddenly she felt her squeeze her hand again, but this time it was stronger.
Page wanted to jump up and shake her awake, to scream to someone, to tell them that Allie was still there, that deep inside her child was still alive and breathing, but she just sat there, mesmerized, staring at her, willing her to wake up, as the eyelids fluttered weakly again, and Page cried silently as she watched her. What if it was all a cruel joke, if they told her it was just spasms again … if she never woke up again …”Baby, please, please open your eyes … I love you so much …Allie, please …” She was sobbing softly and kissing her fingers, as the eyelids fluttered again, and ever so slowly Allyson opened her eyes for the first time in almost four months, and saw her mother.
She looked very groggy at first, as though she wasn't sure what she was seeing, and then she looked Page straight in the eye and said, “Mama.” Page couldn't stop crying as she looked at her, she bent down and kissed her cheeks, and her hair and the tears ran down her cheeks into Allie's face, and then Allie said it again, louder this time, as she looked at her. It was a croak, but it was a word, the sweetest sound Page had ever heard …Mama …
Page sat there for ages, crying and looking at her, and then Frances came, and couldn't believe it.
“My God …she's awake …” She ran to call Dr. Hammerman, and by the time he came, she was dozing. But she had not fallen back into her coma.
Page explained to him what had happened, and he examined Allie quietly. After a while, Allyson opened her eyes and looked at him. She didn't understand who he was, and she cried as she looked at her mother.
“It's okay, sweetheart …Dr. Hammerman is our friend …he's going to make you all better …” She didn't care what anyone did anymore, Allie was awake, she had opened her eyes and spoken to them. Whatever came after that would be icing.
The doctor asked Allyson to squeeze his hand, and to look at him, which she did. And then he asked her to speak to him, but she wouldn't. Her eyes darted back to her mother's then, and she shook her head. And afterward he explained to Page, in the hall, that she had probably lost most of her language. She had lost most of her large motor skills, and how much brain damage there was remained to be seen now.
“She can learn many of those things again, walking, sitting, moving, feeding herself. She can learn to talk again. We just have to see how much is left, and how far we can take her,” he said matter-of-factly. But Page was willing to do anything for her, to work as hard as she had to, to bring her back as far as they could. She was ready to do anything she had to, to help her.
She called Trygve when Hammerman left, and told him what had happened.
“Wait a minute …wait a minute …slow down …” He was on a portable phone at the lake, and he could hardly hear her. He knew the doctor had said something to her about Allyson's motor skills, but he hadn't heard the rest. “Tell me again.” She was crying and laughing and he could hardly understand her.