"Thank you." Adam took a deep sip of coffee. "What happened?"

"Stroke. Jordi found her when he came home from school."

"Dear god." Adam sighed. "When?"

"Three days ago. She was brought in unconscious but still breathing. The doctors weren't very hopeful she would wake up. But Jordi wasn't so certain. He refused to leave her side."

"He was here the whole time?"

"Si. I tried to get him to go home with my son. My husband is Isabella's cousin so the boys know each other. Ramon is the one who drove Jordi to Los Angeles. But Jordi is stubborn."

"I know."

"He sat with her, talking, praying. It was a fight to get him to eat or drink anything, or to get him to sleep."

"You should have called me. I would have talked some sense into him. Or tried. Maybe had Jackson talk to him."

"Jackson?"

"Charge nurse from his floor. She's pretty stubborn herself."

"My brother, that is Dr Gutierrez, had asked me yesterday to call you this morning if Jordi wasn't at least sleeping. I might have used that to guilt him into it. He still wouldn't leave but there was a small sofa in the room."

"Better than nothing."

"I'm afraid to say he was woken up by the monitor alarms. I wasn't here but according to the charts they believe Alma had another stroke. It was over before they could really do anything.

"The duty nurses said Jordi was watching from the hall. When he heard the doctors calling time of death he, I believe the children would say 'lost it'. He was hysterical, punched the wall, so on. They didn't want him to hurt himself so they gave him a mild sedative. He passed out a few minutes later."

"And he's fine? Medically speaking?"

"Si. Hungry, exhausted. They only put him on full monitors as a precaution. Everyone likes Jordi. He brings his guitar on Saturdays and plays songs for the patients in the mornings before his physical therapy. He's a bit of a flirt with the nurses."

"That's my Jordi." Adam laughed softly but the truth was he wanted to find a quiet spot somewhere and 'have a good cry'. This was the part of getting emotionally involved that they warned about in med school. He was supposed to be Jordi's doctor, nothing more. Someone else would pick up the rest of the pieces. But what were you supposed to do when there was no one else.