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Lily
“Lily!” Mom scoots back in her hospital bed, terror slashed across her too-young face. Even with her brow furrowed and her lips pulled down in a frown, she doesn’t have a single wrinkle. We haven’t mentioned that yet.
I cast a glance to Dad and lean forward to take her hand, but she pulls away, holding her hands against her chest and pressing her back as far against the pillows as it would go.
“Mom, what’s wrong?”
Warmth spreads through me, and I know instantly why my mother is so afraid.
She eyes me, fear and suspicion draining all her color before she slumps over.
Dad shoots out of his chair. I would have too if I weren’t giddy with actual butterflies.
“Nurse! Nurse, come quick!” Dad yells.
I check the monitors she’s still attached to, because despite getting a clean bill of health from three oncologists and her internist, the hospital isn’t convinced she should go home just yet. But the monitors show all her vitals are within normal ranges.
A nurse rushes in and shoos Dad aside.
“She was alert and talking and then just slumped over like that,” he says.
The nurse manually checks Mom’s pulse and all the bags of medicine before rubbing her knuckles hard across the top of her chest which looked like it might actually hurt.
Mom rouses in moments. “Ooh. Hello. I didn’t see you come in, Patty.”
“You fainted, Ms. DeCarlo.”
“I did no such thing,” my mom states, glancing at both Dad and me for confirmation. Her shoulders sag when she doesn’t see it on our faces.
“Are you OK?” Dad asks, pushing an auburn lock from my mom’s forehead. Auburn that’s now startlingly similar to my own. Like her crow’s feet and smile lines, the streaks of silver that once adorned her hair like sparkling stars vanished.
“Yes. I feel great. Better than ever, as I keep telling everyone.”
My apologies, Lily. I had no intention of scaring your mother, only to make you aware of my presence.
By showing her your devil face through mine? Jeez, Barbas. You could have given her a heart attack.
That is unlikely. But I expect her eyes are now open to things they otherwise wouldn’t. I’ll leave it to you whether to explain.
Great. Thanks. You might have warned me.
I was getting pretty decent at holding silent conversations in my head while giving no external indication of doing so. The moment Barbas left—and after I called Dad with the good news—I found myself having mental conversations with him, even though he wasn’t in my head anymore. I told myself I was practicing, trying to make sure I could do it seamlessly. But really, I did it to ease the ache of being without him.
I try not to think about what that might mean.
“I’m glad you’re staying for observations,” the nurse says, jotting a note in the chart she held. “I’ll make sure to let your doctors know you fainted. They might want to do some more testing.”
My mom shrugs and reaches for Dad’s hand. “They can poke and scan me all they like. I feel twenty years younger. Hell, I actually feel like I’m twenty again.” She flexes her bicep and gives the nurse a grin.
Patty the nurse only shakes her head. “Well, if your vitals are any indication, I’d have to agree.” She closes the chart, hangs it on the foot of the bed, and heads toward the door. “Call if it happens again.”
“We will,” Dad says.
I realize you want to be with your mother, Lily, but we still have to collect our part of the bargain.
Bargain? I’m not a fan of the word choice.
Did I make a bargain? Like a binding, contractual bargain with a demon?
