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The only thing Rachel needed to know was that her kids were fine—Tom and Lydia were taking care of them—I was in an okay space, and she was getting the help she needed.
We chatted for a while longer about the kids when a nurse came to prepare Rachel for her operation.
“I’ll be here when you get out,” I said. “You just hang in there, and before you know it, we’re going to be on the other side of this.”
“I love you,” Rachel said. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you, but you’re the best thing that happened to me after Mom died.”
“Don’t say that,” I said, my eyes stinging with tears. “This isn’t goodbye.”
“I don’t have to say goodbye to you to tell you that you’re everything I’ve ever wanted. You might be my sister, and I have my kids now, but you’ll always be my baby girl, Mack. I’m so proud of you.”
The tears rolled down my cheeks even though I tried to bite them back.
“I love you, too,” I said and hugged Rachel. “Come back. You’re the only mother I’ve ever really known, and I need you more than you know.” Not just because she’d been my mother for years but because when I had this baby, I couldn’t do it completely alone.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Rachel said and pinched my chin before the nurse rolled her away.
I took a deep breath and tried to swallow the lump in my throat. I brushed the few tears off my cheeks and pulled myself together.
My phone rang, and it was Tom.
“She just went in to prep,” I said. Tom had flown back home for a business meeting while Lydia stayed with the kids. It couldn’t be helped. “Thank you so much, Tommy.”
“For what?” Tom asked, confused.
“For figuring out how to do this operation.”
“I didn’t pay for it,” Tom said. “I thought you figured something out.”
“What?” I asked. “If you didn’t pay for it… was it the others?”
“No, I spoke to them this morning,” Tom said. “Like I said, I thought it was you.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said. “I’ll see what I can figure out. I’ll get back to you, and I’ll call you the minute she’s out.”
“Talk then, I’m going into another session,” Tom said before he ended the call.
I shook my head, tucked my phone into my pocket and walked through the hospital toward the administration block.
“Hi,” I said when I found the secretary who sat behind the desk. “I want to settle an account.”
“Sure,” she said. “Who?”
I gave her Rachel’s details and waited while her fingers flew over the keyboard.
“The account has already been paid in full,” she said.
“What? All of it?”
“Yes.”
“The operation, too?”
“All of it. That’s whatin fullsuggests.”
I shook my head, letting her snarky tone slide.
“Can you tell me who paid the account?”
