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"I'll worry about you if you stay," Dani argued. "And I can't stay with you. I can't put my baby in danger."
"I would never ask you to do that."
"But I don't want you to be in danger, either. And you will be. Mom had to be mixed up in something terrible. I don't want you to pay any more than you already have for whatever she did in her life. I love you, Brynn. We're sisters. We have to stick together."
Dani's words were persuasive, as they always were. Whenever I'd tried to put distance between us, she'd remind me how much we needed each other. And I did need her. I loved her. But at one time, I'd also loved my mother. My gaze moved past Dani to the very vulnerable and helpless woman in the bed. I wondered if she could hear us fighting about her. It probably wouldn't help with her recovery. No matter what she'd done, I wanted her to live. And I couldn't leave her here with no one to look out for her. The police would do their job, but I was her family, even if it was a family she didn't acknowledge.
I looked back at Dani. "I'll be careful."
"I'm sure she was being careful, too," Dani said harshly. "I know this sounds cruel, but she left you, and you're forgetting how much she hurt you."
"I'm not forgetting anything. Everything changed when she died, the way we grew up, our relationship with Dad, our sense of safety. I have to know why it happened."
"It's only going to hurt you more. There's no reason for her leaving that will be good enough," Dani argued. "You're setting yourself up for more pain."
"You might be right, but I still need to know." I blew out a breath, feeling like I'd just made a momentous decision. "Are you ready to leave? I'll drive you back to the house so you can get your car and go home."
"I don't like this, Brynn."
"I know you don't. But this is what's happening. Do you want to say anything to Mom before we leave?"
Dani shook her head. "No. I don't have anything to say to her. I hope she doesn't die. But if anything happens to you because of her, I'll never forgive her for having that nurse call you. I don't know what she was thinking. She stayed dead all these years. Why bring you here now? And why didn't she call me?" Dani bit down on her lip. "She didn't care to call me, so I'm ready to go."
"I think she only had my number. She knew I would tell you."
"Or she thought I wouldn't respond. That I'd turn my back, the way I did before."
Her words didn't make me want to offer comfort, because I didn't like that Dani had kept the secret from me.
"We don't know why she did anything," I said. "There's no point in arguing about it. You need to go home, and I need to stay. I'll be fine. I promise."
"I wish you could make that promise, Brynn, but I don't think Mom expected to end up where she is. I'm sure she thought she'd be fine, too."
I didn't know about that. I had a feeling that she'd run away because she was very much afraid that she was going to end up exactly where she was.
CHAPTERNINE
Daniand I didn't talk on the drive back to my mother's house. It was the first time in forever that I felt disconnected from her. Of course, we'd fought over the years. We were sisters with different personalities, but we'd always had a bond that was unbreakable, a connection that was ridiculously close.
I didn't feel close to her now. Some of that had to do with her keeping a secret from me for so long. I still didn't know how to feel about that betrayal. Maybe she had talked herself into thinking she'd just imagined seeing our mother, but we still should have discussed it.
A car horn beeped behind me, and I realized the light had turned green. Several minutes later, I pulled up in front of my mother's house. As we got out of the car, Dani saw the bloodstains on the sidewalk and froze.
"Is this where…" she asked, her voice falling away.
"I think so," I said. Footsteps drew my attention away from my sister. An older man approached us with a vase of flowers in his hand. He was of medium height, with thinning blond hair and pale skin. He wore beige slacks and a blue polo shirt that matched the blue in his eyes. When he reached us, his jaw dropped in surprise.
"Who—who are you?" he stuttered. "My God! You both look just like Laura."
"She's our mother," I replied. "I'm Brynn. This is Dani."
"She's your mother?" he echoed. "She never said she had children."
"Well, she did." I was getting tired of hearing how my mother had erased us from her life.
"How is she?" he asked. "I just went by the hospital, but they said there were no visitors allowed. I wasn't sure she'd get the flowers if I left them at the desk, so I thought I'd drop them off here, hoping someone might take them to her."
"I can do that," I said.
