Page 208 of The Sweetest Obsession

But when it hits me—

I’m barely aware of dropping the lasagna container on the desk like a brick.

I turn so fast I almost fall over.

My lungs are about to burst as I sprint down the hall.

Hope floods me, a fragile thing that could break again so easily, but please, oh please—

I nearly slam into the door of Mom’s room face-first as I go sliding in.

For a frozen second, I’m staring in disbelief.

I stand there with my chest heaving and my eyes filling up with the most wonderful tears.

There she is.

My mother, sitting up in bed, her cheeks flushed with life, her eyes open.

Smiling.

She’s never looked happier as her fingers tangle with Ros’. My sister buries her face in our mom’s shoulder and sobs.

The choked sounds rise over everything inside me right now.

“Mom,” I whisper, the only sound I can make.

Then it’s my turn.

I start bawling like a baby as my mother looks up, meets my eyes, and beams her too-bright smile right at me.

Her free arm stretches toward me.

I practically throw myself into the tangle of my family until we’re just a mess of happy hugs, grateful tears, sniffles, and incoherent words.

Holy hell, it’s not a dream!

She’s still weak and frail and recovering, sure, but she’s alive.

She’s conscious.

She’s here.

And so is Ros.

I never let either of them go.

Thank God I didn’t.

“I was so scared,” I rasp, burying my face in Mom’s shoulder. “I was soscaredfor you, Mama.”

“I know you were, baby,” she says, kissing my hair. “I know you both were. But I can’t go anywhere just yet. I know when my girls need me and I had to stay to take care of you.”

That’s enough to trigger a new cascade of tears.

We’re like that for a while, just the three of us and enough sweet relief bursting out of us to make a statue cry.

By the time the emotional bubble breaks, I’m worn out. Ros looks just as tired as she sits up, wiping at her eyes with a frayed laugh.

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