My mother had suffered a seizure.
Yet they had spent the entire meal watching Thomas’s phone, a habit they had acquired while waiting for news about the nameless woman they refused to abandon.
Then the hospital called.
My mother had suffered a seizure.
“We didn’t think about the check,” Thomas said. “We hardly thought about the car. We just needed to get here.”
The anger inside me loosened, leaving shame behind.
“You stayed with her all this time?”
Margaret looked toward the bed. “We kept hoping someone would come looking for her.”
“I did,” I whispered. “I never stopped.”
A faint sound came from the bed.
“We kept hoping someone would come looking for her.”
My mother’s fingers moved against the blanket. Her eyes opened slowly, unfocused at first. Then they settled on my face.
I held my breath.
Her brow furrowed as if she were reaching through a fog.
“Laura?”
One word shattered everything holding me together.
I bent over her, laughing and sobbing as I wrapped my arms around her. “Yes. Mom, it’s me.”
Her hand rose weakly to my cheek.
“Take me home, Laura.”
“I knew you were somewhere,” she whispered. “I just couldn’t remember the way back.”
I took the ring from its bag and slid it carefully onto her finger. It hung loosely, but she curled her hand around mine, holding it in place.
“Take me home, Laura,” she said.
“I will.”
Behind me, Margaret began to cry. Thomas put an arm around her, and I finally understood: they hadn’t taken my mother from me. They had protected her until I could find her.
