The Right One

Thirty five

Hope would rather have been anywhere else than where she was right then. Initially when her mum had decided that she was going to visit Philip's mother at the nursing home she was admitted in, Hope had been very reluctant about it. While she understood her mum's need to get closure and at least try to make things right even though it couldn't change much, Hope would rather just leave things as they were. She'd tried to convince her mum to stay back. Afterall, Philip had in his own way gotten revenge for his mother already.

Hope was aware that her train of thoughts were a bit selfish and mean, but she was just concerned for her mum. Who would gladly welcome a woman she'd spent her whole life thinking had ruined her life?

Either ways, she hadn't been able to stay back when her mum had insisted on going. If her mum was insistent on facing her demons, Hope would be right there with her. Sophie had obviously thought the same as well because at the end, the three of them went together to the nursing home. What any of them hadn't put into consideration however, although looking at it at hindsight, they probably should have, was that the woman they were visiting would have no idea who they were. She was a woman who barely even recognized herself anymore afterall.

For some reason, it made Hope feel even more horrible. Watching her mum crouched before the other woman, tears streaming down her face as she apologized over and over again while the woman just stared down at her mum with a distant and confused gaze, Hope wasn't quite sure what would be right for her to feel at that moment. Relief? That'd be a selfish thought. Guilt? That didn't seem right either.

She then watched the woman gently pat her mum in a consoling gesture, causing her mum to sob harder. The whole sight had Hope feeling sort of bittersweet.

"Are you okay, Hope? You look tired the more I see you these days."

Hope's lips curved, the smile directed at her sister. It was exactly like Sophie to worry about her even when she had enough issues on her plate. "I'm fine, Sophie."

"Hope -- " Sophie started, looking unsure.

"Really, I am. You should be more concerned about them right now," Hope said, gesturing towards her mum and the other woman.

"She's happy."

Hope turned her attention to the woman who had spoken. She hadn't as much as exchanged a sentence with Bridget ever since they met. Hope wasn't sure who the woman was referring to as she intensely watched the scene in front of her with an unreadable look.

"What do you mean?" Sophie asked.

"My mum. The doctors say that her condition has deteriorated so much so that she doesn't remember anything about herself on most days. She doesn't even recognize me these days."

"I'm sorry about that."

"No," she replied, shaking her head slightly. "I can't help but think it's probably for the best in the long term. She's suffered enough, and she deserves her peace now. You might think it's ridiculous that I'm thinking this way considering the fact that she's at risk of losing the ability of performing even normal day to day functions, but at least here, with no recollection of her horrid past, she has a chance to be happy."

Hope's attention briefly turned back to said woman who was smiling gently down at her mum before turning her attention back to Bridget. Hope wasn't exactly sure what to make of her or what she'd said. Hope found it a bit difficult to think of an illness as some sort of blessing. Regardless of the past, she was certain the woman would have loved to at least remember her children.

She remembered Philip saying Bridget never fully recovered from her accident. Was that why she reasoned the way she did? Hope wasn't sure and she couldn't exactly ask. She seemed normal for the most part, except for a few times like in the hospital when she'd seemed a bit . . . strange.