When The Lilacs Bloom

Chapter Twenty-Four

~CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR~

Jason comes come with me. So does Gabby. Everyone else stays at home. It's too early for them, and they're tired.

I check into the hospital, walk into my mother's room. There's the pot of lilacs, on the table beside her, right where I left it the other day.

Mother looks well. Much better than the woman I saw on the bench, looking completely helpless and worn out. She looks at me. Her gaze turns to Gabby. Back to me. And then she whispers, in a voice that once held a melody to it, "Destiny...Gabrielle..." I'm frozen in my spot, looking at her.

The mother I never knew. The mother that abandoned us. But why? I walk over to her. Gabby does the same. Jason sits on the stool in the room, watching. Just watching.

I take her hand. Press it against my cheek. "Mother." I say, tears stream down my face. Gabby takes her other hand. "Mom. You're...here." Mom forces herself to sit up in bed, and looks at us. Taking in the image of her two grown daughters. And she begins to cry.