When The Lilacs Bloom

Chapter Twenty-Five

~CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE~

We comfort her. Tell her we're there to listen to her. And she tells us. Everything.

"Destiny, I never left because you were born. It had nothing to do with you. Neither with you, Gabby." Her voice is soft, full of regret. "And I loved your father, I really did. Mason was my heart, my soul. My everything. You see, right after Destiny was born, I found out I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was afraid. Really afraid of what your father might think, what it might mean for us. So one day, I left. To hide. Hoping that the pain would go away, so that I could return to my family again. So that we could live in peace. I had no insurance, in Luxembourg. I couldn't afford seeing a doctor. And I couldn't bear going back home after so long, either. So I stayed. Earned a bit of money. Not enough to keep me healthy, though. I suffered, every day. I slept on the benches of Luxembourg City, hoping someone would see me, someone would help me. And...and you did." She pauses, looking at us.

And then we tell her. About the fire. About Dad. The journal. The art studio. The paintings. We tell her everything. She listens. And we cry together, as one family. We cry over our loss, over our gain, over the pain, over the happiness. We cry like we've never cried before.