The Empaths (Book one in The Empaths series)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Lucy stood up so quickly that her head spun. The very sight of her mother standing in front of her, in the flesh made her heart soar.

"Mom!" She wrapped her arms around Elizabeth's neck and squeezed her tight. "You're really here?"

"Yes, sweetheart. I'm really here," Elizabeth replied with a laugh. "But only for a short while." She pulled back and put her hands on either side of Lucy's face. "How are you feeling?"

"Good. Ready," Lucy replied, matter-of-factly.

"That's my girl." Elizabeth kissed Lucy's forehead and turned to Tristan, who stood up and brushed himself off.

"You must be Tristan?" she said as she reached up to touch the side of his face.

He nodded. "Yes, Ma'am."

Elizabeth smiled. "Thank you, for all that you've been doing for Lucy. You've done a wonderful job helping her."

Tristan's cheeks flushed red. "It was my pleasure," he replied, running a hand through his hair. He was nervous, Lucy could tell. She reached over and took his hand, giving it a squeeze.

Elizabeth stepped back to look at them, standing together, and a loving smile spread across her face. "I'm so glad you have each other," she said.

She looked out into the darkness then and nodded, her gaze returning to Lucy and Tristan. "We don't have a lot of time, I'm afraid." She once again reached over, this time putting her hand on Tristan's arm. "Would you mind asking the others to join us, here in the garden?"

"Of course," he replied, turning to kiss Lucy on the head. Then he ran off toward the house.

Lucy and Elizabeth watched him go.

"What a beautiful soul," Elizabeth whispered. She looked back at Lucy, who was still staring after Tristan. "You love him, don't you?"

Lucy smiled before looking into her mother's eyes. "I... I don't know," she answered.

"I think you do," Elizabeth said with the hint of a grin. "And I'm so happy for you," she finished with a whisper.

Lucy wondered if her heart had grown in size, because it suddenly felt like it no longer fit into her chest. She took a deep breath to try and ease the overwhelming sense of realisation, but her heart on thudded harder against her ribs.

"It's alright, sweetheart," Elizabeth said as she took Lucy's hand in hers. "Love does funny things to us. You can breathe, just close your eyes and relax."

Lucy did as her mother asked and slowly, her heart returned to its normal state.

"My beautiful girl," Elizabeth said as she reached out to pull Lucy in for a hug. "You're so brave. I hope you know how proud I am of you." She sounded on the verge of tears.

"I love you, mom," Lucy replied as she pushed her face into her mother's hair.

"I love you, too," Elizabeth whispered.

At that moment, the back door of the house opened and Jared burst out onto the porch. He leaped down the steps and scooped Lucy and Elizabeth up into a bone crushing hug.

"Mom!" he cried as he pulled away to look into her face. "Mom," he said again with tears in his eyes. He was frantically touching her face and her arms and her hands.

Elizabeth laughed, though her own eyes were filled with tears, too. "Yes, it's me," she said as he once again crushed her against him.

The others had all slowly began milling around them on the lawn, some laughing with excitement, others crying tears of joy.