“Holly, are you okay?” Kathy stuck her head in the door. She was concerned about her daughter, it wasn’t like her to hide out in her room. Holly lifted her head and looked at her mother and mouthed the word, “NO,” and put her head back down. She most certainly was not okay, but she did not wish to talk about it in front of Eve. Knowing now was not the time to push, Kathy simply said, “Get some rest, baby.” And quietly shut the door. Her daughter appeared fine this morning, whatever was troubling her now Kathy was convinced it had something to do with Lincoln. Given her and Holly’s disagreements about how to handle her situation in the past, maybe she wasn’t the person Holly felt like talking to right now, so she decided to call in reinforcements. Kathy called Maggie from the land line and asked her to come over. Maggie was currently busy, but promised to come over as soon as she could. While she waited for Maggie to come over, Kathy busied herself making an array of sandwiches a
Holly took Eve inside and put on a movie for her. Kathy was resting in front of the fire where she usually sat. Holly made the three of them some popcorn and joined her daughter on the couch. For a while, they sat in silence and watched the movie together. Holly watched Eve and was thankful that she had such a happy and healthy little girl. “I love you.” Holly said as she kissed her daughter on the head. Eve smiled back at her mother and kissed her arm and replied. “I love you, Mommy.” Holly loved to hear her daughter say that. The words always sounded so much sweeter when Eve said them. Thinking about what Maggie said, Holly decided to ask her daughter as casually as possible as to avoid upsetting her. “Do you ever wonder about your daddy?” Kathy stopped rocking in her chair, her daughters question caught her by surprise, she wanted to hear what Eve had to say. “I mean sometimes.” Eve looked sad but didn’t say anything more. “Do you want to talk to Mommy about it?” Holly wa
It surprised Holly to feel so comforted and welcomed, it didn’t feel any different then it did before she left. She knew they were good people, but she was certain what she had done would have been beyond their forgiveness, and yet here they were treating her with all the love, warmth and kindness they always had. The Smith house still felt like a home to her, it both put her mind at ease and made her extremely sad. The decision she made to keep Eve to herself had never felt more wrong then it did right now. Seeing them all together painted a very vivid picture of all the things she had stripped from Eve and her second family. Holly helped Keith, Patricia, Maggie and Lincoln carry the food in. Eve had wanted to help too, so Patricia let her carry in a few smaller items inside such as the napkins. Holly who felt right at home, chatted freely as she helped place the food around the dining table. Sasha didn’t know this girl but she hated her, she viewed her, and her daughter as a threa
“Hey, Mom, look who I brought home with us.” Holly announced as she entered her mother’s home. Maggie and Eve had manged to get the tree up, and the decorations out while she was gone. Kathy, who was getting tired quickly these days, had already retired to her rocking chair in front of the fire. “Oh, Patricia, how wonderful to see you.” Kathy made the effort to get out of her chair and embrace her old friend. She was overjoyed to have the house so full again. It had not been the same since Holly had left. This was turning out to be better than she could have ever imagined. “It’s wonderful seeing the girls together again, isn’t it?” If anyone were to understand how Kathy felt, it would be Patricia. “It really is.” Paticia was relieved to see Maggie so happy to have her friend back. She was over the moon when she returned home in the early morning hours after her trip to the Christmas market. When Lincoln had told her where Maggie was, she just had to wait up for to hear all about
Kathy found Holly asleep on the couch in the morning. She worried about her daughter, and what she would do when she was gone. Bringing her back here had been a good thing, she wasn’t sure she would find her way back to Maggie at first, but was relieved that she had. Kathy knew that when she passed, her daughter would need someone to help her through her grief. Even if she lived far away. Kathy busied herself with a coffee pot, the cancer had robbed a lot of things from her, her taste being one of them, she no longer drunk coffee for that sweet burnt caramel flavour she so often craved, but for the calming ritual. She placed a cup down on the table for her and got one down for Holly and poured her a drink too. She walked over to where her daughter rested on the couch and gently shook her by the shoulder until she woke. “Good morning.” Kathy said as she swept the hair from her daughter’s face. What a beautiful face her daughter had. She was going to miss those blonde curls and big b
Holly took her mother home and tucked her straight into her bed, she was worried about her as she wiped the thin veil of sweat from her mothers forehead. She had a temperature and it was only getting higher. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the ER?” Holly pleaded her mother one more time. “Holly, I’m fine, I just overexerted myself, I just need some sleep.” The last place Kathy wanted to be right now was back at the hospital. It was awful, loud, cold and sterile.“I know, I would just feel better if someone could take a look at you.” Holly was a nurse, she could do it herself, but her mother refused her help. Kathy didn’t want Holly to look at her like a patient, it was undignified. Seeing her like this was bad enough as it was. “Holly, I am immunocompromised because of the cancer and the failed rounds of chemo, I am in more danger there, than I am here.” Kathy said flatly. Holly knew that what Kathy said was true. The ER was full of sick people. Feeling like she was unable to
Holly was so exhausted that her eyes hurt and her body was sagging, but the doctor would surely be on his rounds soon and she wanted to ask him how her mother was so she continued to fight the need to rest. It had been a long night in the Hospital. Kathy had to receive plenty of fluids and would need to spend some time on oxygen, but was otherwise okay. If she had not choked on her vomit, she likely would have not needed to come in. How much longer she had to stay in here entirely depended on how long she needed to on oxygen for. She had called Maggie a little over an hour ago and asked her to relieve Lincoln. She appreciated his help more than she could say, but she was worried it would cause him issues at home. She was just about to call Maggie again and ask how things were at home when Maggie sent through a photo. To her surprise it was a photo of Eve and Lincoln. They were smiling at each other over a plate of pancakes. Of course, Eve talked Maggie into that one she thought.
The first thing Holly seen when she woke up was the text message from Maggie. She must have read it a thousand times and she would probably had to read it a thousand more before she grasped it. He thinks his relationship just ended? Did he break up with her? Did she break up with him? Are they going to work it out. She needed more information than that. ‘Is he okay?’ She texted Maggie back. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to pry to get the information out of her. Maggie liked to make you work for it sometimes and it was infuriating. ‘I don’t know the full story yet, he hasn’t told me what happened, he is inside with Mom and Dad. I thought it was best to keep away from all that drama while Eve is with me, but I will tell you as soon as I know, I swear.’ Maggie’s text back was quick, but frustratingly lacked any real information. Seeing how late in the afternoon it was, it was best that Holly collected Eve now anyway, she did not want to miss their visiting hours. If she did she wouldn