Chapter 4

A few days later, Kerry came with me to the hospital for my follow-up.

We hadn't even seen the doctor yet when he glanced at a message on his phone, checked the time, and got ready to go.

"Cora, something's come up at the company, a meeting I have to sit in on. Can you see the doctor on your own? I'll have the driver take you home after."

I nodded. I didn't ask what meeting was so urgent, and I didn't ask when he'd be back.

After the exam, the doctor said my condition had gotten worse, that I had to stay away from people and situations that would upset me.

But I thought of Kerry rushing off, and somehow I still wanted to go and see.

I went to the old house. The garden was laid out in plain view.

There was a cake and flowers on the table, dishes of every kind spread across it. Katherine sat in the very middle, Kerry on one side and my mother on the other, exactly like a real family of three.

"Aunt, Kerry, I'm so happy you both came to take me home from the hospital today." Katherine's voice carried a joy she couldn't hide.

Just then Kerry pulled out a diamond ring and slid it onto her finger. Katherine's eyes lit up.

"All these years, because of Cora, I've owed you too much. But I promise you're the only one in my heart. One day I'll make sure you can stand at my side out in the open." Kerry's voice was firm.

My mother laughed, delighted, and said, "Why are you still calling me Aunt? I've told you, I've thought of you as my daughter for ages. Go on, call me Mom."

Katherine smiled sweetly and said shyly, "Mom."

I stood in the corner watching all of it, my head throbbing in wave after wave of pain.

My husband, my mother, all of it hers now.

I don't know how I made it out of the neighborhood. My soul felt like it had left my body. It was as if I could see myself walking down the road, but I couldn't control my own body.

All I remember at the end is a big truck barreling toward me, and then I couldn't see anything anymore.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself standing in the bedroom doorway, and on the bed were Katherine and Kerry, their clothes half off.