FAMILY IS FOREVER.
HONOR THY FATHER AND MOTHER.
No one wrote:
WE HEARD YOUR PARENTS ABANDONED YOU.
ARE YOU OKAY?
Mom had gotten there first.
She told them Dad had nearly died.
She told them his only wish was to hold his granddaughter.
And she told them I refused because I was “still angry about something that happened when I was nineteen.”
Something.
As if I had lost a prom dress.
Then she came to my hospital.
I was carrying Ren through the main corridor after briefly bringing her to meet several coworkers when I heard Mom’s voice.
“Colleen.”
Every face turned.
My mother walked toward me in a pale pink cardigan, carrying another casserole.
Of course.
I had spent nine years in that hospital becoming the calm person.
The nurse people requested by name.
The woman who could stand beside terrified parents at three in the morning and explain ventilators without worsening their fear.
Now my mother was turning my workplace into a stage.
“There’s my beautiful granddaughter.”
She reached for Ren.
I stepped back again.
Mom stopped.
A couple of nurses looked away awkwardly.
“I only want to hold her.”
“No.”
Her face immediately crumpled.
Perfectly.
