Lucky Charm: A Secret Baby Romance by K.C. Crowne

Author:K.C. Crowne [Crowne, K.C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-03-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

AISLING

It was Saturday morning, and I was seated in the den of Ma’s place. I wore a blank expression. I was numb, and I wasn’t alone. Across from me was the representative from the hospice care service I’d called the evening before.

Ma was going downhill, and fast.

I’d been preparing lunch last afternoon, some simple minestrone soup. Ma had been having a rough day, sleeping late and barely speaking during the moments she was awake. I’d chalked it up to her having an off day, but when I’d gone up to let her know lunch was ready, she hadn’t responded to me at all.

At first, I’d thought she was merely having a deep sleep, but when I’d gotten close to her to speak her name, to jostle her awake, she hadn’t responded. It didn’t matter how much I pushed her, how loudly I called out “Ma” she didn’t budge.

My heart had stopped. I’d looked down to her chest to see that she wasn’t breathing. At least, that’s what I’d thought at first. A closer inspection revealed that, to my intense relief, she was still alive and breathing – her breathing had just been so shallow that it was hard to make it out.

I’d wasted no time calling Dr. O’Fallon, Ma’s local MD. He’d arrived to check her, and Ma had still been out of it when he showed up. His call had been to take her to the hospital, and that’s just what we did. Ma was roused by the time we arrived, and when she realized where she was, her mood turned as sour as it had been since I’d come back to Ireland.

“I had one request for you, girl,” she’d said to me from her hospital bed. “You remember? I told it to you when were on the phone discussing you coming here. I know I’m dying, but there’s not a chance in hell I’m dying in a shite hole hospital. Take me home – now.”

As far as Ma was concerned, that was the end of the discussion. She was right, she had made me agree to those terms back when we’d talked about me coming. I’d gone along with it at the time and looking back I guess I hadn’t seriously considered the possibility that Ma might actually die. Part of me was certain I’d show up and she’d be back to her old self after a few weeks’ rest and a little homecooked food.

However, in that hospital, watching her struggle to breath, looking at her sallow, pale skin, I was finally beginning to accept that she wasn’t long for this world.

My ma was really dying. Some specialists had come by to run some tests, and I waited hours and hours for the results, seated in a waiting room awash with florescent lighting, not a soul in the world to comfort me in person. I considered calling Sabrina, but I knew she had her hands full with work and Mara and everything else. I didn’t want to burden her, especially when there was nothing for me to do but wait.

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