Conduit by K.F. Bradshaw

Author:K.F. Bradshaw [Bradshaw, K.F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wishbox Press
Published: 2018-10-09T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Explanation

“A-Andrea…you’re really here?” Isabel’s fair skin had gone almost as white as her daughter’s. Cassie could see her hands shaking from across the barn and worried that she might faint at the mere sight of seeing Andrea again.

She moved to take Andrea’s hand—to give her any kind of support, even if it was just physical contact—but Andrea inhaled deeply and took a few steps toward Isabel. “Yes. I’m—I’m back, Mother.”

Isabel remained frozen. “You’re back,” she repeated. Cassie was certain the poor woman would fall over. “I…”

Upon hearing her mother’s choked words, she rushed to close the distance between them, letting out a choked cry as she collapsed into Isabel’s waiting arms.

Isabel’s sobs reverberated throughout the barn as she clutched her daughter, one hand on Andrea’s back and the other stroking the back of her hair as she repeated the words like a mantra.

Cassie could only look on at the two of them with mixed emotions. She was ecstatic that she had played a part in reuniting Andrea with her mother after so many years of guilt and regret. But the bitter reality that she would never see her own mother again gave rise to the grief that she had fought to keep buried for so long. She blinked back a few stubborn tears and sniffed. She refused to ruin Andrea’s moment with her own problems.

Andrea finally pulled away from her mother’s grasp, though she still held Isabel’s arms. “I’m all right, Mother,” she said, her face streaked with tears. “Really, I am.”

Isabel’s tone went from bewilderment to outrage. “‘All right’? You most certainly are not.” She reached out and grazed the scar on Andrea’s cheek. “Where have you been? Why didn’t you come home? And what is this?”

Andrea shook her head and took her mother’s hand. “I’m fine. It’s nothing, Mother. I’m here and that’s what matters, right?”

“Don’t ‘nothing’ me, Andrea. We’ve been out of our minds worrying about whether you were alive or dead.” Isabel’s voice escalated in both pitch and volume. “Your father looked up and down the hills for you for months. No one would take him to the Black Forest.”

Andrea’s eyes widened. “Father went to look for me?”

“I wasn’t about to let him go off to the most dangerous place in Damea so that I could lose both my husband and my daughter.” She released Andrea and wiped her eyes. “We waited for you, Andrea. We…we hoped you would come back. Jheran even went back to Azgadar. He made inquiries, asked around about you just in case you had ended up there and they said that—that you were wanted by the Legion!” She put her hands on her hips. “Really, Andrea? The Legion? What did you do?”

Andrea sighed. “It’s not what you think, Mother. I—”

Isabel would not let her finish. “Don’t dismiss this, Andrea. We were worried sick for years and the only thing we had from you was a letter with no more than a few sentences in it.” Cassie cringed at the sudden shift to anger, suddenly wishing she was anywhere but there.

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