“How are you holding up?”
“Weird morning.” My voice, despite my efforts, has no ease to it.
“Mmm, I can believe that,” she says. “Well, hon, I’m here to be your mama’s friend right now. Is it okay if I call her your mama?”
I shrug, but before I speak, she continues, “Connie and I have kept in touch over the years… when she’s doing well. I’ve helped her with rehabilitation programs, a sponsorship group, things like that. Mostly, I try to be a listening ear. Before last night, when she asked me here, I hadn’t heard from her in two years. The hospital staff had been less than friendly. She hadn’t even seen the baby before I got here this morning. Connie—”
She stops speaking, exhales, and rubs her eye with a closed fist. “Connie had gone into the ER, complaining of stomach pains. She was drunk. They discovered she was in active labour, and they performed a c-section. She hadn’t known she was pregnant.” Odette’s face turns solemn. “I’m a children’s support worker, but the hat I’m wearing through this door is Connie’s friend first. I want to be clear, sweet girl, that I know she has made many mistakes. I know they have impacted you greatly. But she is having a hard time, and we need to be as compassionate as we can be right now.”
Guilt wraps tightly around my heart as it beats a little faster. “Understood.” I swallow thickly.
“Okay, hon. You ready to go in?”
I hesitate to ask, but I have to know before my feet will move me, “Is… is the baby in there?”
“No. She’s in the neonatal intensive care unit. She’s safe.”
I have a sister.“Can I see her?” I ask with trepidation. “After?”
Odette’s brow furrows, and she nods a few times. “Sure, hon.”
I press my mouth into a hard line and adjust myself to stand straighter, inhaling deeply. “Okay. I’m ready.”
CHAPTER THREE
“Miss Connie? I have someone here for you.” Odette pulls back the curtain wrapped around the hospital bed in the otherwise empty room. “Chloe has come to visit.”
I blink at the person lying in front of me. This woman shares almost no recognisable features with the mother I remember. Connie’s face is hollow, with under eyes that are almost black. Her lips are cracked and dry, and her hair is no longer dark-brown, like mine, but bleach blond and fraying.
If I saw her on the street, I wouldn’t have thought twice as I passed her by. Maybe I have. A tear falls onto my cheek, but I wipe it away before Odette or Connie sees it.
“Hello…” I sincerely cannot think of any other word to say.
Connie looks me up and down, face neutral, shrinking me to two feet tall. Even now, as she looks like this, I still crave her approval.
“You really came.” Her voice is more familiar than her face, but gruff. She wipes her nose with the back of her forearm.
“I did.” All my energy is concentrated on keeping my tone and expression neutral.
“Well… good.” Connie already sounds annoyed.Off to a great start.
I look towards Odette, and she takes my cue.
“Connie, Chloe has agreed to visit you out of the kindness of her heart. We talked about this, my dear. I know you’re grateful for her to have come.”
The woman in the bed nods, looking between Odette and me rapidly. Her movements gain momentum as the emotional energy in the room shifts to an unpredictable intensity.
“So this is the part, huh? The part where you two team up on me? Mock me? Dismiss me? Well,dear—” she spits this word back at Odette “—don’t forget that I madeher.”She gestures to me with a limp wrist. “I know how to talk to her.”
“You asked for me?” I step in front of Odette, shielding her as best as I can, though my height does little to hide her broad shoulders and towering figure.
“Yeah.” She leans back, calming her body down physically, but her eyes remain wild. “I… I didn’t know.” She looks at her lap, wringing her hands. “I didn’t know I was pregnant. I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have done it again.”
“But you have.” The harsh reply escapes me before I think to take Odette’s words of caution. Connie’s face falls, looking like a scorned child. How can someone so physically worn look so young?
“Yeah, I have.” The room stills, the tension lowering. Odette glides over to the chairs sitting next to the bed and gestures for me to sit with her, and I do.
“Why don’t you tell Chloe why you’ve asked her here?” Connie doesn’t look up but shakes her head. “Connie.” Odette reaches for her hand. “She came. It’s your turn now.”
