She nods.
“Do you remember what happened at Peggy’s Cove?”
“I fell in the water, and I drowned,” she replies.
“Yes. But do you rememberwhyyou were in the water?”
Her eyes glisten with a mixture of sadness and fear. She slowly shakes her head on the pillow.
“Were you arguing with Dad?” I ask.
She turns her face away.
I don’t want to upset her, but I need to know what happened. I need to know the truth. Leaning close, I whisper in her ear. “Mom. Did Dad push you off the rocks?”
Her eyebrows pull together with anguish, and she shakes her head. “No. He’d never do that.”
“But do you remember?”
Her gaze darts uncertainly toward the window, then back at me. “I’m not sure ... I ...” She blinks a few times. “Everything’s fuzzy. I think I might have gone to heaven.”
Her words crash into me. I lose track of what I was just asking her. I glance across the bed at Connor, who stares at me with wide eyes.
Mom’s chin begins to quiver, and she fights tears. I rub the back of her hand. “It’s okay. We don’t need to talk about this right now.”
She starts to cry. “It was very beautiful.”
My heart races wildly because I can’t bear to think of my mother in heaven. That would mean we’d truly lost her. But this is not news to me. I was told that she’d had no pulse for at least twelve minutes before she was resuscitated on the rocks. Maybe I’d been in denial about that.
Heaven ...“Did you see Nanny or Granddad?” I suddenly ask.
“No, but I felt them. They’re waiting for me.” Her brow furrows with amazement. “There was so much love there. You wouldn’t believe it. I never felt anything like it.”
The door to Mom’s room opens, and Becky walks in. She takes one look at Mom and bursts into tears as she moves around the bed. I get up from my chair to let her take my spot, and she bends to hug Mom. They both cry and cry.
“Thank goodness you’re okay,” Becky says.
They keep hugging each other and crying, and I feel nothing but love in this room—and immense gratitude for Mom’s return.
The nurse opens the door and peeks her head in. “There’s someone outside the ICU who wants to come in, but we can only have three visitors at a time.”
“Who is it?” I ask.
“Arthur Palmer. He says he’s your mother’s brother-in-law.”
I catch Becky’s gaze and shake my head.
“Ask him to wait for a bit,” Becky tells the nurse, who backs out of the room and closes the door.
Mom’s eyes fall closed, and I know she is tired and needs sleep. Becky kisses her on the forehead and turns to me. “Do you want to go out and talk for a minute?”
“Yes. Stay here, Connor,” I say. We both get up and leave the room to stand outside the door. “Dad’s been arrested,” I whisper. “Uncle Arthur said they had enough evidence to charge him with attempted murder.”
Becky places her hand over her heart. “Oh, my God.”
“Arthur’s defending him, and he’s here because he wants to know what Mom remembers. He wants her to say that Dad didn’t do it.”
“But is that true?” Becky asks.
