“She wants to talk toyou. She knows you got Lyla’s heart and ...” She’s holding the phone halfway out to me. “But you don’t have to. If you don’t want to, you don’t need to—”
I stand up and walk over to Lou, take the phone out of her hand, and raise it to my ear. “Mrs. Barrett?”
There’s an exhale on the other side of the line. “Is this ... is this Olivia?”
“Yes.”
“You ... you are the one who got my Lyla’s heart?”
“Yes.”
There’s a sound on the other line that I’m certain is the soft noise of her crying. I stand in our kitchen, shaking and uncertain. I’m speaking to the mother of the girl who gave me her heart. After all these years, after all the guilt and pain, I’m finally speaking to her.
But she’s notonlythe mother of the girl who gave me her heart. She’s also Hunter’s mother—she’s the one who has pushed him away, hurt him even more deeply than the loss of his sister by blaming and rejecting him. As I listen to her cry, I’m assailed by a barrage of emotions—and a sudden realization.
The same wayIpushed him away.
Oh gosh ...
I think I might throw up.
Lou stands a few feet away, her arms wrapped around her waist, watching me closely.
“I ... I don’t know what to say,” Mrs. Barrett finally gets out. “I guess I wanted to hear your voice.”
Regardless of anything else, I do need to tell her what I’ve been waiting seven years to say. “I want you to know how deeply grateful I am and will always be for the gift you gave me.”
“Lyla was ... She was everything. Losing her was the worst thing that happened to us.” She is hard to understandthrough her tears. “But if losing her saved another mother from having to endure this pain ... it helps ... a tiny bit.”
My stomach churns. I can imagine her pain all too well. But I’ve also seenHunter’spain—I’ve witnessed the deep, invisible wounds hisparentsinflicted on him. A hot coal of anger ignites deep within me, but I will it to go away. That isn’t my fight to fight.
“Why now?” I ask. “You didn’t want any contact after the transplant. What’s changed? And how did you find me?”
“Hunter told us about you—when he called to ask for the letter you wrote us.”
“You talked to Hunter?” I ask, my heart in my throat.
“Imagine the odds. The transplant recipient ending up being my niece’s roommate.”
My mind is spinning. He talked to his parents. “You talked to Hunter,” I repeat. “Did you ... did you make it better with him? Did you fix it?”
“Excuse me?” Her voice goes cold.
“With Hunter—did you make it better with him?”
“I don’t know how that isanyof your business.”
Lou’s eyes are wide. My heart races. But Ican’tstop. I don’t know why, but the words are tumbling out of my mouth, and I can’t hold them back. “It’s my business because I care about him. Because he’s hurting, and he blames himself. He can’t forgive himself, and he never will—not unless you do.”
“He killed our daughter. Hekilledher! You think that’s something that can beforgiven?”
“She was not your only child! He is yourson. He loves you both,andhe loved Lyla. He made a terrible, horrible mistake, and he will suffer for the rest of his life because of it. How does holding it against him—rejecting him and choosing to bechildlessmake any of this any better?”
Lou’s mouth drops open, but she nods at me, reaching out to take my hand, clutching it tightly in support.
“Howdareyou! I can’t believe my sweet daughter’s heart is beating in such a foul person’s body!”
Her accusation can’t penetrate the fury that has taken hold of me. “Yourdaughterishorrifiedthat you have treated Hunter like this. Yes,Ihave her heart, and maybe that’s why I came to love Hunter so quickly, because her heart remembers her brother. I can’t explain it, but Idoknow she loves him, andshehas forgiven him. I don’t know how I know it, but I do. I also know that if you can’t find a way to help him, to love him, she will never forgiveyou.” I don’t wait for her to respond. I hit End on the call and then stare at the blank screen, my chest rising and falling. I don’t know where the words came from. I don’t know why I said them. But Ifeelthe truth of them, all the way deep into my heart—into myandLyla’s heart.
