Older. Thinner.
But it was her.
“Mom?” she whispered.
I dropped to my knees and pulled her into my arms.
She was warm.
Real.
Alive.
“My baby,” I cried. “I thought you were gone.”
She held onto me like she was afraid I’d vanish.
“Why didn’t you come for me?” she asked.
I froze.
“What?”
“I waited,” she said, her voice breaking. “I thought you didn’t want me anymore.”
Something inside me shattered.
Before I could speak, the door opened behind us.
Neil.
Grace turned slowly.
“Dad?”
He looked at her like he’d seen a ghost.
And that’s when I knew.
He wasn’t surprised she existed.
He was terrified I found her.
I took her hand and walked out.
He followed us, trying to stop me.
“You can’t just take her.”
“Watch me.”
I didn’t go home. I didn’t trust him.
I took Grace to my sister’s house.
And then I went back.
I needed the truth.
At the hospital, everything started to unravel.
Grace had never been declared brain-dead.
There were signs. Small, but real.
Recovery was possible.
