Her mom opened her eyes sleepily, then saw her daughter and bolted to her feet, throwing her arms around her neck. “Oh, Gizella, I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered.
“I came as soon as I realized he was struggling,” she said. “I thought it was a simple wound.”
“Yes, but then there were some problems with his heart. Apparently it’s all been too much for his heart, and, honey, I don’t think he’ll make it,” she said, sobbing quietly. Gizella pulled up the second chair Baylor slid over and sat down, easing her mom back into her own chair. “I’m so sorry, Mom.”
Her mother just sobbed gently. “I should never have come on this trip,” she said. “I don’t know. It was just such a foolish thought.”
“What? To celebrate the end of chemo?” She didn’t understand what her mom was so upset about.
Looking up at her, dry-eyed, her mother gave her a small smile and said, “Well, we’ll talk about that later.”
Gizella tilted her head, looked at her, and said, “What do you mean? What aren’t you telling me, Mom?”
Baylor placed a steady hand on her mother’s shoulder.
Her mother looked at him and said, “You can’t possibly know.”
“Of course I know,” he said. “There’s only one reason why you wouldn’t let the EMTs in the ambulance or the emergency room crews check you over.”
She just frowned at him. “That’s not fair,” she said.
“Maybe, but you’re not doing your daughter any service by holding it back.”
“This isn’t the time,” her mom said stiffly.
“When then? So she can deal with two bodies later?”
At that, her frown deepened, and she looked unsteadily over at her daughter.
Gizella stared at her mom in shock. “I think somebody better tell me what’s going on right now,” Gizella said in an ominous tone. “I’ve had enough shocks for quite a while.”
“It’s not so much a shock,” her mother said. “It’s more like an inevitability.”
Not understanding, she looked at her, frowning. “Please, Mom, nothing cryptic. What’s going on?” She took a deep breath and then gave her mom a hug. “I’ll still love you regardless, so please just tell me the truth.”
With a wince, her mother said, “It’s just that you won’t love me for all that much longer.”
Gizella sat back and stared at her in shock. “Wait. I don’t understand.” She looked up at Baylor.
He squatted beside her and said, “This wasn’t a holiday trip celebrating the end of chemo. It was so you’d all have one last holiday together because there’s nothing else they can do for her. Your mom can’t undergo any more treatments, and the cancer is not going away.”
He looked to her mother for confirmation, and she nodded slowly, her gaze on Gizella, who felt the news slam against her heart.
“I wondered,” she said. “There’s been an almost forced happiness to your voice, as if it were fake.”
“Well, not so much fake,” she said, “but it’s been hard news to deal with.”
“Of course it is, but why didn’t you tell me the truth?” she asked, as she stared at her mom uncomprehendingly. “Surely it wasn’t such a hard thing to do.”
“I didn’t want to acknowledge it,” she said quietly. “By voicing that truth to you and whoever else, it just made it all the more real, and I wasn’t ready for that.”
Gizella nodded slowly, feeling the tears choke the back of her throat, but she didn’t dare let her mother know how upset she was. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. She looked over at her father. “Did you tell him?”
She nodded. “I did, but it was mostly in an argument though.”
“Ouch,” she said.
“Right. Hardly the best way to do it, I know. But I was mad and upset that he wanted to get back together again, and I just wasn’t ready for it.”
“But you’ve been together for these last few years. I don’t understand.”
“Well, yes and no,” she said.
At that Gizella sat back and stared. “Oh, my God. Has he been playing around that whole time he was supposedly with you?”
“Let’s just say that we didn’t make any commitment these last couple years, and then recently he really wanted to, and I wouldn’t.”
“Well, it would have been interesting to have seen his reaction to that.”
“It wasn’t very much fun,” she said, with a laugh. “He didn’t think much of having the tables turned.”
“And then when you found out?”
“When I found out, I realized I was on a short time frame and really wanted to spend it with the people I loved, and, despite everything, I still love him.”
“So then you said yes?”
“Yes, and it was more or less a chance for us to get to know each other again.”
“But you told him that you were dying?”
“Yes, but he honored my wish to not tell you.”
“That’s the part I don’t understand,” she said. “So here I am, just beginning to feel relief after the chemo and realizing that it’s all good, and we’ll have years together with you feeling healthy again, only to find out that you’re dying a little more every day, and, instead of allowing me an opportunity to make the most of that,” she said, “you’ve kept me blissfully ignorant.”
“Yes,” she said, “and that was my choice, not your father’s.”
Gizella shook her head as she stared out the window. “I’m not even sure I understand how it matters one way or the other,” she said, “but it’s definitely a shock right now, particularly given Dad’s situation.”
“I did not expect to outlive him,” her mother said bluntly, “and I would do anything to make sure I went first.”
“Wow,” she said. “This is just—” Her words stopped, and she didn’t even know what to say. She looked up at Baylor. “But you knew?”
“No, I didn’t, but I suspected, as I mentioned to
