My voice broke.
“I never stopped.”
Then I heard movement.
Mom’s fingers twitched against the blanket.
Her eyelids slowly opened.
At first, her gaze wandered around the room without recognition.
Then her eyes found me.
I stopped breathing.
Her forehead creased.
She stared as though trying to pull my face from somewhere deep inside a fog.
Then she whispered one word.
“Laura?”
Everything inside me broke.
I bent over the bed, laughing and crying at the same time.
“Yes.”
I wrapped my arms around her carefully.
“Yes, Mom. It’s me.”
Her weak hand lifted toward my face.
She touched my cheek.
“I knew you were somewhere,” she whispered. “I just couldn’t remember how to get back.”
I pulled the ring from the plastic bag.
Then I carefully slid it onto her finger.
It was loose now.
Too loose.
So she curled her fingers around my hand to
keep it from slipping off.
Then she looked at me.
“Take me home, Laura.”
I squeezed her hand.
