Chapter 2

David looked up, eyes raw with frustration and fatigue. "She kept saying she had to pick me up from school. I yelled at her. Told her to leave me alone. Told her to just... go die."

Emily stared, then slapped his arm. "David, have you lost your mind? How could you say that to her? And you let her go out alone? What if something happens?"

He stood up, his eyes bloodshot. "She won't get lost. She'll just go to school. Once Sophie's settled, I'll go get her."

"You—" Emily choked on her words, too angry to speak.

Just then, a nurse approached, a printed statement in hand. "Mr. Grant, we need to settle Sophie's current charges and the deposit for the next treatment phase. The total is ten thousand six hundred dollars."

Ten thousand six hundred dollars.

It was the final straw.

Emily's anger dissolved into a wave of despair. She looked at David, her voice trembling. "It's always your mother! And now you're out of work again.

"How are we supposed to cover Sophie's treatments? My salary barely covers the mortgage!"

Her voice rose, frayed with panic, drawing glances from people passing in the hall.

She continued, "When my own father had his stroke, I was too scared to take time off to see him because you said we couldn't leave your mom alone.

"The doctors have been saying for months that Sophie needs specialized care, but you kept putting it off, saying we had to save for your mom's medical fund first. So what's the plan now, David?

"Just look at us! Look at what this has done to our family."

I hovered nearby, a silent spectator. Each of Emily's sobs was a needle to my heart.

Sophie had always been fragile, in and out of hospitals since she was a toddler. Emily had begged for a proper care plan, but the kind she needed cost a fortune. A fortune David had poured into me.

David just stood there, silent and statue-still.

After a long minute, he finally lifted his head, a grim resolution hardening his features.

"Emily," he said, his voice flat. "Use the money from Mom's medical fund."

Emily went very still. "But... that's for her stem cell trial. You've been saving for years..."

David cut her off. "Sophie comes first now."

A cold wave of loneliness washed through me. He was letting me go.

But it was quickly followed by a deeper, calmer relief. Yes, David. You should have done this long ago.

Yet Emily's reaction surprised me. Instead of relief, she hesitated.

She studied David's defeated posture, her jaw tightening.

"No," she said firmly, though her voice was gentle. "We'll only use half for now. I'll talk to my mother, see if she can help with the rest. We should keep something in reserve for your mom... just in case."

David's head snapped up, his eyes instantly glistening.

He looked at Emily, his lips parting, but the words of thanks seemed to lodge in his throat.

I looked at this daughter-in-law who had always seemed so sharp with me, who had argued with David endlessly because of me.

Her words could be cutting, but her heart was pure softness.

And I was the useless old weight dragging them down. Shame engulfed me, cold and complete.

Just then, two orderlies wheeled an empty gurney past, their voices low.

"You hear about the old lady they pulled out of a storm drain over in Southside? Brought her in a couple of hours ago."

"Drowned in there. No ID, nothing. What a way to go."

Southside... that was near our neighborhood.

David's entire body stiffened. He spun around, his face turning sheet-white.

His lips moved soundlessly, as if he were about to run after them and demand answers.

But Sophie tugged weakly on his sleeve. "Daddy, I feel yucky. I don't wanna be in the hospital anymore. Can we go outside, please?"

David froze.

His gaze darted toward the ER doors, then back to the retreating orderlies. He swallowed hard, forcing the panic from his eyes.

"Okay, sweetheart," he said, his voice strained. "Let's go to the park."

The afternoon sun was gentle. Sophie, with more color in her cheeks than she'd had in weeks, chased a butterfly across the grass.

Emily followed close behind, a genuine smile touching her lips for the first time in months.

David sat quietly on a park bench, watching them. He looked like a man from whom a great burden had been lifted, if only for a moment.

I floated nearby, watching the tension in his shoulders ease ever so slightly.

My heart ached with a bittersweet pang, but the relief was stronger.

This was how it should have been. Without me, they could have been this happy little family all along.

David had given up everything. His career, his friends, his own life, to orbit around mine.

But now, at last, he could start living his own. He could be the husband and father he was meant to be.