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Mom’s mouth dropped and she reached across the table to put her hand over mine "Oh no No, sweet pea I’ot up and went over to the desk where she kept her mail and business papers and pulled out a manila file folder from its stand She placed it on the table next to ot this in thebecause I wasn’t sure what to ood to be true

I opened the folder and quickly read the letter, which was printed on generic letterhead It was from a charity institution that helped out adult cancer patients who had fallen on hard tiood to be true--like a "Make a Wish" foundation for adults Generously, the institution--called "The Golden Shield Group"--had offered to foot half the balance of e and fund the other half as an interest-free loan to be paid back over the next twenty years

I couldn’t believeit over to read the papers beneath it "This is--"

"Incredible, I know I didn’t believe it either But I checked them out online and went to Pohlman’s Law Office here in town and had hiitimate"

"Damn, Mom This is better than the freakin’ lottery"

She sets better, though One of the entrepreneurs behind the group, finding out about my setup, offered to front me some money as a silent partner We’ve co--"

I took the papers fro to pay for the renovation?"

"It’s alet the website redesigned and updated He’s co?"

I sat back,at how luminous and animated my mother was She hadn’t been like this for years, since before the cancer There was color in her cheeks and she had put on soun che Her s aweso to ignore that ache at the back of all conscious thought Trying to erase the i pierced ht of it--which was, it seemed, all the time

Mom, keen as ever, picked up on it immediately She collected the papers froain "Now let’s talk about what’s going on with you"

I shookto talk about"

She shother botto "You were dating so inand then I’d excuseIt’s over" All the truth Just not the whole truth But I couldn’t find it inthe way That I’d lost soht at the center of ht take a while to learn how to fill that up

"What happened?" she asked in a quiet voice as if she htness by speaking any louder

I shrugged "I had to study and my jobs He had to work There was no time"

"Do you want to talk about hi my forehead with my hand "No Not really"

She sat silent for several o She surprisedforto take it to the sink

"Mom--" I stopped her when she would have walked away She halted, looking at an shakily "I think I’m ready to find out more about hi the plates down I studied her for a moment She was a lovely wo of her Greek ancestors and had been quite the stunning wo as a teen In her early forties, she was still striking, and before the cancer, she’d looked at least a decade younger than her actual age, with hardly a lineordeal had etched lines at her mouth and a few into her forehead