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Chapter One

Rory

Three Years Earlier

“AURORA? HONEY, IS THAT YOU?”

I paused outside ht internally hether or not to go in My mom had been bedridden for the last three weeks When I saw her the day before, she had looked evensicker by the day—by the damn hour—and it hurt to see her that way

She had only been diagnosed with gastric ly they could do It had been left too long, and it had already spread If she was lucky, she would have six o But that was before Sabrina Michaels hadn’t been able to get out of bed It was before she had started voiven up

Now, hospice came in once a day, to make sure she was comfortable, and to make sure the new live-in nursehappened

Because it could happen any day now There was no way to deter my heart

Slowly, I opened the door to the bedroom that had been my mother’s sanctuary for years, her own little slice of heaven that only a few people in the universe were allowed to share with her I was one of the lucky few, but that privilege didn’t extend to my father They had kept separate rooer

My gaze went straight to the hospital bed that was only one of many new additions to the décor of the roo cart beside the bed, along with an IV stand, pushing fluids and blood into Mo just wasn’t possible these days

Tiave me a weak smile as she lifted a thin hand