WHITNEY’S POV
Brad held me until I calmed down. He told me everything was going to be okay but I couldn’t believe him. My mother was dead and we hadn’t even had a week together. I found my daughter and now have lost my mother. I couldn’t believe this was happening!
“Whit, I am so sorry about this okay. I wish I could turn back the hands of time and change this.” Brad whispers to me.
I wipe away my tears as I pull away from him. I get up off the floor and feel so weak that I stumble and throw my hands on the wall to balance myself. Brad jumps up and grabs my waist.
“Whoa, Whit! Maybe you should go lie down.”
I feel the urge to break down and cry once again. “Brad, what am I going to do? I don’t even know if she owns this place or if I can stay here. I broke up with my fiancée so if I have to move I would have to use all my savings to find a place.”
“Don’t worry about that. We’ve got other things to take care of.” he tells me.
“We?”
“Yes, we. I loved your mother. She helped me so much over the years and I’m not going to let you take care of this alone.”
I give him a smile and ask him to help me to the guest room. He does so and I get into the bed. I lie down and I am surprised when Brad gets into the bed next to me.
“You don’t have to stay now. I’m okay.” I tell him while rolling over to face him.
“Just shut up okay. I’m staying so just hush.”
I watch him lie on his back and place his hands behind his head. I’m glad that he is offering to stay but I feel bad that it takes my mother dying for him to be nice to me.
“I really don’t know what to do next with my mother. Like for the funeral and all.” I tell Brad.
“Well, I’m pretty sure she had life insurance and a will so you’ll get assistance on organizing and paying for the funeral.”
I nod. “Good.”
I roll over and lie down and flashbacks of different moments in my life with my mother up until I was eighteen appear from my memory bank. I feel tears forming once again as I remember how she sang to me when I was a baby.
As I cry I feel Brad’s arm snake around my waist. I gently move his arm off me and then hug my pillow against my body. I end up falling asleep and wake when Brad shakes me. I open my eyes and see that it two forty-five.
“Hey, I have to pick up Maddie from school. Ummm, if you want I come back…you know what? Why don’t you get your things and come back to my place?”
I sit up as he says this. Did I hear him right? He wanted me to come to his house? Was I in the Twilight Zone?
“I don’t want to leave you alone at a time like this.” he tells me.
I sigh and agree to go with him. We get out of the bed and Brad leaves so I can change out of my pajamas. I grab the one suitcase with my clothes and leave the room and walk out to the living room where Brad is waiting for me. He eyes my suitcase.
“Is that all you have?”
I simply nod and we leave my mom’s home. We get into Brad’s school and he heads to a nearby elementary school. When we pull up I see Maddie talking with a group of girls. One of the girls spot Brad’s car and points while speaking to Maddie.
She turns and smiles when she spots us. She turns back to her friends and says good-bye. She rushes over to the car. She gets into the back and gasps when she sees me.
