She carefully tucked the blanket around my daughter without waking her.
Then she whispered, “Thank you for sharing.”
Mia opened her eyes, blinked once, then smiled.
“Hi, Grandma,” Mia said softly, as though she’d already said it a hundred times.
Grandma.
The word echoed inside my head.
Mia pushed herself upright and hugged Gladys.
“Did you have another bad dream?”
Gladys nodded.
“I couldn’t find Kyle.”
“I’m right here, Mom.”
She reached for his hand.
Only after she was calm did Mia look at me.
“Mom.”
She smiled sleepily.
“You’re home.”
I hugged her tightly.
“What is going on?”
She glanced at Kyle.
“Dad was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“When you got home.”
I stood.
“I am home.”
Kyle led Gladys back toward the bedroom.
Mia quietly folded her blanket.
“I’ll make some tea,” she whispered.
“You should be in bed.”
She gave me a small, tired smile.
“I’ve been sleeping down here since Grandma arrived.”
Every protective instinct inside me came alive.
“You’ve been sleeping on this floor for four nights?”
“It was my idea.”
“No 12-year-old chooses the kitchen floor.”
“I did.”
She looked toward the hallway to make sure Gladys couldn’t hear.
“She keeps waking up scared.”
“So?”
“If she doesn’t see someone nearby, she panics.”
I frowned.
“Why your room?”
Mia hesitated.
“Because she thinks it’s hers.”
Kyle returned a moment later.
He looked exhausted.
Dark circles framed his eyes, his shirt was wrinkled, and his hair looked as though he hadn’t slept in days.
“When were you planning to tell me your mother came back?” I asked.
His shoulders sagged.
“I found out four days ago.”
“You found out?”
“I thought she left 30 years ago.”
I searched his face for any sign he was joking.
There wasn’t one.
“My father told me she walked out on us when I was six,” he said quietly.
“Last week the police found an elderly woman wandering outside a grocery store. Something in her purse eventually led them to me.”
I looked toward the hallway.
Gladys was humming softly inside Mia’s room.
“I didn’t recognize her,” Kyle said quietly. “Thirty years changes people. Mia had never seen her before.”
My mind raced.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“I tried.”
He pulled his phone from his pocket.
The cracked screen lit up.
Five calls from him. All missed.
