Chapter 49 Chapter 0049
•CASSANDRA•
I covered my mouth as I silently cried in the back of the car. My chest tightened and my throat felt dry, and I wished to wake up from the nightmare.
I never imagined I'd stand before Rowan and hear him calling Nadia his mother again. He didn't even falter.
He didn't even know that hearing him say that hurt more than the humiliation Nadia put me through when she insisted on me trying to kill Mason.
But when I saw that I was almost home, I wiped my face and reminded myself that Alena was waiting at home for me.
While Mason had Rowan, at least I had Alena. That thought was the only thing keeping me from falling apart completely.
When we neared the house, I quickly wiped my face and checked my reflection in the dark window.
My eyes were red, but there was nothing I could do about that now. Alena was waiting for me. She always waited for me.
The car stopped, and I stepped out into the cool evening air. The lights inside the house were on, glowing warmly through the windows.
It should have felt comforting. Instead, but my throat was still tight. I opened the door and stepped inside.
“Mama!” Her voice was bright and full of excitement.
Before I could close the door, Alena ran toward me with something clutched in her hand. She almost stumbled in her hurry to reach me.
I dropped my bag and knelt down just in time to catch her as she wrapped her arms around my neck.
“I waited for you,” she said proudly, pulling back to show me the toy dinosaur in her hand. It was green and slightly worn from being carried around all day.
“Look! This is a T-Rex.”
“That is a very serious T-Rex,” I said softly, brushing her hair away from her face.
Her eyes lit up. “Mama, I learned something new today. The teacher said T-Rex did not roar like in the movies. They probably made low sounds, like those of large birds. And they might have had feathers before.”
I forced myself to focus on her words, and her excitement. On the way, she bounced slightly as she spoke.
“Feathers?” I asked gently.
She nodded. “Yes. And their arms were small but strong. They were not useless.”
I managed a small smile. “That is very interesting. My daughter knows more than the movies.”
She beamed at that, clearly pleased with herself. “I am going to be a dinosaur doctor,” she declared. "Since you heal people, I will heal them."
“You can be anything you want,” I told her, and I meant it with every part of my heart, though I knew she'd be disappointed if I told her the dinosaurs were extinct.
She studied my face more closely then her smile faded a little. “Mama, were you crying?”
I shook my head quickly. “No, sweetheart. I am just tired.”
She looked like she wanted to question me further, but something behind her caught my attention.
When I stood up, still holding her hand, I saw Dante standing near the doorway of the living room.
He hadn't been there a moment ago. Or maybe I had been too distracted to notice him.
He was holding a sheet of paper and there was something in his expression that made my stomach tighten.
“Uncle Dante,” Alena said happily. “Look at my dinosaur.”
He gave her a faint smile. “It looks very fierce.”
I felt a strange chill creep up my spine. Dante was usually more animated with her.
“Alena,” I said gently, kneeling in front of her again. “Please wait for me in your room, and then you'll tell me all about T-Rex, okay? I need to talk to Uncle Dante.”
She frowned immediately. “But you just came home.”
“I know. It will only be for a little bit.”
She looked up at me carefully. “Are you going to leave again?”
The question made my heart ache. I cupped her small face in my hands. “No. I am not leaving. I promise.”
“Promise?”
“Yes. I promise.”
She hesitated for a few seconds, thinking in that serious way she sometimes did. “If I behave?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “If you behave, I will stay.”
She seemed reassured by that. She hugged me one more time and then walked down the hallway toward her room, still holding the dinosaur tightly.
She turned once before disappearing around the corner. “I will be in my room,” she called.
“Okay,” I replied.
When she was gone, I leaned toward Dante. The paper in his hand looked crumpled now.
“What is that?” I asked.
He didn't answer immediately. He took a step closer and handed it to me. “It is from the hospital,” he replied.
My chest tightened again, this time with a different kind of fear. “The hospital?” I repeated.
“The results from Alena’s scans.”
For a moment, I didn't understand what he meant.
Then I remembered the headaches. The fainting spells that the doctor had insisted were probably nothing serious. Just something to check, they had said.
I unfolded the paper with trembling fingers. The words blurred together at first. Medical terms I didn't fully understand even though I was a doctor myself.
“Dante,” I whispered, my voice shaking, “what is this?”
He didn't look away from me. “The doctor called this afternoon,” he murmured. “They found something.”
My eyes moved across the page again, searching for something reassuring and ordinary. Instead, I found a single word that made the room spin.
Tumor.
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“This is wrong,” I said quickly. “They must have mixed up the results. It cannot be hers.”
“It is her file,” he replied.
I shook my head, stepping back as if distance could change what was written on the paper.
“She is five,” I said. “She can't have a tumor, Dante. This is all a mistake and I know it."
Dante’s voice was steady, but there was pain in it. “The report says there is a mass in her brain.”
The paper slipped from my hands and fell to the floor.
I stared at him, unable to breathe, unable to think, as his next words settled over me.
“It is a tumor.”