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"God, I hope so," I ads devoured the distance to her door

I knocked once, blew out an anxious sigh, and then knocked again

My hand was still poised in the air when she swung it open

"Hi," she squeaked Her face was pale, and her hollow eyes were red-ri them from the bottom She looked a lot like the wo fling And it fucking killed to see her like that, knowing the breathtaking shs she was capable of

I forced a grin "Hi"

Her gaze flicked to Hannah, as on ht smile thatout, I caught the back of her neck and pulled her againsttointomy lips to her forehead

"No," she croaked "But he will be" She stepped out ofa hand toward the bedroom "Go We can talk later"

She didn’t have to tell ht to Charlotte’s bedroo with a knock, I shoved the door open wide

And then the most indescribable peace I had ever experienced washed over me as my world finally stilled

Travis’s head snapped up fro on He didn’t look any different than the last time I’d seen him

He was too thin

Too pale

Too sick

But, when I saw him now, he did look a lot like Charlotte

And he was still one hundred percentoff the bed

I raced toward hi until he collided withhis ar in ti his back while setting et in on the love too

"Travis!" she giggled, stepping into his side,the life out of him

Warmth filled my chest as I dropped to my knees and palmed each side of his face I planted a kiss to his forehead that, only a week ago, he would have co down his cheeks

I sat at the foot of the bed, and he followed s, Hannah still attached to hiainst er, but not in years

"How you doing, buddy?" I asked quietly, s another kiss to the top of his head

"I want to come home," he whined

"I knoant that too"

He peered up at me expectantly "Then why can’t I?"

The vise on aze to the doorway

Charlotte was standing there, twin rivers pouring from her eyes, aher

With lanced around at the absolute devastation Catherine had caused all of us

My son was fighting the battle of his life with his health; he didn’t need this shit on top of it

My daughter was hurting and confused because she was losing her big brother and best friend

Charlotte had been lost for almost a decade, and now, she had her son back, but she was living, breathing, and suffering through his pain the way any goodapart But I was also the only one left to pick up the pieces

"We’re going to figure this out," I announced to the entire rooether That’s all that matters"

Charlotte nodded and started to back out of the rooaze lifted to ain and started to pull the door closed

My body screa her into the darkness and ease both of our hearts