Chapter 13
Two days before the court date, Eleanor was admitted to the hospital.
Her heart was failing.
The doctors said it could be hours.
It could be days.
But the end was near.
I sat by her bedside, holding her hand.
The children were in the waiting room with Marcus, too young to be in the ICU.
Daniel was there too.
He stood in the corner, watching his mother with an expression I couldn't read.
Was it grief?
Guilt?
Or was he already calculating what her death would mean for him?
For the inheritance he'd been disinherited from?
For the court case?
Eleanor's eyes fluttered open.
She saw me first.
"Kesha..."
"I'm here. I'm right here."
She squeezed my hand weakly.
"The children?"
"They're here. With Marcus. They want to see you."
"Let them come. Just for a minute."
I went to the waiting room and brought them in.
One by one, they approached the bed.
Noah went first.
He took her hand and kissed it.
"Hi, Grandma."
"Hi, my sweet boy."
Ethan was next.
"I brought you a drawing. Of a dinosaur. To make you feel better."
"Thank you, Ethan. It's perfect."
Sophia climbed carefully onto the bed and kissed her cheek.
"I love you, Grandma."
"I love you too, princess."
Olivia stood at the foot of the bed, her eyes full of tears.
"Are you going to heaven?" she asked quietly.
Eleanor smiled.
"I think so, baby. But that's okay. Because I'll be watching over you. All of you. Every single day."
"Will you visit us in our dreams?" Noah asked.
"Every night if I can."
The children surrounded her bed, holding her hands, touching her face, telling her they loved her.
Daniel watched from the corner.
Tears streamed down his face.
For a moment, I saw something in him I hadn't seen before.
Genuine grief.
Regret.
He walked over to the bed.
"Mom?"
Eleanor looked at him.
Her eyes were tired, but there was no anger in them.
Just sadness.
"Daniel..."
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice breaking. "I'm so sorry. For everything."
Eleanor reached out and touched his face.
"I know you are, baby. I know."
"I messed up. I messed up everything."
"You did," she said gently. "But it's not too late to do better. To be better. For the children. For yourself."
She looked at me, then back at Daniel.
"Promise me you'll stop fighting. Promise me you'll let Kesha raise those children in peace. That you'll be in their lives only if it's what they want. Only if you can put their needs before your own."
Daniel looked at me.
Then at the children.
Then back at his mother.
"I promise," he whispered.
Eleanor smiled.
"Good. That's all I wanted."
Her eyes closed.
Her breathing grew shallow.
The children held her hands and told her they loved her.
I stood beside them, crying.
Daniel stood on the other side of the bed, sobbing.
And then she was gone.
The nurse came in and checked her pulse.
She shook her head gently.
"I'm so sorry."
The room was silent.
The children cried.
I held them.
Daniel stood there, looking at his mother's still face, his body shaking with sobs.
For a moment, all the anger and the fighting and the pain between us seemed insignificant.
We were just two people grieving the loss of someone we loved.
Someone who'd loved us both, in her own way.
Daniel looked at me.
"I meant what I said," he whispered. "I'll drop the case. I'll stop fighting. I just... I need some time."
I nodded.
I didn't trust him.
Not fully.
But in that moment, as we stood beside his mother's body, I believed him.
Eleanor had gotten her wish.
She'd brought us together, if only for a moment.
May you like
And she'd made her son promise to do better.
Now it was up to him to keep that promise.
