Chapter Forty-Five

  Alex stood outside the screen door for a good ten minutes before she went inside. She'd been listening to her mother in the kitchen, humming as she went about her business, a sound Alex hadn't heard in a long time.

  As soon as the screen wheezed open, her mother looked up from the cutting board filled with chopped onions. Her gray-streaked hair was pulled back in a ponytail, which made her mother look ten years younger than she had when Alex left.

  "Alexandria, I thought I saw you walking down the gravel road."

  Alex scuffed her foot against the carpet as she threw her backpack on the lime green couch.

  "It's a nice day outside and I wasn't ready to come in," Alex lied.

  "Either way, sweetie, I'm glad you're home. I missed you," said her mom.

  "Do I smell cake?" asked Alex, sniffing the air.

  "Sure do," said her mom with a wink. "I figured we'd have a celebration, what with you finishing your first year of university and me being alive."

  "How'd you know I was coming home today?" asked Alex.

  "Frank told me you'd called him for a ride, and I'd bought the stuff for cake a couple of months ago. Ain't no way in hell I wasn’t going to celebrate the first person from our family to go to college, a magical one at that."

  "Is it...?"

  "Chocolate, chocolate," said her mom, cocking a grin. "You're damn right it is."

  Alex skipped around the counter and threw her arms around her mom, almost forgetting she had a cutting knife in her hand. They stayed in a hug for what could have gone on forever, until the timer on the stove beeped and her mom broke away to remove the two layers of chocolate cake from the refrigerator.

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  "If that's dessert, what's for dinner?" asked Alex.

  "Who said I made dinner?"

  Alex gestured to the chopped onions. "Then what are these for?"

  "So I had an excuse for why I was crying when you came in, but you stayed outside for so damn long that I stopped," said her mom.

  She leaned back into the refrigerator, pulled out a cannister of chocolate icing, and threw it to Alex.

  "Care to help? I'll grab two spoons," said her mom.

  They took opposite sides of the small round table with the cake at the center, each frosting a layer while taking nibbles of the icing occasionally.

  "How are you feeling?" Alex asked when the cakes were half finished.

  Her mom stared back flatly. "If you mean the tumor, never been better. The doctors checked me out. Nothing there but an unused brain."

  "Mom..."

  "They really didn't know what to make of it. They'd like to talk to you, if you have time. Whatever you did removed it clean as a whistle. They could use that technique at the hospital."

  Alex hid her reaction by staying focused on spreading the chocolate icing extra thick. She hadn't even considered that the doctors would want to ask her about the procedure. It wasn't that she minded telling them, but she didn't want her mother to find out the tumor wasn't really gone.

  "I don't think it's something they can duplicate, but I'll take a trip to Mt. Vernon General when I get some time this summer," said Alex.

  "Daughter of mine. What you did was a darn miracle, even if it was magical. The doctors said so themselves. If you can do that, think of what else you can do?"

  The look of adoration brought heat to Alex's cheeks. "I'd rather not talk about that right now, Mom. I'm just glad you're okay and that I'm at home. It was a long year."

  Her mom patted her hand, before returning to icing the other layer.

  "Fair enough," said her mom, then with a tilted head, she said, "What are you planning to do this summer?"

  Alex glanced out the window before returning her gaze to her mother's face.

  "A little hiking, some knitting with you. Plus I have some notes to take from last year. But mostly I wanted to spend it with you," said Alex.

  Her mom's forehead knotted. "What? No gaming? I figured you'd be racing to get back online after a year at university."

  Alex laughed, holding her hands up.

  "No games for me for the summer. I've had my fill."

  Her mom dropped the spoon into the icing and placed her hand against Alex's forehead.

  "Alexandria Duke. Are you okay? Has someone put a curse on you?" asked her mom.

  Alex glanced at the bowl of yarn on the living room table, her mother's black bowling bag in the corner, and the two halves of the partially iced chocolate cake between them.

  "No, Mom. I'm good. Really good. It's good to be home."

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