[[OLD]] A Handful of Daffodils (Forgotten Series, #7)

Chapter Eighty-One

There was a weight that dipped my mattress slightly and that pulled me from my sleep. I cracked my eyes open. "Brochan?" I rubbed at my eyes but the figure sitting on my bed wasn't big enough to be Brochan. I tried to blink away the sleep, wondering just who it was. Maybe Duffy?

"Hi my baby baloo." My mum's soft voice had me freezing as she shifted on the mattress to turn and lean close to me. Her brown eyes were warm and soft and her smile was as loving as I remembered it. My breath caught in my throat as she adjusted my bonnet on my head. "How's my girl?" She brushed my cheekbone with her thumb and I swallowed hard, trying not to burst into tears.

"I'm dreaming aren't I?" I asked it quietly and she nodded, that soft smile still firmly on her face as she reached down and grasped my hand, giving it a squeeze.

"I hung on, you know, for you. I don't know what comes next but I knew I needed to be here, in this moment, for you." Her words made little sense and I shifted with a wince, my big belly a bit of a hindrance.

"Can you stay?" I wanted every bit of her that I could get. Dream or not, I just wanted my mum. "I missed you." My voice cracked and my eyes burned. She was here and all I wanted to do was crawl into her arms and bawl my eyes out.

"Oh my baby." She sighed it out before she bent down and kissed my forehead. The action was warm and comforting, just like I remembered it to be. "I miss you more than anything. I truly do, my baby baloo." She whispered it against my skin before she pulled back. Her eyes were sad as she stroked my cheek and gave me a sad smile. "I wanted so much more for you, Menza. I wanted to give you the world." She slowly shook her head as she squeezed my hand once more. "I hate that our time was cut short and I didn't get to see you grow into the woman I know you can be."

"But you're here now, right?" She was and there was so much I wanted to tell her. I wanted to hold onto her and never let her go.

"In some way, in a different form." She pulled my hand to rest on her lap as she grasped it with her other one. "Things aren't always what they appear when you're on this side, you aren't the same but it's not such a bad thing." She lifted my hand and kissed each of my knuckles. "I love you, my baby baloo. You're so strong and I hate that you had to be." The sad compassion that was painted on her face was almost my undoing. "You trust that I want the best for you, right?" She asked it as she looked down at me and I nodded. She would always want the best for me, I knew this deep in my bones. "You know that I would never, ever steer you wrong, right?" I nodded again and she kissed my hand again.

"There isn't much time but I knew I needed to be here, right here, right now." She let my hand go before leaning over and kissing my forehead. "You trust me, right my baby baloo?" A the question I nodded, the lump in my throat big enough to choke me. "Good." She pulled back slightly. "I need you to wake up, okay?"

That had me rearing back away from her. "What? But I want to stay!" I wanted to stay with her in this moment but she shook her head, grasping my face in her hands, her eyes almost frantic.

"You need to wake up, Menza. Right now. You need to wake up." The words were forceful. "I love you my baby baloo but you need to wake up. Right now. You need to wake up!" Her gaze was almost captivating as I met it and I inhaled sharply at how scared she looked.

"What's happening?" I could feel how frantic she was and she shook her head.

"Wake up, my love. You need to wake up."

I did with a sharp inhale, my heart fluttering in my chest and my bed feeling slightly damp as if I had been sweating. It felt wrong though. My back ached unbearably and I winced, as I rolled to sit up. I breathed through the harsh aching and rubbed my heavily rounded stomach. My heart fluttered and I felt off, so off that it made it almost hard to breathe. I carefully got off my bed and stood on shaky legs. I felt sweaty and like I had been tossing and turning due to the dream because my night gown stuck to my legs and lower back slightly from the sweat.