Caught In Between - Book 1

44

CHAPTER 44
Catalina

Saturday

Two Weeks Later...

The birds were chirping, and I felt the sun caressing me with its warmth as a slightly cool breeze danced on my hot skin, causing me to open my eyes. Squinting at the brightness, I raised a hand to use as a visor until I adjusted to the light. I was lying on a soft patch of grass in the middle of an immense garden. There were beautiful Blue Lilies everywhere. My heart swelled, breathing in the sweet scent of my mother's favorite flower. My mother used to have a garden full of them when I was a little girl, and she'd always pick one for me to keep. She'd tell me she loved me more than all the Lilies in the world. It always made me smile, knowing that I meant so much to her. My father gave them to her on their first date, and she had adored them ever since.

Getting up on my bare feet, I wandered through the heavenly paradise. I didn't know what this place was, but it felt warm and welcoming, almost familiar in a sense. I followed the path lined with stunning blossoms, hearing a stream of water babbling ahead, my white dress blowing in the wind. Curious, I kept walking further into the maze-like sanctuary. That was when I saw her. Sitting on a bench looking down at the book in her hand, waves of her long coco hair tumbling down her shoulders.

Stunned, I brought a hand to my chest as I sucked in a sharp breath of air.
"Mama?" I asked in a cracked voice. She dropped her book and looked up at me with a warm smile. It looked like she hadn't aged a day since she'd left me.

"I've been waiting for you," she told me. Tears stung my eyes as she stood to face me wholly, and I took off, running into her arms. My mother pulled me into a tight embrace, making me sob.

"I missed you so much," I choked out, and she held me tighter.

We stood like that for a while. I held her so tightly that it hurt. But I couldn't find it in me to loosen my hold on the woman who brought me into the world. The woman I'd been missing for the last fifteen years of my life. Her sweet gourmand scent enveloped me, a scent that I'd almost forgotten about over the years. I breathed in the familiar fragrance of roasted almonds, hints of freshly ground coffee with subtle notes of vanilla bean, and I was six years old again.

Back at our tiny home by the lake. Back before the terrible accident that turned my life upside down. More tears rolled down my cheek as I remembered the school principal and guidance counselor pulling me out of class and escorting me to the office where there were two police officers and a social worker there to tell me my parents were gone.

It had been a few days after my sixth birthday, and I was mad at them for some stupid reason I couldn't remember. Maybe I wanted to wear a crown I had gotten as a gift to school or something that day. They told me no. So I abstained from speaking to them the whole ride that morning because I was so furious. Well, as angry as a six-year-old who hadn't gotten her way could be. I had so many nightmares about that day. My parents were dying while I was a selfish brat who'd refused to say goodbye to them over a stupid birthday crown, which is why I never talked about them. When I finally got to a place where I wasn't sad or blaming myself anymore, I felt like it'd be better to forget.

"I know, angel, I've missed you too," she told me, combing her fingers through my hair like she used to, and a sense of comfort that I hadn't felt in forever washed over me. "Come sit. We have lots to talk about." She gestured towards the bench. We sat facing one another.

"Where are we, and what am I doing here?" I asked, looking around. I felt like I'd been here before, but the memory was fuzzy.

"Don't you remember?" My mother mused with a smile. "I used to bring you here when you were a girl." Then an image of us walking through this place, hand in hand, flashed into my mind. I had to be four, maybe five. But that didn't explain why I was here, how she was here. "As for why you're here," she shrugged, "that's something only you can answer."