Grace Taylor Hudson

Chapter 22

<Grace POV>

Katy's quiet voice woke me from the longest slumber of my life. "Yeah, she's okay... No, no need to worry... Okay... Alright... I'll see you soon. I love you too."

I shifted in bed so that I was sitting against the headboard of my bed-my bed? But weren't we in Seattle with John?

I looked to the left and saw my light blue curtains drawn only allowing a sliver of the warm California sunlight to peek into my room. Then I remembered that somebody, probably John, pulled some strings to get us a private jet back home. Random memories of turbulence and uncomfortable sleeping positions popped into my head along with flashes of why all of this had happened.

Shaking the thoughts away I remembered what had actually woken me up in the first place. That was when I saw Katy sitting at the foot of my bed--hair in a scrappy bun and wearing a t-shirt that swallowed up her tiny frame--frowning down at her phone. She clicked it off, but must have felt my eyes on her.

As soon as she turned her whole face lit up. "You're awake! Do you need anything?" She scooted up the bed so that she was also leaning against my head board. "Water? Food? Just tell me and I'll go grab it!"

I smiled at my mom's eagerness and willingness to dote on me. "No, I'm good."

Katy's eyebrows furrowed, "Are you sure you don't need anything, love?"

I shook my head then collapsed back onto my bed. "I just wanna sleep some more," I groaned then rolled over onto my left side so I could face Katy. "Will you stay in here with me?" A cute smile played on my lips as I scooted closer.

"Of course, where do you think I've been for the past forty-eight hours?" She slipped under the covers pulling me closer to her chest and began to run her fingers through my hair.

A few minutes of silence ensued. Just the two of us cuddled up, not speaking, only being happy that we actually made it back home, together-- something that didn't seem like a possibility two days ago.

I began to think about how stupid I had been to run away from Katy when all I really wanted to do was run to her. I'd wanted to run right into her arms and have her hold me like she used to. I wanted my mom but I couldn't have possibly gone to her since she hadn't been acting like my mom. As easy as it is to blame it all on Katy and her not so normal career path, I'm partially to blame. I didn't talk to her nor was I fully honest with her like I'd promised to be since the beginning. How was she to know that I was hurting if I didn't open my mouth?

I sighed deeply and prepared myself to apologize to Katy but she must've thought I'd fallen back alseep. Her chest vibrated as she hummed a familiar tune to herself then stopped when she began to sing, what sounded like a HAIM song I'd heard her and John talking about recently, under her breath. By the very end I was half-asleep and had tuned out everything but Katy's soft voice, hoping she'd sing another song until sleep pulled me away.

My mom didn't begin singing again but she did say something that warmed my heart.

"I'm not going anywhere."

Those four words she whispered into my hair were barely audible but had such emotion behind them that I decided to continue drifting off rather than say anything. They meant so much to both of us and I wanted nothing more to wake up for the second time with no memory of the past two day's events.

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<Katy POV>

A tickling sensation on my arm woke me up from my first good sleep in two days. When I moved to see the source I saw Grace's nose pressed against my left arm; she was sound asleep, inhaling and exhaling very deeply. I smiled and made sure to take in every detail of this moment. Grace's hair was sticking up in all directions and coming out of the sorry excuse of a braid I had given her on the plane ride home. She was makeup free and more beautiful than anything I'd ever seen. A set of long lashes rested against her pale skin making her look like Sleeping Beauty. My heart swelled ten times its normal size; this person, this sixteen year old young woman is my daughter, my baby.