a day in the life of Adele

Chapter 28

My heart was broken.

For several minutes, Laura was in denial. She wouldn't accept that her mother had passed away. Crying, she held on to her and kept saying, "It's not real, come back, come back!"

The doctors came in and declared her dead. There was nothing they could do. Even still, Laura wouldn't let go.

After 15 minutes of crying and denying it, she stopped. She lifted herself up and kissed her mum on the forehead. "I love you." She said.

I watched quietly in a chair, telling myself not to cry because I had to be strong for Laura.

She watched her mum for a few minutes, lost in thought. I felt awful for her.

Her dad stepped out of the room a few minutes after she died. He couldn't bear to watch his daughter cry like this, and I didn't blame him.

Laura began speaking. "I'm sorry mum. For everything. I'm sorry if I ever hurt your feelings, or disappointed you. I never meant any rude thing I said to you. You've been the best woman in my life. I'm so sorry." She broke down again, crying into her mother's chest.

I felt helpless. I wanted to help her and reassure her, but it probably would be no help. She just had to get her thoughts out.

"I didn't know this would happen. There was so much I wanted you to see." She started sobbing uncontrollably. "You won't ever get to see your grandkids, mum. My kids will never get to meet you."

I couldn't keep myself from crying when she said that. I thought of my own mum, and how she fell in love with Angelo the second she saw him. I thought of how much she helped me with him and how much Angelo loved her. Laura would never get to experience that with her mother, and that broke my heart.

"Thank you for everything. For raising me and taking care of my needs, and for buying tickets to the Spice Girls concert that I know you didn't want to go to." She was crying harder than I had ever seen her cry.

She went through several things she was thankful for, and occasionally paused in thought.

She ended it with saying, "Thank you for always loving me."

Her mum's shirt had a wet spot from Laura's tears. That made me cry more.

My phone vibrated with a text. I knew it was Simon before I even looked.

Is everything ok?

How could I even begin to explain how much everything was NOT ok?

Her mother has passed away. Laura is not doing well. I don't know when I'll be home.

Laura started having a moment of peace. She stopped crying, and just stared into space, holding her mother's hand.

I'm so sorry to hear that. Let me know if you need anything. I'll let you go. Angelo is asleep. I love you, baby. Be safe. Xx

Thank you, I love you too. X

I wanted to hug Laura, but I didn't think right now was the right time. She still needed some time to think and talk.

"I remember one time I had a bad dream. I ran to your room, crying. The dream was that you died. And you hugged me and told me everything was ok, that you were alive and you were right there." She says out loud.