Keeping His Commandments

Chapter Ten

Eva

I tossed and turned in my bed for the majority of the night. My body finally surrendered to sleep sometime after four in the morning, but it hadn't been restful. Jamie had come for me in my dreams, and it was while I was in that unconscious state our kiss didn't end like it had last night. He hadn't broken away from me, or become disgusted at himself for kissing me. No, he had continued to give me what I wanted by fucking me hard against my foyer wall.

Shaking my head, I slid out of bed and showered. I was making breakfast—or lunch since it was way past noon—when I received a text from David:

Your mother is doing well. Just wanted to keep you in the loop.

An emoji ended the text. I smiled at the thought that David Curran, a cutthroat attorney who didn't take any shit in the courtroom, would send me a yellow smiley face. I liked this man. He was genuine and kind, and it was obvious that he had a close relationship with his adult children. Maybe that was why I responded to his text, not because I wanted to see my mother:

Is she up for visitors?

David's response was immediate and in all caps:

ABSOLUTELY!

I stared at the text for a second and then placed my phone on the kitchen counter. I couldn't not go now. David hadn't asked me to come see my mother. I was the one who had inquired about visiting.

Well, shit.

I threw on a pair of jeans, boots, t-shirt and a hooded sweatshirt. I wasn't up for making myself up any more than that. I did dab on some concealer beneath my eyes to hide the bags that I had going on due to my shitty night's sleep. On my way to the hospital I picked up some flowers, a bouquet of hydrangeas, from the flower shop just around the corner from the hospital and bought a few Sudoku magazines from a vendor on the street. I wasn't sure if she still liked solving those annoying ass puzzles, but I got them anyway, just in case she did and needed something to help her pass the time as she recovered.

After I had checked in with reception, I took the elevator up to the fifth floor and made my way to my mother's room. But with each footfall my confidence faded, allowing the doubt to creep in. Coming here was stupid. The Sudoku books were lame. This relationship couldn't be repaired. We were different people now. I was about to leave when I heard my name.

"Eva?" I hadn't realized that I was standing in the doorway to my mother's room when I had seriously been considering jetting. "Eva?" my mother called again. Her voice was weak and broken. The sound melted my heart . . . a little.

David was sitting in a chair next to my mother's bed when he looked up and said, "It's nice to see you again, honey." He stood, walked over and kissed me on the cheek. I smiled at how comfortable he was around me, how it didn't seem to bother him that he suddenly had a stepdaughter. In fact, he looked pleased that I was here and in his life. Which wasn't something I was used to. My father's indifference toward me growing up was what I had grown accustomed to. That was the norm. Not this. Not genuine affection.

"Hi, Mom. These are for you," I said, resting the magazines and flowers in her arms. My mother's fingers trembled as she caressed the delicate petals.

"Hydrangeas are my favorite. You remembered?" she asked, her eyes welling with tears.

"How about I get these into a vase. I'll go ask the nurse for one," David said, patting his wife on the hand. He scooped up the flowers, gave me a wink and left.

Her question made me uncomfortable, so I skirted it by asking one of my own. "So, how are you feeling?"

My mother smiled. "Like I've been hit by a Mack truck. But I can't complain. The doctors think they got it all and that's what matters."