Her Godbrother
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T. L. Webb
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164K
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18
Chapter 1
STACY
As soon as I arrived home from school, my mom, Claire, Tom, and Chase were sitting in the living room like they had been waiting for me to walk through the door. What worried me the most was their expressions.
“Sit down, Stacy. We have to talk,” Mom said, her voice faint.
As soon as I took a seat next to my mom, she coughed, and a slight cry escaped past her lips. “I have small-cell lung cancer, Stacy.”
Mom got straight to the point and spoke firmly as if she felt empty on the inside, void of all emotions. Claire, my mom’s best friend, her husband Tom, and her son Chase all sat in silence and let her speak.
The doctors had thought it was pneumonia. Until recently, when Mom coughed up blood. More tests followed, and now she faced the biggest fight of her life.
Evidently, my mother had time to allow everything to sink in. I, however, didn’t.
As Mom’s words rushed through me, the realization sank in. I shook my head as I muttered, “No, no, no—”
I couldn’t lose my mother. I just couldn’t. She was all I had. I needed her.
Pain jolted throughout my entire body. My chest burned with defeat.
I was paralyzed. I was afraid. I couldn’t lose her too.
Helplessly, I allowed the tears to slide down my cheeks as disbelief slowly became my new reality.
“Not my mom,” I said so low I was certain no one heard me.
Please, God, I silently prayed. Don’t take my mother from me as well.
Cancer took my father, and now it would probably take my mother. I would never be capable of preparing myself to live in a world where neither of my parents existed.
I stared at my mother with tears slipping from my eyes. “You have to fight this battle and win, Mom. I can’t lose you.” I took a deep breath. “You’re my mother. You’re my best friend.”
The thought alone hollowed me out. She was the ground beneath my feet; without her, I didn’t know how to stand.
Losing Dad broke something in our world. Mom was the one who pieced it back together, quietly and stubbornly. The way only she could.
Even in our darkest moments, she was the light we gathered around. A hand on my shoulder. A meal on the table. Love without condition or explanation. She was just there, the way air is there.
No. No, she couldn’t leave. She was my rock. My strength. My whole foundation.
I took her hand, and the words came out small and broken. “I can’t live without you, Mom.”
I was powerless to stop myself from crying. I just stared at her, the tears pouring down my face.
“Oh, honey.” She pulled me into her side, her hand moving in slow, gentle strokes along my arm. “I will fight every day for you and for me. But Stacy, if this takes a turn for the worse, I need you to know something. You will never be alone. You have Claire, Tom, and Chase.”
I nodded because I knew she needed me to be strong, and because I knew she was right. Tom and Claire would never let me fall.
But knowing that didn’t touch this particular ache. They loved me. I didn’t doubt that.
Nobody, though—nobody took her place.
Claire had been my mother’s best friend since high school. She was the sister my mother never had, given that Mom grew up an only child. The two of them were inseparable in the way that only decades of shared history could make people. If anyone understood what losing her would mean, it was Claire.
And then there was Chase. Our bond was something I had never quite been able to put into words. Chase didn’t try to fix things or fill silences with noise. He just showed up.
Outside of my mother, he was the only real friend I had. And some days, I thought Chase knew me better than I knew myself.
I slid one arm around her back and the other across her front, pulling her close. Holding on the way you hold something you’re terrified of losing. Too tight, and not tight enough.
“You’re irreplaceable, Mom.” The words cracked on the way out. I wept into her side, not caring, not stopping.
Her hand moved slowly through my hair. “If anything happens to me, Stacy—promise me something. Promise me you’ll live your life. Promise me that you won’t stop being the happy, loving girl you are.”
I wanted to tell her nothing was going to happen. I wanted to mean it. Her hand was still moving through my hair, soft and steady, the way it had since I was small. She was trying to comfort me. It didn’t work. But I let her try.
What I didn’t tell her was that I knew the grief of losing a parent never went away, not really. And somewhere deep in the place where I kept my truths, I felt it again. That same cold shadow, creeping in at the edges.
At the moment, all I could think about was never hugging my mother again.
Never hearing her laughter or having her by my side.
“I have already spoken to Claire and Tom, and they have promised to take care of you if—”
“Stop, Mom.” I bounced off the couch, my voice urgent and broken. “Stop talking like you’re going to die.” I whimpered, breathing heavily, shaking my head as if I could shake the words away. “You are not going to die.” I covered my face with my hands. “You can’t die.”
Strong arms wrapped around me, drawing me into a hug, holding me up when I felt like falling. “Everything will be all right, Stacy.”
I pounded on Chase’s chest, releasing every bit of anger and hurt onto my best friend. “It won’t be all right, Chase,” I cried louder. “She’s my mother,” I sobbed as my knees gave out beneath me, slipping from his hold and sinking to the floor. “If she dies, nothing will ever be all right again.”
“Hey.” Chase lowered himself beside me, placed his fingers under my chin, and tilted my face up to meet his. “She’s still here. She’s still alive.” He pressed his hand gently over my heart. “Your heart is still beating, and so is hers.” I noticed a tear slip down his cheek.
“We’re all right,” he reassured me as he pulled me into his arms, and I went willingly. “Love her while you still can,” he whispered.
