Page 121 of The Kidnapped

“Hollis?”

“Yeah?” she asked, sitting back down on the side of the bed.

“Will you remember something for me?”

“What?”

“Whenever this thing takes me, you remember that none of this is your fault.”

“Mom…”

“You feel guilt for going to work, for being with Raleigh, for taking time for yourself, for hiring nurses to help take care of me, and you shouldn’t. I’m sick. There was nothing more you could’ve done for me. I need you to remember that.”

“Mom, I–”

“Hollis, I’m serious, honey.”

Hollis nodded, knowing that her mother needed to see her agree.

“You don’t take any of your anger or guilt and use it to stop… what you’re doing now,” Oliva added.

“What? I don’t understand.”

“Don’t be mad at Raleigh because you blame her for showing up when I was sick. She showed up for a reason. And you love her. Don’t take any anger out on her.”

“I won’t. Why would–”

“Because people do it. Don’t do it with her. She will be there after I’m gone. She loves you. She showed up at just the right time because I got to see you so happy with someone, and I’m so grateful, Hollis. I can’t believe I got to have you back, and I get to see you so happy with Raleigh. You’re supporting each other through the hardest times, and that’s important. Never forget that.”

Hollis’s eyes filled with tears, and she said, “Mom, I won’t. But you should rest now.”

“When you visit your father, you tell him that I forgive him.”

“What?” Hollis wiped at her eyes.

“You tell him that, Hollis. And you remember that too: I forgive him.”

“Mom, he–”

“I know what he did. But it’s too hard to hold on to the anger and the sadness. I want to let it go.” She gripped Hollis’s hand.

“I don’t think I can forgive him,” Hollis said honestly.

“You can and you should, but that’s for you to decide on your own.”

“He barely takes responsibility,” Hollis argued.

“He will. And when he does, it will be… up to you to decide then if that’s… what you needed to forgive him. Just don’t let what he did inform how you… spend the rest of your life.”

“I’m trying not to, but it’s hard,” Hollis said.

“I know, honey.”

“What do I even say to him?”

“You tell him how you feel, how what he did changed you, and you let him have it if you need to, Hollis, but don’t hold on to that anger. It will tear through your life if you let it. I don’t want you to let it. Raleigh is a good person, and she deserves the real you. Eden will, too.”

“I don’t know how much I’ll be in her life at first,” Hollis replied.

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