Page 73 of The Weight of Her Silence
He couldn’t cry at first. His mind wouldn’t allow it—still frozen in the disbelief that if he just waited long enough, she’d stir. She’d blink. She’d exhale and whisper his name like she used to.
But she didn’t.
“Lila…” His voice cracked as he pulled her tighter into him. “Please…”
There was no answer. Not even from the silence.
Then, quietly, the soft creak of the door.
Ava.
She stepped into the doorway, her breath hitching the moment she saw her mother’s body slumped against his. Her knees buckled, but she didn’t fall. She just stood there, eyes wide, chest rising and falling too fast.
“No…” Her voice was so small, it barely reached him. “No. No, she said—she said she’d be okay today…”
Nate turned slowly. His eyes met hers—red, stunned, hollow—and shook his head once. Just once.
Ava let out a single, shattering sob. The kind of sound that only ever comes once in a lifetime.
She ran to them, dropping to her knees beside her father.
“Mom?” Her hands trembled as she touched Lila’s cheek. “Mom—wake up. Please…”
Still warm. Still soft. Still her.
But unmoving.
Ava pressed her forehead against her mother’s arm and cried like a child. Like a daughter losing everything she’d ever known. Nate reached out and pulled her in, wrapping both arms around her as the weight of grief collapsed on them together.
Caleb’s voice came from behind them. “Why are you crying?”
Nate and Ava froze.
He stood just inside the doorframe, hair tousled from a nap, holding the same comic book he’d been reading earlier. His face was confused, a little annoyed, like he couldn’t understand why the air felt so wrong.
Ava opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
So Nate rose slowly, setting Lila’s body down with a reverence so delicate it ached. He went to his son and knelt, placing his hands gently on Caleb’s small shoulders.
“Hey, buddy…” His voice cracked.
Caleb looked past him. “Is Mom sleeping?”
Nate swallowed. “Yeah,” he whispered. “But it’s… a different kind of sleep.”
Caleb frowned, uncertain. “Is she gonna wake up?”
And that was it. That was the moment Nate’s voice broke entirely.
He pulled Caleb into his arms and held him so tightly, it nearly hurt. “She’s not,” he said against his son’s hair. “She’s not going to wake up.”
The silence after that was unbearable.
Caleb didn’t understand at first. His small hands curled into Nate’s shirt. “But she promised… She promised she’d be here tomorrow. She promised we’d bake the muffins…”
Ava moved beside them and took her brother’s hand. She didn’t speak—she couldn’t—but her presence grounded him. Grounded them both.
Caleb’s lip trembled. “She lied?”
