Linda asked me once if I wanted to stretch my legs.
I said no.
At some point, she rested her hand over mine.
It was the first gentle thing she had done since I returned.
“She’ll fight,” Linda said.
“I know.”
“She always has. Quietly.”
I nodded.
“I didn’t understand that before.”
“No,” Linda said. “You didn’t.”
There was no cruelty in her voice.
Only truth.
Nearly five hours later, Dr. Shah appeared.The surgery had gone well.
They had removed the tumor.
There were no immediate complications.
Sophie was in recovery.
Linda began to cry openly then. I stood very still, afraid that if I moved, I might collapse.
Dr. Shah continued explaining next steps, pathology, monitoring, medication, recovery. I heard it all through a haze of relief so fierce it almost hurt.
Sophie was alive.
She was alive.
When we were finally allowed to see her, she was groggy and pale, surrounded by soft machine sounds. Linda went in first.
