Jaxon
I sat with that text for a long time before I found the courage to go back into her hospital room, dread pooling heavy in my stomach as I tried to imagine what could possibly be worse than the diagnosis I'd already spent two years learning to live alongside.
Keira came with me this time, waiting just outside the door while I stepped in alone, my mom looking up from her hospital bed with the same tired, warm smile, though something more serious lingered underneath it now.
"Rosa told you I wanted to talk," she said, gesturing for me to sit.
"She said there's something about your diagnosis you've been keeping from me."
My mom was quiet for a long moment, her fingers picking at the edge of the hospital blanket, a nervous habit I recognized from childhood, the same one she did whenev
