Page 86 of Beauty & Chaos

I smile, staring out at the city as it gets closer, and wonder if it’s always looked this stunning. Or if I’m looking at the world differently now she’s in it?

Jesus, I’m turning into a Hallmark greeting card.

My phone rings, and Mama’s name appears on the display. I curse, remembering the late hour. It’s unusual for her to call late.

“Mama, why are you awake so late—?”

“Travis. Travis!” Elena, her youngest daughter, cries into the phone. “It’s Mama. She’s collapsed.”

Fuck!

“What happened, Elena? Have you called 911?” I demand as my foot comes off the gas, my body tenses.

“Yes, but you need to come. Please can you come over? Please. I’m scared.”

I spin the car around, barely looking, and floor it. “I’ll be there in ten minutes. Eight. Just hang in there.”

Elena hangs up.

“Sorry, this is an emergency.” I glance at Brook, who is staring at me with big eyes, clinging to the door handle.

I can’t exactly drop her by the side of the road.

Taking her to Mama’s isn’t exactly ideal but—

“I thought your mom was dead.”

Ah...shit.

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I LEAP OUT of the car and run up the path shouting, “Stay in the car,” to Brooklyn.

She doesn’t. As I expected, but I don’t have time to piece this together. Mama has had heart problems for the past few years, and if this is it, then nothing will stop me from being with her.

Nothing.

The door is open, so I run straight in.

“Elena! Mama!”

“In here!” Elena calls out, and I find them in the kitchen. Mama is lying on the floor with Elena kneeling beside her, tears pouring down her face.

She looks up at me hopelessly.

“It’s okay.” I put a hand on Elena’s shoulder. She’s in her mid-twenties, but I’ll always see her as the young girl she was when we met. “It’s okay.”

I take in Mama’s gray face. Her mouth is moving, her head tipping from side to side.

“Mama,” I whisper. “Can you hear me? Sofia.”

Her eyes open, her hand tries to lift to my face. “My boy.”

Thank fuck.

I take her hand and put it against my cheek.

“Call the others,” I say to Elena, and she climbs to her feet and starts dialing the numbers of her siblings.