Delilah Recovered **2017 Watty Winner**

chapter fourteen

Delilah felt a hand on her shoulder. She wasn't sure if minutes or hours had passed. The touch anchored her back to the present.

"The nurse gave her something," Tabitha Anthea whispered, her voice sounded raspy and broken. "She's asking for you."

Delilah couldn't move. "I'll just set her off again."

Tabitha Anthea helped her stand up. "Let's clean up your hand and take you back to her."

Delilah shook her head. There wasn't a chance in heaven or hell she was going back into that room.

Tabitha Anthea grabbed her shoulders. "Kid, you are in it now. There's no going back." Shaking her, she said, "Your mother wants to see you and so help me with all that is holy, in this world and the next, you're going."

After the nurse bandaged Delilah's hand, she was sitting next to Maria's bed. Maria seized her hand and kept running her fingers over Delilah's knuckles. "Please stay with me," Maria pleaded. "I know I shouldn't ask this of you. It's unfair."

Seeing her in the hospital bed, she was like a broken doll made out of glass and held together with Scotch tape, just one fall away from coming apart. When their eyes connected, Delilah saw an intense globe of light and felt a transfer of energy from Maria to her. It hit Delilah right in the middle of her chest and took her breath away. It was like she was watching a movie of Maria's life and pressed fast forward. Their eyes met again, she saw the moment Maria held her for the first time. Delilah felt it, unconditional love, in every cell of her being. To experience Maria's memory of holding her, after she gave birth to Delilah was such a gift.

Delilah climbed into the bed and folded Maria into her arms. "We are going to get through this. I'll be your light. I will guide you out of this darkness. I promise."

They held onto each other until sleep claimed them. After dawn, Delilah woke up. There was a tiny red velvet pouch in her hand. She pulled it open and a silver 45-caliber bullet fell out. She held it up, examining it.

She tried to gently wake up Maria. "Momma."

Maria's body was rigid. "Momma?" She pressed her fingers to Maria's neck in search of a pulse. There wasn't one.

Delilah kept shaking her. "Momma, please," she repeated.

Aros appeared. He scooped Delilah into his arms and teleported her to Samuel's kitchen. On landing, Delilah had lost control of her limbs. The velvet pouch and bullet tumbling from her hand because she couldn't stop shaking.

A man approached her. "May I examine you?" His voice sounded familiar to her.

"Who are you?" She asked, her teeth chattering from shock.

Pulling a blanket over her shoulders he replied, "I'm your father."

Moments later, Delilah fainted.

More to come...