Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN I MARRIED"Why is my name on this?" I asked.
Lorena held out her hand. "Give it back, Daniel."
"Answer me."
"It's paperwork for your mother. She can't manage things anymore."
Mom tried to stand. Her knees buckled. I caught her before she hit the floor and eased her back into the chair.
"She's been sick," Lorena said quickly. "Confused. Ask anybody."
"I'm asking her."
Mom stared at the envelope, breathing too fast. "I told her no. I told her the house is yours when I'm gone."
"You're not going anywhere," I said.
Lorena laughed once, an ugly, frightened sound. "You have no idea what it's been like caring for her while you played hero overseas."
For twenty-three months I'd called from bases in Europe. She'd describe homemade dinners, church visits, afternoons sewing with Mom. Mom always sounded sleepy, and Lorena always said the phone was exhausting her.
Now I saw a stain on the wall where Mom's framed wedding photograph used to hang. A padlock secured the pantry. The refrigerator held three cartons of expensive yogurt Lorena liked, but nothing Mom could prepare herself.
"Where are her medications?" I asked.
"In the cabinet. Like always."
The cabinet contained a plastic pill organizer and an amber bottle with a label turned toward the wall. Mom grabbed my wrist when I reached for it.
"The blue pills," she whispered. "They make the hours disappear."
Lorena went pale. "She needs them to sleep."
"Who prescribed them?"
"Her doctor."
I took out my phone. "Then the doctor won't mind telling me."
Tires crunched over the gravel outside. A car door slammed. Lorena's shoulders dropped with relief.
"Finally," she breathed.
"Who is it?"
She didn't answer. The back door opened, and my cousin Carlos walked in carrying a set of house keys.
May you like
He looked at my uniform, at the cracked pantry wall, then at the transfer papers in my hand.
"Daniel," he said quietly. "You came home a day too early."
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