#CHAPTER 215: Schemes

Zane POV Sarah woke up late in the afternoon. Dr. Ibsen called me on my phone, and I was down in the hall in seconds. The girls walked in not far behind me, following instinct or the sounds of my jogging. The doctor had propped her up on pillows, and at the sight of me she raised up her arms. I was in them in another second, holding her close. Goddess, she felt good. “Hey there, Chloe, Grace,” she said over my shoulder, and then I felt the bed shift as the girls clambered up, and two pairs of arms came around me and Sarah. For a long, grateful moment, we all just held on. “Why didn’t you come home, Mommy?” Grace asked. “I wanted to. I tried to, but they kept getting in my way,” Sarah said. I felt her tremble and then steady herself. I wanted to ask her a dozen questions, but not with the girls in the room. “You shouldn’t have gone there,” Chloe said. “No, I shouldn’t have.” Sarah squeezed harder and then let us go to lie back against the pillows. She looked exhausted. She