Those two words hung in the air long after Charles was driven away Watch your mother. And suddenly, the happiest day of my life felt incomplete.
For years, I had dreamed of this day. The day my dad would come back. The day I would finally be home again, safe in his arms. And it had happened. He was here. He was alive. But now, those two words from Charles had taken all the happiness away. Watch your mother.
What did he mean? What was going to happen to Mom?
Dad pulled me into his arms then, and for the first time in years, I was truly home. I buried my face in his jacket. He smelled like old paper and pine, just like I remembered from my childhood. Like books and the woods behind our old house. It was the same smell from when he used to read to me at night.
But when I pulled back to l
