This house was amazing.

Ariel and I ran down the halls, peeking into all the rooms, but the best part was the back yard. The pool was covered, but there were fruit trees and a garden back here with all my favorite flowers.

“I love the purple flowers!” Ariel said as she picked one and gave it to me.

I knelt down and slid it over her ear into her hair.

“This is called a lilac,” I told her.  “It’s pretty and smells really good. It even matches those cute light brown eyes.”

“You’re nice!” Ariel giggled.

“How old are you, Ariel?”

I stood back up and walked back toward the house.

“I’m seven years old. Daddy says I’m mature for my age!”

I held her hand. “That you are.”

“Hey, wait.”

She slipped out of my hand and ran into some bushes. I looked, but the bushes covered her up and I didn’t see where she was going.

“Ariel?”

She didn’t respond. I gave the kid a few seconds.

“Ariel?”

Now I started to worry─ anything could’ve happened. A bee could’ve stung her, a kidnapper may’ve grabbed her. I had a flash of that night, when I first heard that Sam was in an accident. If anything happened to Ariel…

“Ariel!” I yelled. “This isn’t—”

She tackled my waist from behind and held out her hands, with three huge strawberries inside of them.

I sighed and wrapped my arms around her. “You worried me! No running off like that unless I know where you’re going.”

“Sorry,” she said, pouting.

She sure knew how to put that pout on.

“Well, come on, it’s time for lunch!” I said, taking Ariel’s hand and popping a strawberry in my mouth.

“Let’s not disappear like that again, okay?” I reminded her.

“Okay, Miss Willow!”

She skipped alongside me as we made our way back into the house.

Ariel ran to her mini-playground and sat on some swings.

“Push me, please, Miss Willow!” she requested.

I sighed and went over to push her. Looking after Ariel was like a dream. She brought me peace during this time.

Maybe when Sam wakes up, I can push him on the swings too. Yeah, he’d think I was corny, but I’ll sit his ass right down here and push him.

Ariel’s bright blond hair swayed in the wind as she went up and dipped back down.

Her airy chuckles and laughs made my day. Darien had such a nice kid.

It made me wonder if I would ever be a mother. I couldn’t even believe I had thought that. I had never wanted to be a mother.

Of course, with that thought in my head, I wasn’t paying attention, and when Ariel came back toward me, I was knocked back.

“Agh!” I cried out.

Oops, that was my bad. There I was, being a clutz again.

“Miss Willow!” Ariel jumped off her swing and knelt down next to me. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, pulling myself up.

Ariel pulled on my arm.

“Come on,” she said. “After a fall like that, you need to eat. Daddy always said that if you ever get hurt, make sure you eat to regain your strength!”

She set her hands on her hips, clearly confident in her father’s wisdom.

I laughed.

“Well then, I guess we’d better eat!”

Ariel brought me into the dining room. It looked like something out of a magazine that showcased expensive furniture for homes just like these.

It was insane. He had so many bedrooms, but it was only him and his daughter. Unless some of his workers lived here?

I sat down next to Ariel, and she pointed at the seat at the end of the table.

“That’s where Daddy sits!” she said. “He’s like the king, and I’m the princess.”

“Definitely seems like something fit for royalty.”

The chefs came out with their plates of food and sat it down on the table in front of us. I thanked them, but they barely nodded as they scurried back to the kitchen.

I’d forgotten real food smelled like this. With my life being so crazy recently, all I’d eaten were cheap hamburgers and French fries.

I took up my fork and was ready to chow down until my phone rang and vibrated against my hip.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Hi, is this Ms. Reign?”

“Yes, who’s calling?” I asked.

“Hello, Ms. Reign, this is the Adventist Hospital, we’re calling to notify you that the expenses quoted to you were wrong. That amount was only applicable to insurance coverage.”

I straightened in my seat and moved the salad around on my plate while Ariel chowed down. I hadn’t actually heard any real numbers, but they probably thought I was my mom. I didn’t correct them; I might actually get some information this way.

“So does that mean it’s actually cheaper?”

“Well, actually it will come out to be about twenty percent higher.”

I dropped my fork. “What?”

This was insane. She rolled off a list of numbers on the phone by way of explanation, but they were too much. I’d have to strip twenty four hours a day, seven days a week in order to bring that in. That still probably wouldn’t be enough.

And then she told me that if they didn’t get the first payment of thirteen thousand dollars in two weeks, then they would no longer be able to treat Sam.

They’d just let my brother die? Over money?

“I’ll… have to think about this and call you back later,” I told the woman on the phone.

“Okay,” she said, saying it more like a question than a sentence.

I was sure she was thinking, What is there for her to call me back about?

And there really wasn’t anything. I just hated feeling so powerless, and kept hoping that some new answer I hadn’t thought of would come to me.

“Are you okay, Miss Willow?” Ariel asked, looking up at me with big eyes, her fork frozen in the air where she was holding it in front of her mouth after just having taken a bit.

“I hope so,” I told her, and willed myself to try to be strong for her sake.