Kate and Elizabeth stood in the downstairs guest room that they had converted into their mother’s room for her recovery. They knew she wasn’t going to be happy about the fact that she couldn’t stay in her own room, but the small room was cozy and had its own bathroom. Besides, sleeping downstairs meant that she didn’t need to waste energy going up and down the steps and that it would be easy for the girls to hear her if she needed something throughout the day.

“Now that the hospital bed is here, I think we’re ready for her to come home.” Kate surveyed the room, sighing with relief. Days before, making it fit for their mother had seemed like an impossible task.

“Good. Nathan called to say that tomorrow is the day,” Elizabeth said, recalling the very awkward phone call they had shared only hours before. After their tense conversation in his office, she was surprised he had called at all. She had expected his assistant to be the one to let her know when he deemed her mother fit to leave.

“I can’t wait to get her home. Do you think she’ll be up for a big pasta dinner for her homecoming?” Kate knew that their mother probably wouldn’t have an appetite for their traditional meal, but it was how they always celebrated homecomings and getting her out of the hospital certainly merited a celebration.

“I think if we do anything less it’ll make her sad but I don’t think she’ll be able to eat much of it. How about we do the big dinner but add a few milder dishes that we know she’ll be able to eat, like baked chicken?” Elizabeth offered, thinking that it would be the best way to make her mother feel as though things were normal. The cancer was already affecting everything else. They couldn’t let it steal their traditions as well.

“That will be perfect!” Kate grinned as she imagined the expression on their mother’s face when she finally walked through the doors.

“She’ll be so happy,” Elizabeth said with a smile.

“Should we invite any of her friends? And maybe Bill?” It was a part of the tradition to fill the house with familiar faces, but their mother hated for anyone to see her as frail as she had been in the past few weeks.

“I think maybe we should keep it small. We don’t want to tire her out.”

“You’re right. I’m just so excited to have her here. The house isn’t a home without her.” Having Elizabeth home had helped a lot, but it was really their mother who made the old house a home.

“Sadly, that’s very true,” Elizabeth agreed. Since getting off the plane, she had yet to feel like she was truly home and she knew that it was because her mother was still stuck in the hospital.

“I’m so glad you came home. I don’t know what I would do without you.” It was all so overwhelming and Kate wiped a stray tear from her eye.

“I’d never let you face this alone. We’re a family. We face the hard times together.” As she spoke, Elizabeth wrapped her sister in a tight hug.

“Mom and I are going to get spoiled having you here with us for so long.”

“It does feel nice to stay in one place. I think I’ll know mom has her full strength back when she starts pestering me to move home permanently,” Elizabeth said with a chuckle. Since the day she left, her mother had been asking her when she would move back. It was as endearing as it was annoying.

“She wouldn’t be mom if she didn’t.” Kate had been witness to many such arguments between her mother and sister.

“Good old mom. She’s the best.”

“Do you ever think about moving home and settling down?”

“I think about it all the time. I love my job but it was always my original plan to be back here by now,” Elizabeth said, regretting the words as soon as she spoke them.

“Then, why haven’t you moved home yet? With your experience, any hospital would be happy to have you on staff.”

Kate knew that Elizabeth was always very careful not to discuss the future. She had assumed that her sister wanted to keep from hurting their mother, but, in that moment, she wondered if it was because the future was a painful topic for Elizabeth herself.

“Well, my plan was to marry Nathan, go on an adventure together, then settle down back here and start a family.” Elizabeth took a seat on the bed and braced herself to talk about a subject she had always avoided at all costs. In truth, she worked very hard not to think about the future anymore at all. Instead, she focused on the task at hand. She went where she was needed and did the work in front of her. She never planned for more than two or three months. If you make no plans, she learned, then you cannot be disappointed.

“You can still have all that.” Kate sat beside her sister and reached for her hand. Her heart ached as she took in the pain in Elizabeth’s eyes. It was so clear now. She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t realized it sooner.

“I don’t know if I still want it.” Elizabeth shook her head as she fought back tears. She had promised herself long ago that she was done crying about the past, but being home had made it more difficult than usual, even when Nathan was not close by.

“Because of Nathan?” Kate demanded, her voice full of concern.

“I always pictured that future with him.”

“He’s still ruining everything,” Kate growled.

“Kate, please.”

“I saw how upset you got after meeting with him at the hospital.”

“We might have had words.” Elizabeth needed to keep the sadness of yesterday from washing over her. It wasn’t his fault that it still hurt her so much.

“I can’t stand that man. I wish there was anyone else skilled enough to be mom’s doctor.”

“We’re lucky to have him. He’s the best.”

“But to become the best he had to crush your heart. He abandoned you to chase a career.”

“That’s all in the past,” Elizabeth spoke more to herself than her sister.

“Apparently not if you two fought at the hospital the other day.”

“It wasn’t really a fight. It’s just because we haven’t spoken or seen each other since. I overreacted to some things and so did he.” She tried to put their conversation into perspective as she reflected on all that had been said.

“Do you still love him?”

“No,” Elizabeth answered a bit too quickly to be fully believed.

“You answered awfully fast.”

“Okay, maybe I’ll always love him in some way,” Elizabeth said, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. She had spent years denying that truth, but admitting it actually felt freeing. It was nice to be honest with her sister and herself for once.

“Why?” Kate struggled to believe that love could still live where there had been so much hurt and pain.

“Because he was my first love and it was a true love,” Elizabeth looked out the window, remembering just how it had felt to fall in love the only time in her life.

“I hate him!”

“It really bothers him that you feel that way.”

“Good!”

“He was like a brother to you once.”

“Then he made the choice not to be and broke all our hearts.” It surprised Elizabeth to hear Kate admit that. She had known, of course, how much his decision had hurt her sister, but Kate was even more stubborn than her sister and had refused to admit her own pain.

“I know it all hurt you and mom as much as it hurt me.” Elizabeth wrapped a comforting arm around her sister.

“No, it didn’t. It hurt us, but it wrecked you. And I will never forgive him for that.”

“We can’t live in the past, baby.” Elizabeth sighed. It was hard to think about that day, so many years ago, when the future she had planned had been destroyed.

“You’ve been running ever since.”

“And clearly it was the right choice.”

“What do you mean by that?” Kate asked, confused.

“Seeing him now, especially in the hospital where we worked together, is so hard. I don’t know how to be around him because all the old sweet memories trigger nothing but pain now, no matter how hard I try to feel nothing.” Elizabeth finally allowed herself to face the pain she had been in since arriving home instead of running from it.

“I’m so sorry. Maybe you shouldn’t have come home.” Kate’s eyes filled with sadness as she came to fully grasp the extent of her sister’s suffering.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Besides, maybe it’s time I stop running and face it all so I can finally, really move past it,” Elizabeth said, a new resolve forming within her heart. If she could face it all, then maybe she could finally be free of the sadness and move forward.

“I love you so much,” Kate whispered, tears shimmering in her eyes.

“And I love you, Baby Bird.”

“You know I used to hate when you all called me that.”

“I know.” Elizabeth laughed softly, hugging her sister close.

“Now I’ve missed it.”

“What are big sisters for?”

They both knew that they needed to get control of their emotions before their mother came home. She had enough to worry about and she would never be able to focus on her own healing if she felt that her daughters needed her to be there for them. No matter how hard it was going to be to see her suffer through the rest of her treatments, they had to be strong. They had to face it all bravely for their mother and themselves. It was the only way to move forward. Their mother didn’t only preach about the importance of courage and strength in the face of adversity, she lived this message and, since they were little girls, she had filled their hearts with the love and trust in the best possible helper and ally.

“Seek the Lord and His strength,” Elizabeth started reciting the verse.

“Seek His face continually,” Kate completed it, wrapped in her sister’s embrace.