"You are. You always have been." Mom reached up, brushing a strand of hair from my face with a gentleness that undid me completely.

"It's why you survive, Angie. It's why you'll keep surviving. But survival isn't the same as living. And right now, you have something worth living for."

She looked down at my stomach, and something in her expression cracked just slightly, just for a moment.

"I wasn't there for you the way I should have been. After Iona passed away and after everything. I told myself I was giving you space, letting you heal, but the truth is..." She swallowed hard. "I didn't know how to help....