He nodded, his eyelids slowly drooping. "Then… I'll wait for you. Don't forget, okay?"
"I won't..." I whispered.
Watching him drift off to sleep, I felt something twist deep inside me. I wanted to hold his hand, to stay beside him but the guilt was suffocating me. I wasn't supposed to be here. Not like this. Not under a lie.
I stood up quietly, afraid that even the smallest sound might wake him. For a long moment, I just stood there, watching him sleep.
Before leaving, I gently pressed a kiss to Cairo's forehead. My chest tightened at how pale and fragile he looked.
I tried to hold myself together, but my emotions broke through anyway.
I had been a bad mother—a coward—for not trying harder to learn about his condition from Bern. I knew he was seriously ill, yet I had done nothing. I felt utterly powerless to help him get better.
Instead of being there to comfort him, to care for him as a mother should, I had been nowhere near him when he needed me most.
