Claire's POV
Louis' POV
Louis didn't move. The colour had drained from his face entirely. He looked like a man standing at the edge of something he couldn't come back from.
And then, so quietly I almost didn't catch it. "Mum."
Just that one word. But the way it came out of him, raw and unguarded, made my throat tighten instantly. He sounded nothing like the man I knew. He sounded like a boy who wasn't sure he deserved to be there.
My heart pinched.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I pressed my hand gently to the small of his back and said nothing.
His grandmother reached up to cup his face in both hands. "She's going to want to see you when she wakes up. She's going to be so glad you came."
"I should have come sooner," Louis said. His voice was barely holding.
"You're here now," his grandfather said firmly. "That's all that matters."
Louis gave a single nod. Then he stepped closer to the bed, until he was standing at his mother's side, looking down at her.
