Chapter 2 She's Gone

PENNY

I roll over, force my eyes open, and slap off my alarm. The initial excitement from the news Jess broke last night has worn off after we spent the better part of the night planning and brainstorming. As it turns out, getting the space is the easy part.

We need funding and my savings have been stretched thin to secure the space and Jess can't get any more loans. I rub my neck and slip out of bed to wash my face.

I know Mom would love to help but I want to show her I can do this.

But how?

My shoulders deflate with a yawn as I push all things business out of my mind. This weekend is about spending it with Mom. I pad out of my room and stroll to hers. I promised I would be there when she woke up and Maria should be waking her up now.

"Good morning," Maria's chirpy voice sounds in the hall outside my Mom's room.

"Hey, Maria." She pushes open the door and we walk in.

"What's on the list today?" I ask, moving for the curtains as she goes to the bed.

"Estela wants to go outside today and she hopes to get a little work done with Lucas," answers Maria. I roll my eyes knowing why she called Lucas.

"Good morning Estela," Maria whispers, gently touching her hand.

The minute I turn from pulling the curtains I know something is wrong. My chest tightens in a bad way as I observe how stiff my Mom looks.

"Estela?" Maria's voice rises a notch and I know she's trying not to panic. She checks the IV line and feels for a pulse and my heart begins to pound with fear.

"Maria?" I can feel the blood drain from my face. "What's wrong?"

Mom looks too white...too lifeless. I rush forward the second Maria curses and throws the blanket aside.

"Estela!" She starts frantically, pushing her hands on her chest. "Estela! Call an ambulance!"

The thought of anything happening to my mother makes a cold terror grip me and root me to the spot.

"Mom?"

"Estela please!" Maria screams. "Penelope call an ambulance!" Her voice jolts me and I dash out of the room madly to get my phone. With trembling hands, I dial and run back into the room.

Minutes pass and nausea knots in my stomach. From the doorway, I watch Maria urgently beating my mother's chest and puffing air into her mouth. Her expression has changed from fear to frenzied panic.

Her cries and pleas echo and fade away in my head. Not even the arrival of the ambulance pulls me from my terrified numbness.

Unable to breathe, powerless to do anything, I watch them try and save my mother.

Try and try as the morning sun cast long shadows on the floor.

Minutes feel like hours. My body trembles, my heart aches and the labored breathing of Maria beside me crashes around my mind. Beneath it all there's a silence, a terrible loaded silence.

One that stretches and morphs as the paramedics slow and finally stop.

I want to scream and beg them to bring her back but the truth strangles out my fire.

My feet move to the bed, my eyes blur with tears, and my mind spins in and out of a daze.

Someone is speaking but I don't hear the words, Maria is behind me, nodding with her hands holding her chest like her heart is bleeding out.

My gaze trains on the delicate face of my mom, the lifeless whiteness, the rigid stillness.

My knees buckle and I sink to the floor with a weak sob. I take her hand and it's cold as ice. Something inside me snaps and a tortured scream rips from my throat.

Estela Castillo is dead.

Lucas has been trying to get me to talk since yesterday. Jess has been trying to feed me. Maria has been staring into space, all her warmth lost.

I'm shattered into several lost pieces unable to bring myself to do anything but cry. My mind is haunted with one thought.

They couldn't save her and I never said goodbye.

"The autopsy results show no foul play." Lucas's voice cuts through the haze and reaches me. "Her heart had an underlying defect and it stopped."

Something so simple has ripped my mother from me. Tears fill my eyes.

Jess wipes her face and laces her fingers through mine as if she could give me her strength when she looks just as drained as me. Her shiny blonde hair hangs in a pitiful ponytail, her beautiful face red and puffy from crying.

My mother was hers too.

"It's rare but not uncommon. Nobody could've known, Pen. I'm sorry," he finishes, clears his throat, and clenches his fists at his sides.

Maria lifts her gaze from the scarf she's cradling and it takes me a moment to remember it belonged to my mom. I hadn't seen her wear it but she always had it with her and never told me who the scarf was from. Whoever gave it to her must've been someone special. I'd like to think it was my father but he died long before I was born and I never knew him or felt any connection when mom talked about him.

Maria meets my eyes for a moment before returning to the scarf.

"I'm here for you, Pen. Just let me know what you need," Lucas says.

There's no need to lie and say I'm fine-I'll never be fine. The hole in my heart will never be filled but that won't make me need anything from him.

From my seat on the couch, I stare up at Lucas and can't tell if he's been crying.

His fine-pressed suit, slicked-back brown hair and dry eyes clash with the heavy somber atmosphere. No matter how hard I try to picture the handsome stoic lawyer he'd become, I've not been able to forget the little sad orphan boy and the sibling-like bond we shared.

"So what's the next step?" I pull my gaze away from him to look at Jess asking.

She tries for a smile of encouragement but it ends up a grimace. My face has forgotten how to smile so my expression is empty and unsettling.

"The will," Lucas states flatly and goes for his briefcase. He drops it on the coffee table and pulls out a thin document.

"I should go," Maria says quietly. She drops the scarf on my lap, and gives me a parting kiss on my head and I'm almost telling her to stay. She's part of the family and hurting just as much but I can't bring myself to say the words.

Her footsteps recede down the hall. The front door opens and closes and a distant noise of a car announces her departure.

I didn't even say goodbye.

"Are you ready?" Lucas asks with a grim expression, then opens the document without getting a response and begins to read. "I, Estela Dominique Castillo, of sound mind and body in the event of my death will my estate, companies, assets, various collections, and all my accumulated wealth to my only daughter, Penelope Lorena Castillo under one non-negotiable condition... That she marries Christian Hilton."

Wait, what?

My mind sharpens into focus as Lucas continues, "Failure to comply with my demand in the next six months will lead to Penelope forfeiting her rights to the inheritance which will be liquidated and distributed among charities and orphanages around the world."

"Marriage? I don't understand," Jess takes the words right out of my mouth.

We both stare at Lucas who speaks slowly and patiently.

"You either marry Christian Hilton or lose your inheritance."

I blink in confusion, feeling something come alive in me once more. "Who is Christian Hilton?"