She crept into the living room, treading carefully so as not to wake Paul. She was surprised to find him sitting up in her recliner, his cell phone propped to his ear. He glanced up when she entered and waved her over as he continued his conversation.

“Yes, Ma’am I get it. It’s going to be okay, I promise.” He placed his hand over the receiver and mouthed your mom and Deven’s eyebrows shot to her forehead.

“My mom?” she mouthed back. “At this hour?”

Paul gave a sheepish grin before directing his attention back to the phone. “Yes, I know Ms. Iris. I will be sure to tell Deven to call you, okay?” Pause. “Your daughter.” Another pause. “No, that’s Kennedy. Your other daughter, Deven.”

Deven tried not to let his words bother her as she sank to the sofa to wait for him to finish. Finally, he hung up and sat back with a lazy smile. He seemed a little disoriented, so it was obvious Iris had woken him up out of a dead slumber.

“Paul, I’m so sorry. I didn’t even know my mom had your number.”

“Yeah, we talked a few times after your father passed. I believe he may have given it to her in the event she had questions or just needed support. That was the first time I’ve spoken to her in a while.”

Deven nodded. It made sense. “What did she say?”

“It wasn’t a good day but she asked her nurse to call me so she could talk.”

“About Dad?”

Paul frowned. “I don’t think she remembered that’s where she knew me from. She just talked a lot about herself actually. Regrets, mistakes, wishing she could’ve given her girls a better life.”

Deven didn’t want to verbalize how she felt the exact same way.

“Did you tell her?” Paul asked then. “About your sister?”

“I can’t do that to her. Kennedy was her baby, her favorite. That would crush her.” It pained her to think about putting her mom through that anguish. Eventually it would come to that. But she preferred to delay the inevitable as long as possible.

“Take things slow,” Paul said. “But don’t avoid it. So, what’s your thoughts on the will situation? Since you said Keith denied knowing about it.”