"The call was about Mom," I said.

"Mom?" Dani echoed. "What about her?"

"She didn't die twenty years ago, Dani. Yesterday, she was shot outside her house in San Francisco. The nurse told me I had to come right away if I wanted to see her." Silence followed my words. "Dani? Are you there? Did you hear me?"

"I don't think I did. You're not making sense, Brynn."

"Mom didn't die. She has been alive all these years."

"That's impossible. It has to be a mistake," Dani said slowly.

"That's what I thought until I walked into the hospital room and saw her. She was unconscious, but it was her. It was Mom. But now, she's in critical condition, and I don't know if she's going to make it."

"I don't understand."

"I don't, either, but she was living under another name. She has had a different identity the past twenty years. She has a house in San Francisco. She works at a music school. And she had my number in her phone. She told the nurse to call me and to say she was sorry and that she loved us."

"Sorry about pretending to be dead?"

"She just said she was sorry."

"And the nurse was supposed to call you, not me?" A hurt note entered her voice.

"She didn't have your number. Maybe because you changed your name when you got married."

"But she had yours? And she said to call you?"

"I don't know what her exact words were. You're focusing on the wrong thing, Dani. Mom is alive, but barely. She was shot in the head and the shoulder. She's unconscious."

"Who did it?"

"The police don't know, but they don't believe it was random. Once I showed up and told the inspector that Mom had another life twenty years ago, he wondered if she was in hiding for a reason and if that reason had caught up to her." I paused, thinking the always talkative Dani would jump in with more questions, but she was quiet. "I called Dad," I continued. "He didn't answer or call me back, even though I told him it was important that I talk to him."

"Did you tell him Mom was alive?"

"No. I didn't want to say that on a message."

"Why didn't you tell me yesterday when you got the call?"

"You were at your appointment, and you were happy. I didn’t want to take that away from you, not before I was sure it was Mom."

"All right. Where are you now?" Dani asked.

"I'm in her house. They gave me her purse, so I had her address and her keys. I thought I could find some answers."

"Did you?"

"Not yet."

"Text me the address. I'll leave as soon as I find someone to cover the store."

"Maybe you should just wait, Dani. I can tell you what's going on. I don't want you to be under stress."