“It slays!” Faith informed me with an utterly straight face. She added a splotch of some teal, the tip of her little tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth. “This is gonna look so good in my bedroom … when I finally get out of here.”

I blinked furiously, turning to Harper in the hopes that I could pull myself together before either Ellie or Faith noticed me falling apart. These girls needed me to be strong for them.

Harper’s piece—a sunrise with an angel rising into the sky, the sunlight bouncing off his feathers—was utterly beautiful. She had a fine future ahead of her as an artist if that was what she wanted to do. If she made it to adulthood …

I patted her on the shoulder, trying to focus on something positive. “The way you’ve blended those colours is next level, Harper, and the detail on those wings is sublime.”

Harper beamed at me, adding some more white to the very tips of the wings. “I dreamed about an angel watching over Ellie, making sure she gets through this next round of chemo without feeling too sick. This is him.” She tilted her head to the side, dabbing another blob of white. “I think I’m going to call him Simeon.”

My heart was one tiny crack away from breaking for the three of them today.

I wrinkled my nose to hold the tears in. “Simeon … that’s an interesting choice.”

Harper shrugged. “I like it. And it’s from the bible, so⁠—”

The door burst open, and in bustled Sally, one of the regular nurses, sporting a grin that somehow gave me chills.

“Jemma, I’ve got such a surprise for you!” She could barely get the words out, she was giggling so hard. Her round cheeks were flushed a hectic pink. If she stood next to Faith’s ‘slay’ artwork, she’d blend right in.

“Uh … you do?” I asked as all the girls turned, curiosity getting the better of them, too.

“How you’ve kept him a secret, I’ll never know! If he was mine, I’d be telling every stranger in the street!”

Realisation hit me like a truck, and my stomach lurched, sinking lower as a tall, broad shadow appeared in the doorway. An all too familiar tall, broad shadow.

“Hello, Mouse,” Satan Junior smirked, his hands in his pockets, his eyes twinkling with devious delight. A visitor sticker was emblazoned across his chest.

“Mouse! He has a nickname for you!” Sally gushed, the rest of her face joining her hot pink cheeks.

Ooooh, I hated him! And I cursed myself for not being more on my guard today. I should have known, as soon as he’d shown an interest in my hospital visits, that he’d turn up to make my life miserable!