Tears filled my eyes as he met my gaze.

“Lily made it to the hospital before stopping the car,” he said. “The staff came out immediately when they saw Kathy’s condition. Only after your mother-in-law was taken inside did your daughter finally stop moving long enough for us to step in.”

He paused, watching me take it in, then added the sentence that made my strength falter.

“Ma’am, your daughter wasn’t running from us. She was trying to save your mother-in-law’s life.”

I bent forward, gripping the edge of the chair until the room steadied.

“Is Kathy…” I couldn’t finish.

“She’s fine,” he said quickly. “She’s stable.”

I nodded as tears slipped down my face. After a moment, he said, “You can go in now.”

I stood, wiped my cheeks once, and opened the door.

Lily looked up so fast her chair scraped loudly against the floor. Her face crumpled the moment she saw me.

“Mom…”

I crossed the room in three quick steps and pulled her into my arms. “I’m here,” I whispered into her hair. “I’m here, baby.”

She pulled back just enough for me to see her face. “Mom, I didn’t know what else to do.”

“I know, honey… I know.”

“I tried calling and then my phone…” she sobbed. “I thought if I waited, something worse would happen.”

I cupped her face gently, then sat across from her and held her hands.

“Sweetheart, why didn’t you just wait by the road and wave someone down? You could have gotten hurt.”

Her chin trembled. “Because I didn’t want to just wait. All I could think about was that Grandma needed help. I kept looking at her, and I just… I couldn’t stand there hoping someone would come in time.”