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I said: Mom.
She said: you’re home early.
I said: yes.
She said: I’m sorry I’m down here.
She said it immediately.
She said: Gabriel said they needed the room. I didn’t want to cause trouble.
I said: you didn’t cause anything.
She said: Danny came and they wanted to watch the game.
I said: yes.
She said: I can manage down here.
She said it with the specific terrible bravery of a woman who has spent seventy years making herself small enough to fit.
I said: you are not going to manage down here.
I said: you’re coming upstairs.
She said: Gabriel.
She said it with the question again.
I said: I’ll handle Gabriel.
I helped her up.
She was lighter than she had been when she arrived.
Three weeks of chemotherapy and a system that could barely keep food down.
She was lighter and she moved carefully and she was apologizing while I helped her up the stairs, one step at a time, apologizing for the stairs and for the difficulty and for inconveniencing me.
I brought her to the guest room.
Gabriel and Danny were still there.
I said: Danny, thank you for visiting. You need to go now.
Danny looked at Gabriel.
Gabriel started to say something.
I said: Danny. Please leave.
Danny stood up.
He said: good to see you, Sara.
He left.
Gabriel said: Sara.
I said: get out of this room.
He said: this is my house.
I said: Gabriel, I want you to get out of this room right now.
He looked at my face.
He left.
I helped my mother into the bed.
I got her the medications she had not taken.
I made her ginger tea.
I sat with her while she drank it.
She said: I shouldn’t have let him.
I said: Mom. You have cancer. You’re on chemotherapy. It is not your job to manage Gabriel’s behavior toward you.
She said: he’s your husband.
I said: yes.
She said: I don’t want to cause trouble between you.
I said: you’re not causing anything.
She said: he said it was important. The game.
She said: I didn’t want to be the reason for a fight.
I said: you are never the reason for the fight, Mom.
She said: I’m not sure Gabriel sees it that way.