Thomas's eyes bulged in shock the moment he saw the women standing before him.
Time seemed to freeze. His breath caught in his throat, and for a second, the world fell utterly silent. They were stunning—radiant, even—with warm smiles and eyes full of life.
But that wasn't what shook him. It was the fact that he knew them. Intimately. Painfully.
The last time he had seen them, they had been charred and mangled beyond recognition, their bodies little more than scorched lumps of flesh pulled from the twisted wreckage of a burning car.
The image had haunted his nightmares ever since. Yet here they were now—whole, alive, and impossibly beautiful.
They were the two most important women in his life.
"Mom?" he choked out, his voice trembling.
"Colleen!" he cried, louder this time, taking a step forward before freezing again.
His mother stood there, just as he remembered her—soft features, kind eyes.
