"I should have called sooner, but it's been so hard. My husband... Jordan... he has cancer... can you please tell Celeste for me? And if someone from the family needs to come, I can come with Orion. But we really can't help with the preparations. I hope you can understand."
And that was the only thing Celeste could remember that night before she had to leave the hospital. Everything mashed together into a blur of words and gentle touches. Mainly Tiel, rubbing her back as she silently cried, the betrayal she felt inside.
Of course, she knew she should have come. She could have said something to them, knowing what Avond did to her father. But it had been so difficult, so uncomfortable, and she had taken her father's health for granted. So this was the last thing she expected.