Diane's POV
"Diane," he breathed, relief washing over his features. "How is she? How's your mother?"
Before I could answer, Dr. Chen approached from behind me. "Mr. Andrew, so good to see you again."
Andrew nodded distractedly, his eyes never leaving my face. "Helena? Is she...?"
"She had a heart attack," I said, my voice steadier than I expected. "They say it was brought on by stress. She's stable now."
His face crumpled, decades of regret etching deeper lines around his eyes. "This is my fault. All of it."
"Let's not assign blame right now," Dr. Chen interjected diplomatically. "What matters is that Helena rests and recovers. We'll be discharging her tomorrow hopefully, but she'll need to avoid stress and take it easy for a while."
Andrew nodded, composing himself with visible effort. "Of course. Whatever she needs."
The three of us walked together toward my mother's room, an awkward silence hanging between us.
