Tessa - a telling excerpt

" “Oh, darling, I’m just so glad you’re alive!” Cassie was still in shock, and this display of affection from Marni rippled through her in waves of numb bewilderment. Never had her mother made such raw declaration of concern for her well-being.
Marni continued, “I just don’t know what I’d do if you had died and Cassie had lived.”