Chapter1

1:00 AM. The door shuddered under heavy pounding.

I jolted out of bed and rushed barefoot to the door. The second I pulled it open, my mother-in-law, Margaret, grabbed my wrist.

"They got Noah’s results. It's leukemia. The doctor said if we wait, he's gone."

She collapsed the second she finished the sentence. Her dead weight dragged me down; I had to brace myself against the doorframe to keep from falling.

The hallway was packed. My husband, Grant, stood there with his shirt buttoned in the wrong hole.

Serena—his late brother’s widow—stood beside him, holding her eight-year-old son, Noah. In the cramped space, Grant’s posture inclined entirely into her orbit, shielding her from the draft of the hallway.

"Come in."

They flooded through the door. Grant bumped my shoulder as he pushed past me.

His very first move inside my home was to turn toward Serena.

"Give him to me."

"Noah's asleep "

"Give him to me."

When he took the boy, his hands slid smoothly over hers. Their fingers brushed, lingering in the transfer for a split second longer than necessary.

Grant cradled Noah against his chest, lowering his head to nuzzle his chin affectionately against the boy’s forehead.

Margaret was already on the sofa, sobbing loudly.

Serena walked over and sat down right beside him. "Lay him on the sofa."

Grant laid the boy down. He crouched beside the couch, brushing the sweat off Noah's forehead.

Then, he pulled the throw blanket up, tucking it snugly under Noah's chin.

"Grant," I called him.

He looked over his shoulder at me. His hand was still resting flat on the boy's chest.

"The charts."

"Right." He stood up. Serena had already handed him the manila folder. He passed it into my hands.

I opened the file. CBC. Bone marrow biopsy. Blast cells at 87%. High risk.

"He needs a transplant," I stated coldly. "Check the family typing first."

"It's been checked," Serena stood up. "Every immediate family member got typed."

"And?"

"Only one person matched."

She walked right up to me. Grant trailed a half-step behind her, moving like a shadow.

"Molly."

The lamplight from the coffee table hit her face. Her eyes were red, but she wasn't crying.

"Molly is just six," I said.

"I know." Serena's voice cracked flawlessly. "But Daniel has been dead for years. Noah is the only piece of him I have left in this world."

Margaret stood up from the sofa.

"Eve, if it's a match, it's God’s will. Kids recover fast. It's just two or three days of shots and she'll be fine. Molly is a good girl, she’d definitely be willing."

"Seven days," I corrected flatly. "Seven days of stem cell mobilization shots. A harvest under general anesthesia. Three days of sterile observation."

"Then it's seven days. You just have to sit with her."

Grant stood directly in front of me now. Serena stood a half-step to his left.

"Eve, Noah has two weeks, max."

"You're asking me to wheel our six-year-old daughter into an extraction unit?"

"She's the only match."

"Grant. She is your daughter."

He couldn't meet my eyes. Instead, he shifted his weight, closing the narrow gap between him and Serena. A silent, instinctive closing of ranks.

The bedroom door clicked open.

Molly stood in the doorway, barefoot, her stuffed bunny tucked tightly under her arm.

"Mommy, who's crying?"

Margaret rushed over and crouched down: "Molly, sweetie—"

Molly didn't move. She just looked at me. "Is Noah sick?"

I knelt down to her eye level. "Yes."

"Does he hurt?"

"He hurts."

"Then do I need to help him?"

Serena moved up from behind, kneeling on Molly's other side. "If you take a shot for him, he won't hurt anymore. Are you willing to do that?"

Molly looked back at me. "Does the needle hurt?"

"It'll hurt for a few days."

"How many days?"

"Seven days."

She looked down, twisting her bunny's ear. That ear was barely hanging on, held together by just two loose threads.

"Will Mommy be with me?"

"I'll be right with you."

"Then I'll help him," she said softly. "I'll bear it."

She turned and scampered back to her room. At the threshold, she paused and called back, "Aunt Serena, don't cry. Noah will get better."

Serena stayed crouched right where she was, her tears finally spilling over. Grant walked over and knelt beside her. He pulled a tissue from his pocket and offered it to her. His knuckles hovered barely a breath away from her cheek. He held perfectly still, his hand suspended in that intimately close space until she finally took the tissue.

I saw the quiet tension in his arm. Margaret saw it, and immediately looked down at her shoes.

They left right before 3:00 AM. Serena carried Noah out the door. Grant followed close behind, reaching past her shoulder to catch the slipping edge of the child's blanket.

As he tucked the corners down, Serena didn't turn around, but her head tilted imperceptibly backward, leaning into his proximity. From the shadows of the entryway, they looked flawlessly like a family.

Margaret glanced back at the doorway. "Eve, schedule it early."

The door closed.

I stood completely alone in the entryway. I reached into my scrub pocket, found a peppermint, unwrapped it, and put it in my mouth.

From the back room, Molly shifted in her sleep and mumbled, "...I held it in..."

I bit down, shattering the mint against my teeth.