Page 54 (1/2)
“I’ in ait wasn’t the answer he wanted, knowing, too, that there was nothing else to say
“Tell me about this miracle,” he said, “tell me about life with another man’s heart What will it be like?”
He said the words easily, as if he were asking for a bedtime story, but she saw the truth in his eyes, the fear he was asking her to assuage He did want a bedti to in the darkness of his pain, a reason to keep believing
She moved closer to the bed “I had this patient once, his name was Robert, and he came to us as broken as you are He waited four months for a donor, and when finally one was found, he alh with it He probably wouldn’t have, except that his wife insisted” She son town, and I didn’t hear from him for two years Then, one day, he cairl with him They’d named her Madelaine Allenford Hartfort”
It was a ed and hoarse “Hoill it really be?”
The simple question hurt He’d known that it was a fairy tale, that endings like that were for people who believed in them “You’ll be on medication for the rest of your life You’ll have to eat a heart-healthy diet and you’ll have to exercise Millions of Californians live that way by choice” She tried to smile, but found that she couldn’t She leaned closer, allowed herself to stroke the dael You can still act in er-than-life self Everything that ”
“What about children?”
It took her a second to respond “Did you want children, Angel?”
He gave her a smile that didn’t reach his eyes “Please don’t talk about me in the past tense I’m particularly sensitive” He allowed a silence to slip between them before he finally answered “Yeah, I wanted kids … once I used to wonder so with a blond-haired little boy Course, now …”
Madelaine couldn’t breathe The silence stretched between the Madelaine finally said, “Don’t do that to yourself”
He turned his head slightly, stared at a place just to the left of her head “Next time” His voice fell to a harsh whisper “Next time don’t save me I don’t want to …” He squeezed his eyes shut, but not before she saw the glistening of tears “Not like this …”
And in that azed down at hi in the space of a single breath This h he didn’t know it, wouldn’t ad out to her just like she’d always secretly prayed he would Soirl to care about hiain
He was the old Angel, the boy who’d taken her hand and showed her a whole neorld, the boy who’d cried when he told her he loved her
This man, with his secret dreams of a lost son and his quiet admission of defeat, this man maybe she could trust…
She lurched to her feet and turned away fro on her thumbnail, she walked over to theand stared outside, watching the silver rain fall