“What was the doctor’s name?”
“Dr. Soledad Castillo. She died soon after Mindy was born, barely a year later. I saw her obituary in the paper.”
“Can you tell me the circumstances of the adoption?”
She takes a steadying breath and tells him the story.
He sits in silence, absorbing. “You don’t have the name of the mother?”
“No. She was a young, scared Hispanic teenager. She probably lied to Dr. Castillo about her identity anyway.”
“Thank you for being honest with me, Lauren. At least armed with this information, we can single out the donors and try for an ancestral genetic match.”
“You’re going to look for Hispanic donors, you mean?”
“Correct. It might help. Now—” he steeples his fingers, and she braces herself. “Would you be willing to do a public plea?”
“A public plea?”
“Yes. Since we won’t have the adopting doctor’s help... A friend of mine works for Channel 9. Mindy is a local hero. It’s a no-brainer local interest story. We ask for anyone who might know the birth mother to come forward—they can do it anonymously if they want—and also ask for people to submit to testing to see if they’d be a match.”
She is already half out of her chair. How could he? My God, it’s bad enough she is in this situation, to go on the news and talk about it?
“No. Hell no. Absolutely not.”
“Lauren, it wouldn’t only be Mindy we’d be helping. There are more people, more children, who need stem cell transplants. To get people to sign up for the donor registry would have lasting implications. So many lives could be changed. The Hispanic database isn’t as populous—”
“We will not be an infomercial. And we have no intention of telling Mindy we are not her biological parents.”
His smile is sad now, and she feels dirty somehow, that she’s disappointed him.
“Lauren, it may be outside of my purview here, but is hiding the truth from her truly in her best interest?”
“It is none of your business.”
“It most certainly is my business.” Dr. Oliver is on his feet now, too. She’s never seen him lose his cool; he is dangerously close to yelling. “My job is to provide the finest care I can to my patient. And Mindy is my patient, Lauren, not you. This situation is bigger than you or your feelings, even your privacy. Your daughter will die if we don’t find her a match. Do you understand me? She will die. We have no recourse. We must go public and try to find her biological family.”
This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening.
She feels light-headed, nauseated. Her whole world is slipping away from her, out from under her. She starts to go down, but strong, familiar arms catch her.
“Jasper. I’m so glad you’re here,” she hears Dr. Oliver say. “I was just explaining to Lauren an option—”
“I heard,” Jasper says. “Honey, are you okay?”
Lauren shakes her head; it is buzzing, she is going to faint.
“Maybe Dr. Oliver can get you some water.”
“Of course. I’ll be right back.”
Dr. Oliver pulls the door closed behind him, and Lauren collapses into Jasper’s arms. A sob wrenches from her chest. “We can’t. We can’t tell her. Not now. Not yet.”
He kneels on the floor in front of her. “Lauren, we have to. We have to save her life, and if that means sharing the truth, we will do it. She’s not going to feel differently about you, I swear it. She adores you. She might be mad for a little while, but we’ll make her see reason. I think a public plea is a good idea. We’re out of options otherwise. Please, Lauren. She’s my daughter, too, and I don’t want to lose her.”
“Jasper, I can’t believe all of this is happening. I feel like our whole world is collapsing.”
“It’s not, but if Mindy dies, it most certainly will. Please, Lauren. See reason.”
She has never felt such bone-wrenching fear before as she does when the words come out of her mouth. “You’re right. I know you’re right, and the doctor is right, but my God, we’re going to blow up her world.”
And mine.
“Her world blew up a month ago when she crashed and was diagnosed.”
She sits with it for a minute, then nods, feeling Jasper relax, hearing his sigh of relief. What would he do if she said no? Tell Mindy anyway, and be damned with her? He is doing the right thing for his daughter, and to hell with his wife.
Oddly, she feels a spark of respect for him. He is always so kind and gentle and sweet; she’s never seen him defiant before. She supposes that’s what makes him such a good trial attorney, and he normally leaves that personality trait at work. Or maybe she just doesn’t know her husband as well as she thinks she does. Perhaps he’s been hiding things from her as well. She’s spent their entire marriage focused on Mindy first and foremost; it’s certainly possible.
“All right. If we’re going to do this, we should tell her now. I can’t get behind a public plea, though. I can’t do it.”
“But—”
“Wait, hear me out. We can ask Juliet to look for the mother. I’ll give her every detail I can remember, and help her any way I can, but I can’t get on television and broadcast our lives for the whole world to see. It could damage Mindy’s chances of making the Olympic team when she recovers. I won’t do anything that might impact her public future. Deal?”
“Deal.” He pulls her into his arms. “Oh, baby, you’re making the right choice here. I’ll call Juliet right now, and then we’ll talk to Mindy together.”
He kisses her forehead and hugs her close. Cowering in his arms, she tells herself it is going to be okay. Seventeen years is a long time. She is lucky she’s made it this far. She can only hope that if the whole truth comes out, Mindy won’t hate her. She couldn’t bear that.
And all the while, the rational, calm voice in the back of her mind, the one she avoids connecting to at all costs, laughs and laughs.
“I know we’ll be able to find her, Lauren. I know it in my heart.”
She nods into his hair and whispers, “The mother’s name was Graciela.”
28
DENVER, COLORADO
Juliet is getting out of the shower when her phone rings. She is surprised to see Jasper’s number on her display. She punches the Talk button, suddenly frightened.
“Hey, is everything okay?”
“Hi, Juliet. Yes, it is. We just need your help, that’s all.”
“Anything.”
“She told me. She told me everything. I know you know the truth.”
Juliet heaves out a breath. “Oh, thank God. Now what?”
“We’re telling Mindy shortly. But we need you to do something. The doctors are getting worried about finding a match. Lauren and I would like you to look for Mindy’s biological family.”
Juliet can’t deny the charge she feels. What a relief. She will be able to cover her tracks now. But she is careful; she doesn’t want Jasper knowing she’s gone rogue on them already. “Without a crime involved, I can’t do it through CBI, you know that.”
“Right, but you’re an investigator. We thought you might be able to interview some of the hospital staff, see if they’ll release the doctor’s files to you, that sort of thing. With a name, perhaps we can reach out to them directly and ask for them to consider donating for a possible match. Kind of like our own private eye. We’ll pay you, of course.”
“Oh, no you won’t. I’m happy to do it. I have to admit, I’ve already started looking into the doctor, and unfortunately, she’s been dead for a long time. But I can make some calls and see if I can shake anything loose on that front.”
“Lauren told me the girl’s name was Graciela. If that helps.”
“Oh, wow. She told me she didn’t remember.”