“And more importantly, marrow,” Judy interjected.
There was a knock on the door and they all looked over to see Dr. Drinkwater stick his bald head in the door. He was short, chubby, and African-American, with a good sense of humor. “Whoa, do you have room for me in there? It doesn’t look that way.”
“Come on in,” Mary answered, and everybody moved aside as Dr. Drinkwater approached the bed with a warm smile.
“How are you feeling, Mary?”
“Good, thanks. Am I going home today?”
“I’d like to take a few minutes to examine you, then ask a few questions.” Dr. Drinkwater hesitated, glancing around. “Would you rather do that in private?”
Mary smiled. “No, don’t worry about it. Everybody here is family.”
“Everybody?” Dr. Drinkwater asked, his dark eyes bright with amusement behind his tortoiseshell glasses.
“Everybody,” they all answered in unison, then started laughing.
“EVEN YOU, DOC!”
Everybody laughed again, including Dr. Drinkwater, who turned to Mary, getting down to business. “So how’s the headache?”
“Comes and goes. Less often than before.”
“How’s the pain, scale of one to ten?”
“One.”
“Any dizziness?”
“No.”
“Nausea?”
“All gone. Can I leave today?”
“Yes, and your discharge papers will explain your wound care. You got twelve staples back there, so follow the directions.”
“Okay.” Mary smiled, happy to be leaving. They’d shaved a bald spot into the back of her head, but she had a new perspective on the importance of hair. She almost thought her head bandages looked cute, like that injured emoji.
“If you experience nausea, vomiting, seizures, loss of consciousness, or any change in mental status, go to the ER right away.”
“Will do.”
“Take it easy for the next two weeks. No reading, no TV. No work, no excessive exercise.”
“Not a problem.”
“In addition, you’ll have to return for a follow-up CT scan in two weeks, and don’t worry, it won’t affect the baby. None of the tests we ran will affect the baby.”
Mary must have heard him wrong. “What baby?”
Anthony looked over. “What baby?”
“MARE, DID HE SAY ‘BABY’?”
Dr. Drinkwater looked from Anthony to Mary, with a smile. “Oh my. Did you not know, Mary? You’re pregnant.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Here’s where I get to say thank you to those experts who helped me with this book, which contains information beyond my ken.
The ethical quandary at the heart of this book is actually a cutting-edge question in legal ethics. I didn’t intend it that way, it just happened, which doesn’t sound impressive but is absolutely true. As soon as I thought of the question and didn’t know the answer, I consulted one of the foremost experts in legal ethics in the country, who just happened to be an old friend of mine, Lawrence Fox, Esq.
Larry heads the Ethics Bureau at Yale Law School, and as soon as I posed my question to him, he said that would make an excellent question for the class, and to make a long story short, I ended up on a conference call with twenty legal geniuses at Yale Law, who undertook this legal issue as part of their course. I won’t tell you how they all came out, because there is a clear divide of authority that I exploited ruthlessly for this novel, but suffice it to say that I think they all deserve an A+. I thank them here for their support, especially to Larry, who gave me the benefit of his scholarly wisdom as well as his decades of practice as a Philadelphia lawyer, and that’s saying something. If you are interested in legal ethics, you should read his wonderful and enlightening book, Red Flags: A Lawyer’s Handbook on Legal Ethics.
Another group who deserves major thanks here is the incredible group of physicians, nurses, and staff at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, whom I admire so much that I dedicated the book to them. I knew that I couldn’t write this novel without their medical expertise, and I wanted to honor what is a difficult experience for the families of critically ill children.
So I contacted Amy Burkholder, who runs communications for CHOP, and she put me in touch with the amazing Stephanie Fooks-Parker, Anne Wohlschlaeger, Megan Atkinson, and Patricia Hankins. This powerhouse hosted my assistant/best friend, Laura Leonard, and me for an entire day at CHOP, giving us a careful tour of the Blood & Marrow Transplant Unit and giving us the same orientation that a parent whose child was about to receive a bone marrow transplant would be given. We learned more than I could have hoped, and we even met Dr. Stephan Grupp, director of CHOP’s Cancer Immunotherapy Program, an amazing doctor who’s using his considerable superpowers to try to save the lives of children every day.
Thank you to everyone at CHOP for everything they do for children all around the world. I saw firsthand how much they care about their young patients, and I am deeply grateful to them for taking the time to explain their work to me, down to the smallest detail. And my hat is off to the parents and siblings with family members being treated at CHOP. You exemplify strength, devotion, and the true meaning of love.
For criminal law answers, thanks so much and a great big hug to my dear friend, the brilliant public servant Nicholas Casenta, Esq., chief of the Chester County District Attorney’s Office. Thank you (again) to Detective Thomas Gaul of the Homicide Division of the Philadelphia Police Department.
Thank you to my genius editor, Jennifer Enderlin, who is also the senior vice president and publisher of St. Martin’s Press, yet she still finds the time to improve every one of my manuscripts, including this one. Thank you so much, Coach Jen! And big love and thanks to everyone at St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan, starting with the terrific John Sargent, Don Weisberg, and Sally Richardson, plus Jeff Dodes, Lisa Senz, Brian Heller, Jeff Capshew, Brant Janeway, Erica Martirano, Jordan Hanley, Tom Thompson, John Karle, Sara Goodman, Samantha Davis, Anne-Marie Tallberg, Kerry Nordling, Elizabeth Wildman, Caitlin Dareff, Talia Sheer, Kim Ludlum, and all the wonderful sales reps. Big thanks to Michael Storrings, for outstanding cover design for the series. Also thanks to Mary Beth Roche, Laura Wilson, Samantha Edelson, and the great people in audiobooks. I love and appreciate all of you!
Thanks and love to my agent, Robert Gottlieb of Trident Media Group, whose dedication guided this novel into publication, and to Nicole Robson, Emily Ross, and Trident’s digital media team, who help me get the word out on social media.
Many thanks and much love and hugs to the amazing Laura Leonard. She’s invaluable in every way, every day, and has been for over twenty years. Laura, I love you! Thanks, too, to the great Nan Daley and to George Davidson, for doing everything else, so that I can be free to write!
Finally, thank you to my amazing daughter, Francesca, for all the support, laughter, and love.