Chapter 16: The Offer

Della's POV

The hospital lifted my suspension on Friday, in a two-line email from the chief executive.

It said the review was complete and I could return to the schedule.

It did not say sorry, and I did not need it to.

By Saturday night I was back on the unit, in the family lounge at three in the morning, rocking a baby who was not mine.

Her mother had finally fallen asleep down the hall.

The baby weighed three pounds and two ounces and had a grip on my finger that I would have bet money on.

"You're good at that," Camille said from the doorway.

I did not startle.

I had known the sound of her shoes on that floor for three weeks.

"You're not on the volunteer list," I said.

"I'm a donor, Della. Donors can visit."

"You're a donor with a banned badge."

"I came through the front desk." She smiled. "A woman at the front desk likes me."

She was wearing the gray sweater again and no jewelry.

Her hair was neat, and she looked like someone who had slept well.

The bank had frozen every outgoing wire on the foundation's account at ten past ten on Thursday, with me standing in the lobby on the phone.

Colt had told her she had until Friday to leave the beach house.

She had left it, and from the look of her she had left it without a quarrel.

"Don't get up," Camille said. "May I sit?"

"No."

She sat down in the armchair across from me anyway and folded her hands in her lap.

"I want to make you an offer," she said. "I'd like you to hear all of it before you say anything."

"I'm listening to the baby."

"Fine. Listen to both."

She took a long envelope out of her bag and laid it on the table between us.

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