Chapter 8: AB Cannot Make O

Terrence's POV

At three in the morning the unit was quiet except for the pumps.

I stood at the foot of Lottie's bed with her chart in my hand and read the blood type for the fifth time.

O negative.

The same as mine.

I had known it for hours, and I had only let myself look at it as a number.

Hannah was asleep in the chair, with her head tipped back and her mouth a little open.

She had one hand on the rail of the bed.

I had not let myself look at her much, either.

Six years ago I had looked at her one whole night, and it had taken me a long time to stop.

I put the chart under my arm and went to the nurses' station.

On the computer I pulled the cards from the day before.

The night nurse had logged Sawyer's finger-prick.

AB positive.

It was the same type that Sammy's father had to have.

I had been almost sure of that for three years, and now I was sure.

Hannah's file was open under Lottie's.

Mother, A positive.

I sat there with the letters on the screen and did the arithmetic every medical student learns.

An A mother and an AB father can have a child who is A, B or AB.

They cannot have a child who is O.

It is not a rare exception, and it is not a lab error.

I ran the card again myself, by the bed, with a fresh drop from Lottie's heel.

It came up O.

I washed my hands and stood at the sink a long time.

Then the timeline hit me.

It was March when Hannah and Sawyer had split for a month, and she and I had spent one snowed-in night at the family cabin.

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