They Buried My Mother Quietly, So I Married the Son She Saved novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Competence

The Corliss Health boardroom was on the fourteenth floor, and it had a table long enough to land a small plane on.

Nine board members sat around it.

Anselm sat at the head, hands folded, in his gray suit.

Rafe sat halfway down the side, pale under his tan, one arm held across his ribs.

I sat beside him with a legal pad, as his proxy.

In that room I was the only person who was not a Corliss or somebody's employee.

Nobody had offered me a coffee.

"We are here," said an older board member with a sheet of paper, "to consider the Chairman's motion on the CEO's fitness, in light of last Monday's accident. Dr. Osgood."

Osgood stood.

His right hand stayed in his pocket and his left clicked a pointer.

A graph came up on the wall behind him, a jagged line climbing to the right.

"This is Mr. Corliss's creatinine," he said. "A measure of how well the transplanted kidney is working. On the night of the accident it was 1.9. Twice his baseline."

A murmur went round the table.

"Fourteen years ago I put that kidney into Rafael myself," Osgood went on. His voice was grave and regretful. "I have watched it carefully ever since. It is a marginal graft. A head injury, a chest injury and a rising creatinine are, in my judgment, a serious concern for the company's leadership."

He sat.

Rafe's jaw was working.

I leaned in and said quietly, "Don't speak. Let me."

"Megan, you're the sitter. They'll eat you."

"I'm your proxy," I said. "That's a signature, not a job title."

I stood up.

"May I ask a question?"

"Mrs. Corliss," said the older man, with great patience, "this is a medical review. I'm sure we all appreciate your concern, but the board has Dr. Osgood."

"Then Dr. Osgood can answer. Doctor, what time was the 1.9 drawn?"

He looked at the graph.

"Three hours after the accident. In the ER."

"After a crush injury and nine hours of hypotension on a dying lung. The muscle breaks down, the kidney takes a hit. Everyone in trauma knows that number goes up and comes down."

← Chapter 4 · All chapters · Chapter 6 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend