Chapter 23: Recovery

I went down the stairs with the donor advocate at my elbow.

I stopped on the last landing, where nobody in the lobby could see me.

Diane stood by the front desk in a camel coat.

Beside her was the family doctor, holding a briefcase and looking at the floor.

Two security guards had come between them and the lifts.

"I am her mother," Diane was saying. "I have every right to be on that ward."

"Mrs. Ashcroft," said the taller guard, "you're not on the list."

"What list?"

"The list the donor made."

Ethan stood a little way off with his hands in his pockets.

He had not raised his voice once.

He had a young man in a grey suit beside him, a lawyer of Richard's, who held out a long envelope.

"This is an order from the court," the lawyer said.

"Mrs. Ashcroft may not approach Molly Dudley, directly or through anyone else, until Miss Dudley withdraws it."

"That is absurd."

"And this," said the lawyer, taking out a second envelope, "is from the state medical board, for the family doctor."

The doctor's briefcase hit the tiles.

Diane turned.

Her face had gone hard, for the first time in front of strangers.

"I did everything for her," she said to the room. "Do you know what it is to watch your child die?"

I came out from the landing.

She saw me, and her face opened, wide and hopeful.

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