Chapter 13: Keep It

I looked at the card in Maeve's hand and did not take it yet.

"You can't give me her heart back," I said. "If I took it you'd be dead by Friday."

"I know that."

"And Katie would lose it twice."

Maeve's mouth shook.

"So keep it," I said.

She stared at me.

"Keep it, and listen to me. I'm not saying it to be kind. I'm saying it because it's hers, and I won't have it stop beating to make a point."

"Deirdre."

"You say all of it on the record. Today, to a lawyer. And then again, out loud, in front of the people Dad cares about."

The monitor climbed a little.

"In front of Dad?" she whispered.

"In front of everyone."

She was quiet for a long moment.

Then she did something I hadn't expected.

She reached for her phone on the tray and held it out to me with a number already on the screen.

"She's not Dad's lawyer," Maeve said. "I found her in August. I kept putting off calling."

"August."

"I wanted to be sick enough that I wouldn't have to." She swallowed. "Call her. Please."

I rang the number and said who I was.

The woman on the line said she could be there within the hour, and that Maeve was not to sign anything until she arrived.

When I hung up, Maeve was holding the card out again.

This time I took it.

The corner was bent where she had gripped it every night, and the blue ink cake had a candle on it with a tiny flame.

I put it in my pocket, next to the wool bracelet on my wrist.

"Will you forgive me?" Maeve asked.

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