Never Divorce a Wife Who Loves You Deeply novel · Chapter 11 of 32

Chapter 11: The Garden

I gripped the crutches until the foam squeaked.

"Friday at ten," I said.

She smiled.

"Wear something with long sleeves," she said. "That arm is depressing."

She walked out past the desk.

On Friday Cal drove me to the children's hospital.

The new wing was five stories of glass with Dalton Builders on a banner across the scaffolding that was still up on one side.

The garden was in a courtyard between the old building and the new one.

Raised beds of lavender. A small round fountain. Benches with brass plates on them.

At the entrance was a stone with a bronze plaque.

The Kristy Dalton Garden. For every child who needs a song.

There were about a hundred people on white folding chairs.

Doctors, donors, a row of kids from the pediatric floor in wheelchairs, and three news cameras at the back.

Cal found me a chair on the aisle near the front.

"I'll be at the back," he said. "By the cameras."

Scott saw me before I sat down.

He didn't smile.

He nodded once.

His mother was in the front row in lavender, to match the garden.

Joey sat beside her in a tiny navy suit with his bear in his lap.

He saw me and turned all the way around in his seat.

For a second his face lit up, the old way, before he remembered.

Then he turned back around and put his head on his grandmother's arm.

The hospital president spoke first.

Then Scott went to the podium.

"Three years ago I lost my wife," he said. "Kristy loved children, and she loved music. She'd sing to anybody who would listen." He smiled at the kids in wheelchairs. "So we wanted a place where kids could come out of those rooms and just breathe for a while."

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