Chapter 6 - Lily’s Room
Mara’s daughter was not dying from her condition.
That was the first thing I learned at St. Anne’s Children’s Hospital.
She was dying because her surgery had been postponed twice.
Mara and I entered separately.
I wore a baseball cap.
She used the employee entrance with an old visitor badge.
Lily was pale beneath the hospital blanket.
Machines surrounded her bed.
When Mara saw her daughter, she nearly collapsed.
“Mommy?”
Lily’s voice was weak.
Mara ran to her.
I turned away.
Some moments should not have witnesses.
After several minutes, a cardiologist named Dr. Shah entered.
His reaction to Mara surprised me.
“Where have you been?”
Mara stared at him.
“What?”
“We’ve been calling you.”
“My phone was taken.”
Dr. Shah looked confused.
“Taken by whom?”
Mara looked at me.
I nodded.
“My employer.”
Dr. Shah’s face hardened.
Then he pulled me into the hallway.
“Are you Daniel Whitmore?”
“Yes.”
He stared at me.
“I’ve been trying to contact you.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why?”
“Because your wife called this hospital four days ago.”
“What did she say?”
“She said Mara had suffered a psychiatric breakdown.”
I looked through the glass toward Lily.
“She requested that Mara be removed as medical decision-maker.”
I could barely process the words.
“On what authority?”
“She claimed your family foundation would assume financial responsibility.”
“What family foundation?”
Dr. Shah’s expression changed.
“The Whitmore Children’s Foundation.”
I founded that charity after my first son died.
Its purpose was to pay for pediatric treatment.
I suddenly understood Claire’s leverage.
She had not merely threatened Mara.
She had used my charity to control Lily’s care.
“Show me everything.”
Dr. Shah hesitated.
“You’re not the legal guardian.”
“Then show Mara.”
He nodded.
Twenty minutes later, we were looking at authorization forms.
The signature approving Lily’s transfer was mine.
Except I had never signed it.
Mara stared at the page.
“She told me Daniel had approved it.”
I felt sick.
Dr. Shah pointed to another entry.
“There was also a medication change requested.”
My eyes narrowed.
“What change?”
“A sedative was added after Lily became anxious.”
Mara’s face drained.
“I never approved that.”
Neither had Dr. Shah.
The order had come through a visiting consultant.
Dr. Marcus Vale.
I looked at Mara.
She looked back at me.
Claire had not simply threatened Lily.
May you like
She had already put her hands on the child.
And if we were going to save her, we could not wait until Friday.
