Thanks for Giving

by Chantal, Jillian

  “I hope so. I think everyone should be a donor.” Chip smiled at the woman.

  “I’d like to as well. Can I get the paperwork?” Molly asked.

  “I’ll mail it to you.” Chip bit the words out.

  Stunned at the venom in his voice, Molly recoiled as if she’d been smacked. She backed away from him and Samantha then bolted for the door. She darted outside, wiping the tears that streamed down her face with the back of her hands.

  A blast of cold air hit her as she rounded the corner toward the taxi stand. She hadn’t realized how cold it was since she’d gone from her porch to Chip’s car. The wind was whipping around and the flag flapped and snapped on its pole. She rubbed her arms to try to get the circulation moving again.

  A cab pulled up and she opened the back door. As she stepped in, she heard her name called. Chip came around the corner. Molly shut the door, leaned over the front seat and smiled at the driver. “Thank goodness it’s you, Grant. I don’t have my wallet and I know you’ll wait for me to run in and get it to pay you.”

  “I’ll keep the motor running. Why are you over here with no wallet and no coat? You almost look like you’re escaping from in there. You have on a pajama top, too. Are you making a run for it?”

  “It sure seems like it but no. Can you hurry? I left cake cooking too.” Molly leaned back.

  “Are your parents okay?” Grant peered at her in the rear-view mirror. “They’re not in the hospital, are they?”

  “No, they’re fine and at home. I’m heading over later today. Will you and your brothers be at your folks’ place?”

  “Yep. The game is on for four. I hope you and your team are ready.”

  “Always. We’re going to take you out.” Molly grinned. Grant had grown up next door, and their families had a yearly Thanksgiving rivalry flag football game after dinner settled.

  “Your grandmother couldn’t take us out, Molly.”

  “She has in the past and she will again.”

  “Not this year. She has that cast on her arm from where she fell roller skating two weeks ago.” Grant laughed. “Of course, that was two weeks ago. She’s probably going mountain climbing next week.”

  “You got that right.”

  Grant pulled into Molly’s driveway. She opened the door. “Let me grab my checkbook.” She climbed out.

  “Na. I’ll get the money at the game. Take it out of your hide.” He laughed.

  “Bring it.”

  “No. You bring it.” Grant nodded. “And wear some clothes when you come.”

  She slammed the door but could hear him laughing as he backed away from her house.

  * * * *

  Late that afternoon, after the turkey and trimmings, as well as Molly’s cake that was only slightly charred around the edges, was eaten and partially digested, the flag football players gathered on Grant’s family’s lawn. Molly tied her unruly hair back into a loose ponytail and hooked the belt with the red flag for her team’s side around her waist. She spat on her hands and rubbed them on the thighs of her jeans.

  “You ready?” She grinned at her family members.

  A steel grey Mustang pulled up alongside the curb and Chip got out. He stepped over and shook hands with Molly’s mother.

  “Look who’s here, Molly dear. Do you think we should put Chip on team Touchstone? Lord knows he was here enough as a teenager to be part of the family.” Molly’s mother patted Chip’s hand that was still in hers.

  “I hardly think Chip is here to play football, Mom.” Molly turned to Chip. “What brings you by? I thought you had enough of me this morning.”

  “Interestingly enough, you’re a marrow match for Matthew. We need you to come to the hospital and have the procedure done. Will you do that?”

  “How am I a match? Didn’t you tell me the odds weren’t good unless I was a relative?”

  “Strangely, you and Matt show genetic markers that indicate that you’re closely related through the female line.” Chip smiled at Molly’s mom, who had a shocked look on her face. “I didn’t know you were related to Matt’s mother, Mrs. Touchstone.”

  “Don’t be silly, Chip, we aren’t kin to Matt. There must be some mistake,” Molly said.

  “Maybe we are, Molly.” Her mother whispered the words so softly Molly almost didn’t believe they’d been uttered.

  “What? How?” Molly couldn’t believe it. No way was her mother telling the truth. How could she be?

  “Come over here a minute.” Molly’s mother raised her hand to the crowd and called out, “Molly isn’t going to be able to play. You all go ahead and start.”

  Members of the red team muttered and one cousin yelled, “What do we do for a quarterback then?”

  “Use Thomas. He’s our second-best player,” Molly said.

  Molly, her mother and Chip moved to the side of the house but could still hear the grumbling of the other Touchstone family members as well as Grant crowing that his family would surely win now without Molly.

  “What are you talking about, mom?” Molly asked.

  “When my sister—your aunt Linda—was fifteen, she got pregnant. Our parents sent her to a home for unwed mothers for the last few months and when the baby was born, it was adopted. We were told that the child would be placed, but we had no idea where. The home was over two hundred miles away so we thought the child was given to a family there. It very well could be Matthew. He’d be the right age since she delivered a boy a few months before I delivered you.”

  “Wow, Mom. I had no idea. I’m stunned. What a family secret.” Molly’s legs threatened not to hold her up and she slumped. Before she fell to the ground, Chip wrapped his arm around her waist and held her. The warmth of his touch filled her with a mixture of comfort and anxiety. He’d been so angry with her at the hospital but she recalled how much his touch had always settled her down.

  Chip peered into her eyes. “Are you okay to go have the marrow withdrawal procedure and be the donor for Matt? He really needs you.”

  “Does he know he’s adopted? He’s never said anything.” Molly didn’t know why she needed so desperately to know if he knew, but she did.

  “I think we can all talk about that later, dear. Now’s the time for action, isn’t it?” Molly’s mother said.

  Molly nodded. “Let’s go then.” She pointed to the Mustang. “I’m ready. Let’s go.” She hugged her mom. “Maybe later you can bring me my toothbrush?”

  “I will be there within the hour, honey.”

  Realizing that Chip still had his arm around her, Molly moved a step away. “I hope you’re going to tell me about what I’m in for on the way.”

  “I will. You’ll have to sign a release anyway so I’ll explain it all to you.” He led the way to the car.

  Molly glanced back at the football game, wishing she could join in but knowing she couldn’t. She could barely wrap her head around the fact that Matthew was probably her cousin, much less that she was going to the hospital as a perfectly healthy person on Thanksgiving Day and probably would be leaving the next day in pain. She hoped the bone marrow transplant would work to help Matt because it sure was messing with her favorite activity of the year.

  Chip opened the door for her and she climbed into his car. He roared off and before she knew it, she was at the entrance to the hospital. “Hop out here and I’ll park and meet you in the lobby.”

  All too soon, Chip was back and Molly was escorted up to the surgical suite and queried by the nursing staff about her last meal and other vital statistics. They decided to wait a couple of hours before the procedure since she’d eaten more recently than the anesthesiologist would have liked.

  An orderly wheeled Molly to a room near the operating room to wait for the proper time for her surgery. While she waited, she idly thumbed through an old magazine and thought about her past with Chip and wished again that things had turned out differently for them. It was odd that she’d never really gotten over him and now here he was in the same town again. She might ha
ve to go back on the road to keep from running into him everywhere.

  Chip strolled in and smiled. “Almost time. I’m going to be watching the procedure. Dr. McMichaels will be scrubbing for it, but I’ll be there.”

  “Great. Just great.”

  “What?”

  “You’ve seen me with cocoa and flour in my hair, in a see-through blouse and in a really bad mood and now you’re going to look at my naked hip while I’m knocked out.” Molly laughed even though she really was mortified that Chip would be viewing her surgery.

  “You forget I’ve seen your naked hip before.” He winked. “Many times.”

  “You have to bring that up now?”

  “You’re the one who mentioned it.” Chip sat on the edge of the bed. “And speaking of that hip of yours, will you agree to dinner with me as soon as you’re home and well enough to go?”

  “What in the world does my hip have to do with dinner?”

  “I want to see if what we had all those years ago can be rekindled.” He took her hand in both of his. “After all, we can’t let all of my grandmother’s hard work go to waste, can we?”

  “What work would that be?” Molly’s skin was on fire at his touch.

  “She’s been praying since my parents moved us to Louisiana that you wouldn’t fall in love with anyone else.” He grinned with that devastating smile.

  “Ahh,” Molly nodded. “I see now why all my relationships have broken down and made me into this awful person that Jason says I am. Your grandmother has some powerful mojo there, Doctor French.”

  “I never said Jason said you were awful—”

  “Yes, you did, and I probably was pretty hateful to you this morning.”

  “You ran out of the lab like you robbed a bank. I would’ve taken you home, you know.”

  “You were extremely short with me so I decided to take a taxi to save you the trouble.”

  “I usually don’t abandon women who I escort places even if they make me a little peeved.” Chip squeezed her hand.

  “It wasn’t a date, you know.”

  “I wish—” Chip was interrupted by the arrival of the orderly.

  “Dr. French, it’s time to take her in,” the man said to Chip.

  “I’ll see you on the other side.” Chip leaned in and kissed Molly’s forehead.

  * * * *

  Molly woke in the recovery room with a nurse leaning over her calling her name. She tried to stretch but caught hold of her hip and winced. “Ouch.”

  “You’ll be sore for a few days, Miss Touchstone, but you’re doing so well that the doctor said if you feel up to it that you can go home in a little while.”

  “I may stay here since I live alone and knowing me, I’ll probably fall or something.”

  “I think your parents are in the waiting room. Maybe one of them can stay with you or you can go to their house. I’ve been a patient and it’s no fun to be poked and prodded all night. Trust me, you’ll get more rest at home.” The nurse handed Molly a Styrofoam cup with a straw in it. “Do you think you can drink some of this water?”

  “Yes.” Molly grabbed the cup and sucked in a big gulp of the liquid. It went down the wrong way and she choked and spluttered.

  The nurse patted Molly’s back as the door opened and Chip walked through.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “The patient got a little too eager to get some water.”

  “I was parched. I don’t know what they put in the anesthesia but man, it sure made my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth.” Molly was both glad and embarrassed to see Chip. She was sure she looked hideous.

  “You slept extra-long too. Are you sure you didn’t prick your finger on a needle like Sleeping Beauty?” Chip laughed and waved a card in the air. “Your friend Matt is already awake and writing thank-you notes.”

  “Wait a minute. I thought you said he was in isolation. Where did he get a notepad and envelopes?”

  “Doctor French?” the nurse interrupted them. “Do you want Miss Touchstone to stay the night? Doctor McMichaels said she could go home. If she’s going, I need to let the admissions office know that the room will be available. I think there are some patients waiting in the heart cath lab for a place to sleep.”

  “Do you feel like going home, Molly?”

  “Of course I will if someone needs a bed here more than I do. I’m fine. A little sore, but I’m okay.”

  “If you’ll stay here with her, doctor, I’ll go tell her parents she’ll be ready to leave in a little bit and drop by admitting too.” The nurse stood and without waiting for an answer, left the room.

  As soon the nurse was out of the area, Chip said, “Alone at last.”

  “I thought you said Matt was in isolation. How did he write me a card?” Molly reached out for the envelope.

  “He is, but he went in with some items like a deck of cards, books and paper and pens. Everything is sterile but we don’t expect people to sit and stare at the walls while they wait for their procedures.” Chip laughed and dangled the card out of Molly’s reach.

  “Give me that, you tease.”

  “First you have to answer a question.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Before you went in to the operating room, we were talking about a dinner date, your failed relationships and my grandmother’s prayers.”

  “Yes we were. What about it?” Molly grinned. If he asked her out for dinner again, she was going to accept. It no longer mattered that he’d hurt her in the past when he disappeared. He was here now and it seemed as if he were here to stay.

  “Will you help me make my grandmother’s prayers come true and go steady with me?”

  “Aren’t we a bit old for going steady?”

  “No. Never.” He sat on the bed with one foot on the floor. “So, will you?”

  “Do you still have your class ring? I’ll need that to wear around my neck on a chain.” She laughed and then got serious. “Tell me why you never came back to see me after freshman year in college.”

  “I tried but it seemed like every time I came home I heard you were seeing someone. I didn’t want to intrude and then when I got into medical school, I rarely got time to even go to a pub on the weekends, much less travel to see my family here.”

  “You had to know that no matter what you heard was going on in my life that I had special feelings for you and would want to see you.”

  “No. I didn’t, Molly. What was I to think when I heard you had a steady guy? We were only in high school when I moved and remember, we decided that you’d give back my class ring and we’d each see other people since we were so young. How was I to know if someone took my place in your heart or not? I chose not to see you since I knew if I’d been replaced, it would hurt too badly.”

  “But you did come back those few times the first year of college.”

  “Yes and it broke my heart to leave each time and know it would be months and months before I’d see you again. It soon became easier to stay away than to go through the torment of leaving.”

  “Wow. That sounds like you really never stopped caring about me.” Molly’s eyes filled with tears.

  “I never did.” Chip wiped her unshed tears with the pads of his thumbs. “And I never gave my class ring to another girl.”

  “I think I need it back now.”

  “That can be arranged. I think it’s in the dresser drawer at Gran’s.”

  “I expect to get it first thing tomorrow and speaking of getting—” Molly reached out for Matt’s envelope.

  Chip handed it to her, leaned in and planted a light kiss on her lips. “Here’s your note then.”

  Molly opened the envelope and read the message—

  Dear Molly,

  Today is Thanksgiving Day but from now on, I’m calling the holiday Thanks for Giving. This day, I thank you for not only giving me more family—my dear new-found cousin—I thank you for giving me your precious bone marrow and most of all, I thank you for giving me a ne
w life. For now, in this little note, I want to say Thanks for Giving.

  When I’m out of isolation, I plan to have a huge party to thank you for your many gifts. Your selfless act on short notice and with what I hear was with good cheer means the world to me. I will always be grateful to you.

  Your cousin, Matthew

  Tears sprang to Molly’s eyes as she read the note. Matt had always been friendly but she had no idea he could be so eloquent. She glanced up at Chip. “I was a grouch about this whole thing and for some reason Matthew thinks I was cheerful about it. Where did he get that idea?”

  “I told him.”

  “You?”

  “Yes, me.”

  “Even after I acted like I did?”

  “You forget I know the real you. Inside and out.” Chip winked.

  “It’s been a long time since you knew me in that way, Chipper.”

  “People don’t change at the core, Mols.”

  “So, we’re back to high school nicknames?” She smiled.

  “You started it with the Chipper.” He took the note from her hand. “May I read it?”

  Molly nodded.

  Once he’d read it, Chip looked back at her. “I like this thanks for giving thing. It could be a new trend. Here’s mine. I want to thank you for giving me another chance to be in your life.”

  “And I want to thank you for giving me a push to do the right thing by Matt.”

  “You can do better than that. You would’ve always done the right thing. Try another thanks for giving.”

  “How about thanks to your grandmother for giving me a lot of lousy boyfriends after you left town so I would still be available for you when you came back?”

  Chip laughed aloud and scooped Molly into a gentle hug. “That’s a thanks for giving that I can get behind.”

  The door opened and Molly’s parents entered. Her mother said, “The nurse told us we could come in and take you home.” She held a stuffed turkey in her hand and waggled it at her daughter. “See what your dad found in the gift shop? Isn’t it cute?”