Arms of Grace

by Eleanor Chance

  I hadn’t slept much, so I gave myself a few extra minutes in bed the following morning to make sense of the events of the previous few days. Little more than a week had passed since Jay had proposed. I contemplated the course of events from that day to the previous evening when Alec and I had dinner with Paul and Adam. Paul was encouraged by the news of Johnny but told us that if Brad’s test results were negative, our only hope was my report. He said Brad would have to rewrite and submit it as evidence at the petition hearing since my opinion didn’t carry any legal weight. I was kicking myself for holding off on adopting Johnny. If I’d started the process before I went to Baltimore, Jay and Kinsley wouldn’t have any control over Johnny’s fate. As it stood, his life was in the hands of my two biggest enemies.

  The first thing I did when I forced myself to get up was check my phone messages, hoping there was one from Brad. When I saw that he hadn’t called, I got dressed to find out for myself what was going on.

  I’d avoided Kinsley the day before and wasn’t sure if he knew I was back, so I didn’t have to go to work. I knew that would only last for another day or two. With Johnny back in Richmond, Kinsley would know I was there too. The big question was whether he was even going to want me back. Alec said he hadn’t mentioned anything to her. I decided to tackle one problem at a time and take care of Johnny first.

  I saw Brad at the nurses’ station as I was heading to Johnny’s room. He waved me over and said, “I was just about to call you. The news is good, Grace. Johnny is responding to stimuli, and he’s making sounds. I got the preliminary results to Kinsley as fast as I could. Just as I suspected, he wants a second opinion. You’re not going to like this, but he sent for Dr. Morgan. He’ll be here tonight. I’m meeting him first thing in the morning.”

  “So fast?” I said, shocked that Jay would drop everything to run to Richmond. My gut tightened at the thought of seeing him, but I said, “That’s the best and worst news I’ve ever had at one time. At least your tests will force him to have an open mind.”

  “That’s what we’re all hoping. I have to run, but I promise to keep you updated,” he said as he walked away.

  I checked in on Johnny next, but he was the same as always. I tried to get a response from him by clapping my hands, but nothing happened. I put my finger in his palm, and he grasped it, just like always. I was relieved to see that hadn’t changed.

  I left him to rest and took the elevator to the IM floor. I found Alec working at my desk. She started to get up when she saw me, but I waved her down and sat on the sofa. I told her what Brad had said about Jay.

  “I know it’s the last thing you want to hear, but you have to see Jay and convince him to update his report,” she said.

  “You’re right. It’s the last thing I want. I’m willing to do anything to save Johnny, but what makes you think he’ll listen to me?”

  She leaned back and pressed her fingertips together. She was suited to that chair. I wondered if it was a sign that it was time to turn it over to her. “Because, he loves you,” she said, drawing me out of my thoughts.

  I shook my head. “No, that can’t be true. If rejecting him wasn’t bad enough, I wrote a report that contradicted his results. That’s a huge blow to a man like Jay. I’m sure he hates me by now.”

  Alec eyed me before saying, “Do you still love him?”

  I hadn’t allowed myself to consider that question. I was afraid to face the answer. “I honestly don’t know. You can’t feel so deeply for someone and be over it a week later. I’m positive he’s not the man for me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still have feelings for him.”

  “You just proved my point. If you can’t get over it in a week, neither can he.” She got up and sat next to me. “I hate having to ask you to face him. I wouldn’t for any reason but to save Johnny’s life, but you might be the only person with the power to convince him. Yesterday you committed to fighting Jay and Kinsley. This is your battleground.”

  I nodded, knowing she was right, but the thought of confronting Jay terrified me. Only the thought of Johnny gave me courage. I had to ignore my fears and do battle for my son. “I’ll be waiting for him when he’s done with Brad, but you better be there for me afterward. Knowing you’ve got my back is the only way I’ll survive it.”

  “Text me when it’s over, and we’ll meet here. You can do this, Grace. You’ve overcome worse.”

  I hugged her and got up to leave. It was time to prepare to face Goliath.

  I listened quietly in the doorway as Jay discussed Johnny’s condition with Brad. My breath quickened, and my knees went weak at the sight of Jay. I cursed fate for the hundredth time for making me fall in love with the one man who had the power to shatter my life. When the conversation was winding down, I tapped on the open door, and both doctors turned toward me. Jay’s face was a mixture of alarm and pleasure at seeing me. Brad excused himself and glanced at me as he pulled the door closed on his way out.

  Jay and I sized each other up for what seemed like an eternity until he said, “Hello, Grace. It’s wonderful to see you.” I just nodded, so he went on in a rush. “I never planned for any of this to happen. I think of you every day. I’m sorry for what I did before you left Baltimore. You didn’t deserve that. I acted out of my pain at losing you. I’ve started to call you a hundred times, but I didn’t know what to say, and I doubted you’d talk to me anyway.”

  “I appreciate your saying that, but your words don’t mean anything to me now. I fell in love with a cardboard caricature of you. I don’t want anything to do with flesh and blood Dr. Jay Morgan that I see now.”

  “You’re wrong, Grace. I am the man you saw working on Johnny’s study. Believe what you saw then, not what came later. You have no idea the kind of pressure I was under.”

  “Then enlighten me,” I said and leaned against the door jamb with my arms folded.

  Jay rubbed his forehead. “I can’t talk about it here. Come to my hotel tonight. I’m seeing a play with a friend, but I’ll be back by ten thirty.” He took the paper hotel-key jacket from his pocket and handed it to me. “That’s where I’m staying. Please, come see me. We need to talk, and not just about this,” he said and gestured toward Johnny. “We need to talk about us.”

  “There’s no ‘us,’ and there’s nothing to talk about,” I said and turned to Johnny. “I’m only here for Johnny. You have the chance to redeem yourself with me on that score. Johnny is progressing. It’s slow, but it’s progress. Will you at least admit now that your findings might be wrong?”

  “Dr. Carter brought me up-to-date, but it’s too soon for me to form an opinion. I do promise to have an open mind.”

  “Well, that’s a start. I’ll have to hold on to that for now.” I gave Jay a long, penetrating look before I turned and walked out.

  My legs nearly buckled as I made my dramatic exit. Somehow, I managed to stay upright until I was out of Jay’s sight. I went to the nurses’ lounge and texted Alec.

  She found me twenty minutes later with my feet propped up and an icepack over my eyes. She lifted the ice and said, “Headache? That bad, huh?”

  I moaned and sat up. “Actually, it went much better than I’d expected. Jay apologized, and I managed to get the last word. I’m glad he can’t see me now.”

  “You’re brave. See? I said you could do it,” she said and sat down.

  “I don’t know if it’s bravery when I didn’t have any other choice. Jay promised to keep an open mind though.”

  “That’s hard to believe from the Fabulous Dr. Jay.”

  I smiled at her nickname for him and said, “There’s something else I have to tell you. I’m resigning today. I’m giving two weeks’ notice, and I’m going to recommend you to replace me. Are you interested?”

  “Of course, but aren’t you going to wait until after the hearing?”

  “How can I?” I sat up and slammed the icepack on the coffee table, making Alec jump. “Kinsley should have quashed the petition the minute he had Brad’s
report. Instead, he called in Jay, the very doctor who falsified the findings in the first place. I’m sure he intends to go forward with Johnny’s execution regardless of what Jay says.”

  “You might be right, but if Paul and Adam find the evidence they need to prove what these people are up to, they’ll all be gone,” she said. “You shouldn’t let them drive you away.”

  “They shouldn’t be here now.” I picked up the icepack, put it on my forehead, and sat back with a sigh. “I get that the hospital is a business, but it’s supposed to be about saving lives, not paying homage to the almighty dollar.”

  “Have you forgotten that this is the same institution that took you off the street and saved your life?” she asked.

  “No, I haven’t forgotten, but seeing what it’s become, I have no choice but to leave.”

  Alec got up and grabbed two water bottles from the fridge. She handed me one. “Do you have another job lined up?”

  I thanked her for the water and said, “I have two interviews next week. I hope I can still count on a few people here for excellent references.”

  “Of course, not that I think you’ll need it. I’ll miss having you here to help me with every minuscule problem or listen to me gossip. At least you’ll still be coming to visit Johnny.”

  “If we win, I’m going to move him to another facility as soon as the adoption’s final. I’ve started looking for a place.”

  “Not if we win, when we win,” she said and tapped my arm. When I didn’t say anything, she put her arm around my shoulder. “Promise me we won’t drift apart. I can’t imagine my life without you.”

  “You’d be fine,” I said. “You have Adam. Besides, you tell me all the time that we’re family. We’re bound together. You’ll be Auntie Alec to Johnny.”

  “That would be an honor,” she said and got up. “I have to get back. Don’t get discouraged. Things are turning our way. I feel it.”

  I smiled and watched her walk away, praying that she was right.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I thought about going to check on Johnny after talking to Alec but remembered that Jay was probably with him. I went home to start working on my resignation letter instead. I took out my laptop and stared at the blank page, not knowing where to start. My thoughts wandered to Jay. My reaction to seeing him again had lingered, and I was frustrated at not being able to control myself when it came to him. What I told Alec was the truth: Jay wasn’t the man for me, but I was obviously still in love with him. As hard as I tried to deny it, I couldn’t. My own heart betrayed me.

  I fixed myself some lunch as a distraction. I didn’t really have an appetite. After three bites, I tossed my sandwich on the plate and grabbed a pad to jot down some notes for my resignation letter. I imagined how happy Kinsley would be when he read it, and I hated the thought of giving him any pleasure. I took comfort in the fact that I wouldn’t ever have to see him again after I left.

  I sighed and lifted the lid on my laptop. As I typed, I knew that, in spite of Kinsley, resigning was the right thing to do. It wouldn’t be easy though. I was sad to leave my job. I had spent some of the happiest years of my life there. In the days before Johnny, I had planned to stay until I retired, and then do some traveling. I should have known that it was pointless to plan for the future.

  The phone rang and startled me out of my musings. I glanced at the screen to see who it was, and a picture of my brother popped up. “Hi, Carl,” I said. “It’s been a while. How’s it going?”

  “Going great for me, but imagine my surprise to see my baby sister’s face on the evening news.”

  “On the news? What are you talking about?” I tried to mask the tremor in my voice.

  “I saw your picture on the news. I turned it on when I got home from work, and there you were. They were interviewing some doctor who said you’re trying to adopt a brain-dead boy and that you’re spreading lies about some doctors and hospital administrators. What the hell’s going on, Squirt?”

  I felt panic coming on and took a slow, deep breath. “I told you about Johnny a few months ago, remember? I am planning to adopt him, but he’s not brain-dead. The hospital wants to pull the plug on him even though he’s starting to recover. Do you remember the name of the person they interviewed?”

  “I don’t remember the name, but he’s some muckity-muck doctor from Baltimore. I knew you spent time there, so that stuck in my mind.”

  I got up and hunted for my TV remote. When I found it, I pressed the power button and clicked to the local news channel. They’d already moved on to another story. “Was it Jay Morgan?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I think that was it,” he said.

  I flipped to a few more channels, but couldn’t find anything. “What they’re saying’s a lie,” I said. “You have to trust me. They’re trying to stop me from getting in their way. I’m sorry to cut this short, but I need to make some calls. Thanks for calling, Carl. I’ll be in touch.”

  “No problem, Squirt, and good luck,” he said.

  As soon as I hung up, the phone rang again. It was Paul. He’d been watching the news on his tablet during lunch and had seen the news report too. He told me to get to his office as soon as I could.

  When I got to Paul’s office, Alec and Brad were already there. It was a sure sign of how serious the situation was that they’d all leave to the hospital during their shifts. My throat tightened as my panic rose.

  “They’re making a preemptive strike to sway public opinion in favor of taking Johnny off life support. We’ve got to get the truth out there as fast as we can,” Paul said as soon as I sat down. “I have a few connections at some local stations. I’ll try to set up an interview. This is a good human-interest story, and I’m sure people still remember when Johnny first showed up at the hospital. Grace, do you have any recent video of Johnny?”

  I held up my hands and said, “Wait a second. What happened with Jay? Why is he targeting me and saying I’m spreading false report? I don’t understand what’s happening here.”

  Brad squirmed in his chair and looked away.

  “What, Brad? Tell me,” I said.

  “Dr. Morgan gave his results directly to Kinsley without consulting with me. He’s refusing to give me access, saying it’s evidence for the hearing. He didn’t spend much time with Johnny. My opinion is that he doesn’t have any intention of changing his report,” he said.

  “And he must have told Kinsley about your report. It’s making them nervous,” Paul said.

  “Kinsley’s not a hyena; he’s a snake,” Alec said. “And Jay’s worse. Paul, is there anything you can do to get a hold of what he gave Kinsley?”

  “Doubtful, but I’m looking into avenues to fight the DSS petition. I’m going to brainstorm with some colleagues to see what we can come up with. Our hope is that the hospital won’t want the negative publicity if their ploy doesn’t work. I know the DA in Baltimore. I’m going to try to convince him to file charges for medical fraud against Dr. Morgan too. Unfortunately, even if he agrees, that will take too long to be any help for Johnny.”

  No one spoke when Paul finished. I rubbed my forehead and stared at the floor. Without looking up, I said, “Am I the only one who sees that this is hopeless?”

  Paul came beside me and put his hand on my shoulder. “It might seem that way, but these things can change on a dime. I’ve had too many cases where I ran up against a wall and had it tumble down at the last minute. This isn’t over. Trust me on that.”

  I looked up at him. “That’s what I told my brother when he called to tell me about the news report. I should practice what I preach. I do trust you, Paul. You know that. There’s just too much that we have no control over, and Johnny’s life is in the middle of it.”

  “It’s despicable that they’re using the two of you as pawns. We have to stay tough and not let them think they’re getting to us. Let’s talk in the morning. In the meantime, put this on my shoulders, and let me go to work,” Paul said.

  I hugged him
and said, “I’m leaving it in your more-than-capable hands. Thank you for taking this on. We couldn’t make it through without you.”

  As we walked to the parking garage, Alec said, “Come stay with me for a few days. The press will probably be crawling all over your house soon, and I hate the thought of your being alone to deal with this.”

  “I’ll only agree if we can just forget about this tonight. I need a break for a few hours.”

  “I promise,” she said and crossed her heart. “We’ll rent movies and stuff ourselves with pizza and cannoli.” She handed me a key to her apartment. “Go home and pack a bag. I’ll meet you at my apartment as soon as I get off work.”

  “I will, but I want to say goodnight to Johnny first. I’ll come over after that.”

  She smiled and squeezed my hand. “You heard what Paul said. We have to stay tough.”

  I nodded. “I will. See you in a few.”

  I rocked Johnny and gently stroked his corn-silk hair. In spite of what Paul and Alec had said, the hopelessness of his situation was tearing me apart. I racked my brain for a way to stop Jay. I’d overcome too much to lose now. My father had beaten me. Danny had beaten me. Life had almost beaten me too. No more, I thought. Remember your vow to stop being a victim.

  Holding Johnny in my arms calmed me, and my thoughts began to clear. As I searched his angelic face, a tiny thread of an idea came to me and wove itself together. As I rocked him, I planned my strategy. It would be a daring risk, but I had to take it. I saw no other way out, and I had nothing left to lose.

  I gently laid Johnny back in his crib and smoothed my skirt. “Open your eyes, Johnny dear. You have to wake up,” I said. “For both of us. Son, I need your help. It’s time to wake up.”

  I pulled up to the curb across the street from Jay’s hotel and turned off the engine. I looked at the picture of Johnny I had taped to the dashboard for courage, and I settled in to wait. A cab pulled in front of the hotel thirty minutes later, and Jay got out. He paid the driver and walked confidently into the hotel, oblivious of what was coming. I forced myself to wait five minutes before following him inside.