mean I’m going to die if I don’t have a kidney transplant?”
There was no fear in Chad’s voice, and he tried to calm his racing pulse. Dying wasn’t in his immediate plans for the future, but he had been a Christian since he was a boy, so he wasn’t afraid to die.
“A donor was found rather quickly,” the surgeon said. “We replaced your kidney yesterday, and you’re doing great. Unless there are complications, which I don’t expect, you can be released next week. You need rest more than anything else right now. The nurse has put a sedative in your IV, which will make you sleep.”
He did feel sleepy, and Chad didn’t protest when his parents said they would stay with him. His rest was troubled, and he felt as if he was weaving in and out of a fog. He had always believed that God held him in the hollow of His hand. If so, why had He allowed this accident to happen?
He had been playing football since he was in middle school without any serious injuries. Why couldn’t he have found out when he was a teenager that he wasn’t normal? He’d always been so proud of his body, and all the time, he was an accident waiting to happen. Why did it have to happen now when his future was wrapped up in pro football?
Chad’s hands moved restlessly and something tugged at the back of his mind and worried him. He finally woke up at the insistence of the woman he had seen the night before.
“What’s your name?” he asked. “I forgot.”
“Try to remember,” she said. “You need to start remembering things.”
“Are you a nurse?” he asked.
“No. I do volunteer work at the hospital, and sometimes I’m asked to sit with patients who shouldn’t be left alone. I call a nurse if there’s an emergency. Your parents stayed here with you until you were past the critical stage. Now that you’re out of intensive care, they went to spend the night at a hotel to rest. I was asked to sit with you through the night.”
He peered intently at her face, trying to remember her name. “Is it Vicky?”
She gave him a thumbs-up, a smile lighting her face. “Sure is. Vicky Lanham. Is there anything I can get for you?”
“I’m thirsty.”
She poured a fresh glass of water, inserted a straw and bent it. She put her hand behind his neck and lifted until his lips touched the straw. The water soothed his parched throat and the touch of her cool hand on his warm skin was comforting.
She lowered his head to the pillow and picked up her purse and jacket.
“I have to go to work this afternoon, so I need to leave now.”
“Are you coming back tonight?”
“You’re getting along very well. You won’t need any supervision that the nursing staff can’t give you.”
Chad closed his eyes, but opened them again quickly. The medication was making him sleepy, and he didn’t want Vicky to leave before he thanked her. Blinking he said, “Thanks for helping Mom and Dad. I know they’ve been upset by all of this. The pain medicine they’re giving me keeps me asleep so much of the time that I haven’t really had much time to think about what a narrow escape I had. It seems like the doctors found a donor very quickly, but I’ve been so out of it when they were here that I haven’t asked my parents if they know who it was.”
“If I’m in the hospital again before you’re released, I’ll stop in to see how you’re doing.”
The warmth of his smile brought a ray of light to a portion of Vicky’s heart that had been dark for a long time. How strange that she was here to help him and he had encouraged her.
As Vicky walked down the hallway, she lost the upbeat attitude she had displayed to Chad. Since his admittance to the hospital, scores of media representatives had been camped near the hospital waiting for the latest news about the football star. The surgeons had given daily reports of his condition and details of the serious injury were widespread. Seemed as if everyone in the nation, except Chad, knew what had happened to him.
Vicky had overheard a discussion in the hospital lounge not intended for her ears. She knew that Chad Reece was in for a sad awakening. When that happened someone would have to be around to pick up the pieces, and maybe, just maybe, she would be that someone. Up to this point, Vicky had drifted through life, but if she could help this man accept the disappointment he faced, it might provide a catalyst to deal with her own shattered dreams.
Chad woke from another nap when his parents entered the room, accompanied by his friend Lorene Saunders, carrying Amy, her two-year-old daughter. Chad stared when an orderly followed, pushing Perry Saunders in a wheelchair. Chad was speechless. In a few seconds he recalled his first meeting with Perry and Lorene several years ago.
He had met them before they were married, when he was a senior in college. That was the summer he had worked as a chauffeur and bodyguard for Jon Preston, his good friend and rising country music sensation. Chad had accompanied Jon to his gig in Woodston, Kentucky, where Perry was a professor at the local college. Lorene’s public relations agency had been contacted to promote Woodston’s bicentennial celebration. When she came to Kentucky to oversee the promotion, she and Perry were reunited for the first time in twenty years. Although they were twice his age, he had liked them at once, and they all became good friends. He was pleased when his parents also developed a liking for Perry and Lorene. The Saunders’s later moved to Southern California, where Amy was born. After that, Chad saw them infrequently, although they talked often by phone.
“Regular old home week,” he said. “Hi, Lorene. You’re as beautiful as ever.”
Lorene bit her curved lips as if she was trying to control tears that threatened to overflow. Her long black eyelashes splayed over her face, and she didn’t return Chad’s greeting.
Dark circles bordered her blue eyes and it seemed that Lorene had aged since he had last seen her six months ago. But Amy’s bright black eyes sparkled at Chad, and he believed the girl remembered him. He tried to lift his left hand to Amy’s outstretched one, but his hand seemed as heavy as lead. He let it drop back on the sheet.
Chad’s eyes scanned the four adults in the room. Did he imagine it or was there a guilty expression on their faces?
Attempting to believe that he was imagining things, Chad said, “It’s good of you to come to visit me. But why are you in a wheelchair, Perry?”
Perry Saunders was the most handsome man Chad had ever seen. Tall and slender, with a well-proportioned body, Perry had black onyx eyes and thick silvery-gray hair. His trim mustache added dignity to his high cheekbones and straight, prominent nose. But a gray pallor marked his face today and his hands were trembling. Next to his father, Chad admired Perry above all men.
“I’m all right, Chad. I’ll let your father explain.”
Chad glanced toward his parents, but they wouldn’t meet his eyes. Without analyzing his feelings, anger welled up in Chad’s chest.
“We’ve never hidden the fact that you were adopted,” his father stated, a tremor in his voice.
“No. That’s has never bothered me.” But even as he spoke, in light of what he now suspected, Chad wondered if the statement was really true.
“We’ve
