Jonathan held me while I sobbed.
“She did something beautiful,” he whispered.
I was numb from the inside out
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen and went pale.
“I-I have to go downstairs.”
“What?” I looked up at him through teary eyes.
He didn’t explain.
He rushed off down the hallway and left me there alone.
He looked at the screen and went pale.
I stood there, still holding the ribbon someone had pinned to my sleeve.
Before I could process what had just happened, I heard footsteps behind me.
“Wait! Please, WAIT!”
Mary’s doctor came jogging toward me.
His face had a look I hadn’t seen from him before.
Mary’s doctor came jogging toward me.
“Ma’am, I need to speak with you.”
“Is something wrong?”
He glanced down the hallway in the direction Jonathan had gone.
“Your husband begged me to keep the truth about Mary from you.”
My stomach dropped.
“Ma’am, I need to speak with you.”
“What truth did he hide? Did something happen before she died?”
“Yes, but it’s not what you think.”
He guided me toward the chairs lining the hallway.
“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to tell you this today,” he continued. “I thought he had his reasons, but after what happened with Mary, I can’t stay silent anymore.”
“Did something happen before she died?”
“What is it, doctor?”
He took a breath.
“Before she passed, Mary had questions about whether one of her donated organs could go to someone specific.”
I stared at him.
“Before she passed, Mary had questions.”
“Someone specific? Who?”
“I can’t tell you who a patient is. That’s confidential, and it has to stay that way.”
My mind went straight to Jonathan.
I thought of every late night phone call.
Every time he’d stepped out of the room to take a work call that never seemed to end.
“Someone specific? Who?”
The way he’d run off as Mary was being wheeled into surgery.
Had he asked our daughter, while she was dying, to save someone he cared about?
Someone I didn’t know existed.
“Was this about my husband?” I asked. “Did he pressure her into this?”
“I’ve said as much as I can say, ma’am. Please… speak to your husband.”
“Did he pressure her into this?”
The doctor walked away.
I sat there for a while longer.
Then I went looking for Jonathan.
***
I found him in a small family waiting room on the third floor.
He was sitting across from a couple I had never met.
Then I went looking for Jonathan.
The woman was crying into a tissue.
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The man had his arm around her shoulders.
Jonathan looked up and saw me in the doorway.
His face went white.
