Page 117 of Indiscretion

She shook her head. “I was my husband’s proxy when he got into the car accident. He was on life support without any brain functions for a week. I knew in my heart he wouldn’t want to be kept alive like that, but it was still a horrible thing to have to sign those papers. I spent all day and night reading articles about people who came out of a coma after fifteen years and medical advances that could be able to restore brain functions someday. I know I did the right thing, but there will always be a little part of me that feels responsible for his death.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “I didn’t know that. I’m sorry.”

“Anyway, if something were to happen to me, she’s going to have my kids for the rest of her life, and I don’t want her to ever look in the mirror or look at them and have an ounce of regret, so I made my sister-in-law my proxy. We talked about it, and she’s okay with the responsibility. But I think Naomi will be hurt, and I wanted someone to be able to explain things to her if it comes to that.”

“Okay. I understand, but…you’re doing so well.”

She looked into my eyes for a long time before looking over my shoulder. Then she lifted her arm and pulled back her robe sleeve. A red rash littered her skin. “I found this when I woke up this morning. It’s itchy and burns.”

“What is it?”

“It could be nothing. But…a rash is one of the early signs of graft-versus-host disease.”

Fuck. I’d read up on bone-marrow transplants before making my decision to donate and knew acute GVHD was not good. The six-month survival rate was something like fifty percent. “What did the doctor say?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t show it to them yet. They took my blood yesterday, and my neutrophil count was high enough to let the kids visit. I knew if they saw this they wouldn’t allow them to come. So I waited. I’m going to show them after you guys leave. I’ve also started having some stomach issues, which is another sign.”

“Did you tell Naomi about the rash?”

She shook her head again. “Not yet. I don’t want to worry her unnecessarily. But I promise I will after I talk to the doctors. Just give me a few hours, and I’ll call and tell her.”

“I won’t say anything. It should come from you. But I’ll make sure I’m with her later in case she gets upset or wants to talk about it.”

“Thank you, Dawson.”

My chest felt heavy, like an elephant had just parked his ass on it. “I’m so sorry, Frannie.”

She smiled again, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Thank you. But it’s not your fault.”

I swallowed.Yes, yes, it is.

***

Later that evening, Naomi and I were watching TV on the couch at her sister’s when her phone rang. Naomi’s spirits had been high ever since the hospital. She smiled as she looked at her phone and swiped to answer. I listened to one side of the conversation. Even without hearing, it wasn’t difficult to tell when Frannie sprung the news about her rash. Naomi’s face dropped, and she jumped to her feet.

“What did the doctor say?”

Quiet.

“What are the other symptoms?”

Silence.

“And you don’t have any of those?”

Then.

“But that could be from the food, right?”

Naomi listened for an extended period of time before taking a deep breath. “Okay, well, if the doctor said there’s a chance it could be nothing but a simple rash, I don’t think we should jump to conclusions. Remember when we were kids you got rashes from bug bites? Maybe you got bit?”

She did a lot of nodding and pacing after that. Naomi’s words were positive, but I could tell by her tone and posture that she was scared. After she hung up, I felt like a dick pretending I didn’t know already.

“What’s going on?”

Naomi’s eyes welled up. “My sister might be rejecting the donor’s cells.”

Chapter 35

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