Page 91 of Saving His Heart
“We don’t have time, please don’t fight me. If you want Preston to live, you have to come now. We’re running out of time.”
That’s all it takes. Everyone but Sylvie is running after me down the hall. It’s like a crazed scene on a fake hospital drama, but this is real. This is my last chance to save Preston.
“What the hell is going on?” someone yells below me in the stairwell, but I’m so out of breath I can’t reply, not that I really have the answers, anyway.
“Run,” I yell as we hit the eighth floor again. Reaching the door, I once again slide into it, but this time get tripped up as my sock sticks to the door frame. I’m flying toward the bed just as Trevor wraps an arm around my waist to catch me.
“Dad? Emory, what the hell is going on?”
“Dad?” I ask, shocked, looking between Mr. T and Trevor.
“What the fuck is going on, Emory?” Trevor barks.
“I-I, here,” I hand him the letter that’s addressed to him. Trevor takes it but makes no move to open it.
“Open the fucking letter, Trevor. We don’t have time. Please, please, read the letter so the lawyer will sign off on the organ donation. Please,” I beg.
Slowly, he lifts the flap.
“Emory, what is going on?” Julia asks.
“This is Mr. T, the man I volunteer with at the infusion center. I knew he was sick, but not this sick. I just saw him last week. He left me a letter and said if I could get Trevor to read it, he would give Preston his heart. Somehow he already knew he was a match. I don’t know how. I swear I never told him. I never even told him Preston’s name, even though he pumped me for information every week,” I shout.
“Ems, that,” Julia says, pointing toward Mr.T, “is Trevor’s dad, Romero Knight. He’s known Preston since he was in diapers.”
The room spins under me, and I lose my footing, but Trevor catches me.
“Did you read the letter?” I say when I catch my bearings.
“I-I just need a minute.”
Ripping it from his hands, I yell, “We may not have that minute.” I’ve lost all control of myself. I’m crazed, desperate, and completely willing to do whatever it takes to save Preston.
“Dear Trevor,” I read aloud.
“Emory, don’t,” Julia begs.
“My biggest fear is that one day you will come to regret not speaking to me while I was alive. Please don’t let that be the case, son. I do not deserve your forgiveness. I have done many things in this life beyond reproach, and I have to admit I did another to find out the fate of your friend, Preston. I hope that one, you’ll forgive.” I take a deep breath. I don’t know the relationship between these two men, and I pray I am doing the right thing by forcing this issue, but Preston’s life depends on it.
“I had stage 4 colon cancer, Trevor. It was fast, aggressive, and mean as hell. I need you to know this so you and little Charlie will take the necessary precautions. I know you don’t believe it, but there are only three days I will take with me. Whether they go to heaven or hell has yet to be seen. The first is the day I married your mother. I pray I will see her again soon so I can spend eternity trying to make amends. The second was the day you were born. I wish I had been strong enough to change things when they went wrong. The third was the day I first laid eyes on Charlie and realized you would be the father I was never capable of being. While I had no part in it, I am proud of the man you have become, mio figlio.
“My heart is not all evil. When I first saw Emory enter the center with Preston, I knew I had to seek her out. If I can do one good deed in this life, I die a content man knowing I could do it, saving someone you love.
“Never regret the decisions you have made, Trevor. You are not the bad guy here. Every decision you have made has been in reaction to a bad one made by me. Be kind to yourself. Love your family fiercely. I hope someday you understand that I was not perfect, but I loved you with everything I had. Love, Papa.”
Trevor takes a step forward and wraps me in a hug I was not expecting. “Thank you for being his person in the end. I know it couldn’t be me, but I’m glad he had you,” he whispers. “What do we have to do now?”
“I-I think the lawyer just has to sign the form,” I say.
Trevor releases me and glances around the room. His eyes finally settle on an older gentleman in the corner. “Rex,” he says in greeting.
The older man rises and hands me a piece of paper. “He’s all set.”
I look at Julia for help. “Go, Ems. Go do whatever heart surgeons do.”
I don’t wait another second. I take off for the fourth time in a full sprint.
Reaching the sixth floor again, I find Dr. Terry exiting Preston’s room. “Scrub in, Emory.”
