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“Mais oui,” she grinned.

“That means yes,” I clarified for him.

“Yeah, I kind of guessed that.” He laughed and booped her nose playfully, gave me a wink, and left the room.

Both of us stared after him until he disappeared, and sighed.

“Mommy, can we keep Richard? I like him.” She cracked me up.

“Well, he’s not like a stray puppy, my love. He has his own house and his own life,” I explained gently. He lived in an entirely rich world, far apart from what we knew.

“Oh.” Her face fell. I couldn’t bear to see that, not when she seemed to be feeling better.

“But if we like him, we could see him again.” It was then that I realized how quickly, in just one day, she had grown fond of Richard. It wasn’t just my heart on the line with him reappearing in my life. This time, there were two hearts.

8

POSITIVE?

VIVIAN

“A little higher?”Richard asked from atop a chair.

“Yes, please,” I replied. He reached up to pull more rope through a ceiling hook, threading it into the drop ceiling grid. “Stop. Perfect.”

Several drop cloths with grommets had been strung up with the ropes, forming a teepee-like fort in the corner of our spacious room.

Nurse Kimmie Patrico, our nurse of the day, popped in. “This has to be the best blanket fort ever built in a hospital room,” she spoke with a Jersey-influenced drawl.

“Richard made it for me,” Paris chimed in, bouncing and clapping excitedly as she readied herself to move in, already collecting her stuffed animals and books into a pile. She was having a great day so far, as if the magic of Richard’s blood inside of her gave her new life. A part of me fantasized the doctors would burst in at any moment and tell me she was healed and we could go home.

Kimmie observed, “Hm. We’d better keep the other children from seeing it—they’ll be jealous.”

“They can visit my fort,” Paris offered cheerfully.

“It was easy, using just a few things I picked up at the hardware store down the road.” Richard stepped down from the chair and admired his handiwork. I knew that normally this wouldn’t have been allowed at the hospital, but for him and his VIP status, anything seemed possible. Then his phone rang, and as he headed out to take the call, he passed by me. He circled my wrist with his fingers, giving it a light squeeze, and whispered, “Be right back. Don’t let her move in without me. I don’t want to miss a thing.”

Kimmie must have overheard and, after he left, she teased, “I think some of the other mothers might be jealous that you have Richard around, too.”

Paris added, “Everyoneneeds a Richard.” We shared a laugh.

“Well, whoever he’s dating must be one lucky woman,” Kimmie sighed on her way out.

Was she fishing for gossip about him? About us, er, not that there was an us? I wouldn’t be the one to divulge any details.

Richard had quickly made friends among the parents once word spread that he was covering their hospital bills—a detail I was certain he intended to be anonymous. I suspected the nurses were gossiping and let the word out, and while I was irritated by it, he took it all in stride.

Later that afternoon,with the test results in hand, the doctor pulled me aside.

“I have some results from our tests,” he started. Paris was napping, but Richard was reading something on his phone,close enough to hear, but respectfully at a distance based on our conversation yesterday.

I braced myself. “Go on.”

“We’ve confirmed the cause of Paris’s anemia. She’s in early-stage kidney failure. One kidney is already underperforming and the other is deteriorating. She’s at high risk of needing a transplant.”

I nearly collapsed under the weight of the news, but Richard had rushed over and caught me in his supportive arms before I could hit the floor. Choked up, I fumbled with my words.

He gently asked, “May I speak for us, Vivian?” I could only nod in reply, grateful for his respect of my wishes. “Failure, doctor? What does that mean exactly? How serious is it?” he pressed.