Olivia, I’m very busy. I don’t have time for your games.” She sighed, her tone shifting from irritation to stern disappointment. “Your father just call-
ed me. He said you and your sister were trying to sabotage his honeymoon. I know you don’t like your stepmother, but she’s raised you for ten
years. It can’t have been easy. I heard she suffers from depression. You can’t bully her like this. A hospital is not a stage for your family drama.
Take your sister and leave.”
I felt myself starting to crumble. If my father were here, I would have screamed at him. I couldn’t believe he would be so cruel, so thorough–know-
ing we’d have to come here, he’d called ahead to poison the well.
But this wasn’t the time for anger. “Helen, you’re mistaken. We’re not lying. My sister really is hemorrhaging. I’ve been in contact with Dr. Vance. If
you don’t believe me, please, just call him.”
Helen’s face was a mask of disappointment. “Olivia, this has gone too far. You’re dragging Dr. Vance into this now? Do you have any idea how imp-
ortant his current surgery is? What if your call distracts him? What if his hand slips? A young woman could lose her ability to ever have children
because of your selfishness. Medical resources are not toys for you to play with. You should call Dr. Vance and apologize immediately.”
The girl on her operating table was young, but so was my sister. And the ER doctor’s words echoed in my head: if Kerry wasn’t in surgery within
two hours, she would die.
Without a second thought, I dropped to my knees. “Helen, please,” I begged, the words catching in my throat. “I’m not lying. My sister is really
dying. Please, just let her in.“,
I bowed my head and touched my forehead to the cold linoleum floor. Once. Twice.
Helen was taken aback. Her harsh expression softened for a fraction of a second.
She was about to say something, to maybe come and see for herself, when the office doo
