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“Louise.”
“Something she said?”
Nora shook her head. “Something she did. About ten minutes after Jake called to tell me Louise had passed, a doctor called from UNOS. Louise tried to leave me her heart.”
My brows drew together. “What do you mean?”
“Apparently she went to a cardiologist to discuss the possibility of a directed donation of her heart. She had cancer, so it’s not the ideal organ for a transplant, but she registered with UNOS as a donor, just in case we might be a match.”
“Were you?”
Nora shook her head. “No. But the fact that Louise wanted to give me her heart really hit me. After I got back from New York, a letter came, too. She must’ve known the end was near, because she wrote it a few days before she died and had one of her friends mail it to me after she passed. Your grandmother literally and figuratively gave me her heart. That day, I called my doctor and went on the list.”
“Holy shit.”
Nora nodded. “I know. It’s a lot to absorb.”
“No, it’s not that. I meant the candy striper.”
“What candy striper?”
I sat up and reached for the portable food tray, which had become our makeshift nightstand. I picked up the little cherub pin the woman had left a few days ago. The tiny angel held a heart out in front of her. “A volunteer came by. I was really nervous that morning because it was the first time I was going to leave the hospital since I’d gotten here. But I knew if I didn’t take a turn to rest, neither would your dad, and he needed some sleep. The volunteer left this pin for you and said we could never have too many angels watching over us. On the back is the prayer of Saint Louise. I had no idea Saint Louise was the patron saint of sick people. It gave me the comfort I needed to leave for a few hours. But this little angel is literally holding her heart out to you.”
Nora held her hand over her mouth. “Louise gave me her heart when we met, and in the end, she tried to leave it behind for me. That’s her. That’s our Louise.”
“Wow.” I raked a hand through my hair. “If that’s not a message from beyond, I don’t know what is.”
***
Seven weeks later, Nora and I were headed to the doctor for another checkup. This was the big one—theresume all regular activitiesappointment. And there was definitely one activity I was looking forward to more than others.
Over the last couple of months, I’d spent three days one week and four days the next out in California, going home only on the days I had Maddie. Nora’s doctor wanted her to stay close until she got the all clear, and the big day might be today. I walked Nora to the passenger side of the car and opened the door for her, then jogged around to the driver’s side. As soon as I climbed in, I pushed the button to put the top down. A few days after Nora was released, I’d traded in my shitty rental for a convertible. She needed to rest a lot, but we both went stir crazy cooped up in the house, so we’d started to take long drives, and keeping the top down made us feel alive and free.
I slipped my sunglasses on, and Nora elbowed me.
“Someone is getting used to the sunshine every day,” she chided.
“It’s not as bad as I thought out here, but I like my city a little less cheery, more cynical.”
“Like your personality.” Nora chuckled.
Her doctor’s office was at Cedars-Sinai, so I dropped Nora at the main entrance and went to park the car. The lot was packed, and it took a while. By the time I got upstairs, she was already walking toward the door that led to the exam rooms. I jogged to catch up.
“There you are,” she said. “Thought maybe you ditched me.”
“Nah. I don’t miss these. My favorite part of the appointments is watching you change into the gown.”
She smiled. “Perv.”
I leaned close. “You have no damn idea. You should be a little scared if the doctor clears you for sex today. I have a lot of pent-up perverted things I can’t wait to do to you.”
A nurse walked by, so Nora shushed me. “Keep it down.”
“That’s what you’ll be saying later, too. Becauseitisn’t going down for a long time once I get you underneath me.” I smirked.
In the examination room, a nurse hooked Nora up to a bunch of leads and did a quick EKG. Then her surgeon, Dr. Meachum, came in and did a sonogram of her heart, followed by a short exam. He spent longer than usual with his stethoscope on her chest, which had me feeling a little panicky. When he was done, he wrapped it around his neck.
“Everything sounds perfect. EKG is clean, sonogram shows no swelling or post-op abnormalities.”
