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“Yes?”
“Don’t leave. We can talk more.”
I turn my head and stop. “Are you willing to change your mind about the funding?”
He halts before speaking. He shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Cedrick. I’m afraid I can’t.”
I study his face, despising every inch of this man. “Then we’re done. Don’t contact me until you’re ready to apologize. What’s more shameful, having a son who’s unmarried, or having a son who’s estranged from you?”
“Cedrick…”
I speed out before I can hear the rest of what he has to say. I don’t care. I’m done listening.
I race down the red-carpeted stairs, and I hear a thud. Probably Dad throwing something around because he didn’t get his way.
I hear footsteps pounding just behind me on the stairs and feel a tap on my shoulder.
“Dad, I said…” I turn and see his face, but it’s not my father.
“No, Cedrick…” Haverty says ominously, with knit brows and shallow breath.
“Did he send you to chase after me, even though he has no intention of changing his mind?”
He pulls me by the collar to stop me. I resist, but he’s stronger than I imagined he’d be at his age.
“Cedrick, no, wait. It’s not that. It’s an emergency.”
“If this is a ruse, Haverty. I already had a false alarm…”
“Your father collapsed onto the floor. It could be another stroke.”
I close my eyes, and instead of seeing the smug power broker who can’t tighten his grip on his adult children, I see his ashen face on the gurney after his stroke nearly a year before.
I nod and clap Haverty on the back, and I put my doctor’s face on as we hustle up the stairs together. He’s no longer my overbearing father or the supreme monarch of a storied country. He’s a patient in need, and I took an oath to do no harm.
We run into his outer office, where my father’s personal physician is already working on him. I remember being in this very room so often in my childhood, playing with my best friend Henry and my mother. And of course, my playmate, Ellie, and her mother, who sat at the desk here.
And now here I am, a grown man, with my father getting on in years and suffering from ill health. His eyes are closed as I help them lift him up to the gurney.
His personal physician, Dr. Clemenceau, places the oxygen mask on his mouth and nose, and I help keep him still.
Then I take my father’s hand and look at his face, even though his closed eyes can’t see me. “Dad, it’s Cedrick. I love you. No matter what, I love you.” No matter how much of an asshole you are.
I go with my father and his staff to the medical wing, praying for him to live through this. Then we can resume the argument where we left off.
4
ELLIE
My fingers strum across the armrest of the chair. I look around at the waiting room of the clinic. It’s fuller than I would have thought. A heavily pregnant woman reads a magazine, and another woman is fidgeting and checking her phone.
Three patients have already been seen, and my name should be called up soon. I can’t quite pinpoint the feelings I’m experiencing right now. Excitement, nervousness, happiness? Everything is all mixed together, so I don’t even know what I feel.
“Dr. Eleanora Lawson?” Hearing the ‘doctor’ in my title snaps my attention. I whip my head to face the nurse, who smiles.
I grab my purse and jog over to her. “Good morning, Dr. Lawson, it’s so nice to have you here. I’ve read some of your work.”
The nurse holds the door open for me and gestures inside.
