Andre’s POV“Doctor, what are you saying?” Lana croaked. Days ago, when she had arrived at the hospital after returning home for the much-recommended rest, she had looked like a semblance of her former self. The colour returned to her pale cheeks, and the dark circles around her eyes were almost invisible. But now, she was almost like a ghost. Her red, sunken eyes glared at the doctor, and her patched lips trembled until she caught the bottom lip in between her teeth, but it was so hard I thought I smelled blood. “We need to stop the collection process immediately to prevent any further damage to his body.” The doctor offered. It was all he had been offering us for the past twenty minutes, and even I was getting tired of it. “Think of it like stopping a car before it goes off a cliff. We need to hit the brakes and figure out what’s going on before we can move forward.” “And my daughter?” At this point, Lana was desperate, and it was obvious in her voice. We all were. “We’ll only n
Andre’s POVI was confused; we were all, and after a while of silence, Lana asked the question that was on all of our minds. “Is there any chance we can continue with the current treatment?” His grip tightened around the bedpost, and I saw the white of her knuckle bones. I had the urge to reach out and calm her down, but with Cameron standing behind her, I didn’t think that was a good idea. The doctor shook his head. “At this point, continuing with the current treatment poses too much risk to his health. We need to prioritise stabilising his condition.”Tears welled up in Lana’s eyes, and I felt a pang of guilt and helplessness. “How long will this take?” I asked. “And what are the chances of finding another match?”“We’ll begin the medication immediately,” the doctor replied. “As for finding another match, it can be a lengthy process, but we’ll be working with international donor registries to expedite the search. We’re also exploring advanced cell therapies that might be suitable.
Andre’s POVThe nurse did not stay too long and did not do much. According to her, since I was no longer on medication and the stem cell removal was not happening, it was taking my liver some time to recover from the allergic reaction. After about thirty minutes following her departure, the door opened again, and this time, the doctor walked in. His expression gave nothing away. He moved to the centre of the room, and we all turned to face him.“I apologise for taking your time.” He began slowly. “There was an emergency that required immediate attention. Moving from that, I’ve got some good news for you.” Lana jumped to her feet, as did Darby. We all looked at the doctor expectantly. “We’ve come up with a plan to counter the adverse effects of the bone marrow donation on your body.”I leaned forward, hope rising in my chest. “What is it?”The doctor pulled up a chair and lowered himself into it. “We believe that by adjusting the medication regimen and enhancing our monitoring protoc
Cameron’s POVI pulled Lana into a hug, holding her tightly as we both absorbed the gravity of the situation. “We’ve made it this far,” I said softly. “We’ll get through this too.”The wait was far from over, but for the first time in what felt like forever, we had a glimmer of hope to hold onto. We stayed close, our hands intertwined, drawing strength from each other.Hours passed, and the hospital room settled into a quiet rhythm. Nurses came and went; anxiety ate slowly through us. Lana sat in the chair beside me, her eyes never leaving the door. She looked exhausted, but whenever the door opened, she glanced up. I reached over and took her hand, squeezing it gently.Just turn, the door opens, and the doctor we had all been expecting steps out. “The transplant procedure is complete,” he announced, and I heaved a sigh of relief. “Zoe is stable and resting now. The next 48 hours are critical, but she’s doing well so far.”I grabbed his hand in a handshake of gratitude. “Thank you, do
Cameron’s POV “Did you get any sleep at all?” I asked, slipping into a stool beside her. Although I had hurried over everything, I had tried to catch some sleep, but it had not been up to thirty minutes. Still, it felt like it had come a long way. Darby poured a cup of coffee from the kettle and passed it to me. “Did you?”I pulled the coffee cup closer, cradling it as the warmth seeped through my fingers. I shrugged and placed the cup on my lips, allowing the air to play with my senses. “I’ll have as much sleep as I want when Lana and Zoe return home.”I took another sip of the coffee. “By the way, do you think we should stop by Lana’s place and check on Joe? Maybe bring him with us. Zoe is getting better already, and they’ve been apart for so long.” “I guess we could do that? He and Lana have only been talking on the phone these past few days, and I’m sure she misses him.” She sighed heavily. “Ahhh... I really cannot wait for all of this to be over so you all can tell me how Andr
Lana’s POV I wanted nothing other than to go home, take a long, cold shower, eat at least five bowls of ice cream, then lay down and sleep for a week, but all these were mere imaginations. That was the only place they could exist freely, in my thoughts. For now...The past few weeks have been hectic for all of us. After the preparation and then the transplant, we had all put our all into making sure that Zoe recovered fully and properly. Even Joe was not left out. He had insisted he do something to help his sister recover quickly. Now, we had only a few days until we were discharged and could finally return home and to our personal and individual realities, but the life that was waiting outside of this hospital seemed even more daunting. I had no time to rest... We all had no time to rest.Once I got out of here, I was to resume work immediately to try to make up for all the days I had missed. I would be going from one meeting to the next, jumping from one meeting with an investor
Lana’s POV “Fred is here?” The words tumbled out of my mouth, and my heart skipped a beat. I raised my brow at Sally, wondering if she was really serious or if this was a prank to get back at me for leaving her in the dark about Zoe’s health. “What? You don’t believe me?” She straightened her trousers and beamed at me. “I believe by now Cameron would have met him already.”I started towards the door, abandoning all the clothes I had been folding in a heap on the bed. “Fred is really here?” I needed to see him. That was all I thought as I bounded out of the door and into the hospital hallways. Sally had not been lying. Neither had she been trying to pull my legs. Fred was really young, and he looked extremely good in that brown tailored suit. It looked as though he had gotten a hair cut recently and ditched the glasses. He had been sitting with Cameron, Darby, and the children when I arrived, but as soon as his eyes fell on me, he stood to his feet and his mouth stretched into a sm
Lana’s POV I found Andre standing by the window in one of the hospital’s quiet lounges. I swallowed as I approached him, clenching and unclenching my fist to at least relieve some of the tension that I felt. I had searched everywhere in the hospital for him, and during that time, I had gone over everything I would say to him, but now that I saw him, the words would not come. They hung in the space between my throat and my tongue, and no matter how much I tried to push them forward, they just wouldn’t bulge. How do I tell a man to go against his own mother? How do I convince him to stand before the world and say the world’s might send her to prison for the rest of her lives?I stood at the door for a while, watching him. I was questioning myself and wondering if this was where I was going to stop. If it was right to stop here and not get my father’s company back from Freda as I had promised,. I had a good life now, did I not? I had a family with Cameron, Sally, Darby, and Fred—peopl