The Dream Daughter_A Novel by Diane Chamberlain

Author:Diane Chamberlain [Chamberlain, Diane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250087300
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2018-10-01T18:30:00+00:00

27

CARLY

September 2001

New York City

The fourth and final portal was tomorrow, Sunday, at 11:14 P.M. and everything was finally falling into place.

Joanna had spent the last three and a half terrifying weeks in a battle against some mutant bacteria that seemed resistant to every antibiotic the doctors had in their arsenal. Even the infectious-disease specialist that Dr. Davidson called in struggled to find the magic bullet that would make my baby well. It was the most frightening few weeks of my life as we all worried the infection would travel to her heart. After all I’d been through with her, was I going to lose her? She’d turned from an easygoing, sweet-natured baby to a wan and listless little thing, sick from whatever infection she was fighting as well as from the medications that ravaged her body as they worked to make her well. I spent nearly every second in the isolation room with her, even sleeping there at night, and I had dark circles beneath my eyes that I was certain made me look thirty-seven instead of twenty-seven. Like every mother of a sick infant, I was terrified. Unlike every other mother of a sick infant, I had the added fear of not being able to take her home with me to the place and time where she belonged.

A week ago, though, she finally turned the corner. I’d kissed a listless baby good night and a smiling baby good morning. When I saw the light in her eyes and the energy in her reaching arms and kicking legs, I ran from the isolation room into the CICU to find Celeste.

“She’s better!” I nearly shouted. “Come see!”

She was better. Her fever had broken, and while her blood work wasn’t perfect, it was moving in the right direction. For the first time in too long, she wanted to interact with me and I spent the day cuddling her, feeding her, singing to her, all the while counting and recounting the days until tomorrow, the final portal. She was moved out of isolation, and with every passing day, she grew stronger. She was on oral antibiotics now, the IV gone, and her discharge from the hospital was planned for tomorrow morning. Sunday, September 9. I’d been a wreck all week, worrying they wouldn’t discharge her until Monday, a day too late. This seemed like a miracle. It had been a rough few weeks, yes. A rough few months. But in a little over twenty-four hours, we’d be going home.

Yesterday, Celeste and several of the other nurses presented me with an envelope. Inside was a ticket for a bus tour of the city.

“You’ve been in New York all this time and haven’t taken a moment for yourself to see the sights,” Celeste said. “We want you to have a little chill time before you have to head back to North Carolina. You know we’ll take good care of Joanna while you’re enjoying the city.”

I was touched, but playing tourist was the last thing on my mind.

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