“I don’t understand. An acute flare of what? What happened?”
He takes a step back, assessing me carefully. “Oh, she didn’t tell you?”
Now I’m furious.
“TELL ME WHAT?!” I shout, my voice booming across the emergency department.
Heads whip in my direction, and one of the nurses shoots me a warning glare, but I meet her stare with fire. I don’t care about any of these people and their opinions of me.
I only care about Maggie.
“Where the hell is my girlfriend, and what’s going on?” I growl, my voice low and dangerous now.
Chief Hollister shakes his head, looking at me with an expression that I despise—pity. It drags me back to the day Istood here for Savannah after her accident, the day her parents and I found out about her affair. The same helplessness bubbles up inside of me, the same desire to tear everything apart, burn down the world, if someone doesn’t give me answersnow.
“Sir, please take a seat before we call security. You can see Ms. Hollister in about twenty minutes, once the doctor’s finished speaking with her,” the triage nurse says, her voice calm but firm.
Chief Hollister places a hand on my shoulder. “Come on, son. Let’s talk. I’d hate to have you be escorted out of here when Maggie needs both of our support right now.”
Even though my instincts scream for answers, for action, I let him guide me to a chair in the waiting area. I sit heavily, my leg bouncing with nervous energy as he sits across from me, his hands folding and unfolding in his lap. My eyes shift towards the hallway where patients are taken back. If he doesn't give me answers soon, I'm bolting and finding her myself.
Finally, he exhales a long breath and looks me square in the eyes. “Maggie has lupus.”
I blink. “Okay…” The word feels hollow in my mouth, but I know what lupus is. An autoimmune disease. A condition. I’ve heard the term before, but it doesn’t compute—not when it’sMaggiethat we’re talking about. Not when we're talking about the woman that I've fallen in love with. Vibrant, happy, healthy, Maggie.
“She manages it well. Has routine blood work done, exercises, eats appropriately, manages her stress. But the specific type of lupus that she has can affect multiple organs and systems, causing them to break down over time.”
“Ok…”
“It looks like her kidneys have been damaged because of the disease,” Chief Hollister explains, his voice steady but grim. “She’s had an acute flare-up, and the doctors are assessing her forend-stage renal disease.”
My chest tightens. “What does that mean?”
He leans back in his chair, locking eyes with me. “It means she’s going to need to be placed on dialysis until she can get a kidney transplant. Her kidneys are only functioning at about ten percent.”
I inhale sharply, dropping my face into my hands. “No”. This can’t be happening. I roll my head in my palms, trying to wipe away this morning.
“No,” I say again, my voice quieter but firmer this time. “She’s way too young for dialysis.”
His hand settles on my shoulder, grounding me in the moment. “It’s not a death sentence. With a transplant, she could go on to live a full life with no further complications.”
“Then let’s get her a new kidney,” I snap, desperation creeping into my voice.
He chuckles softly, shaking his head. “It’s not that simple. Finding a match takes time, and there’s no guarantee there will be an available donor right away.”
I’m still in shock, still trying to process this. The nurse reappears at that moment, breaking the heavy silence.
“You can go see Ms. Hollister now, Mr. Cameron.”
Chief Hollister stays seated, fixing me with a steady gaze. “Go ahead. I’ll give you two sometime to talk.”
I follow the nurse down the hall, my steps feeling heavier with each one. When I enter Maggie’s room, she’s turned away from the door, staring out the window with a sad expression across her face.
Seeing her like this—so small and fragile in that hospital bed—is a gut punch. Just this morning, she’d looked so peaceful in my bed, full of life, healthy and now... this. The contrast stings and I realize I must have missed the signs.
Was it the way she often rubbed her wrists as if they were aching?
Was it the days she mentioned her shoes not fitting properly because of swelling?
