“Yes, sir,” I admitted.
“And you gave her a kidney? Your assistant sent over the medical files. I’m in shock. The odds of you matching for her can’t be high.”
“One in one hundred thousand, sir.”
He shook his head. “Sounds like a miracle.”
I perked up at that. Was Cedric a believer? I hadn’t really paid attention before.
“I think so,” I said.
Cedric tapped his chin. “I approved your trip to Willow Harbor for the holiday. Technically, it’s still the holiday being New Years. Can you get home by tomorrow? If you can, I won’t find you in violation of probation.”
Relief spread throughout my limbs.
I could fly out to Seattle tonight. Then I’d make long-term plans to sell my half of the company and move to Willow Harbor to be with Hannah.
“Yes, sir, I can. But I’m not in Willow Harbor.”
“Yes, you are,” he said, widening his eyes as if daring me to challenge him.
Oh…okay. “Yes, I am,” I said.
“That’s right. See you tomorrow in Seattle, Jack.”
“Thank you, sir,” I said, and I meant it. He’d just done me a huge favor.
He hung up the chat, and I called for Chloe to open the door. She did, and Hannah and Claire were standing there with her.
They stepped inside, all three of them holding hands and peering at me with anxiety.
“If I can get to Seattle by tomorrow, I won’t be in violation.” I smiled.
All three ladies screamed in joy and hugged each other. When Hannah and Chloe hugged, my heart squeezed. They seemed to have become friends, something I loved seeing.
“We’ll let you two chat.” Chloe hooked arms with Claire and they left the room.
Hannah walked slowly over to my bed, wincing as she sat at the corner of it. She was still understandably sore. I was sore and I’d only had one organ removed—she’d had multiple. Dr. Andrews said my surgery was complicated and I’d lost a lot of blood. But he had been prepared for that, and I’d had a transfusion and made it through okay. Now I was going to have to meet with a specialist and be on some medication to thicken my blood so that, if I was ever cut badly, I wouldn’t bleed out.
Like my mother had.
It had eaten at me for the past week, knowing that she’d probably had the same bleeding disorder and never knew. Knowing that’s why she’d died so quickly at the scene of the accident…I wasn’t sure if it made it better or worse, but I’d given up needing to know why. Why did bad things happen to good people? Only God knew, and it would be the first thing I’d ask Him when I met Him one day.
“I had a dream when I was in my coma,” Hannah said suddenly, jarring me from my thoughts. She reached for my hand, and I took hers, relishing the affection from her. Holding her hand felt so natural.
“What kind of dream?” I asked.
She gave me a sheepish smile and her cheeks pinked. “It’s going to sound a little crazy…”
I shrugged. “I’m okay with crazy.”
She smiled then. “I dreamed I was at Willow Lake, fishing with a man named Pete and watching you play with our future son, Noah.”
I froze. Pure shock washed over me the second she said Pete’s name. Hannah must have seen it on my face because she winced.
“You’re totally freaked out.”
Pete. She’d said Pete!
