She swallowed hard. “You don’t understand.”
“Then help me understand!”
He looked worn and weathered by the weight of it all, and Isobel wanted to tell him, she did, but she was so afraid. If she toldhim the truth, it would be the end of them. He wouldn’t forgive what she’d kept hidden all these years. She did love Dane Walker, but that love had been swallowed up time and time again by her choice to love Eva more, and to keep her secret.
“Don’t I deserve to know the truth?” he asked her.
Before she could answer, a nurse wearing mint-green scrubs strode into the waiting area, lifting her gaze from her clipboard through a pair of tortoiseshell glasses. “Izzy Moreau?” she called out.
“Isobel,” Dane quietly corrected.
“That’s me.” Isobel popped to her feet, her thoughts spinning. To her surprise, Dane stayed right at her side, jaw set in a stubborn scowl, his eyes pure steel.
“I’m coming with you.”
After a moment, she gave him a sharp nod, and the two of them stepped into her father’s room. Dr. Rosen swiveled to face them. The small, graying woman had a way of smiling with her eyes. She was the only doctor Isobel trusted with her father’s care. Though many specialists had taken an interest in her father’s sapling over the years, only Dr. Rosen seemed to care about his life outside the hospital. “Take a seat,” she chirped. “I have good news.”
The words took a minute to sink in as Isobel plopped into the chair nearest her father’s hospital bed. Confusion stirred inside her. “Good news?” That certainly wasn’t what she’d expected.
The doctor nodded and looked at Dad.
“I get to go home,” he said, visibly stunned.
Isobel shook herself. “Wait, what?”
“Dr. Rosen says I am the picture of health.”
The doctor clucked her tongue and shook her finger at him.“Don’t twist my words, Jack.” She turned to Isobel. “I was just in the middle of telling your father that he’s low enough on iron that I’d like to get him an infusion before he leaves and keep an eye on his blood work over the coming months.”
Isobel blinked. “Is that… all?”
Her father reached to take her hand in his much larger one, squeezing slightly. The dry texture of his calluses was a familiar comfort to her, each rough place hardened into his skin by meaningful labor.
“What about the aspen?” Isobel’s gaze landed on the stump still protruding from his sternum. Most of the branches were gone, but the base was still lodged inside him. They couldn’t remove that without disrupting the complex network of roots and viscera in his chest cavity.
“It’s remarkable,” Dr. Rosen said. “I wouldn’t have dared to follow such an aggressive course of treatment, snapping the branches off like that. The way the roots are webbed so near your heart and lungs, I would have thought such a shock too great a risk.”
Dane had chosen a place by the door and stood with his arms crossed. “But?” he asked when Dr. Rosen paused.
“Given the circumstances, I’m very pleased with how well his body is adjusting to a new normal,” Dr. Rosen said. “We knew that without intervention, the roots would reach his heart eventually, and that’s still a possibility, so I want you in here every week, Jack.” She turned a stern gaze on him. “No skipping appointments, you hear?”
Her father nodded. “All right.”
“I’d also like to set up a meeting with our new occupational therapist to help you adjust to any changes.”
“But he’s going to be okay?” Isobel cut in, a wash of disbelief surging through her.
Dr. Rosen’s crow’s feet crinkled in a kindly smile. “He’s going to be different from before. But different can be good. You’re very lucky. Whatever halted the sapling’s growth may have just saved your life.”
Saved his life?
Isobel’s body warmed in a flash of understanding, and she was suddenly glad to be sitting as a wave of dizziness passed over her.
Arthur had done this.
“Dr. Rosen, may we have a moment?” Dane asked. Despite the calm words, Isobel sensed the urgent current running beneath them. And just like that, all the unease she’d felt before they stepped into the room rushed back in.
“Of course.”
