didn’t want to upset you.”
“Upset me? Why would it upset me?”
Tessi’s brows knitted together in consternation. “She’s very pretty.”
Alicia stiffened. “Are you saying that your father and Maria…”
“No.” Her look was a plea for absolution. “I don’t know.”
“Well,” Alicia said, after it was clear that Tessi had nothing else to say, “I think Mr. Kraft would be interested in hearing about all of this…very interested indeed.”
Twenty-four
“Can you feel this?” Quinn ran her fingers across the instep of Russell’s left foot.
The boy shook his head. “Do it harder.”
She complied, watching his face for a sign. His eyes were fixed on the ceiling in fierce concentration.
“Russell?”
“Nothing.”
She replaced the covers over his legs and moved to the head of the bed. “You look much better today,” she said, wrapping the blood pressure cuff around his arm.
“They told me,” he said suddenly, “that whatever I couldn’t do six months after I fell, I would probably never do again. They never said straight out that I’d never walk again.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“About not walking?”
“About not being told directly.”
Russell hesitated. “It makes me mad. Everything that has happened, happened to me. Just because I’m a kid, they think they don’t have to tell me the truth.”
“Sometimes the truth can be very painful.”
“So can lies.”
Quinn waited for him to continue.
“Sometimes, they’d be talking in my room like I wasn’t even there. About options.” His eyes sought hers. “I used to wonder what would happen when they ran out of options.”
“Russell, you have to try and understand. Sometimes it can be very frustrating to be a doctor, to try your best to help a patient and not be able to. And sometimes the only way to deal with that frustration is to put some distance between yourself and the problem. Talking about options is a little easier than talking about the pain and suffering of a human being.”
“It just seemed to me like they didn’t care.”
“If you care about someone very much, it’s hard to stand by and not be able to help them.”
“I suppose…”
“All we can do is our best, and we haven’t given up.”
“Not yet, anyway.”
“Not any time.”
When he did not respond she waited, allowing the silence to lengthen. Watching him, she could sense his uncertainty but she knew that he had to find his own answers.
Finally, he looked up. “My dad won’t give up either.”
“And neither will you.”
“I guess I just forget that no matter what happened to me, it could have been worse. I could’ve been killed.” There was no self-pity in his voice, only a matter-of-factness which belied his years.
Now he pulled himself upright, holding onto the trapeze with one hand while he rubbed vigorously at his thighs with the other.
“I can feel it, sometimes. Transient tact…tact…”
“Transient tactile sensations.”
“Whatever it is, it feels good. I think maybe if I could just forget that I can’t walk, sort of surprise myself…do it without thinking…maybe I could do it.”
“Just maybe you could,” Quinn said quietly.
Twenty-five
“Alicia, calm down.” Howard Kraft leaned back in the leather chair and looked out the window of his penthouse office. The tinted glass made the afternoon sun look like a copper coin suspended in the hazy Los Angeles sky.
“How can I calm down?” her voice demanded and he frowned at the shrillness of her tone.
“Be still for a minute and listen. The fact that your ex has a housekeeper, albeit a pretty one, is not justification for denying him joint custody.”
“But if they’re having a personal relationship…”
“Very few judges expect parents to remain celibate until the child is eighteen.”
“I won’t stand for him flaunting his affairs in front of Tessi.”
“You don’t know that he did,” Howard said
“Upset me? Why would it upset me?”
Tessi’s brows knitted together in consternation. “She’s very pretty.”
Alicia stiffened. “Are you saying that your father and Maria…”
“No.” Her look was a plea for absolution. “I don’t know.”
“Well,” Alicia said, after it was clear that Tessi had nothing else to say, “I think Mr. Kraft would be interested in hearing about all of this…very interested indeed.”
Twenty-four
“Can you feel this?” Quinn ran her fingers across the instep of Russell’s left foot.
The boy shook his head. “Do it harder.”
She complied, watching his face for a sign. His eyes were fixed on the ceiling in fierce concentration.
“Russell?”
“Nothing.”
She replaced the covers over his legs and moved to the head of the bed. “You look much better today,” she said, wrapping the blood pressure cuff around his arm.
“They told me,” he said suddenly, “that whatever I couldn’t do six months after I fell, I would probably never do again. They never said straight out that I’d never walk again.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“About not walking?”
“About not being told directly.”
Russell hesitated. “It makes me mad. Everything that has happened, happened to me. Just because I’m a kid, they think they don’t have to tell me the truth.”
“Sometimes the truth can be very painful.”
“So can lies.”
Quinn waited for him to continue.
“Sometimes, they’d be talking in my room like I wasn’t even there. About options.” His eyes sought hers. “I used to wonder what would happen when they ran out of options.”
“Russell, you have to try and understand. Sometimes it can be very frustrating to be a doctor, to try your best to help a patient and not be able to. And sometimes the only way to deal with that frustration is to put some distance between yourself and the problem. Talking about options is a little easier than talking about the pain and suffering of a human being.”
“It just seemed to me like they didn’t care.”
“If you care about someone very much, it’s hard to stand by and not be able to help them.”
“I suppose…”
“All we can do is our best, and we haven’t given up.”
“Not yet, anyway.”
“Not any time.”
When he did not respond she waited, allowing the silence to lengthen. Watching him, she could sense his uncertainty but she knew that he had to find his own answers.
Finally, he looked up. “My dad won’t give up either.”
“And neither will you.”
“I guess I just forget that no matter what happened to me, it could have been worse. I could’ve been killed.” There was no self-pity in his voice, only a matter-of-factness which belied his years.
Now he pulled himself upright, holding onto the trapeze with one hand while he rubbed vigorously at his thighs with the other.
“I can feel it, sometimes. Transient tact…tact…”
“Transient tactile sensations.”
“Whatever it is, it feels good. I think maybe if I could just forget that I can’t walk, sort of surprise myself…do it without thinking…maybe I could do it.”
“Just maybe you could,” Quinn said quietly.
Twenty-five
“Alicia, calm down.” Howard Kraft leaned back in the leather chair and looked out the window of his penthouse office. The tinted glass made the afternoon sun look like a copper coin suspended in the hazy Los Angeles sky.
“How can I calm down?” her voice demanded and he frowned at the shrillness of her tone.
“Be still for a minute and listen. The fact that your ex has a housekeeper, albeit a pretty one, is not justification for denying him joint custody.”
“But if they’re having a personal relationship…”
“Very few judges expect parents to remain celibate until the child is eighteen.”
“I won’t stand for him flaunting his affairs in front of Tessi.”
“You don’t know that he did,” Howard said
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