The Children's Ward Read Free Page A

who had been standing silently, took a step forward. “Alicia, the nurse is only doing her job.”
    “Even if I wanted your advice,” she said, not looking at him and speaking slowly, “I wouldn’t ask for it.”
    “Your husband is right,” the nurse began.
    “He isn’t my husband. We’re divorced.” She smoothed her ash blond hair with a manicured hand. “Regardless, I would very much appreciate it if you would call Dr. Fuller because I am certain he would authorize my request.”
    “If you would like to contact Dr. Fuller,” the nurse countered, “and get his permission for special visiting privileges, starting tomorrow, please do. For today, I am going to have to enforce the rules: visiting hours begin at one.”
    “Thank you,” the man said, gripping his former wife’s arm and propelling her toward the door. “We’ll be back at one.”
    “Don’t you ever touch me,” Alicia huffed after they were outside, pulling her arm from his grasp.
    “There was no cause for that little scene in there.”
    “Tessi needs me and I want to be with her.”
    “ You want, that’s the operative phrase, you want. Our daughter is very ill. Why don’t you think of her instead of yourself?”
    “I am thinking of her.” Her eyes narrowed. “You might think of her yourself the next time you decide to drag her off into the wilderness to be next to nature.”
    “A ranch in New Mexico is hardly…”
    “Ranch? You call that hovel a ranch? Ha!”
    “It’s better for her than a third-floor apartment in Los Angeles with winos and addicts wandering the streets.”
    “I live,” she said through clenched teeth, “in a very exclusive complex…”
    “I know all about where you live, Alicia. How does Tessi fit into that rarefied atmosphere? All chrome and glass, and no substance…”
    “The only substance you understand is dirt. . .”
    “At least it’s real.”
    “Oh, it’s real, all right, no one can deny that. It’s all over the floors, the windows…I don’t know how Tessi stands it when she’s living with you.”
    “Why don’t you ask her? It’s her heritage, to be among living things…”
    “Like you, Little Wolf?” Her eyes glittered with malice.
    “I am half Apache.”
    “Half savage…you embrace a culture that died before you were born and you want my daughter to run wild like an animal.”
    “You found that very attractive once,” he commented.
    “I was little more than a child myself—”
    “You,” he said, “were never a child.”
    She stared at him. “I think it’s time I went back to court and eliminated this joint custody arrangement. You endangered your own daughter’s life by living so far from medical help…I think it’s about time I put a stop to your negligence.” She spun and strode angrily back toward the main hospital.
    “Try it,” he called, raising his voice for the first time. “Try it.”
     
     
     

Five
     
    Abigail watched as Tessi arranged the koala bear and the giraffe on either side of her, then lay very still between them, eyes closed and hands folded across her stomach.
    Abigail had never seen anyone who looked as exotic as Tessi. Her black hair was fanned out across the pillow like fine-spun silk and her skin was a rosy golden color that reminded Abigail of the peaches her grandmother bought each summer.
    Even more exotic were the tiny earrings that Tessi wore.
    Her grandmother said that jewelry was a demonstration of vanity and that pierced ears were “foolish nonsense.” Abigail had accepted that, as she accepted almost everything her grandmother told her, as fact. But looking at the tiny silver and turquoise earrings, she felt a vague stirring of doubt.
    She was startled to see that Tessi was crying. Tears ran down into her glossy black hair and her mouth trembled as she wept.
    Abigail could not recall ever having cried, although she’d been told she was a fussy baby. It was not the type of behavior that her grandmother would tolerate, but even