Wish Giver

by Mary Lynn Baxter

• ISBN13: 9780373835522
• ISBN10: 0373835523
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-06-01
• Publisher: Harlequin

Summary

Baxter's full-length novel is an emotional reunion romance in which two former lovers are brought together during the illness of their child. Past feelings are soon rekindled, leading them to the true meaning of love. Reissue.

Excerpts

She would rather be anywhere other than where she was, but then Glynis Hamilton had learned long ago that choices in one's life were luxuries, not God-given rights. That bit of knowledge had reared its ugly head two years before when her son had been diagnosed as having leukemia.

Even now, just thinking about that day brought chills to her skin and made her shiver with the same feeling of rage and fear that she'd experienced then.

"Glynis."

At the soft-spoken use of her name, she blinked and focused her eyes on the tall, gray-haired man with eyes the color of the sky on a clear day. Dr. Eric Johns had a bedside manner to match his voice: gentle. And though he was just one of the many white-coated specialists who had paraded through her and Todd's life of late, he was the one she thought of as "Todd's doctor," the one who had been instrumental in holding her together through these trying times.

He was watching her intently, with concern etched in his features. "You seem a million miles away, my dear."

Glynis forced a smile. "Sometimes I wish I could pretend this was all a bad dream, and just run away."

They were sitting behind closed doors in Dr. Johns's office at the Texas Children's Hospital in Houston on a lovely spring morning. Glynis had left Todd at the day-care center and driven across town for the appointment. Dr. Johns's receptionist had called and left word that he wanted to talk to her.

Shaking his head, the doctor stood up from behind his massive desk and crossed to the window. He still didn't respond to Glynis's comment for a moment, seemingly content to watch and listen to the traffic below on Fannin Street. Even though his office was on an upper floor, the sounds of the afternoon traffic did not escape them.

After a moment he turned and faced Glynis. "You know you wouldn't run away, but I can understand why you would be driven to say it. Under the circumstances, you've handled Todd's illness with a remarkable strength." His voice was filled with admiration.

Glynis looked skeptical. "I appreciate your saying that, Doctor, but we both know it's not true. I fell apart at the seams."

He smiled in spite of the seriousness of the situation. "But you glued yourself back together, and that's what counts. So many don't." A frown replaced the smile. "The most dreaded or feared word in our society today is cancer."

Glynis leaned back in the cushioned chair and at the same time pushed an unruly strand of strawberry-blond hair behind her ear. "If only it had been me," she whispered, more for her own ears than for his.

"That's a natural reaction, too, my dear, but unfortunately we're not calling the shots. Someone higher up is doing that."

A silence fell over the room, and Glynis took the opportunity to draw a deep breath, to try to get hold of her frayed nerves. She had known what the doctor had wanted to discuss when he'd called, and she'd dreaded this visit. Todd had just recently undergone an updated battery of tests and she had prayed that his leukemia was still in remission.

"Anyway," Dr. Johns was saying, "I didn't call you here to give you bad news, or to let you wallow in self-pity."

"Oh." Glynis felt her pulse leap.

"Quite the opposite, in fact."

Glynis scooted to the edge of her chair and peered up at him. "Then ... Todd's still in remission." It wasn't a question, and her voice had a croaking sound to it.

The doctor smiled, a genuine smile this time. "That he is, and -"

"Oh, thank God," Glynis cried, cutting him off in midsentence, her eyes raised toward the ceiling.

"You didn't let me finish," Dr. Johns chided, though with long-standing patience.

"There's more?" Glynis spread her hands. "I don't understand. What could possibly be more exhilarating than to learn that my six-year-old son is cured, that -"

This time it was the doctor who interrupted. "Not cured, Glynis, in remission. Remember, there's a difference." He paused and sat back down at his desk and, after leaning forward on both arms, peered at Glynis, a mixture of emotions playing across his face. "However, what we're about to discuss could lead to that cure."

Glynis was only capable of staring at him wide-eyed. Her heart was in her throat. She had prayed that one day she would hear these words, but she had about given up hope. And though she was hearing them now, she couldn't help but wonder if it would turn out to be another false alarm, another in a long line of many.

It had been shortly after her husband, Jay, was killed in a head-on car collision that she had begun to notice that something was wrong with Todd. Her worst fears were realized when the pediatrician, along with a specialist, had diagnosed leukemia. Since then her life had been like a yo-yo, up with hope one day, only to bottom out in despair the next. Dare she hope? Dare she truly hope?

"Please," Glynis whispered at last, wetting her lips, "tell me. Don't keep me in suspense any longer."

Eric Johns peered at the charts in front of him before transferring his gaze to Glynis. "After studying Todd's test at length, we feel he's a prime candidate for a bone marrow transplant." He held up his hands when Glynis would have interrupted. "Hear me out, then you can ask all the questions you like."

Unable to sit still a moment longer, Glynis got up and walked to the window and stood in the same spot that Dr. Johns had recently occupied. She stared outside also, but scarcely noticed the richness of the sun's glare as it bounced off the tall medical buildings across the street.

The doctor's calm voice drew her back around. "If the bone marrow is a success, and we have every reason to believe it will be, Todd should live a normal, healthy life."

A light flashed in Glynis's golden brown eyes, and tears glistened on her long lashes, making her appear suddenly younger than her twenty-seven years and much more vulnerable. "Oh, Dr. Johns, I don't know what to say ... or do ..." Her voice broke as she rushed toward him. "How to thank you ..."

He cleared his throat. "Don't thank me yet, Glynis. While we're extremely fortunate that Todd qualifies for a transplant, there is a problem." For the first time, he seemed to be less than confident.

Fear gripped Glynis. "And what might that be?"

The doctor sighed. "The down side is that you're not a suitable donor. Your HLA, which are you blood antigens, do not match your son's."

"Oh, God," Glynis responded, feeling as if she'd just been kicked in the stomach. With trembling fingers she delved deep into her purse for a Kleenex, then on unsteady legs made her way back to the chair and sat down.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Wish Giver by Mary Lynn Baxter Copyright © 2003 by Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.
Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.