“My daughter is fighting for her life! And you didn’t even have the wisdom to send her to a better hospital,” she snapped at me and I never wanted to smack a woman so hard in my life.
“Ms. Noëlle, I assure we are a very capable hospital—”
“I want my daughter back in New York where she won’t just be in a capable hospital but the BEST hospital!” She shrieked with tears in her eyes.
I clapped for her, it was the best I could do with my hands. “You’re really working for that Oscar, Diana!”
“Mr. Lord!” Dr. Neecey took a deep breath to calm herself down before she placed her hand on my shoulder. “I understand you are tired, you’ve been at her side every moment since saving her life, but please hold back.”
I glanced at her and she gave me a look, begging me to calm down.
“And we thank you, Mr. Lord,” the snake said with the same level of fake sincerity as Diana. “But as Esther’s family, Diana has the right to make the best medical decision for her daughter. Doctor, has Esther improved at all?”
“Her condition is sensitive,” she forced herself to say.
“A condition you reportedly have no idea how to treat.”
“Are you asking as a friend of the family or as a lawyer, Mr.…?”
“Cain Pembroke,” he replied. “And I’m asking as a friend for now. As Mrs. Noëlle asked, she’d like her daughter transferred to NYU—”
“If you think for one moment…” The rage that rose in my body barely allowed me to speak. My hands balled into fists as I glared at them both. “…that I’ll allow you to make decisions on her behalf, to allow you to take her anywhere, you’ve never met a man who’s willing to give up any and everything before.” Looking directly at the scum of a human in front me I said, “I pray you are a better lawyer than you are a family friend, because I will fight you until she wakes up and exposes you both.”
Turning away from the both of them, I grabbed on to the handle of her door when he spoke out again.
“We can get a court order, Mr. Lord.”
“Then do it, Mr. Pembroke.”
I hadn’t said it. Instead, the words had come from Maya Yamauchi who was coming towards me with her mother’s daily lunch basket. “But do know that I am a better lawyer than family friend, and I’ll contest it. I’ll make it bigger than the Terri Schiavo case.”
I didn’t want to hear anymore. She wasn’t a case. This wasn’t a case. It was just Esther. I just wanted her.
“You need to let them move her.” Maya came in a few seconds after me and placed the basket on the bedside table. Then she took out her phone and started taking pictures as she spoke. “Let them move her to a bigger hospital where she’ll have all the care she needs. That way they can’t say you aren’t providing the best care for her. From there on we can argue that her mother does not have the right to make a legal—”
“If they move her she’ll die,” I whispered as I headed to her bedside and picked up the washcloth, however, the water was cold. Turning on the kettle, I waited for the water to heat up.
“What?” Maya slowly lowered the camera. “What do you mean she’ll die?”
“I mean somehow, someway, that woman will kill her. It doesn’t matter if I take Esther to the best doctors in the world, that woman, that lawyer, they will pretend they care and the first chance they get they’ll kill her. It is not a joke, it is not a hyperbole, it is a fact. I do not trust them! Esther and I… Esther and I are holding by a thread, Maya!” My chest ached but I ignored it as I took the kettle and poured it into the bin. “I said I was willing to give up any and everything before, I meant it. I’m not getting wrapped up in their scheme. I’m not going to give them any room to make any choice for her.”
“I don’t understand—”
“They want her money, Maya! So I’ll give them money!” It was all they cared about. It was why they were really here.
“Bribery is only going to—”
“I don’t care!” I snapped looking down at Esther as she slept. I hated what I’d have to do but there wasn’t any other way. “Her grandfather, Alfred, he left me much more than I deserved in his will. Tell her mother I’ll give up all of it as long as she leaves Esther in peace.”
“Malachi!”
/> “I’m fighting for her! Not money! But her life! What is money? I don’t need it. I need them gone! Can you do that? If you want to help me can you do that!?!”
She looked between us, speechless. Even though Maya, who was still mourning the loss of her father, was usually quiet, she became exceptionally animated as she looked at me.
“Okay. I’ll get in contact with Esther’s lawyer. I’m sure, they must have something in place, especially considering—”
“Just do it. Do anything,” I said as I sat back down beside Esther and picked up where I’d left off with wiping down her skin. I didn’t care about the how, I just wanted it handled. When she left, the door closed gently behind her and I exhaled and looked down at Esther. “I need you here, now. I need you.”