Mrs. Fredrick POV
The charity ward of Sacramento General Hospital smelled like disinfectant and despair. I lay in my narrow bed, listening to the moans and cries of other patients who couldn't afford private rooms. The woman in the bed next to me had been coughing up blood for three days, and the man across the hall kept calling for his daughter who never came.
This was where people came to die when they couldn't pay for decent medical care.
It had been a week since I told Bernard about my cancer diagnosis. A week since he promised me he would take care of everything and figure out how to pay for my treatments. A week of waiting for him to call back with good news about insurance coverage or payment plans or some miracle solution.
Instead, I got nothing. No phone calls, no visits, no u
