The morning light filtering through the high, arched windows of St. Jude’s Intensive Care Unit was cold, clinical, and completely unforgiving.
I stood by my mother’s bed, watching the rhythmic rise and fall of her thin chest. The steady, mechanical beep-beep-beep of the heart monitor was the only anchor holding me to reality. I gently reached down, smoothing a gray strand of hair away from her pale forehead. Her skin was still entirely too cool, her face relaxed in a state of peace that terrified me far more than her feverish panic ever had.
"I'm going to fix this, Mama," I whispered, leaning down until my lips brushed her temple. "I don't care what I have to do, or who I have to lie to. You're going to get the best care in this city. I promise you."
She didn't move. She couldn't hear m
