Shan non Ethr idge and K athry n M ackel
“Nothing that a few plates and screws didn’t fix.” “It’s late. Wait—Beth was supposed to get tested today,” Julia said. Beth Latham was their office manager and dear friend. Matt made that hmm sound high in his palate, an indicator that things were bad but he wouldn’t let it get to him. “What?” Julia said. “There’s good news and bad news that’s really good news.” Julia groaned. “Just tell me.” “Beth was a match.” “Really?” “She can’t do it. She wants to badly. But she can’t. Not for eight months at least.” Her heart sank. “She’s pregnant? I thought she and Bruce had stopped trying.” “They had. She was having the physical, mentioned nausea, and they ran the test.” “That’s wonderful news, Matt.” Julia’s voice came back hollow. They were all hanging on by fingernails. They needed to find a liver—immediately. A terrible twist of fate had made both her and Matt ineligible as living donors. Her A-positive blood type with Matt’s B positive could have combined to AB positive in their son, the blood type that can receive all comers. But they both carried recessive genes— like hidden sins—into their pairing and gave birth to a type-O, Rh-negative baby. Were he healthy, Dillon’s blood type would make him a universal donor. How ironic that he would have been sought after by the Red Cross to give blood every two months once he turned eighteen. He could share with anyone but only receive O-negative blood and could only survive a transplant from a type-O donor. The fact 6
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