transplants, you think of teams of doctors and hours of surgery and an instant improvement as the new parts replace the old.'
Fletcher shrugged. 'On the other hand, she wasn't put in such a dangerous situation as surgery. The wait will be tougher on you than on her. She has no idea what's going on.' She waggled her fingers at the baby. 'Do you, you little huggly wuggly?' She looked up at the parents. 'I received a message from my lawyer, Terry Johnson. He wants us to know that ev-erything is going according to plan. He's pushing for an early trial date so that we can get this cleared up as soon as pos-sible. I don't think we have anything to worry about.'
'What about the-' Karen's voice caught on a word. 'What about Valerie Dalton? What does she think of all this?' She waved an arm at the syringes.
'She was very cooperative. I think we can avoid quite a bit of enmity if we remember one thing.' The doctor covered the stained syringes on the tray with a Tyvek cloth, then turned to check the monitors recording Renata's heart rate and tempera-ture. 'Whatever the trial decides, the more important outcome is that the baby regains her health, right?'
The Chandlers nodded in urgent agreement.
'Then we're all on the same side.' She looked at the young pair and spoke in soft tones. 'We've all made choices that will have consequences for the rest of our lives. If we can come to a civilized decision about what to do next, our lives-and es-pecially Renata's-will be made easier. We musn't see Valerie and Ron as strangers who are trying to steal your baby. I will do my best in court to convince them that we aren't, either. The blame for all of this will fall on me, and I'll gladly handle it. You should just concentrate on letting Renata see how much you love her. That will help her recover as much as anything I can do. Babies need smiles.' She waved at the little one. 'I wish you could give her hugs, too. Real ones, not glove-box caresses.' She fell silent, staring at the protective cage that kept out both germs and affection.
'How's Valerie?' Karen asked. Her voice was subdued.
'She was very cooperative. We tranqued her out so that she could sleep without pain. But with ninety-three holes in her sternum, she's going to feel it tomorrow morning.' Karen turned white. '
A burning pain in Valerie's chest awakened her from a dreamless sleep. Somehow, she had rolled over onto her stom-ach. Now the aching forced her eyes open. In groggy semicon-sciousness, she pushed up on an elbow and rolled over again.
That's when it hit.
In a surge of intense fire, the agony seared every nerve in her body. It caught her by surprise, rendered her unable to take a breath. Every drop of adrenaline in her body seemed to jet into her bloodstream at once.
'Ron!' she cried out breathlessly. Fingers clenched around the low bars of the hospital bed, eyes tried to shut out the red haze within them, teeth ground together for a hellishly long instant. She forced herself not to move. Lowering ever so slowly back to the sheets, she rediscovered the ability to inhale. The events of the previous day came back to her in an overpowering rush of memory.
'Ron?'
'He's in court,' said an unfamiliar voice, 'arranging the trial.' Valerie rolled her head over toward the speaker. The dark-haired woman standing near the bed watched Valerie with undisguised curiosity and apprehension.
'You're Mrs. Chandler.'
Karen nodded. After a moment of hesitation, she extended her hand. 'I want to thank you for what you did.'
Just staring at the proffered hand caused her chest to ache. 'I didn't do it for you. I did it for my baby.'
'Please.' Karen lowered her head, fighting hard to suppress her conflicting emotions. Here, after all, was the real mother of the child she gave birth to, ready to use the might of the state to force her return. Even so, she had endured a torturous operation for that same child. 'We both love Renata. What you did yesterday may very well save her life. I just want to thank you... for her.' When Karen gently grasped her hand, Valerie did not pull away. She returned the clasp, tears coming to her eyes. The small sobs hurt deep in her chest. It didn't matter. So much more pain was being released by the tears.
'Hey!'
Both women looked up to see Ron standing in the doorway. With a dozen white roses in one arm and a box of Godiva choco-lates in the other, he looked like a suitor coming to call. But he looked none too pleased.
'I won't have you in here disturbing Valerie.'
'It's all right, Ron.' Valerie reached for a tissue, but the pain stopped her arm. Karen pulled one out of the wall box and handed it to her. 'She's here to tell me how Renata's doing.' Ron's lips curled inward meditatively until beard and mus-tache met. 'Okay,' he said with a sigh.
