read it sometime.'
'As if you'd let it out of your hands.'
'You're right. Well, maybe someday.' She turned away. 'I'll let you know if I hear anything more about Adia. Good-bye, Megan.'
'That's not good enough.'
Renata stopped, frowning. 'What?'
Megan took two steps and took her in her arms. 'Take care of yourself. I'll miss you… my friend.'
Renata didn't move for a moment and then her arms tightened for the briefest moment before she stepped back. 'Yeah, me too,' she said awkwardly.
Megan watched her walk quickly out of the atrium. The room was suddenly darker without that vibrant presence.
Phillip.
There was nothing vibrant about him right now and he lived in a dark world. She had to get back to him.
SHE STIFFENED IN SHOCK as she opened the door.
Harley was sprawled in the visitor's chair beside Phillip's bed. He glanced up as she came into the room. 'Hi, what's new?'
Good God, he was as casual as if he'd just run into her in the neighborhood bar.
'Not a damn thing.' She went over to the bed and took Phillip's hand. 'Just hanging around with an old friend.'
Harley was silent a moment, gazing at Phillip. 'It may not work, Megan. It doesn't happen all the time.'
Her heart started to pound. 'How do you know?'
'I've done a little experimenting.' His lips twisted. 'At first, I tried to crawl into a hole and forget about this entire mess. Then I decided that I had to prove I was normal to myself. So I volunteered as an aide at St. Jude's in Memphis.'
'The children's hospital?'
'Yeah, I like kids. I thought it wouldn't hurt to volunteer as an aide and help out in the wards. Of course, I was wrong. It did hurt. There's nothing that can break your heart like a sick kid.' He met her eyes. 'My percentage of successes was about eighty-two per cent. Of course, I can't verify all of those cases. I wasn't going to ask anyone to take X-rays or anything. God forbid, that anyone suspect I was some kind of psychic quack messing with those kids.'
'God forbid,' she repeated unsteadily.
'Well, most of them appeared remarkably better. I know for certain one little girl did go into remission. She was scheduled for tests two days after I got there and she came out of the MRI clean as a whistle.' He frowned. 'The healing seems to work better on open wounds rather than disease. I worked in the emergency room one night and the percentage went up to ninety-three percent.'
'That's wonderful.'
'I don't think so. I hate it. I never wanted this. Do you know how it feels to be able to heal one kid and not another?'
She nodded. 'I'm a doctor. It happens all the time to me. And I don't have anything but knowledge and experience to rely on.'
He scowled. 'That's not what I want out of life. What if someone found out I could do this stuff? They'd smother me; they'd try to make me out as some kind of saint.'
'You obviously have a problem. What's your solution?'
'Are you laughing at me?'
'Oh, no, I'm laughing because I'm happy.' She smiled luminously. 'I'm laughing because for the first time I have hope. I did something right and maybe this Pandora thing is going to turn out okay.' She repeated, 'What's your solution?'
He shrugged. 'I go back to living my life as I did before. But maybe it wouldn't hurt if I spent a few days a week at the hospital. That should be enough to identify and help the critical cases. As I said, I like kids.'
She could feel the tears sting her eyes. 'No, I don't think that would hurt at all.'
Harley looked back at Phillip. 'I can't promise anything, Megan. I don't know how this works. Before you came in I put my hand on his temple and there was no response. Of course, it sometimes took days with the kids.'
'Just try, Harley.'
He nodded. 'I'll give it my best shot. But not with you hovering over me. I feel weird enough doing this stuff. It embarrasses me.'
'Embarrass? That's hard to believe.'
'Just go away for a few days. I'll call you if I have any news.'
'I want to stay here.'
He shook his head. 'I stay, you go.' He smiled. 'Go to Tanzania. Renata tells me that Grady may need help with some work to be done there.'
'Renata?' She paused. 'Did Renata bring you here tonight?'
He nodded. 'She tracked me down like a bloodhound. She thought I'd be curious enough to explore the possibilities and called every hospital in a three-state area. She said I'd wasted enough of her time and that I had to straighten out things close to home.' He made a face. 'I got the impression that if I didn't do what she wanted she'd blow my cover at the hospital and set up an interview with Oprah about faith healers of the recent decade.'
Megan smiled. 'What a wicked woman she is.'
'Tanzania,' he prompted.
Grady was going to be in Tanzania. She hadn't seen him in over two weeks and he'd made no attempt to contact her. Hell, maybe he'd found himself relieved to put a little distance between them. She wasn't the only one who'd had to make major adjustments since they'd met. Perhaps she should wait for him to make the next move.
Wait? Her whole life seemed to be put on hold lately. Phillip, her medical career, exploring and coming to grips with being a blasted Pandora.
And, dammit, what was between her and Grady had to be clarified before she could move forward in any area.
She nodded slowly. 'Definitely. Tanzania.'
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
MEGAN TENSED AS SHE HEARD Grady's hotel key turn in the lock.
'It's not locked, Grady,' she called out.
Grady opened the door and stood there looking at her without speaking. He was dressed in khakis and desert boots, his dark hair looked lighter than the last time she had seen him, his skin tanner, bronzed by the African sun.
'I bribed the desk clerk,' she said. 'I didn't want to meet you down in the lobby.' She moistened her lips. 'You should really stay at a classier hotel. That bribe was really cheap. I could have been a thief or a murderer or-'
'This hotel suits me.' He closed the door but didn't move toward her. 'I'm negotiating with a tribal chief and if I'd stayed at a more expensive place then the price would have gone up.'
She frowned. 'Negotiating? You're buying those poor girls?'
'I can't walk in and take them away from their owners. They're considered slaves and I'd probably end by getting them killed.' He smiled. 'And I can usually persuade the owners that they wanted to rid themselves of the girls and that I'm doing them a favor.'
'You'll twist their thinking, change their reality.' She shook her head. 'That's one scary talent, Grady.'
