“Lisa, I didn’t mean to upset you so much,” said Josh. “I’m sorry for freaking out on you, but I wasn’t expecting it to be this bad. It’s a lot to take in.” He sat down beside her, frowning into the gathering darkness. “Who else knows about this?”
“Someone told my mother,” said Lisa. “That’s why she was mad at my father during the wedding. I don’t know who it was. Most of the guests were my parents’ friends. It could have been anyone.”
“Maybe it was Graham,” said Josh.
Lisa shrugged. She was too upset to speculate. She wondered if she should have told Josh the truth. What if he decided to take matters into his own hands? She hoped his desire to protect his mother would outweigh his inclination to destroy her father, but she feared he might view the whole thing as an opportunity to extricate his family from a bad situation. She waited, trying to prepare herself for the worst, but it was a long time before he spoke.
“We’re in over our heads,” he said. To her relief, he didn’t sound angry anymore. “This is so bad that I honestly don’t know what to do. I wish we could tell the police everything, but if we go that route, it’ll start a cascade of events we won’t be able to control.”
Lisa nodded. Graham’s comment about her father’s laboratory returned to her mind. According to the official story, the explosion had been caused by a gas leak, but now she knew what had really happened.
“It’s too dangerous,” she said.
“I agree, but I’m not going to let your dad take advantage of my mom,” said Josh. “I’m still going to talk to my dad, but I won’t say anything that could cause trouble for your family. I just want to make sure someone’s looking out for my mom’s best interests. That’s the most important thing right now.”
Lisa didn’t know much about Josh’s father, but she was inclined to think well of him. Compared to the other prominent adults in her life, he seemed sensible enough, despite his incomprehensible blindness when it came to Josh’s mother.
“What about your grandfather?” she said. “It sounds like he knows what’s going on between my father and Graham.”
“I don’t know,” said Josh. “Graham told me some pretty awful things about him. He might have been lying, but I don’t think he was. I’m not sure if Richard is here because he cares about us, or because he’s trying to prove a point.”
Lisa didn’t know what Josh meant, but she decided not to ask any more questions. His family was none of her business anyway. She felt grateful to him for being honest with her, but she couldn’t find the words to tell him.
“I’m still worried about Graham,” she said.
“So am I, but there’s nothing we can do about him at the moment,” said Josh. “Let’s forget about him for now. Do you mind if we talk about normal stuff instead? I’m sick of conspiracy theories, and we can’t go back to the house yet anyway.”
“Why not?” said Lisa.
“Our parents think we’re on a date, and if we don’t stay out long enough, they’ll get suspicious,” said Josh.
He stood up and extended his hand. Lisa took it and scrambled off the barrier. They walked through the park for the better part of an hour. Their conversation was awkward at first, but it wasn’t long before Lisa realized Josh was genuinely interested in what she had to say. To her surprise, she found herself talking freely, enjoying his company so much that she temporarily forgot about her troubles. If his smile was any indication, he was similarly affected by her.
It was only when they returned to the house that her anxiety returned. Josh thanked her for spending the evening with him and hurried upstairs to talk to his father. Lisa hoped he would honor the promise he had made to protect her family.
∞∞∞
Lisa’s father arrived at the house the next morning to check on Sabrina. Richard met him on the porch and brought him directly into the sickroom.
“Sabrina had a rough night,” he said. “We almost called you, but we were finally able to get her settled, so we didn’t. She was in a lot of pain. I’m really starting to question the wisdom of giving her another dose.”
“I don’t have anything else to offer her,” said Lisa’s father.
He looked down at Sabrina. She was still alive, but he sensed death lingering in the air. He told himself it was a figment of his imagination. Arthur sat beside Sabrina, holding her hand. Not knowing what to say, Lisa’s father picked up the clipboard and glanced through the copious notes Agnes had taken during the previous night.
“She’s not doing well,” said Agnes. “She’s disoriented, she’s hurting, and I can’t give her anything to make her feel better because she’s having trouble breathing. The drug isn’t helping her. I think it’s time to talk about other options.”
Lisa’s father grasped Sabrina’s wrist. Her skin was cold, and her pulse was irregular. She didn’t respond to his touch beyond a brief fluttering of her eyelids. He thought about Graham’s outrageous proposal and felt utterly wretched, but what difference would it make in the grand scheme of things? Sabrina was dying anyway.
“There aren’t any other options,” he said. “We need to keep trying.”
“No,” said Agnes. “We need to stop torturing this poor woman.”
“I’ll take another sample of her bone marrow to see if her body is producing any cells that might be fighting the cancer,” said Lisa’s father. “We’ll have the results tomorrow. Then we’ll decide what to do.”
He ignored Agnes’ protests and turned his attention to Arthur, who had listened to the entire conversation in gloomy silence.
“I can’t do this without your permission,” he said. “If I don’t find irrefutable proof the drug is helping her, I’ll stop the treatment and focus on keeping her comfortable instead.”
Arthur touched Sabrina’s sunken
