Clearing her throat, she deliberately forced a smile to her lips. “But that isn’t going to happen with Linus. Like you said, his dad’s probably a match and they’ll do the transplant right away.”
As if to bail her out, Callum’s cell phone rang. Hailey took the twin he was holding into her own arms, along with the one she was already holding, to allow him to take the call in relative peace. Or that was her reasoning at the time.
Opening his phone, Callum saw that it was his wife calling. “Hi, honey, we were just talking about you.” He glanced at his brother. Hailey guessed that Becky had probably just asked him who we were.
The next second, she saw that she was right because Callum told his wife, “Dillon and Hailey. They’re back and I think—wait, what?”
Callum’s entire countenance changed as he listened to his wife’s voice on the other end of the call.
Hailey kept her eyes on him, taking everything in as all sorts of half thoughts were forming in her head.
Something more was obviously going on, she thought. Did it have to do with Linus?
Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. The expression on Callum’s face was exceedingly serious and almost forbidding.
She and Dillon didn’t have long to wait to find out. Ending the call, Callum put his phone back into his pocket as he looked from Dillon to Hailey.
“Well?” Dillon demanded. “What’s going on?”
“Eric’s not a genetic match to Linus,” Callum told them in a quiet voice.
Chapter Twenty
For a moment, the only sounds in the room were the noises made by the twins as they babbled to each other. Dillon and Hailey looked at one another and then at Callum. Neither of them looked as if they could believe what they were hearing.
“What did you just say?” Dillon asked his brother in disbelief.
“Eric’s not a match. He can’t donate bone marrow to Linus.”
“How is that possible?” Dillon wanted to know, confused.
“Well, just because Eric’s his father doesn’t necessarily mean that his bone marrow would be a match to Linus’s. As a matter of fact, there could be a number of reasons why it doesn’t match—” Hailey began to explain.
For the second time in less than two minutes, the only sounds that were heard were those being made by the twins as they were jabbering.
Callum shrugged helplessly. “Hey, I’m just repeating what Becky told me.” He grabbed Sasha just as the twin was about to pull a throw pillow down from the sofa.
“Are they sure?” Hailey asked him, stunned.
“Oh, they’re sure. When he wasn’t a match for Linus’s bone marrow, Eric insisted on a DNA test. He’s on pins and needles until the results come through, but that’s not going to be for a while,” he told them, setting Sasha down away from anything she could pull on herself. “According to Becky, Eric’s reeling. He’s terrified for Linus’s health.” Callum’s voice trailed off as he shrugged again.
As shocking as this news was, that wasn’t what they should be focusing on right now, Hailey thought.
“Not all parents are immediate genetic matches when it comes to their kids. That’s something to be looked into later,” she said to the two brothers. “Right now the important thing is to find a bone marrow donor who’s a match for Linus.” There appeared to be only one solution. She looked from one brother to the other. “We’ve got to get the word out right away so volunteers can come in and be tested as soon as possible. If Linus is as sick as the doctor says, we can’t afford to waste too much time.” Her voice rose with each word she uttered.
“I agree,” Dillon said, thinking how he would feel if this was Julie who needed to have a bone marrow transplant. A thought occurred to him. “I’ll call Steven. Since he’s married to the mayor, he can tell her all about this latest development. It’s a given that Ellie will want to help,” he said. “She can hold a press conference and make an announcement.” He looked from his brother to Hailey to see if they agreed with him. “The way I see it, that would be the fastest way to get the word out. We could also send out emails to all the people who were invited to the spa’s opening. The more people notified, the better.”
Hailey nodded. “And I can have part of the spa close down tomorrow. We can hold the drive there,” she told them. “We’ll have all the volunteers come to the spa so they can be tested to see if any of them can be a donor. There’s got to be a match for little Linus here somewhere,” she insisted.
Callum nodded, eager to get started. “I’ll call Becky back, let her know that all this is going on. That way she can get a team together to come over to the spa and bring everything they need to conduct the tests.” Callum grinned, pleased as he looked at his brother and Hailey. “This is all really coming together fast,” he commented as he began to redial his wife.
“I’ll call Steven right now so he can get in contact with Ellie to tell her about this,” Dillon said, taking out his phone, as well. “He might need time to get through if she’s busy or in a meeting.”
Hailey nodded. “Once you talk to him, I need to get back to the spa. It might take some time to get ready to handle the influx of volunteers.” She tried not to think about how sick the baby was and just focus on the positive side: that they’d find a way to help him. “Since this is for the town’s littlest celebrity, I think we should be prepared for a lot of people coming in to be tested.”
Both brothers were
