The Covenant Read Online Free PDF Page B

curtain around her bed, sat down and smiled. “How are you feeling this morning?”
    “Ravishing,” she said with a trace of a wicked grin. She was a lover ofnovels, especially the ones with the bodice-ripping titles, and they were the source of most of her English vocabulary.
    He lifted his eyebrows and nodded appreciatively. “Good word! And what else can you tell me?”
    He listened as she gave him a list of her symptoms and reactions to the drug regimen, all the while flipping through her charts to read the latest lab work. The truth was, the numbers were better. Not the best. Not perfect, but an improvement. He examined her head to toe.
    It was good, he thought. Nothing but the usual body weariness fighting the invasive chemicals that were flooding her system, fighting the cancer. She needed very, very careful supervision at this point, someone to keep track exactly of every dosage and every side effect. He made a note to change certain medications, and told the nurse that he was to be paged immediately if there was any change for the worse. He didn’t want some outsider clomping into this delicate woman’s fragile body chemistry with combat boots. He wanted, literally, to keep his finger on her pulse. This was his war, and he was determined to win it for her, for Shawan, for their children. It was personal.
    “I’m happy today, Nouara. The numbers look good. Keep it up!” His hand reached into his back pocket and he took out another Harlequin. “For you. This one is called Burning Desire ,” he read.
    She took it from him quickly, glancing with pleasure at the big-bosomed blonde in the arms of the dark horseman before hiding it quickly inside her pillow. She tucked a few wisps of hair underneath her scarf “ Shukran , Doctor Jon.”
    “Anytime.”
    He was about to leave, when her hand caught his arm. “Doctor, can you tell my husband not to come? At least, not every day?”
    He was surprised. “Why?”
    She shook her head. “He won’t listen to me. But I know it is very hard for him. He isn’t able to find work, because he takes off so much time…”
    And because since the Intifada, Israelis were just too scared to hire Palestinians… Jon finished the thought for her.
    “He’s so tired. If something happens to me, he has to be strong. To take care of our children. This is more important. But he won’t listen…”
    “Nouara, if my wife told me not to come and see her every day, I wouldn’t listen to her or her doctor. I’d come. But you know what, I’ll tryto find some work for Shawan. There are people building houses in Maaleh Sara who could use a hand, and their hours are flexible. He could do both.”
    Her teeth were white and pretty against her dark face. She took his hand and kissed it.
    “You make me feel like the pope, Nouara.”
    “You are holier,” she said solemnly.
    “I don’t know. My wife is pretty mad at me right now. She says I’m bullying her.”
    “How is this pregnancy going? Still so hard?”
    “No, she’s fine. But we don’t want to take any chances, and she hates lying in bed all day She’s so tired of doing her beadwork, of reading and watching TV…”
    “I know.” Nouara picked at the bedcovers listlessly. “Maybe you should buy her watercolors and paper. Let her draw. You wouldn’t believe how the time passes when you mix colors.” She pulled open the drawer of her night table. It was full of her artwork, fresh and delicate landscapes. What was she drawing, he wondered, glancing up at the window. But only the blank white wall of the maternity wing stared back at him. He studied the paintings: the brown rolling hills, the gnarled trunks of olive trees, the pointy bright green pomegranate leaves. It was the same view he saw from his own window every morning, he realized, the same things he would miss if confined to this sterile white room. She’d drawn the landscape of her heart. And in a way, his own.
    “It’s so good, Nouara. So familiar. I even think