The Legacy: Making Wishes Come True Read Online Free PDF Page A

due at my father’s law offices at nine o’clock Monday morning to start work. I wasn’t planning to show up.”
    “You were going to defy your father?” Marian looked aghast.
    “I wasn’t going to let him force me into doing something I didn’t want to do.”
    She gave a short, cryptic laugh. “Yes, I heard the same words from my own son, Jenny’s father, some eighteen years ago.”
    Warren Crawford had defied his mother? Richard thought the information amazing. He returned to his original train of thought by saying, “My decision not to show up has changed now. So long as Jenny’s in the hospital in Boston, I’ll stay in the city and work for my father. I’m pretty sure he’ll give me time off to visit her whenever I want.”
    Marian looked as if she might say something about his plans, but for some reason, she changed her mind. She straightened and turned to leave the visitors’ lounge. “I’m going to check on Jenny now. I’ve already informed the administration that I’ll be moving her to Children’s. Our flight leaves at four this afternoon. I only hope I can convince her that this move is purely routine.”
    Routine
. It was the second time that morning he’d heard the word. A sixteen-year-old girl with her whole life ahead of her may be about to learn she has cancer—what could possibly be routine aboutthat? Richard clenched his fists. “I’ll call home and let mother know my plans. She can pack my things and probably get me on the same flight.”
    “Very well,” Marian said. Richard couldn’t help noticing that her inflection sounded more like permission than acceptance.
    Jenny felt as if a curtain of secrecy had descended around her while her grandmother busied herself with plans for returning to Boston. Even Richard seemed to be a part of the conspiracy of silence. While she was thrilled to know he’d be coming to Boston with them that afternoon, he was acting far too casual about returning in order to work for his father’s law firm. She remembered how angry he’d been about it at the country club. Was there more going on than he and Grandmother were telling her?
    They left the hospital and rode in Grandmother’s Lincoln to the airport, where the chauffeur unloaded their bags and they boarded a plane for the bumpy flight over the water to the metropolitan Boston area. Another chauffeured car met them and took them directly to Children’s Hospital.
    Jenny felt overwhelmed by the enormous facility, so totally different from the tiny community hospital on Martha’s Vineyard. The new hospital soared ten stories and sprawled over two city blocks. Once inside, she was whisked up to a top floor and ushered into a private room with windows overlooking downtown Boston. The room held not only a bed, but a sofa, TV, and stocked refrigerator.
    “Grandmother!” Jenny exclaimed. “This place looks like a hotel suite.”
    “Money can buy some amenities, dear. I want you to be comfortable.”
    Richard caught Jenny’s eye and flashed her a look that said,
Don’t fight it
.
    “I really don’t need all this.”
    “Nonsense. This ordeal is stressful enough.”
    “I didn’t know hospitals had rooms like this,” Richard commented. “Especially a kids’ hospital.”
    “Children of celebrities become ill too,” Marian replied, opening dresser drawers. “Did you think they weren’t given preferential treatment?”
    “I’m not the queen of England.”
    Marian brushed off Jenny’s remark. “Your doctor will be in later this evening to meet you. His name is Jason Gallagher, and I’m assured he’s one of the best.”
    “The best for what?”
    Marian barely missed a beat before answering, “The best diagnostician in the area. He’ll get to the bottom of what’s ailing you.”
    “So I will have to go through a bunch of awful tests after all.”
    “I’m afraid so.” Marian took Jenny’s hand and squeezed it. “Don’t worry. I’ll be with you through each one of them. And so