Thanks for Giving (2 page)

She dried her hands, then patted her shirt to try to make it less wet and used the paper towel to open the door. As soon as she was back in the lobby, Chip headed toward her. “Come on. Samantha is here to draw your blood.”

“You could have at least offered me your jacket. I may not have much in the way of a chest, but I don’t really want to let the entire planet look at it.” Molly stomped over to the set of chairs where the woman she presumed was Samantha stood with a small case in her hand that resembled a fishing tackle box.

Chip followed behind. Molly could hear him snickering. She glanced back at him over her shoulder. “Stop that.”

“You’re the one who shut me down when I was trying to tell you that you needed to change.”

She plopped into the closest chair and rolled up her left sleeve to the elbow. “You didn’t have to stop talking. You said we had to hurry and had been nasty to me. I thought you were in a hurry. I would’ve loved to have a chance to clean up or grab a coat but the very important Dr. William French, a/k/a Chip, couldn’t wait twelve seconds to let me fix myself.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of animosity you have there, lady.” He stood beside Samantha, who had taken hold of Molly’s arm and tied a piece of rubber around her bicep. “I’ll take you home in a few minutes and you won’t have to see me again.”

The expression on his face made her heart constrict. Why couldn’t she stop being hateful around him? He’d broken her heart when he moved away but that wasn’t his choice since his father got transferred and he was a minor. When he’d come back from college to visit and acted like he loved her and then disappeared again, it hurt even worse, since he
did
have a choice then. There was no reason to keep carrying the pain. It had been years after all and they had both moved on. Hadn’t they?

Molly didn’t know what to say so she sat in silence as the woman drew her blood and when she was finished, Molly stood and said, “Thank you for being gentle. I’m not a big fan of needles.”

“I can’t stand to be on that end of them either.” Samantha laughed and placed the sealed and labeled vials in her tackle box. She turned to Chip. “I’ll get these done as quickly as I can, Dr. French. So far I have no matches but we’ve got a lot more to get through back there. I’m glad to say that a lot of the people who participated in your drive have signed up to be on the bone marrow registry so even if they can’t help Matt, maybe they can help elsewhere.”

“I hope so. I think everyone should be a donor.” Chip smiled at the woman.

“I’d like to as well. Can I get the paperwork?” Molly asked.

“I’ll mail it to you.” Chip bit the words out.

Stunned at the venom in his voice, Molly recoiled as if she’d been smacked. She backed away from him and Samantha then bolted for the door. She darted outside, wiping the tears that streamed down her face with the back of her hands.

A blast of cold air hit her as she rounded the corner toward the taxi stand. She hadn’t realized how cold it was since she’d gone from her porch to Chip’s car. The wind was whipping around and the flag flapped and snapped on its pole. She rubbed her arms to try to get the circulation moving again.

A cab pulled up and she opened the back door. As she stepped in, she heard her name called. Chip came around the corner. Molly shut the door, leaned over the front seat and smiled at the driver. “Thank goodness it’s you, Grant. I don’t have my wallet and I know you’ll wait for me to run in and get it to pay you.”

“I’ll keep the motor running. Why are you over here with no wallet and no coat? You almost look like you’re escaping from in there. You have on a pajama top, too. Are you making a run for it?”

“It sure seems like it but no. Can you hurry? I left cake cooking too.” Molly leaned back.

“Are your parents okay?” Grant peered at her in the rear-view mirror. “They’re not in the hospital, are they?”

“No, they’re fine and at home. I’m heading over later today. Will you and your brothers be at your folks’ place?”

“Yep. The game is on for four. I hope you and your team are ready.”

“Always. We’re going to take you out.” Molly grinned. Grant had grown up next door, and their families had a yearly Thanksgiving rivalry flag football game after dinner settled.

“Your grandmother couldn’t take us out, Molly.”

“She has in the past and she will again.”

“Not this year. She has that cast on her arm from where she fell roller skating two weeks ago.” Grant laughed. “Of course, that
was
two weeks ago. She’s probably going mountain climbing next week.”

“You got that right.”

Grant pulled into Molly’s driveway. She opened the door. “Let me grab my checkbook.” She climbed out.

“Na. I’ll get the money at the game. Take it out of your hide.” He laughed.

“Bring it.”

“No. You bring it.” Grant nodded. “And wear some clothes when you come.”

She slammed the door but could hear him laughing as he backed away from her house.

* * * *

Late that afternoon, after the turkey and trimmings, as well as Molly’s cake that was only slightly charred around the edges, was eaten and partially digested, the flag football players gathered on Grant’s family’s lawn. Molly tied her unruly hair back into a loose ponytail and hooked the belt with the red flag for her team’s side around her waist. She spat on her hands and rubbed them on the thighs of her jeans.

“You ready?” She grinned at her family members.

A steel grey Mustang pulled up alongside the curb and Chip got out. He stepped over and shook hands with Molly’s mother.

“Look who’s here, Molly dear. Do you think we should put Chip on team Touchstone? Lord knows he was here enough as a teenager to be part of the family.” Molly’s mother patted Chip’s hand that was still in hers.

“I hardly think Chip is here to play football, Mom.” Molly turned to Chip. “What brings you by? I thought you had enough of me this morning.”

“Interestingly enough, you’re a marrow match for Matthew. We need you to come to the hospital and have the procedure done. Will you do that?”

“How am I a match? Didn’t you tell me the odds weren’t good unless I was a relative?”

“Strangely, you and Matt show genetic markers that indicate that you’re closely related through the female line.” Chip smiled at Molly’s mom, who had a shocked look on her face. “I didn’t know you were related to Matt’s mother, Mrs. Touchstone.”

“Don’t be silly, Chip, we aren’t kin to Matt. There must be some mistake,” Molly said.

“Maybe we are, Molly.” Her mother whispered the words so softly Molly almost didn’t believe they’d been uttered.

“What? How?” Molly couldn’t believe it. No way was her mother telling the truth. How
could
she be?

“Come over here a minute.” Molly’s mother raised her hand to the crowd and called out, “Molly isn’t going to be able to play. You all go ahead and start.”

Members of the red team muttered and one cousin yelled, “What do we do for a quarterback then?”

“Use Thomas. He’s our second-best player,” Molly said.

Molly, her mother and Chip moved to the side of the house but could still hear the grumbling of the other Touchstone family members as well as Grant crowing that his family would surely win now without Molly.

“What are you talking about, mom?” Molly asked.

“When my sister—your aunt Linda—was fifteen, she got pregnant. Our parents sent her to a home for unwed mothers for the last few months and when the baby was born, it was adopted. We were told that the child would be placed, but we had no idea where. The home was over two hundred miles away so we thought the child was given to a family there. It very well could be Matthew. He’d be the right age since she delivered a boy a few months before I delivered you.”

“Wow, Mom. I had no idea. I’m stunned. What a family secret.” Molly’s legs threatened not to hold her up and she slumped. Before she fell to the ground, Chip wrapped his arm around her waist and held her. The warmth of his touch filled her with a mixture of comfort and anxiety. He’d been so angry with her at the hospital but she recalled how much his touch had always settled her down.

Chip peered into her eyes. “Are you okay to go have the marrow withdrawal procedure and be the donor for Matt? He really needs you.”

“Does he know he’s adopted? He’s never said anything.” Molly didn’t know why she needed so desperately to know if he knew, but she did.

“I think we can all talk about that later, dear. Now’s the time for action, isn’t it?” Molly’s mother said.

Molly nodded. “Let’s go then.” She pointed to the Mustang. “I’m ready. Let’s go.” She hugged her mom. “Maybe later you can bring me my toothbrush?”

“I will be there within the hour, honey.”

Realizing that Chip still had his arm around her, Molly moved a step away. “I hope you’re going to tell me about what I’m in for on the way.”

“I will. You’ll have to sign a release anyway so I’ll explain it all to you.” He led the way to the car.

Molly glanced back at the football game, wishing she could join in but knowing she couldn’t. She could barely wrap her head around the fact that Matthew was probably her cousin, much less that she was going to the hospital as a perfectly healthy person on Thanksgiving Day and probably would be leaving the next day in pain. She hoped the bone marrow transplant would work to help Matt because it sure was messing with her favorite activity of the year.

Chip opened the door for her and she climbed into his car. He roared off and before she knew it, she was at the entrance to the hospital. “Hop out here and I’ll park and meet you in the lobby.”

All too soon, Chip was back and Molly was escorted up to the surgical suite and queried by the nursing staff about her last meal and other vital statistics. They decided to wait a couple of hours before the procedure since she’d eaten more recently than the anesthesiologist would have liked.

An orderly wheeled Molly to a room near the operating room to wait for the proper time for her surgery. While she waited, she idly thumbed through an old magazine and thought about her past with Chip and wished again that things had turned out differently for them. It was odd that she’d never really gotten over him and now here he was in the same town again. She might have to go back on the road to keep from running into him everywhere.

Chip strolled in and smiled. “Almost time. I’m going to be watching the procedure. Dr. McMichaels will be scrubbing for it, but I’ll be there.”

“Great. Just great.”

“What?”

“You’ve seen me with cocoa and flour in my hair, in a see-through blouse and in a really bad mood and now you’re going to look at my naked hip while I’m knocked out.” Molly laughed even though she really was mortified that Chip would be viewing her surgery.

“You forget I’ve seen your naked hip before.” He winked. “Many times.”

“You have to bring that up now?”

“You’re the one who mentioned it.” Chip sat on the edge of the bed. “And speaking of that hip of yours, will you agree to dinner with me as soon as you’re home and well enough to go?”

“What in the world does my hip have to do with dinner?”

“I want to see if what we had all those years ago can be rekindled.” He took her hand in both of his. “After all, we can’t let all of my grandmother’s hard work go to waste, can we?”

“What work would that be?” Molly’s skin was on fire at his touch.

“She’s been praying since my parents moved us to Louisiana that you wouldn’t fall in love with anyone else.” He grinned with that devastating smile.

“Ahh,” Molly nodded. “I see now why all my relationships have broken down and made me into this awful person that Jason says I am. Your grandmother has some powerful mojo there, Doctor French.”

“I never said Jason said you were awful—”

“Yes, you did, and I probably was pretty hateful to you this morning.”

“You ran out of the lab like you robbed a bank. I would’ve taken you home, you know.”

“You were extremely short with me so I decided to take a taxi to save you the trouble.”

“I usually don’t abandon women who I escort places even if they make me a little peeved.” Chip squeezed her hand.

“It wasn’t a date, you know.”

“I wish—” Chip was interrupted by the arrival of the orderly.

“Dr. French, it’s time to take her in,” the man said to Chip.

“I’ll see you on the other side.” Chip leaned in and kissed Molly’s forehead.

* * * *

Molly woke in the recovery room with a nurse leaning over her calling her name. She tried to stretch but caught hold of her hip and winced. “Ouch.”

“You’ll be sore for a few days, Miss Touchstone, but you’re doing so well that the doctor said if you feel up to it that you can go home in a little while.”

“I may stay here since I live alone and knowing me, I’ll probably fall or something.”

“I think your parents are in the waiting room. Maybe one of them can stay with you or you can go to their house. I’ve been a patient and it’s no fun to be poked and prodded all night. Trust me, you’ll get more rest at home.” The nurse handed Molly a Styrofoam cup with a straw in it. “Do you think you can drink some of this water?”