Unexpected Gift(12)

I stare at Brandon one more time before lifting my gaze to Molly’s. Her brown eyes glow like the sun, bright from shedding tears. I shouldn’t notice how beautiful they are in this moment, but to ignore it? Ah, that would be impossible.

“Caden,” she presses again, those beautiful sunflower orbs filling with fresh tears as she holds onto Brandon’s hand.

I pat the top of Brandon’s hand gently, since it has an IV in it, and I sigh. I run my hands through my hair, buying time to figure out what I want to say. “He wants to talk to us about organ donation.”

“What?” Todd asks on a raspy exhale.

“His organs? But we don’t know for sure that he will never come back. He’s breathing.” Molly touches the side of Brandon’s cheek with her fingers. “He’s still warm.” She places a hand over the middle of his chest. “His heart beats. It’s beating, Caden.”

“Molly,” I whisper as she presses a kiss to Brandon’s forehead, not wanting to believe the truth of my words.

“No,” Molly and Kim say in unison.

I walk around the bed, careful not to bump into it, and stand beside Molly. I reach for her hand, placing mine on top of hers. Her velvet skin rubs against mine, calling to a part of me that has never been awake before. She makes me want more. I don’t know how or why. The situation is emotional, so maybe I can’t decipher my feelings.

“Molly. Kim. He is not here. His brain has no activity.”

Molly narrows her gaze at me. “But he is so warm. Feel him. He is as warm as me and you. Feel him.” I let her take my hand and put my palm against his chest. She smiles, showing that regardless of the situation, she will find hope in everything—in anything.

I want to be hopeful. My best friend is laying there with tubes and wires, looking alive when he is anything but that. And I know better. Once the brain is dead, the patient will never come back. “It’s just the machines keeping his organs alive.”

“For them to take?” Molly hisses, brushing Brandon’s hair again.

“For them to save other people. Brandon would want that, you know. He was a doctor. You know how important organ donation was to him. He could save so many lives.”

“But what about our lives?” Molly whimpers, clutching Brandon’s hand. “Our lives without him? That’s not a life I want to live.”

“We can’t keep him here for us. We need to think of him. He wouldn’t want to live like this. We only have a few hours to decide.”

“No.” She throws her body over his, holding onto him like he is going to float away.

I clutch her shoulders. “Molly, he is gone.”

“No. Let go of me. Let go! Brandon?” She struggles in my grasp, while I try to break her free, but the hold she has on him is tight.

“—He wouldn’t want this.” I pull her to my chest, and a tear falls down my cheek. Everyone in the room watches and cries as she reaches for him. Even Kim is giving him space, but not Molly.

“Brandon. I’m here. Okay? Just come back. Come back.” She starts to lose steam from her kicking, punching, and screaming. “I’m here. Come back to me. I can’t do this without you. Please, don’t go.”

I’m not a man of many emotions, but the woman I adore falling apart in my arms is making so many present themselves. Another tear follows and then another. Molly stretches her arm out for him, holds him, kisses his cheek, and lets go of her pain loudly as she lays her head on his chest, clutching the shoulders of his gown in her fists.

“Molly.”

“No.”

“Molly.”

“No!” she screams so loud, I think that maybe, just maybe, if Brandon can hear anything, he will have heard that.

“Come here. It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay.” I want to believe the words as I pull her away from Brandon, her flesh and blood, but I don’t. I know I wouldn’t. This family is close. It will only take something as final as death to rip them apart.

“Caden...” Kim’s hand lands on my arm. She looks at her daughter before lifting her eyes to me. “What does that mean? What happens to him if we donate his organs?”

Molly whips around, staring at her mom with anger in her eyes. “What do you mean if we donate? We can’t donate. Mom, look at him.”

“Have you been listening at all to Caden or the doctor that spoke to us earlier? I’m devastated, but I’ve been listening.”

“What do they know!” she shouts.

Kim lifts her finger at Molly. “Medicine. What do you know?”

“Hope. I know hope, Mom.” Her lip quivers as she hits her chest, but I know that is just the emotion talking. She knows better with so many doctors in the family.

“Honey, there is no hope here. This situation is hopeless.”

Molly looks like she just got slapped across the face. “How could you say that?”

Kim’s face grows red as fresh tears build, welling her eyes. She smacks her lips together, preparing for battle. “Because look at him!” The undertone of her voice leaves no room for argument. It is deep, laced with a growl—threatening, leaving no room for arguments. “This isn’t Brandon. He wouldn’t want this.”

Amelia’s father slithers out the door, probably to go see his daughter. He shouldn’t be alone, but I can’t leave. Kenna watches him go and glances at me, obviously having the same idea. I give her a sad smile as she slips out the door.