LITMIR.BIZ

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      It seemed to Dana Sue they’d been waiting a lifetime. She’d prayed, she’d paced the hallways and she’d fought off tears more times than she could count. She’d lost it only once, when she’d been wrapped in Ronnie’s comforting arms, but then she’d remembered how furious she was with him, and had pulled away. She would not allow that man to think he had the right or the ability to ease her pain.

      They’d finally settled on opposite sides of the waiting room. She had Maddie and Helen on either side of her, and they were surrounded by Annie’s friends, who’d refused to leave despite the hours that had passed. The sun was already up. Dana Sue glanced guiltily across the room, saw Ronnie sitting all alone and felt a moment’s sympathy for him. Then she reminded herself that he’d chosen to be an outsider.

      “Don’t you think you should talk to Ronnie?” Maddie asked gently. “He was right earlier. You do know more than you’ve told him. It might be best to prepare him for whatever the doctor has to say.”

      Dana Sue shook her head. “I can’t just walk over there and say that Annie is anorexic and has probably messed up her whole body. I tried before, but I couldn’t get the words out.”

      “It won’t get any easier,” Maddie said.

      “Leave her alone!” Helen snapped. “If it had been up to me, she wouldn’t have called him at all.”

      “Then it’s a good thing you weren’t the one who was with her earlier,” Maddie chided. “Ronnie has a right to know that Annie’s in the hospital. He’s her father.”

      “I don’t remember you being all that anxious to involve Bill when Ty was in trouble a few months ago,” Helen retorted.

      “Ty made some mistakes. His life wasn’t at stake,” Maddie said pointedly.

      “Stop it!” Dana Sue commanded. “Why are you two arguing about this now? For better or worse, Ronnie’s here.”

      “Which is it?” Maddie asked, studying her curiously. “Better or worse?”

      She sighed. “For a minute, seeing him felt really good,” she admitted. “He was always so calm in a crisis, so supportive. When my mom died, he took care of everything, even though he’d loved her, too. When I saw him tonight, all I wanted was to draw on all that strength.” She shrugged. “Then I remembered how mad I am at him.”

      “So rather than lean on him, even under these circumstances, you pushed him away.” Maddie shook her head. “Sometimes I’m not sure which of you is the bigger idiot.”

      “Way to be supportive, Maddie,” Helen said sarcastically.

      “That’s enough,” Dana Sue exclaimed.

      “Of course it is,” Helen said, sounding surprisingly meek. “I’m sorry. You don’t need the two of us bickering with each other.”

      “That’s right,” Maddie agreed. “I’m sorry, too.”

      Just then a weary-looking doctor finally emerged from the treatment area, paused at the nurses’ station to speak to the receptionist, glanced their way and nodded, then came toward them. His grim expression had Dana Sue reaching for Maddie’s hand.

      “I’m Dr. Lane. You’re here with Annie Sullivan?” he asked.

      “I’m her mother,” Dana Sue said, tightening her grip on Maddie’s hand.

      “And I’m her father,” Ronnie announced, joining them, but avoiding Dana Sue’s gaze. “How is she?”

      “I won’t lie to you,” the doctor said. “It’s been touch and go all night, but her age is on her side. I think she’s stable now. We’ve gotten her electrolytes balanced for the moment and her labs are improving, but she’s not out of the woods. If she holds her own for another twenty-four hours and we can start getting some nutrition into her, then she’s got a good chance at recovery.”

      All the color had drained from Ronnie’s face as the doctor spoke. Dana Sue felt so shaky she could barely stand. She sank onto the hard, plastic chair, Maddie right beside her.

      “What the hell happened?” Ronnie asked. “She’s sixteen. Kids that age don’t have…” His voice faltered. “What did she have?”

      “A cardiac arrest,” the doctor said. “Quite a bad one. I imagine she’d been having incidents of arrhythmia for some time now, given her overall condition. Had she mentioned anything? Any odd sensations in her chest?”

      Dana Sue shook her head. “Not a word.”

      Sarah stepped up and said in a small voice, “I think she might have been having some trouble in gym class. She was getting winded real easy. And she didn’t say it, but I think her chest hurt. One time she admitted she felt kind of funny, like she might pass out, but then she sat down and a few minutes later she said she was okay.”

      The doctor nodded. “That fits.”

      Ronnie regarded all of them with confusion. “Why would she be having arrhythmia?” he asked. “This doesn’t make any sense. Are you sure?”

      “I’m sure,” Dr. Lane said. “I’m the cardiologist on call for this kind of thing. I have to tell you I haven’t seen a heart muscle in such bad shape in a while. It had gotten so weak it was barely pumping.” He looked from Dana Sue to Ronnie. “She was sleeping when this happened, right?”

      “She was having a sleepover,” Dana Sue said. “I don’t know how much sleeping was going on.” She looked to Sarah and Raylene.

      “Just before it happened, she said she was really tired and wanted to take a quick nap,” Sarah said. “But she wanted us to wake her when we were ready to watch the DVD.”

      “But we couldn’t wake her up,” Raylene said.

      “Because her heart rate had gone way down,” the doctor said, his expression grim. “Be thankful these girls were with her. If she’d been in her room alone and no one had checked on her before morning, we wouldn’t be having this conversation at all.”

      Dana Sue sagged against Maddie. “You mean…”

      “She could have died,” the doctor said bluntly.

      Dana Sue gasped. Even though the possibility had crossed her mind, hearing the words was devastating.

      Ronnie shook his head as if he couldn’t quite process the information. “I don’t understand. She’s sixteen,” he repeated. “She didn’t have any birth defects. Her heart’s always been just fine. The pediatrician would have said something if it wasn’t.”

      The doctor regarded him with a sympathetic expression. “Obviously you’re not aware of her eating disorder.”

      “Her what?” Ronnie said incredulously. He stared hard at Dana Sue. “Annie has an eating disorder?”

      The doctor’s gaze was on Dana Sue, as well. “I’d guess she’s anorexic. Isn’t that right, Mrs. Sullivan?”

      Numb, Dana Sue could only nod. There would be no denying the truth after tonight, even if she’d wanted to.

      Ronnie looked as if he wanted to hit something. “How the hell did something like that happen?” he demanded. “I can’t say I know a lot about eating disorders, but to get to this point, it doesn’t happen overnight, does it?”

      The doctor shook his head. “No. It takes time to put this much strain on the body’s organs.”

      “Dammit, Dana Sue, I’ve been gone for two years. Where were you while this was happening?” Ronnie asked.

      “Where were you?” Helen snapped back when Dana Sue couldn’t seem to think of a reply.

      The doctor held up a hand. “That’s not the issue right now. I think we all need to focus on getting Annie through

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