ts, white sheets on the narrow bed where Karley lay with

e watched it slide into the blue vein at her inner elbow, felt th

her fraction of a liter leaving her body. She counted them, f

or, since the moment her consent had been secured. Now he watched the blood bag with an i

d. Her voice sounded

. "Standard donation volume. You're small, so

m f

her eyes and thought of the gallery, of the Rothko she'd been studying before Kevon appeared in

was still watching the blood ba

ps, or irritation at being distracted. Then his face softened into the

he said. "I'

ut rough, desperate. "

The running. The abandonment. The way he'd looked at Devo

ail. He gripped it hard enoug

e this," he said. "Not

he nurse. "Giv

But Kevon Mcconnell's voice carried the weight of donations and board memberships, a

p, rolling her slightly toward him. He didn't touch her. He stared at his hands, at the blood

in a place called St. Agnes Home for Children. In

face, the way his jaw tightened, the

don't remember my birth parents. I don't remember anything before the home." He

ey never did, she realized. He performed grief, performed

or some charity event, some photo opportunity. She slipped away from the group. She f

g Karley's where it lay on the

e until the staff found her, and when they tried to make her leave, she screamed. She screamed and cried and said she wouldn't go without me

ood bag was nearly full, d

. I was their daughter's project, their tax deduction, their proof of charity. But Devora..." His voice cracke

o reject this story and the manipulation she could feel woven through

why I couldn't-if she dies, Karley. If she dies

.. you didn't just save her. You saved me. You saved everything. You're pa

ing the flow. Kevon fell silent, watching with hooded e

otton ball was pressed to her arm, he s

g her knuckles. "Never. I promise I will spend the rest of my life making th

rse in scrubs appeare

ble. The transfusion work

ed toward the door, then paused, looking back at Karley wh

ome rest. I'll have a car take you to the es

ith the machines and the blood bags and the slow, dawning understanding that she had married a

in, a different nurse was checking her vitals, frowning at t

he ceiling and tho

er purse somewhere, and her husband had just crown

blanket higher and cried si