The Courage Tree - Diane Chamberlain [116]
She sucked in her breath at what she saw: the inside of Lucas’s forearm bulged with the unmistakable surgical crossing of an artery and a vein.
“You have a fistula,” she said, her mind instantly on fire.
He nodded, his eyes still closed, and suddenly she understood the cause of his yellow skin, his camel-like ability to go without water, the muscle cramps, the weakness.
“Oh, Lucas, my God!” she said. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why on earth did you keep this from me?”
“I need to get to a dialysis center,” he said.
“Yes,” she said, standing up again. “Do you think you can make it back to the car?” She glanced in the direction of the road. They had not come that far.
“I think so,” he said. He leaned on her heavily as he got to his feet, and she wrapped her arm around him as they walked to the car. There were so many questions she wanted to ask him, but they would have to wait. Right now, he would need all of his energy and concentration to get through the woods and up the cliff to the car.
Climbing the cliff was slow and painful, and Lucas was severely winded by the time they reached the road, his breathing loud and ragged.
“You sit on the edge of the cliff, here,” she said, helping him lower himself to the ground. “I’ll bring the car over to you.”
She raced down the road to her car, then drove toward him, parking as close to him as she could. He practically fell into the passenger seat, and she buckled the seat belt around him before getting in behind the steering wheel.
“Do you know where the nearest dialysis center is?” she asked.
“Take me back to Fairfax.”
“I don’t think you should wait that long,” she said.
He rolled his head to look at her. “They’re going to admit me, Janine,” he said. “I don’t want to be stuck in a hospital way out here.”
“Okay,” she agreed. If he worsened on the trip back to Virginia, she could find a hospital along the way.
They rode in silence until she was on 55. Then she reached across the console to rest her hand on his knee. She was truly angry with him. He’d lied to her, but now was not the time to dump her anger on him.
“What’s wrong with your kidneys?” she asked.
“Same as Sophie,” he said. “It didn’t hit me until I was in my late twenties, though.”
“So, that’s why you were so interested in Sophie.”
“Initially, yes.”
“What about Herbalina?” she asked. “Have you wondered if it might help you?”
He was quiet for a moment, and she thought he might have drifted off…or worse. She glanced worriedly in his direction and saw that he was licking his dry lips.
“I actually spoke to Schaefer about it,” he admitted. “Apparently it doesn’t work on adults. Maybe with a little tweaking, he said. But…not yet.”
“What about a transplant?”
“I’m on the list,” he said. “Have been for a few years.”
“Oh, Lucas, why?” she asked. “Why didn’t you tell me? You know I would have been there for you.”
“You had enough on your plate.”
“When is the last time you got dialysis?”
“Thursday.”
“That’s why you had to go back to Vienna Thursday night,” she said. “Damn it, Lucas, I wish you had told me! This is so crazy. How many times a week do you need it?”
“Four,” he said.
“Four! And you haven’t had it since Thursday? Lucas, what are you—” She suddenly realized exactly what he had done. “You’ve been screwing up your dialysis schedule to be with me,” she said. “Haven’t you?”
“I haven’t been as faithful about it as I should have been,” he admitted. “I skipped a couple of sessions. Didn’t stay long enough when I did go.”
“Oh, Lucas,” she said. “I just wish you’d told me.” Gripping the steering wheel, she pressed the gas pedal lower to the floor, knowing at least as well as he did the risk he had taken with his life.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Lucas didn’t want Janine with him in the dialysis room, but as the nurse pushed him past the other beds in the wheelchair, he didn’t have the strength or the breath or the heart to tell her not to follow.
He hadn’t wanted her to know about this, ever. Certainly, he hadn’t wanted her to find out the way she had. He knew she was angry