Marlowe and I glance at each other. I was with her and Tabs for the entire discharge process.

‘An infection?’ I recall.

‘Exactly.’ She pauses. ‘Her fever’s not too bad, but I’m detecting a slight murmur in her heart.’

Marlowe lets out a strangled sigh and holds Tabby tighter.

‘She’s also showing some tiny splinter haemorrhages under her fingernails,’ the doctor explains. ‘There can be other reasons for them to appear, but given Tabby’s recent operation and this little murmur, they would indicate endocarditis.’

‘Okay, so…’ Marlowe shifts Tabs on her knee and I step forward, bundling the little girl into my arms so Marlowe can talk to the doctor properly. ‘She has an infection. What now—antibiotics?’

‘I know this won’t be welcome news,’ the doctor says gently, ‘but if—and currently it’s an if—the new valve is infected, then it will need to be replaced. I’m so sorry.’

‘But we had it in the US,’ Marlowe stutters. ‘We can’t—I can’t⁠—’

‘I know it’s a lot to take in. The first thing you should do is get Tabby seen by her cardiologist immediately. He or she will be able to take some blood cultures and evaluate further.’

‘What does that do?’ I pipe up.

‘They’ll monitor the cultures for a day or two. If they start to grow bacteria, that’s your sign that there’s an infection, in which case I’d expect them to push to replace the valve as soon as possible.’

Marlowe stares at her, and I see every ounce of the grief and disbelief and shock in her beautiful face. There’s defeat, too. Because she has moved heaven and earth to get this little girl a new valve, and this doctor is telling us it could all have been for nothing. Tabby might have to go through the exact same rigmarole again.

It’s unthinkable, but there’s one massive difference.

This time, I’ll be by Marlowe’s side every step of the way.

CHAPTER 58

Marlowe

The past seventy-two hours have been the worst kind of blur.

I say that, but it’s not true. Because if Brendan hadn’t been here with us, for us, it would have been unbearable.

As soon as the doctor had left on Saturday, I pretty much collapsed.

All that money.

The travel.

The recovery time.

All for nothing.

I couldn’t bear it. I couldn’t go through it again. I just wanted to lie down on the floor and sink into an exhausted puddle and fall asleep and never wake up.

But Brendan wouldn’t let me do any of that.