Her hands fell to her sides. “Also, just so we’re really clear on this, you have nothing to feel like dirt about. You weren’t old enough back when Mom left to make a single decision, nor should you have had to. So none of what happened is on you. No one blames you. No one thinks that anything is your fault.”

“Yeah.” He kept his face pointed to the side.

“Really, though. I mean it. . . . Dylan?”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “What I was trying to say is that I think a lot of your freedom got taken away. So even though you talk about trusting God, you’re always trying to control me to make up for the stuff you couldn’t control before.” He met her eyes with a knowing look.

Ouch. He might have hit on a vein of truth there. And it hurt. Over the years, had she started unintentionally yanking away some of the control that rightfully belonged to God and appropriating it for herself?

He ambled toward his cave.

“You don’t need to go,” she said. “We can talk about this more. Or you can finish your show.”

“Nah. I’m done.” He turned into his bedroom and shut the door.

She was left with a candle, a clean house, an open suitcase, and Dylan’s words, which circled around and around her like a whirlpool.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Isabella Ackerman’s medical team gathered in the conference room on Wednesday morning. Sebastian and the other surgeons were present, as was Audrey, the cardiologist in charge of the transplant program. Markie. The fellows and residents.

“These are the best oxygen saturation numbers Isabella’s had in weeks,” Sebastian’s mentor, Dr. Nelson, said. “Is she status seven?”

“Yes, but I think she should be status one,” Sebastian answered. Status seven meant that she was on the heart transplant list, but currently ineligible. Status one would designate her as a patient in urgent need of a transplant.

“In my opinion,” Audrey said, “she’s not an acceptable candidate. Her neural status is unknown.”

“Her lungs aren’t great,” a resident added, “and she’s repeatedly struggled with ascites.”

“A new heart is unlikely to fix her issues.” Audrey tapped her pen against the file before her. “She might die as a result of the transplant surgery.”

“But she will certainly die without the transplant surgery.” Sebastian’s anger, which had been very close to the surface since his fight with Leah, rose like a storm surge. “Our task is to give every child a chance.”

“Yes, but if Isabella receives a heart, she deprives another child—a healthier child with a better prognosis—of his or her chance,” Audrey replied. “Our task is actually to ensure that we’re allocating hearts to those most worthy of them.”