“Mm! But that’s not what I meant. Is it a psychological hurdle to overcome? Your brother being Lucy’s donor? I’ve put the price of a good lunch on it with Jane that it wouldn’t be; but it must be a little strange. Part of Will is resting with Lucy—making her your quasi sister in one oblique sense. And the circumstances by which the heart came to her. She should have had a different heart a day or two earlier; she was first on the list, we’d already brought her in, and you know I don’t like putting our patients through these stops and starts. But it was a second-tier organ, not quite good enough for such a young woman. The remarkable thing is that the tissue match with Will’s heart was virtually perfect.” Amel’s pager broke the mood between them, but he picked it up without hurrying his visitor. “Of course, none of us was aware of the connection, Alex—you know that.”

“It’s a miracle, Amel?” Alex grinned. “Yes—it is astonishing, to have such a resonant piece of him so near me. But it’s wonderful. I’m not spooked by it—you know we don’t let these things affect us. But it’s one thing for her to evince some of his sensitivities. I just hope she doesn’t take on his opinions! Fortunately, she has a very distinctive personality of her own.” Now Alex’s own pager echoed Amel’s, and he got up to leave. “And of course, she’s much prettier than Will.” Alex glanced at the message, and was relieved when it was a routine hospital emergency.

“I’d noticed.” Amel laughed aloud as Alex opened the door. Nothing was amiss about Alex’s state of mind. He’d won his lunch bet. “It’s the porcine valve, Alex. I need you to come back to surgery with me to work with the anesthetist. We’ve got a difficult immune response to cope with.”

Alex raised the pager, indicating he’d already been called. They flew off together down the corridor, and it was some time before Alex noticed the clock in the operating room showing it was fast approaching one o’clock. How prompt would they be? He hovered between duty in one place and concern about the other, then peeped at Amel over the mask. “Can you do without me for ten minutes? There’s something urgent I’ve got to do bang on one o’clock.”

Amel blinked “yes.” “Come back when you can.” And Alex quietly disappeared through the folding door.

It was four minutes before the hour by the corridor clock—one minute to, if Alex’s watch was right as he dragged it from his pocket. He swiftly put his head around the partition of Emma’s desk. “Any calls?”