"Monica got divorced. But I have my own family now. Albie's a good person. I don't know what to do."
...
I had always known there was someone else in Thaddeus's heart.
But seeing these words laid out in front of me, I finally understood. His love for Monica was far deeper and far longer than anything I had ever imagined.
I swiped the tears from my face and kept searching through the study.
Now was not the time for grief. There was something more important I needed to find.
At last, in the bottom drawer of the desk, I found a document envelope.
Inside were organ donation consent forms for Marilyn and me.
My hands trembled so violently I could barely hold the two flimsy sheets of paper.
So it was true. My heart and Marilyn's kidney hadn't been damaged in the accident at all. It was Thaddeus.
All of it was because of Thaddeus.
The memory of Marilyn crying in humiliation because she couldn't hold her bladder seized my chest like a fist clenching around it, so tight I couldn't breathe.
It turned out an artificial heart could ache, too.
I photographed both documents with my phone, then dialed my brother overseas.
"Dominic Jenner, please help me. Please save me and Marilyn."