No Good Deed - Marie Sexton Page 0,11
too.”
Finding somebody who needed a kidney would be easy, but that was only the first step. “How far along are you in the process?”
“Not far. I still have to take all the tests. And part of me hopes they tell me I’m not a good candidate. I mean, how awful and selfish is that, to hope that they tell me I can’t do it?”
“I think it’s normal. You’re still planning to go through with it though, if you pass the tests?”
Jonas nodded, his eyes on his doodle.
“Then stop beating yourself up. It’s not selfish to be scared. Maybe it’s selfish if you let that fear make the decision for you. But it’s normal to feel some apprehension.”
“Apprehension.” Jonas’s laugh spoke more of nerves than humor. “That’s the thing, Charlie. I’m not ‘apprehensive.’ I’m scared shitless. I know what they tell me—that I’ll be fine. That it’s a low-risk procedure. No need to worry. Blah, blah, blah. And I really want to do this.”
“I hear a ‘but’ coming.”
“But I’m terrified. I’ve never been anesthetized before.”
“Never?”
“Never even had my wisdom teeth out. I’ve done a lot of reading about living donors, and they all say the pain afterwards was way worse than they expected. And I know I have a high threshold for pain, but what if this is different? I mean, letting somebody flog me isn’t the same as being carved open like a Thanksgiving turkey.”
Charlie laughed. Hyperbole was one of Jonas’s specialties. Gray had always rolled his eyes and told Jonas to stop exaggerating. He’d never understood the humor in it. “They’ll do it laparoscopically. The incisions are small.”
“I know, I know,” Jonas said. “I know all of this. But every time I think about it, it’s all I can do not to lose my cookies all over my shoes.” He glanced down at the floor. “And that’d be a tragedy. This is my favorite pair.”
Charlie didn’t bother repeating the reassurances. Jonas had already heard them all. One more wasn’t going to change the fact that some deep, primal part of his brain was telling him it was insane to let somebody cut him open in order to steal a vital organ.
“So what is it you need exactly? I assume this somehow relates to the big favor you said you needed?” Charlie asked.
Jonas finally set his pen aside and met Charlie’s eyes. “I’d like you to be at the hospital with me when the surgery happens.”
“Of course.”
“No, Charlie. Wait. There’s more to it than that.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t have anybody who can speak for me if something goes wrong.”
“You need an advocate.”
“Yes. I want to grant you medical power of attorney.”
Charlie sat back in his seat. He doubted anything that drastic would be needed, but maybe it made sense to plan for the worst-case scenario.
“I know I sound completely wacko,” Jonas went on. “But when I sat back and tried to analyze what I needed to get through this surgery, I kept coming back to you. There’s nobody in the world I trust more. You’re an RN, so you know medical stuff. And you won’t let some ancient, pigheaded doctor push you around.”
Charlie nodded. “Okay. You’ll need to talk to a lawyer. Get some paperwork drawn up. It’s fairly routine, although it might not come cheap.”
“There’s more.”
Charlie blinked. “More than power of attorney?”
“I want you to be with me, all the way through. To be in the room with me, as much as possible. And there’s only one way we can be sure they’ll allow that.”
Charlie’s jaw dropped as he finally saw where Jonas was heading. He could tell how scared Jonas was, saying the words. But he said them anyway.
“Charlie, I’m asking you to marry me.”
Charlie instinctively jumped up from the table, backing up, as if that would somehow make the request more reasonable.
“I’m not talking about ’til death do us part, or anything like that,” Jonas said, rushing to get it all out before Charlie had a chance to formulate a response. “We can get it dissolved the minute this is all over. But I’ve looked into it. As my husband, you’d automatically be authorized to make medical decisions on my behalf, and you’ll be able to be with me every step of the way.” He ran his shaking fingers through his hair. “I know it’s a lot to ask. I’ll understand if you say no. We can still go the lawyer route, if you prefer. But dissolutions in Colorado are pretty easy. Easier