Free Winners by Danielle Steel Page A

realized for the first time, as her son helped carry his father’s casket, that he was now a man. He had just turned eighteen. And this was the most awful rite of passage of all.
    They went to the cemetery afterward and buried Tim in the frozen ground. Someone had told her that the two teenagers who had died in the accident, in the other car, were buried the same day, and those who had died in the chairlift accident would be buried in the coming days. And as everyone went back to Jessie’s house afterward, it began to snow again, big fat flakes of snow that looked like something in a snow globe or on a Christmas card. She stood outside their back door for a minute, to get some air, and to escape all the people who had come to pay their respects, and she looked up at the sky and thought about Tim. It was impossible to believe she would never see him again. She couldn’t imagine a world without him in it, and tears rolled slowly down her cheeks, as they had for days. She shivered in the cold and went back inside, knowing, as she had since it happened, that her life would never be the same.

Chapter 7
    It was February, and Lily had been at the hospital for over a month, before Jessie felt ready to release her. She had made a good recovery, and responded to the medications and treatments well. They were mostly for bladder and bowel control, and would be important for her in her life as a paraplegic, which was a concept her father still hadn’t accepted. He had been in consultation with neurosurgeons around the world, and had identified four he was planning to take her to, in Zurich, London, New York, and Boston. Jessie was familiar with their names and reputations, and the research they had done or been attached to. The only one of the group she knew personally was the doctor Bill had contacted at Harvard, who was the head of neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. Jessie had studied under him in medical school, and had remained in touch with him. She had never consulted with him about a patient until now. All of her cases so far were clear-cut, and although many of her patients came from other places and had been injured while skiing in Squaw Valley, most of them had only wanted referrals to physicians in their hometowns when they went back. None had ever embarked on a pilgrimage like the one Bill was planning, and Jessie had some concerns about Lily traveling so extensively as soon as she was released. But Bill was mindful of that as well. He had chartered a private plane for the journey, and booked suites in the best hotels. He had asked Jessie if she thought a doctor should travel with them, and implied heavily that she should do it, but that would have been impossible for her. She couldn’t leave her children so soon after their father’s death, nor her other patients in Squaw Valley, who needed her as well. Instead, Jessie suggested he take a nurse from the neurosurgery ICU, and she selected one carefully and discussed it with her.
    Jennifer Williams was thrilled to make the trip, and Lily liked her. Jessie assured Bill that she trusted Jennifer implicitly, and he made his plans to leave Squaw on Valentine’s Day. Their departure just happened to fall on that day, due to the schedules of the neurosurgeons they would be seeing, and the availability of the plane. They were planning to fly out of Reno, and would be getting there from Squaw Valley by limousine. Bill’s assistant in Denver had carefully made all the plans and handled all the details. Jessie still felt that the journey would be futile, but she didn’t try to discourage him, and she assured him that she would be available by phone for consultation with any of the doctors. And they had already received from Jessie all of Lily’s records and test results electronically. Given what they showed, Jessie was surprised that they were willing to meet with him, but Bill Thomas was an important man, and he had pulled all the necessary strings to get in to