Free Hope's Toy Chest by Marissa Dobson

before I can rule out any lasting damage.”
    “Is it from the treatment?”
    “I can’t say for sure. All I can say is she’s a very sick little girl.” Even as Brain spoke, there was something in his eyes that made Le wonder if he suspected the underlying cause but didn’t want to worry her. “I’ll get a nurse to take her for the tests and then she can go back to her room and rest. I’ll check on her after I have the results.”
    “When she’s brought back upstairs, I also want to do a full blood work up again,” Le added. “It can wait until after your tests, or even tomorrow. We don’t want to put her through any more than we have to today.”
    “I want her to take it easy for the rest of the day ,” Brian ordered. “Make sure she stays in bed, and no strenuous activities or we’ll have to sedate her. I don’t want any more damage until we know what caused this episode.”
    “She’ll take it easy ,” Kelly promised and went back to Jessica’s bedside.
    Now that they were alone , Le nodded for Brian to follow him farther down the hall, giving them a little more privacy. “Do you believe the treatments caused this?”
    “I believe this is one of the cases where there are no easy choices.”
    “Brian, we’ve known each another a long time. Just give it to me straight.”
    “It’s a possibility. I’ll know more when the tests are finished.” He shoved his hands into the pocket s of his white lab coat and nodded. “Okay. It’s more likely that it’s from the treatment than not.”
    It was what he ’d expected, but it wasn’t the news he wanted to hear. She would either die from her cancer if they stopped the treatments, or her heart would give out if they continued. Nothing was easy.

Chapter Fourteen

     
    Silence cloaked the interior of the truck until it was uncomfortable. Le couldn’t think of anything to say to make the trip easier, all he could think about was Jessica’s pending test results. The early results from her EKG didn’t hold much good news, but it was right after the incident, so they were rerunning it that afternoon. The other test results had left him scratching his head.
    “Is everything all right?”
    He nodded, not bothering to take his eyes off the road. The roads were quickly deteriorating and darkness was falling. They had been in Three Forks longer than he expected, putting them on the road late.
    Silence threatened to overwhelm them again until he cleared his throat. “It’s work. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to cause this unease.”
    “Anything I can do?”
    “ Unless you have a magical ability to make my cell phone ring, I don’t think so.” He tried to make light of it.
    “I thought we didn’t want your phone to ring. Wouldn’t that mean there’s an emergency at the hospital?” She turned slightly in the seat to look at him.
    “We’re running some tests on Jessica and I’m waiting on the results.” He tugged the wheel to the right as it started to slide on some ice.
    “Roads are getting bad.”
    “Yes, they are.” He said between clenched teeth as he tried to keep the truck on the pavement. “With the way it’s coming down and the drop in temperature I’m not sure we’ll make it back tonight.”
    “What will we do?”
    “There’s a little hotel we passed on our way, it should only be a few miles up the road. I think we should stay there for the night and set out in the morning. It’s only going to get worse.” After regaining full control of the truck, he glanced over at her. “I’m sorry, but it would be for the best.”
    “That’s fine, it’s not worth risking our lives and maybe then you can call the hospital for an update.”
    He smiled, knowing that he wanted more than to just call the hospital. Eager to get off the road and alone with her, he continued to manhandle the truck forward.

    Kingsley wasn’t sure if he should be praising or cursing his luck. The small family-run hotel only had one room available with a