Jade closed her eyes in disbelief and frustration. She didn’t need Mitchell to offer a kidney from a misguided sense of duty. He was free to leave. Jade knew she would never forget what they had shared but she would survive a broken heart. She didn’t want to trap Mitchell into staying. Or into taking on more than he wanted to or more than he could promise to do willingly.
‘Mitchell, I finally know you well enough to see that you are trying to fulfil some role you think you should, but you don’t. I’m a big girl and I can handle it. I’ve taken care of Amber since she was born. I can keep doing it.’
‘But what if I don’t want you to handle it on your own? What if I want to be part of the solution? Don’t I get a say in it?’
Her voice was shaky. Amber was deteriorating by the day. They needed to find a donor but this could drastically change Mitchell’s life. It was not a small ask to donate a perfectly healthy functioning kidney. He loved to lead the life of a nomad. This might change things. She loved him too much to see him like a bird in a cage.
‘Let me get tested and if I’m a fail then maybe you can think about it, but don’t rush in to this surgery,’ she pleaded.
‘You don’t get it, do you? I’m doing this because I want Amber to have a long and happy life. I don’t want her tied to a dialysis machine. I want her to go skydiving, and windsurfing and anything else she wants to do. Just like you did and just like I did.’
‘But she might not want to do those things.’
‘That’s true, but if I can give her my kidney I’m giving her the option to have fun and be a little wild, like her aunty was when she was young … and still can be, if she wants to.’
‘But I’m not young any more. I have responsibilities and I won’t let Amber down.’
‘You could never let anyone down. It’s not who you are. You would step up to the plate no matter where you were or what you were doing. Even a blind man could see your devotion to Amber but you shouldn’t let it control and drive fear into every aspect of your own life. I’ve seen fun Jade, and I think it’s a waste to put her away for even one moment longer.’
‘But I don’t want to be like that any more. Look what happened when I was irresponsible. Amber ended up in hospital.’
‘Her genetic condition sent her to hospital. The fact we spent one amazing night together had no impact on Amber’s health. If you had been tucked up in the bed next to hers, she would still have needed hospitalisation, and you know that’s a fact. But it’s a fact you don’t want to face. Maybe because you think if you wrap her up in cotton wool and keep yourself near her, and behave more like her great-grandmother then nothing bad can befall her. It can, Jade. Good and bad things can happen to those we love and trying to control their lives won’t change what is destined to happen by way of their genetic make-up.’
‘Why are you trying so hard to make me see things your way?’ she pleaded as she dropped her shaking head into her hands. ‘And why do you want to put yourself through all this? It may change your life and not for the better.’
‘Because I believe in my heart that you won’t be happy without me and I won’t be happy without the real you. Not some cardboard cut-out of another woman. And because Amber deserves to have two loving parents.’
‘What do you mean, two loving parents?’
‘The two of us. I’m not going anywhere, Jade.’
‘But you hate feeling trapped, you said it.’
‘That’s true, and it still stands. I would never want to be trapped, but being with you and Amber is the opposite. It’s the only place in the world I want to be. It’s so far from being trapped … it’s being wanted, and needed and loved, and it’s a place I never want to leave. It’s the true meaning of family. If you’ll have me, I’ll stay for ever.’
‘For ever … in one place … with us?’
‘I would take more than for ever if I could. I love you, Jade, and I’m here to stay, albeit down one kidney in a few hours. But if you don’t want me minus a part, I’d understand.’
Jade didn’t want to fight her feelings any more. She leaned down to the man being wheeled into Theatre and kissed him with all her heart.
‘You’re perfect any way you come.’
THE DATE MITCHELL and Amber chose to become husband and wife was one year to the day of the surgery to give Amber a healthy, happy life. With each passing minute Mitchell and Jade knew their love was growing stronger and would last for ever.
Australian immigration had granted extensions to Jade’s and Amber’s visas on compassionate grounds. Amber had needed time to heal after the surgery and after six months she and Jade had returned to Los Angeles briefly to say goodbye to the kind neighbours who had been like family to them. While it had been sad for everyone, it had been a new beginning for Jade and Amber, and the lovely older couple were happy that the little girl would be with her real grandparents.
Jade had packed up the house and put it up for lease. It was Amber’s home and for that reason Jade had chosen not to sell it. She wanted it to be there in case, as an adult, Amber wanted to spend some time in the city where she’d been born. A lovely family who had relocated from Sacramento, with two small girls and a golden Labrador, had moved in, and Jade felt sure her neighbours would shower the little girls with attention, just as they had Amber since she was born.
Mitchell had proposed twice. Once to Jade with a solitaire diamond ring as they rode the Ferris wheel at Glenelg and then a week later he proposed that he and Jade adopt Amber. He didn’t want them to be just her legal guardians as he wanted all their children in the future to have the same mother and father.
Amber was four and although she didn’t really understand what adoption meant, she loved the idea of having a mummy and daddy like the other children at pre-school. Jade was so deliriously happy she thought she would burst. And so the very special wedding date was set and the adoption papers were filed. And Maureen stepped into one of her happiest roles of her life … and one she had never thought would be hers … the role of wedding planner.
The wedding guests chatted happily under the clear azure sky. They sat on white deck chairs in rows on the lawn, each chair decorated with a huge organza bow. The day was perfect, the guests had all arrived and the celebrant and solo violinist were both eagerly watching for movement from the small white marquee that held the bridal party.
Maureen, beautifully designer dressed and beaming, emerged from the marquee in a mint-coloured silk suit and signalled with a subtle wave of her lace handkerchief.
The solo violinist sat upright, adjusted his jacket and then began “Wedding March” by Felix Mendelssohn. All heads turned back to see Amber hug her grandmother before she took her first tentative step. She looked like a tiny angel in her ankle-length pastel pink silk dress. A circle of fresh rosebuds and gypsophila sat atop her blonde curls and a smile dressed her cherub-like face as she walked down the white carpet aisle, scattering rose petals with each tiny step.
Mitchell’s mouth curved into an equally big smile as he caught sight of her. She was walking towards the jasmine-covered arbour where he stood with his groomsmen. His legs, hidden by the black designer suit, were shaking a little as the much-anticipated moment of his bride’s entrance drew closer. Amber tried to stay in time to the strains of the violin but she gave up and happily skipped the last few feet.
‘You look so pretty,’ Mitchell told her as he bent down and kissed her forehead then took her tiny hand in his.
‘You thould thee Mummy.’ She beamed. ‘She lookth like a printheth.’
‘I bet she does.’
Alli