The Best of Me(37)
Author: Nicholas Sparks

Pouring herself a glass of wine, she stole out onto the back porch, watching a pair of cardinals as they flitted from branch to branch.

“You coming?” Frank called out from the doorway behind her. “The natives are getting restless.”

“Go ahead and have them serve up,” she said. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Do you want me to get you a plate?”

“That would be great,” she said, nodding. “Thank you. But make sure everyone gets theirs first.”

Frank turned from the doorway, and through the window she watched as he moved among the crowd into the dining room.

Behind her, the door opened again.

“Hey, Mom? Are you okay?”

The sound of Jared’s voice brought her back into the moment, and she turned.

“I’m fine,” she said.

After a beat, he stepped out onto the porch, closing the door gently behind him. “You sure?” he asked. “You look like something’s bothering you.”

“I’m just tired.” She managed a reassuring smile. “Where’s Lauren?”

“She’ll be here in a little while. She wanted to go home and shower.”

“Did she have fun?”

“I think so. She hit the ball, at least. She was pretty excited about that.”

Amanda looked up at him, tracing the line of his shoulders, his neck, the plane of his cheek, still able to see the way he’d looked as a little boy.

He hesitated. “Anyway… I wanted to ask you if you thought you could help me. You never really answered me the other night.” He kicked at a tiny scuff mark on the porch. “I want to send a letter to the family. Just to thank them, you know? If it wasn’t for the donor, I wouldn’t be here.”

Amanda lowered her eyes, remembering Jared’s question of the other night.

“It’s natural to want to find out who the donor of your heart was,” she finally said, choosing her words with care. “But there are good reasons why the process is supposed to remain anonymous.”

There was truth in what she said, even if it wasn’t the whole truth.

“Oh.” His shoulders slumped. “I thought that might be the case,” he said. “All they told me was that he was forty-two when he died. I just wanted… to find out more about what kind of person he was.”

I could tell you more, Amanda thought to herself. A lot more. She’d suspected the truth since Morgan Tanner had called, and she’d made some calls to confirm her suspicions. Dawson, she’d learned, had been taken off life support at CarolinaEast Regional Medical Center late Monday night. He’d been kept alive long after doctors knew he would never recover, because he was an organ donor.

Dawson, she knew, had saved Alan’s life—but in the end, he’d saved Jared’s as well. And for her that meant… everything. I gave you the best of me, he’d told her once, and with every beat of her son’s heart, she knew he’d done exactly that.

“How about a quick hug,” she said, “before we go inside?”

Jared rolled his eyes, but he opened his arms anyway. “I love you, Mom,” he mumbled, pulling her close.

Amanda closed her eyes, feeling the steady rhythm in his chest. “I love you, too.”