Read The First Love Cookie Club for Free Online Page B

when young Sarah Collier had come bursting through the door of the church yelling at the congregation that Travis couldn’t marry Crystal because he was
her
soul mate.
    The memory put a momentary smile on his face.
    Dr. Adams came bustling through the door, his white coattails flying out behind him. He took one look at Jazzy and the frown riding his face deepened. He tugged a stethoscope from his pocket, spoke gently to Jazzy, and then pressed the bell of the stethoscope to her chest.
    Travis stepped closer, fisted his hands, watching and waiting as the physician examined his daughter. After several minutes, Dr. Adams raised his head, rattled off a list of medical jargon to the nurses, wrapped the stethoscope around itself, and tucked it back into his pocket. “Could we speak outside, Mr. Walker.”
    Mutely, Travis nodded to the doctor, and then said to Jazzy, “Daddy’s going to be right out here in the hallway.”
    “Daddy,” she wheezed.
    He took her hand, squeezed it. “Yes, sweetheart?”
    “Will … you …” She paused, chuffed in a mouthful of the nebulizer mist from the green plastic mask the respiratory therapist had slipped over her face.
    “Don’t talk.”
    “Isabella,” she whispered. “Book.”
    “You want me to bring you Isabella and
The Magic Christmas Cookie?”
    She nodded again, asking for the two possessions that comforted her most.
    “I’m on it,” he said. His gut wrenched and it was all he could do to make himself leave her, even for a fraction of a second.
    “What’s going on here, Doc?” he asked once the door had closed behind them. “You said that last drug we put her on should do the trick. She’s taking four different kinds of medication a day and showing no signs of improvement.”
    Dr. Adams pulled a palm down his face. “Let’s go somewhere more private.”
    Uh-oh, this didn’t sound good.
Travis struggled to quell the fear growing inside him as Dr. Adams led him into the empty physicians’ lounge and plunked down at the head of a small conference table. “Have a seat.”
    He didn’t want to, but he sat.
    Dr. Adams took a deep breath. “I don’t know what to say, Travis. Jazzy is on the maximum doseof every effective medication we have in our arsenal.”
    Travis felt a chill straight to his soul. “What are you telling me?”
    The physician shook his head, spread his hands. “I’m all out of tricks.”
    “Does this mean we have to go through another round of specialists?” he asked. He was willing to do whatever it took to make his daughter well, but he hated the thought of putting her through more tests, more hospitals, more needle pokes. Jazzy was a trouper, but the poor kid had been through so much. Where did it end?
    Dr. Adams shook his head. “We could try, but I have no reason to believe the outcome would be any different than in the past.”
    Fear clawed at his throat. “So what are you saying? That there’s no hope?”
    “There’s always hope. You have to believe that, Travis.”
    “What can you offer us?”
    Dr. Adams shifted his way. “There’s a new drug on the market, but—“
    “Why didn’t you say so before?” Travis interrupted, feeling a surge of hope.
    “It’s very expensive and your insurance doesn’t cover it.”
    “I don’t care. Whatever it costs, I’ll get the money.”
    “It’s twenty-five hundred dollars for one injection and she’ll need a shot every three weeks.”
    One shot equaled his monthly take-home salary. Travis swallowed. “I’ll sell my house if I have to.”
    “It’s not just the cost.” Dr. Adams pressed his
    lips together. “The reason insurance won’t cover the drug is because while it’s been approved for treatment of another lung disorder, it’s not approved for severe bronchial asthma. If a drug is used off-label, it’s considered experimental. Although it has been approved in Canada for use in severe asthma.”
    “Fine, we’ll move to Canada,” Travis said, and meant it, even though