“I’ll just talk to Grandma later, she won’t be mad.” Bess Camp assured.
He had said so, and Christine White, who cared for Baird Lane herself, naturally had no problem with it, and hmmm’d, “Good.”
“Sit tight then, I’m going to speed up or I’ll lose President Lane in a minute.” Bess Camp cautioned.
Christine White grabbed the seatbelt in front of her, “I’m sitting tight.”
Bess Camp said yes and pushed the gas down to catch up in the direction Baird Lane was heading.
After chasing them for almost ten minutes, Christine White looked out the window at the familiar scenery and her eyebrows furrowed, “That’s the direction to the hospital.”
Could Baird Lane’s destination be the hospital?
Is he sick?
Christine White’s heart sank at the thought, her hand on her seatbelt tightening, and her eyes brimming with undisguised worry.
Bess Camp glanced at her in the afterglow, “Don’t think too much about it, maybe President Lane is just there for something.”
“What could be wrong with going to the hospital?” Christine White was still worried.
Isn’t that what going to the hospital is all about.
“We won’t know until we do.” Bess Camp turned the steering wheel, then asked, “Are you going to appear before President Lane?”
Christine White thought for a few seconds, “If he’s really visiting, I’ll show up, if not, I’ll hold off.”
“That’s fine too, he’s parked.” Bess Camp looked at the stopped Maybach in front of her and also pulled into a parking space in front of the hospital.
Christine White let go of her seatbelt, “Let’s get out of the car too.”
When she had finished, she put on the hood of her duffle coat, opened the car door, and then furtively followed Baird Lane.
Bess Camp looked at her like this, like she was a thief, and couldn’t help but smile and follow her.
Following her all the way to the surgery, Christine White watched Baird Lane enter Ives Norton’s office and hurriedly jogged a few steps to the door of Ives Norton’s office, intending to eavesdrop on whether Baird Lane was here to see a doctor or had business with Ives Norton.
“Baird, what are you doing here?” Ives Norton’s voice took the lead.
Christine White leaned her ear toward the doorframe to hear better, and Bess Camp, standing behind her, couldn’t resist taking a picture of her face to send to her grandmother later.
“I have questions for you.” This time it was Baird Lane’s voice, and with a hint of urgency.
Christine White sighed in relief and her lifted heart fell back.
So he’s not sick. He’s not here to see a doctor.
“What’s the problem?” Ives Norton put down the pen in his hand and lifted his head up to reveal a face covered in fatigue.
From yesterday to now, he hadn’t rested a single moment, one after another, paralyzing himself with work and dulling his pain with busyness.
It was the only way he wouldn’t have to think about the fact that the one he liked, might be gone.
“Is there a latency period for kidney failure?” Baird Lane didn’t care if Ives Norton was tired or not, and asked in a hushed voice as he hammered his desk with his fist.
“Kidney failure?” Ives Norton raised his eyebrows suspiciously, “Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”
Outside the door, Christine White nodded along, wondering what he was doing asking this all of a sudden.
“Christine,” there were two sudden nudges on the shoulder.
Christine White lowered her voice to Bess Camp, “What’s wrong?”
“I’m going to go call my grandmother, and if I’m not back in a few minutes, you can go wait for me in the car.” Bess Camp gave her the car keys.
Christine White picked it up, “I got it, go ahead.”
Bess Camp rubbed her hair and walked away with her cell phone.
“Why do they all like to rub my hair, is my hair that good?” Christine White pouted her lips and muttered unhappily.
In the office, Ives Norton’s questioning voice continued, “Baird, you’re not trying to tell me that you have kidney failure, are you?”
“No!” Baird Lane pursed his lips in displeasure, “Just tell me if there’s a latency period or not!”
“There are, but this is rare, usually there is a latent stage of kidney failure, are hidden symptoms, before the onset of the disease can not be seen at all, even the physical examination may not be detected, but this kind of kidney failure, basically is inherited in the family.” Ives Norton answered him in detail.
Then felt and not enough, and added: ” As for the incubation period, the incubation period of each genetic family is not the same, some are a few years, some more than ten years, in a word, it is during the incubation period, that person is as healthy as a normal person, but as soon as the incubation period is over, the disease will be onset right away, and the rate of renal failure is faster than the ordinary renal failure patients!”
Baird Lane heard it, and his brain felt like it had been hit hard with a hammer, so hard that he swayed and was about to fall down.
Luckily, the desk was in front of him, and he braced his hands on it in time to not actually fall.
But he braced the table with so much force that he shifted the desk out of position, the corners of the table scraping across the smooth floor tiles with a harsh scraping sound.
Christine White heard the commotion and almost couldn’t hold back from showing herself, but in the end reason overcame her impulses and she brought back the one foot she had taken.
“Baird what’s wrong with you?” Ives Norton saw that Baird Lane wasn’t quite right and immediately got up from his chair and helped him to sit down on the couch off to the side.
Baird Lane half held his forehead, his voice low, “I’m fine.”
He had just heard the above description of kidney failure, similar to what Molly Bort had said, and was momentarily irritated.
“Is it really all right, you’re blushing.” Ives Norton reached out uneasily to probe his forehead.
But before he could touch it, he was stopped by Baird Lane waving his hand, “Okay, do you still have Christine White’s medical records here?”
“Yes, why?” Ives Norton’s glasses reflect.
Christine White’s fingers curled as she peeled herself against the doorframe, inexplicably uneasy.
What’s going on? Why is she suddenly mentioned?
“Molly Bort told me today that Ella Smith has this hereditary latent kidney failure, so I came over here specifically to ask you, since you have Christine White’s medical records, can you tell if she inherited this kidney failure?” Baird Lane stared intently at Ives Norton.
Ives Norton’s eyes widened, “What? You said Christine her real mom …”
Baird Lane nods.
Outside the door, Christine White covered her mouth, her pupils trembling and her mind buzzing even more.
If her understanding is correct, are they saying that her own mother had hereditary kidney failure, and she was passed on?
How is this possible …
“Baird, this is no joke, what if Molly Bort is lying to you?” Ives Norton collected his inner surprise and looked at Baird Lane with a very serious expression.
Baird Lane rubbed his temples to soothe his head that was on the verge of splitting from the pain, “So I’ve asked Gates to check the medical history of Ella Smith’s mother’s family, and if it turns out in the end that the Ye family doesn’t have this genetic disease, then naturally I won’t let Molly Bort off the hook.”
“I see what you’re saying, but let me tell you clearly, I do have Christine’s medical records, but the previous ones were clean, so I can’t know if Christine is genetically predisposed or not unless I have Christine come here in person and have her kidneys checked specifically.”
Speaking of which, Ives Norton took off his glasses, revealing a pair of bleary eyes, “Unfortunately, she won’t be coming back, she’s dead …”
Couldn’t even find the body.
“She’s not dead!” Baird Lane pranced to his feet and stared at Ives Norton with a very bad look on his face, “I’m sure she’s not dead, she’s just always been, and that I’m going to find her.”
“Baird …” Christine White was touched to hear these words from the man.
Ives Norton likewise stood, “What makes you so sure she’s not dead, where could she have gotten to in that fire?”