I kept my lips pressed tight, holding my tongue until he was done.

“I’m going to pay all the out-of-pocket costs myself,” Daniel went on, tapping his fingers twice against his wristwatch.

“Every single dollar our insurance doesn’t cover will come out of my personal account.

You won’t have to handle a single bill or talk to a single billing clerk.”

“And what about after the surgery?” I asked.

“After Thursday, once she’s back on her feet and discharged, I think the three of us should go away for a week,” he said, his smile widening a little.

“We could rent that lakeside cabin on Lake Erie that Grace loved two summers ago.