Vance had written just above his official signature.

I read those eleven words three times under the thin beam of the reading light.

For six years, Spencer had sat in surgical waiting rooms while I went through three separate procedures under general anesthesia.

For six years, Rosalind had stood in family dining rooms reminding board members that I had failed to produce a viable heir.

Spencer had had this blue sheet in his hands for five whole years.

He had locked it in his mahogany desk drawer every time Dr.