Dr. Lawson sighed and looked down at the file.

“Laura, because it’s experimental, the state Medicaid program — which still covers Emily through the foster-to-adoption medical extension — has denied the claim. They call it investigational and not medically necessary.”

The silence was deafening.

“How much?” Laura asked — the exact question my biological father had asked three years before. But where his voice held annoyance, hers held only desperation.

“For the full course?” Dr. Lawson swallowed. “Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

I stopped breathing. Laura was a nurse. She made a modest living. We lived paycheck to paycheck, saving whatever we could for my college applications.