"Oh, Carrie, the most horrible thing has happened!" The stylishly dressed middle aged woman had barely taken a seat across the desk from Carrie Nelson when she suddenly burst into tears and covered her face with her hands. The woman's husband, who was seated beside her, immediately reached over and patted his spouse gently on the back.

Carrie, a Chicago attorney in her early thirties, spoke soothingly to her distraught client. "What is it, Melody?" Carrie asked, pushing her shoulder length blond hair back off the collar of her black wool suit. "Has something happened to Katherine? Has she taken a turn for the worse?"

While Melody Buckley made a whimpering sound, Ed Buckley angrily spat out the response. "She's pregnant!"

* * * *

Carrie was a partner at Ramquist & Dowd, a thirty-lawyer firm with offices on the thirty-third floor of a highrise building on Wabash Street in downtown Chicago. She had arrived at Ramquist eighteen months earlier, after having come to an abrupt and acrimonious parting of the ways with the powers that be at her former office.

For a long moment after hearing Ed Buckley's news, Carrie sat mutely across from her clients with her mouth agape. As she fought to clear her head, she glanced down and focused on the blue and cream oriental carpet on the floor of her comfortable office. Then her gaze shifted back to the petite redhead and lanky dark haired man sitting in front of her.

Eight months earlier, the Buckleys' attractive and vivacious twenty-two year old daughter had been a University of Chicago senior majoring in art history when, on a rainy spring evening, a pickup truck lost control on a busy highway, crossed the centerline and slammed head-on into Katherine's small sports car. The vehicle had been instantly demolished and its lone occupant critically injured.

Although Katherine had no pulse or respiration at the scene, fast acting paramedics had performed CPR and managed to bring her back from the dead. Several procedures to relieve intercranial bleeding had spared her life. Tragically, however, the young woman had never regained consciousness and remained in what doctors termed a "twilight" condition, giving no sign that she had any perception of events around her.

Although Katherine was not brain dead, there had been no change in her condition since shortly after the accident, and the doctors' prognosis was bleak. In addition to her neurological trauma, the incident had left Katherine's immune system in an extremely fragile state and twice she had nearly succumbed during bouts with pneumonia.

The Buckley family had been utterly devastated by the accident. Melody and Ed were both around fifty but appeared to have aged ten years in the past eight months. They visited Katherine in her bright cheerful room at Jackson Memorial Hospital every day. They played her favorite music, read her cherished poems, and prayed for a miracle that would restore their youngest child to them. Sadly, with every week that passed, chances of that miracle grew increasingly dim. Carrie had been the college roommate of Katherine's cousin Amanda and had known Katherine since she was in elementary school.

Carrie had handled the legal formalities appointing Melody and Ed guardians of Katherine's person and her estate. In Carrie's mind, the Buckleys' unexpected visit to her office and Melody's clearly agitated frame of mind could mean only one thing: Katherine had now passed away and the family wanted Carrie's help in closing out her legal affairs. The thought that Katherine was pregnant was just too grotesque to contemplate.

"How did it happen?" Carrie stammered, her green eyes wide with astonishment and disbelief.

"We have no idea," Ed Buckley replied bitterly. "Believe me, if I had any inkling who the filthy bastard was that did this to my daughter, I would tear him to pieces with my bare hands."

Such gruff language was incongruous for a staid market analyst accustomed to wearing hand tailored Italian suits, but under the circumstances Carrie fully understood his anger.

"When did you find out about the pregnancy?" Carrie asked, finally shaking off the cobwebs sufficiently to pose a coherent query.

"Yesterday morning," Melody replied. She had now regained her composure and was sitting there sedately in her powder blue suit, her hands folded in her lap. "Katherine's internist called and said it was important that we come in to see her right away. Katherine had been running another low grade fever, and I was afraid maybe she had developed pneumonia again. Ed was already at work, so I called him and we met at the hospital about forty minutes later. That's when we found out--" Her voice trailed off.

Ed picked up the narrative. "Because Katherine was showing signs of a new infection, the internist had ordered a full blood workup. As a matter of course that includes a pregnancy screen. When the results came back, the internist thought there must be a mistake, so she ordered another test. The result was the same: positive. Then she did a pelvic exam and that confirmed it. Katherine is about twelve weeks pregnant."

"Did you talk to anyone else at the hospital?" Carrie asked.

"You're damn right we did," Ed replied. "I told the internist to call the chief of staff. I was informed that he was in Europe presenting a paper. Then I said I wanted to talk to whoever the hell was in charge, so they sent us down to see the hospital's administrator, a guy named Von Slaten."

Carrie jotted the name on a yellow legal pad. "Is he a doctor?"

Ed shook his head. "No, he's more of a numbers cruncher. I think he might be a lawyer."

"What did Von Slaten say? Had he already heard about Katherine's condition?"

"Yes," Melody answered. "The internist had informed him prior to her calling us."

"And what was his reaction to the situation?" Carrie asked.

"Damn little," Ed replied bitterly. "He said it was very unfortunate but he simply couldn't believe that anyone on his staff was responsible. I told him since it was highly doubtful that a second Immaculate Conception had been visited on our daughter, somebody on his staff obviously must have been responsible."

"What did he say to that?" Carrie inquired.

"He again expressed his sympathy and suggested we speak to our attorney. That's why we're here."

Carrie pursed her lips and shook her head. "This is unbelievable. Jackson Memorial is supposed to be a highly regarded hospital. Didn't they just win some sort of national award?"

"Oh, sure, Von Slaten has two or three plaques on his wall proclaiming how great the place is," Ed said. "I felt like ripping them down and beating the guy senseless with them."

"The first thing you need to do is move Katherine to another hospital," Carrie counseled.

"It's already done," Melody said. "We transferred her to Sloan Medical Center this morning."

"Is that the one in Winnetka?" Carrie asked.

Melody nodded. "It seems like a very nice facility, and the doctors were most kind to us. I think they'll take good care of Katherine there."

"That's great," Carrie said. "Now I am assuming you'd like me to handle the dealings with Jackson Memorial from here on in."

"You're damn right," Ed nodded adamantly. "Those people must be held fully accountable for what happened to Katherine. We need to know the truth, and I don't care what you have to do to get it. Threaten them. Sue them. Whatever it takes. Just don't let them get away with this."

Carrie nodded and jotted a few more notes. "Have you talked to the police?"

Melody seemed a bit taken aback by this suggestion. "No. Do you think we should?"

"Absolutely," Carrie replied. "Having sexual relations with a person who is unable to give consent is a serious felony. We should get the police involved right away. Their investigation could be very helpful in ferreting out the truth."

"Then do it," Ed instructed without hesitation. "We trust your judgment completely. We know you'll do right by Katherine."

Carrie scribbled some more notes on her legal pad. "I'll contact the police and set up a meeting with Von Slaten as soon as I can."

"I want those miserable bastards to pay for what they did," Ed said, his voice cracking. "I'm not even necessarily referring to money --- although if we could squeeze some of that out of them, so much the better. But the thought that something like this could happen to our daughter while she was under their care--" his voice cracked, then he recovered himself. "I want you to show them no mercy."

"We'll make them accountable," Carrie promised. She glanced at a calendar on her desk and did some rough calculations. "It's early February. If they say Katherine is about twelve weeks along, then the assault must have occurred in early November. Did either of you notice anything unusual about Katherine's condition at that time?"

Melody shook her head. "No. Her second round of pneumonia was in late October but within a week she'd bounced back."

"I'll want to go over Katherine's complete medical records and see if anyone on staff made any notations about anything out of the ordinary going on with her around that time." She leaned forward and addressed her clients. "As far as how I will be proceeding with this, the firm has a policy that all new cases have to be vetted by all of the partners."

"Do you mean you might not be able to help us?" Melody asked with concern. "We were so counting on you."

"Don't worry," Carrie assured the Buckleys. "It's just a formality. The managing partners like to let everyone in the firm know about the new business we're taking on. It often proves very helpful because lots of times someone else in the office will have had previous experience handling a similar type of case and can offer good advice. So I'll run the facts of Katherine's case by the partnership tomorrow morning and by tomorrow afternoon I can be officially underway with my representation."

"Sounds good," Ed said.

Carrie leaned forward. "Have you told Matt and Cynthia yet?" she asked, referring to the Buckleys' two older children.

"Not yet," Ed replied. "It's been such a shock that we've sort of been operating on auto pilot. Our first priority was to get Katherine out of Jackson Memorial and our second was to talk to you. I guess we'll have to call the kids tonight." He swallowed hard. "I don't relish doing it. They're going to be so upset, and they've already been through so much."

"I'm sure they'll be a wonderful source of support," Carrie predicted. She paused a moment before making a more delicate inquiry. "Have you thought about what this is going to mean for Katherine?"

"In what way?" Melody asked.

"Well," Carrie said carefully, "have you given thought as to whether or not the pregnancy should be allowed to continue?"

"Of course it will continue," Ed replied at once. "Melody and I are opposed to abortion."

"Oh," Carrie said, trying to hide her surprise. "Are you Catholic?"

"No," Ed answered. "We just don't personally believe in it."

"I see. But do the doctors think Katherine is physically strong enough to carry a pregnancy to term?" Carrie asked with concern. "I thought you were told that even a cold could be potentially fatal to her."

"Her new team of doctors will be performing a complete physical examination over the next couple of days," Ed answered. "But aborting our grandchild is simply not an option."

"Even though you don't know who the father might be," Carrie said pointedly.

Ed shook his head. "That baby deserves a chance to be born, regardless of who his or her father is."

"And you agree with this decision, Melody?" Carrie asked. "Even if the pregnancy might be dangerous for Katherine?"

"Yes, I agree completely," Melody replied resolutely. "I believe it would be wrong to take this innocent child's life."

Carrie had a feeling of great unease about this plan, but the decision was obviously the Buckleys' to make. "All right then," Carrie said. "I'll have my secretary prepare medical releases that will allow me to obtain copies of Katherine's medical records and allow me to speak to all of her caregivers, both at Jackson Memorial and at her new hospital."

"Thank you so much, Carrie," Melody said softly.

"Yes, thanks, Carrie," Ed said. "It eases our mind to know you'll be looking out for us."

Carrie got up from her chair and came around the desk to give Melody and Ed each a big hug. "It's my pleasure," she said. "Your family has always been very special to me. Now you wait here just a minute while I get those releases. Once they're signed, you can be on your way. I'll call you tomorrow afternoon to let you know how things went at the partners' meeting and with Von Slaten." She walked over to the door, then turned back and added, "Believe me, I intend to get right on this and do whatever I can to find out just exactly what happened to Katherine at Jackson Memorial."