His Mother's Shadow
The ER had taken in over a dozen patients on New Year's Eve. Yet, my widowed sister-in-law had called my husband into the on-call room to breastfeed him.
When I caught them in the act, Diana hurriedly straightened her rumpled top, her face flushed with embarrassment. "Amber, please don't get the wrong idea. I was treating Elliot! He thinks I'm his late mother. He comes to me to relive his childhood every night. I've gotten used to it."
Elliot Cladwell showed no trace of guilt as he remarked, "Diana has been doing everything she can to help me with my adult attachment disorder. As a doctor, you of all people should understand."
I smiled and quietly stepped aside, giving them space.
What I didn't say was that I had just activated the system's wish-granting function.
Since Diana wanted so badly to be his dead mother, I might as well help her fulfill that wish.