Before Colgan was born and I was diagnosed with breast cancer, Michael was much fonder of telling that story about waking up to the angel standing over him. I assume he’s always believed it was me. I never had the heart to tell him it couldn’t have been. I was just a candy striper, a volunteer, seventeen years old. I was never allowed in what they called the critical area (hospitals call it ICU now) where he was when he woke up. It must have been a real nurse.

But the way Michael told the story was so sweet that I had to let him believe it. Maybe he had to believe that it was an angel he was falling for, to be able to...

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