Page 80 of Perfection

Chapter Eighteen

Kindra stood and lifted Brianna into her arms. “Nap time, ladybug.”

“It’s okay, Mommy.” Brianna placed her small palm on her mother’s cheek. “I know you will find a cure.”

“I definitely will.” She squeezed her child in a desperate hug, reluctant to let her go. Finally, she put her in the pod. “Here you go, baby,” she said, fluffing her pillow.

“I’m not a baby, Mom.”

Mom?But you are a baby,Kindra thought.My baby.

Brianna was only two, but she had the intellect of a child five times her age and an understanding even greater than the other GEI children due to the work her mother did. “I know,” Kindra replied. “You’re growing up so fast.”

“Children are supposed to grow.” Brianna rolled her eyes. “That’s how they become adults.”

Leave it to her little girl to break it down to the simplest terms. She nodded. “You’re right.”

Brianna smiled. “I know.” She glanced at York.

The assistant held out the micro-dot. Kindra took it. Her hands shook as she held it on the tip of her index finger. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

“I know.”

She smoothed the dot onto Brianna’s neck, affixing it there.

Brianna giggled. “That tickles.”

Kindra smiled back weakly.

Moments later, Brianna closed her eyes in sleep. Kindra tensed as the cryogenic crew stepped forward and took over. She eased back, feeling numb. York wrapped a powerful arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him. “This is what all those parents felt.” Her throat grew thick, closing in on itself.

“Yes,” he murmured.

“I’m sorry.” The agony was too much. She didn’t want any mother or father to have to go through this.

She felt tears run down her cheeks. Because she hurt. Deep down, she hurt. And she was close to losing it.

It was hard to believe her baby girl was, at this very moment, sleeping in a cryo machine. “Hang on, ladybug,” she whispered.

“Come. I’ll show you Danny.”

She was thankful for York’s support, and she wanted to provide the same for him. Leaning on each other, they went into the next room. “He’s over here,” he said.

They stood by another cryo unit. This one was newer, with more gadgets. A small boy with dark-brown curls slept inside. At least that’s what she chose to believe. “You said he died. But never told me of what.”

York tensed. It was her turn to comfort him.

“We tried a back-door genetic engineering technique to get rid of a gene carried in my family.” He glanced away. “Something went wrong, but when I reached out to your people, the red tape took too long. In the end, the Committee denied me anyway.”

“What kind of gene?”

“A rare blood disorder, alpha thalassemia. Evidently, it was caused by a genetic accident when Danny was formed.”

Kindra’s brows came together. And that is why genetic engineering was a good thing. It eliminated those accidents and children didn’t have to suffer. “When this is over, I’m going to take a look at his case. Genetics has changed drastically over the past six years. Perhaps we have an answer.”

“I’d appreciate that.” Then he looked away and swallowed hard.

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