Then she asked a question I had not expected.
“If they let you go back to work, what happens the next time a patient asks you for something you shouldn’t give?”
I began to answer.
I wanted to promise that I would never make such a mistake again.
But I remembered the way I had reassured myself before the wedding, convincing myself that my intentions were enough.
So I stopped.
“I’ll ask for guidance before I answer,” I said. “And I’ll accept that wanting to help someone doesn’t mean I always know how.”
Nora looked away.
“I still think what you did was wrong.”
“I know.”
“And I’m not withdrawing the complaint.”
“I understand.”
She picked up her phone.
“I’ll send the hospital a statement about what I saw. I’m not going to say you’re innocent. That’s for them to decide.”
“That’s fair.”
She began typing.
Her statement explained that Alicia had requested the marriage, that Nora had helped with the ceremony, and that she had understood it to be a nonromantic final wish. She also stated that she had no direct knowledge of whether I had expected an inheritance before the wedding.
