This riveting sequel to Could I Have This Dance? answers a question that haunted the protagonist at the end of that novel: Does Claire McCall, M.D., have the gene for Huntington's Disease, the disease that disabled her father? The new novel begins with Claire already having made a significant decision: she has withdrawn from surgical training at Lafayette University Hospital in Boston and returned to Stoney Creek to become a primary care physician, where she will be able to help her mother in caring for her now completely disabled father. She has also decided to undergo the testing required to determine whether she carries the HD gene. Her relationship with John Serelli has been rekindled, as well. Just before the final This riveting sequel to Could I Have This Dance? answers a question that haunted the protagonist at the end of that novel: Does Claire McCall. M.D., have the gene for Huntington's Disease, the disease that disabled her father? The new novel begins with Claire already having made a significant decision; she has withdrawn from surgical training at Lafayette University Hospital in Boston and returned to Stoney Creek to become a primary-care physician, where she will be able to help her mother in caring for her now completely disabled father. She has also decided to undergo the testing required to determine whether she carries the HD gene. Her relationship with John Serelli has been rekindled, as well. Just before the final counseling session leading up to the revelation of the results of that testing--when Claire will discover once and for all whether she carries the gene--she discovers an engagement ring hidden in John's car and becomes convinced that he is going to "popthe question" before she opens the letter revealing her gene status. When John doesn't ask, Claire runs out of the counseling session in tears, not wanting to find out the results of her HD test. She is convinced that his love for her is conditional on her gene status, and may not be love at all. Claire copes by plunging herself into her work. One of her patients is a young woman abused by her husband. During the woman's recovery from a severe beating, she is raped by a man wearing a surgical mask--a man the patient presumes is her abusive husband in disguise. The woman becomes pregnant, but has a miscarriage. Then a second and a third woman are raped by a man with a similar disguise. All of the young victims are Claire's patients, physically impaired by a recent accident or surgery, and unable to put up resistance to the attacker. But another disturbing set of facts arises: John Serelli is seen in the neighborhood watching the house of the first victim; later, he is found to have surgical masks in his car like those used during the rapes. Claire prefers to believe that the rapes have been committed by the husband of the first victim, but she is troubled by the evidence against John. She begins to question whether John Serelli may be a very different man from the one she thinks she loves. Claire develops appendicitis and needs surgery. In her disabled state just after returning home from the hospital, she nearly becomes a rape victim herself. She fights back, wounding her attacker and revealing his identity. Who is the brutal attacker? What are the results of Claire's tests for HD? And will her relationship with John endure?
