‘Lily, it’s Mrs Douglas. I just came to see Gran with her orders for the day, and she’s not well. The front door was open and she was downstairs but she’s got a temperature and is a little delirious. What do you want me to do?’
‘Call an ambulance,’ she said and: ‘I’ll be right there as soon as I can.’ She turned to the student. ‘I have to speak to Mr McBride for a moment,’ she said and rushed to his office and knocked on the door.
‘Come in, Lily, is everything okay?’
‘Hi, I’m so sorry, but my gran is sick. Someone in her village just called. I think she needs a doctor but I’m in the middle of a lesson.’
But Mr McBride was already on his feet. ‘Go, family first. I’ll finish the lesson,’ he said firmly and soon Lily was out the door with her things and heading to her car, calling the only person she knew who could help right now.
‘Lily? Are you okay?’ Nick answered almost immediately and the relief at hearing his voice made her burst into tears.
‘It’s Gran. She’s sick and I’m at work and it’s a thirty-minute drive home and Mrs Douglas has called an ambulance but I worry it will be too long for them to get there. It might get diverted.’
‘I’m on my way. I’m nearby. I’ll assess her and wait for you and if I think she needs an ambulance, I can get one faster, okay? Drive home carefully and I will be there with her, so don’t worry about that part.’ Nick’s voice instantly calmed her and she took a deep breath and wiped her eyes with her hands.
‘Okay, thank you,’ she said and she started the car.
‘I’ll see you soon,’ he said. ‘If anything happens I’ll call and you can pull over, okay?’
‘Yes, thank you again,’ she said and hung up from the call and made her way back to Pippin Cottage.
It seemed like an eternity on the drive to Appleton Green but when she got there, an ambulance was out the front and Lily ran inside where two paramedics were with Gran, and Nick was standing to the side.
Gran was wearing an oxygen mask and was wheezing and looked very pallid.
‘Oh, Gran,’ she said, feeling the tears coming again as she rushed to her side.
‘I’m fine,’ Gran persisted in a feeble voice as a paramedic looked at Lily.
‘I’m going to have to ask you to move. We need to put a heart monitor on her,’ he said and Lily stood up and went to Nick.
‘What is it?’ she whispered.
Nick shook his head. ‘I’m not sure, definitely a chest infection but maybe something with her heart; they are doing all the tests but she will need to go to hospital,’ he whispered.
‘I heard that,’ Gran said loudly summoning up energy from God knows where. ‘I’m not going there again.’
Gran was watching them with an expression of exhausted resignation, and Lily turned to look at her. ‘You don’t have a choice, my love,’ said one of the paramedics. ‘You’re in heart failure.’ He stood up and looked at Lily. ‘We need to move fast.’
Lily blurted out, ‘Oh, Gran,’ as tears began to build up in her eyes.
Gran closed her eyes, and for a moment Lily wondered if she was even alive and then she sighed.
‘Bugger, bugger, bugger,’ she said and Lily laughed and cried simultaneously.
While they prepared Gran for the ambulance trip, Nick took command of the situation and made sure that the cottage was locked and secured.
‘I’ll pack a bag for her,’ he said to Lily and he ran upstairs while Lily sat next to Gran, holding her hand.
‘Righto, we’re moving,’ said a paramedic and they wheeled her out and up the path and onto the road, where they opened the back of the ambulance.
‘Do you want to follow in your car?’ the paramedic asked Lily.
‘Okay, yes, I need to ring my parents first,’ she said to him.
‘Bye, Gran, I’ll see you in a bit,’ she said.
Violet lifted her hand up to touch Lily’s cheek and gave her a little smile beneath the oxygen mask and then she was pushed on the trolley into the back of the ambulance. The doors were closed and they were driving away with flashing lights. As the vehicle disappeared from sight, Lily felt her composure disintegrate and sobs came from her that she didn’t know existed while she stood in the centre of the country road.
