Nick made a face. ‘I might have told Sheila about it when I hurried out for the pastries. In my defence, I wouldn’t have expected her to tell the whole village.’
‘You might as well have given her a bell and asked her to roam the village and say “Hear Ye, Hear Ye” to all and sunder,’ she snapped at him.
She stood up and went into the kitchen and started to read the messages and then smiled.
‘I’m sorry. I was rude then – these messages are so sweet,’ she said to Nick.
‘What do they say?’
‘Sheila has offered to care for Mr Mistoffelees while I’m away, and David has said he’s happy to do anything around the cottage before Gran comes home, and Jasper has offered me his “lucky audition cufflinks”.’ She looked up and laughed. ‘Bless them all.’
‘Everyone just wants you to be happy and share your talent with the world,’ Nick said.
His work phone buzzed. ‘Sorry, let me get this quickly,’ he said and answered. Lily rinsed out her cup and then glanced at him.
‘Hi? Sure, yes, I’m here now,’ he said and as he listened, Lily noticed his face become serious. A frown covered his brow and he ran his hand through his hair.
‘Okay, yes, thanks, I see. I’ll let her know.’
His voice faded off, the final note hanging in the air. ‘What is it?’ she asked, but somehow she knew the answer.
‘It’s Gran. She’s had a heart attack,’ he said. ‘That was the ward. I asked the nurse to let me know any change.’
‘I’ll lock up,’ she said. ‘Call Dad from my phone. Can you drive?’
Just as she said it, her phone rang and she saw it was her father.
‘I know, I’m on my way,’ she said, as she put out food for the cat and locked the house.
‘Let’s go,’ she said to Nick and suddenly London didn’t seem so important anymore.
The trip to the hospital was silent as Lily’s head spun with options, each one less appealing than the next. Nick stretched across and gently squeezed her hand.
‘Don’t try and solve everything right now. One moment at a time,’ he said to her and she nodded.
‘You’re right, you know. I am trying to solve everything. I’m going from London to Gran to the village, to the school, to Mum and Dad and the flat. It’s all too much,’ she admitted.
As they pulled up to the hospital, Nick stopped the car out the front.
‘You go up and I’ll find a park,’ he said.
Lily leaned over and kissed his cheek.
‘Thank you,’ she said and then she was out of the car and running inside and up to the ward where her parents were in the hallway with a doctor.
‘Hi, what did I miss?’ asked Lily, breathless from running.
The doctor looked at her. ‘I was just explaining that Mrs Baxter has had a significant heart attack,’ he said. ‘Although her situation is critical, we have stabilised her for now. The next twenty-four hours will be absolutely vital.’
Lily felt as though her world was slipping away from her and she couldn’t hang on for much longer. ‘Can we see her?’
Nodding, the doctor said, ‘Yes, but she’s sedated and in ICU. She’s in and out of consciousness. I would try and keep it calm. She can’t be stressed at this point.’
A nurse came to them and gave them a sad smile, and Lily wanted to scream at her that this was all a huge mistake, but the nurse kept walking and then went through large glass doors that made a hissing sound as they opened and then through to a small room to the side.
They went silently into the room. Gran reclined in the bed, smaller and more fragile than Lily had ever seen her. She had wires and drips hooked up to her and the heart rate monitor was ticking over in the background. Her eyes, when they opened, were as keen as they had always been.
Gran spoke. ‘There you are,’ her voice soft yet kind. ‘I started to think you would have forgotten about your old gran.’
