He’d showered and had just sat down for breakfast when his phone rang. His relief was immense when he heard Beatrice’s voice.
She said, ‘She’s awake and hungry, and asking when she can go home.’
‘Thank god. How are you?’
‘Tired, waiting to speak to the doctor.’
‘Do you need anything?’
‘No, thanks. Mum will see to it. She’s coming in this afternoon and bringing Taya.’
‘Is Taya okay? It must have been frightening for her. And for you.’
‘She’s fine; worried, but she’ll be okay when she sees Sadie for herself. Hang on…’ Her voice faded and he heard her say, ‘No, it’s Mark.’ Returning to normal, she said, ‘Sorry, that was Eric; he thought I was on the phone to Taya.’
The memory of Eric’s face as he strode out of the school hall with his daughter in his arms, leapt into Mark’s mind. The man had looked distraught, and Mark could only imagine what he’d been feeling. No matter how badly Eric had treated Beatrice, he loved his children.
‘It must have been a terrible shock, for all of you,’ Mark said.
‘I blame myself.’
‘Why?’
‘I should have realised—’
Mark heard a man’s voice, then Beatrice said, ‘I don’t care, Eric, Ishould have. She’d been complaining of—’ She stopped. ‘Sorry Mark, Eric keeps telling me that it’s not my fault.’
Mark didn’t know much about appendicitis and what he did know had been gleaned from searching the internet last night, but Eric was right. ‘Itisn’tyour fault,’ he said.
A weary sigh floated down the phone and he realised that nothing anyone said would make any difference: Beatrice was going to blame herself, regardless.
‘Are you sure I can’t do anything?’
‘I’m sure, but thanks anyway. I’d better go.’
‘Let me know what the doctor says?’ he asked. ‘And give Sadie a kiss from me.’
‘I will.’
It was only when the call ended and there was no danger of her hearing, that Mark whispered, ‘I love you, Bea.’
One day soon, he intended to tell her.
Deborah said, ‘Do you think they’ll let her come home tomorrow?’
‘I hope so.’ Beatrice plucked a grape from the fruit basket and popped it in her mouth.
Sadie pulled a face. She wasn’t keen on grapes. ‘I’m bored,’ she announced loudly.
‘I know you are.’ Beatrice gave her mum a helpless look.
She was trying her best to keep Sadie entertained, but the child was sick of being in hospital. And so was Beatrice. She was astonished how she could go from being so terrified for her child that she couldn’t breathe, to utter boredom in the space of three days. After the consultant had done his rounds on Friday and declared himself satisfied with how the operation went and with Sadie’s recovery from the anaesthetic, Beatrice had hoped Sadie would be allowed home that day. But it wasn’t to be. She had been kept in over the weekend, and for Sadie, by Sunday afternoon the novelty of being in hospital had well and truly worn off. There was only so much book-reading and colouring that she was prepared to do. And she was also fed up with watching TV, especially since the channels available were somewhat limited.
God help me if they keep her in for another day,Beatrice thought, although she couldn’t see any reason why they would. The tiny wound on Sadie’s tummy was healing well, she had been taken off the drip on Friday, and all her vital signs were excellent. In fact, apart from some discomfort at the site of the operation, Sadie was almost back to normal, and Beatrice marvelled at the ability of young children to bounce back from something that would take an adult a couple of weeks to recover from.
Hopefully, Sadie would only have to spend one more night in hospital, and she would be discharged in the morning. Apart from a quick dash home for a shower and a change of clothes, Beatrice hadn’t left the hospital either, so she was almost swooning at the thought of sleeping in her own bed. Trying to catch forty winks in a hospital chair had aged her ten years, she reckoned.
Taya would also be glad when everything was back to normal, although the upside was that she’d seen more of her father these past three days than she’d seen for a long time. Both girls had. Working in Thornton General meant that Eric could pop onto the ward and spend a few minutes with Sadie during his shift. And he also visited her both before and after he started work. The rest of the time, if it was at all practical, he spent with Taya. And Beatrice could see how her daughter was flourishing now that she had so much of her father’s attention.
