In the background, someone said the ambulance had arrived. Everything moved so fast after that. Later, when she looked back on that day, Ellie would hardly be able to remember any of it. The one thing she would always remember, with absolute clarity, was the last thing she saw before the ambulance doors closed and the sirens began: Ben, staring as if the stars had fallen from his sky as he watched her go.
‘At least I wasn’t on my phone and driving at the same time. You’d have been doing one amazing I told you so dance if I had been.’
‘It’s not funny, Ellie,’ Miranda said, looking appalled at the lack of appropriate solemnity in her daughter’s demeanour. ‘You could have been killed. You should be banned from owning a mobile phone.’
‘Then you’d complain I don’t call you enough.’ Ellie winced slightly as she pushed herself up. The hospital bed wasn’t too bad – as beds that resembled medieval instruments of torture went – but she still struggled to be comfortable for long in any position.
‘I hope this has taught you an important lesson,’ Miranda replied, ignoring Ellie’s jibe.
‘It’s taught me to send Ange out on the butty run next time.’
Her mother tutted and set about pouring a glass of water, which she didn’t hand to Ellie, but proceeded to arrange alongside the grapes and chocolates on the side cabinet in some kind of bizarre hospital based feng-shui.
‘Mum…’ Ellie said gently. ‘I’m OK. A couple of broken ribs and a bit of fluid they took off my lungs. That’s nothing compared to some of the poor buggers in here.’
‘It could have been worse,’ Miranda sniffed.
‘But it wasn’t. If it makes you happy, you can be certain that I’ll be more careful crossing roads from now on.’
‘Honestly, anyone would think you were five.’ Her mother sighed and reached for Ellie’s hand. ‘What am I going to do with you?’
‘I don’t know. I’d shrug in reply like they do in books but it hurts too much.’
‘Kasumi phoned to ask how you are. She feels terrible about what happened.’
‘It wasn’t her fault. I just wasn’t looking where I was going. I feel sorry for the poor woman who hit me. I need to send her a card or something.’
Miranda gave a sour look. ‘That driver should be begging your forgiveness, not the other way around. Some people shouldn’t be allowed behind the wheel of a car.’
‘She came to A&E, apparently, when I was still being treated, to ask about me. So I think she was very sorry. You can’t blame her.’ Ellie reached over gingerly and plucked a grape from the bunch. ‘So, what else did Kasumi say?’
‘She’s going to come up. As soon as she can get a day off work.’
‘She doesn’t need to do that.’
‘She wants to. She was worried to death. One minute you were talking to her, the next she hears a great thump and the line goes dead.’ Miranda shivered rather theatrically. ‘It must have been dreadful.’
‘Still, she knows everything is alright now…’
‘She’s bound to want to see for herself.’ Miranda paused for a moment. Her gaze was drawn to the window where dusk was settling over the grounds outside, seemingly tussling with some inner dilemma. ‘Who else has been to visit?’ she asked finally.
‘Dad won’t be coming tonight, if that’s what you’re worried about.’
‘I’ve been here since you were brought in and he hasn’t turned up apart from an hour of ineffectual flapping in A&E last night,’ Miranda huffed. ‘Doesn’t he care that his only daughter almost died yesterday?’
‘I didn’t almost die. And you being here all day is the reason he hasn’t come. The nurse came in earlier and gave me a message to say he’d been to reception, asked if you were here, and then said he’d come back another time.’
Miranda raised her eyebrows. ‘When was this?’
‘When you went to get coffee earlier this afternoon.’
‘Ridiculous. What is he, a man or a mouse?’
‘A peacekeeper,’ Ellie said with a wry smile. ‘He obviously didn’t want to cause any more stress for me than I’d already had and he knew walking in with you here would do that. He’ll come tomorrow, I’m sure.’
Miranda looked at her watch. ‘I should check on Hazel before I head home tonight. But I don’t like leaving you like this.’
Ellie nodded. ‘You can see that I’m fine now. You’ve been here all day and Hazel needs you far more than I do. How is she?’
‘Not good. I haven’t been able to spend much time with her, for obvious reasons, but I have been in contact with her nurse and they’ve stepped up the home visits until we can get her moved into the hospice. I don’t like it but there isn’t much else we can do in the circumstances.’
‘Sorry…’ Ellie replied, not for the first time that day feeling like a huge burden on everyone.
Miranda rose from her chair. She smoothed Ellie’s bed sheets, moved the glass of water an inch closer to her daughter’s grasp and kissed her on the forehead. ‘Are you sure you’ll be alright?’
‘Of course,’ Ellie said. ‘If I’m not alright in here then I’ll never be alright anywhere.’
‘I’ll be here first thing tomorrow.’
‘With a bit of luck, you’ll get to take me home.’
‘I don’t want you rushing to be discharged.’
‘I’m not going to take up a bed that someone needs more, Mum. I’m sure the doctors know what they’re doing. If they say I can go then I’ll go.’
Miranda started walking towards the door. ‘Get them to give you some more painkillers, you’ll never get a wink of sleep otherwise.’
‘Mum, I’m fine!’
Miranda began to say something else, but then stopped as a figure appeared at the door. ‘Oh.’ Her voice hardened. ‘It’s you. I thought you weren’t coming tonight.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Frank said, looking in confusion from Miranda to Ellie and back again. ‘They told me on the phone you’d left.’
‘Dad, you are allowed to come when you like, you know,’ Ellie replied, looking at her mum pointedly.
‘It’s just….’ he began, but then shut his mouth again.
‘Come and sit down. Mum has to go anyway and I need someone to help me while away the hours until bedtime.’
Miranda scowled at his back as he sidled over to the recently vacated chair. She waited at the door as he sat down. Ellie smiled at him and then looked up at her mum.
‘You could always come and sit with both of us for ten minutes,’ she said sweetly.
Frank’s gaze was almost hopeful as Miranda hovered at the door. Then she blew out an irritated breath. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, Ellie,’ she said as she left them alone.
Ellie waited until Miranda was out of earshot. ‘I think she’s breaking,’ she said when she was certain her mum had gone. ‘I definitely saw a twitch of forgiveness in one of her eyelids.’
Frank smiled sadly. ‘I don’t think so,’ he replied. ‘Anyway, that’s not important now. How are you? I can’t believe my little girl has ended up in such a mess.’
‘Cheers, Dad. You know how to make your little girl feel better.’
‘I didn’t mean that. Does it hurt? How on earth did it happen?’
‘I had an argument with a car. You’d think I’d know by the age of twenty-seven that cars always win.’
Frank produced a vast handkerchief and blew loudly before giving her a watery smile. ‘You are the most precious thing in the world to me. I couldn’t bear to lose you.’
‘It’s lucky that I’m not going anywhere then, isn’t it?’
‘I bet you’ve had so many visitors today,’ Frank said, shaking himself to a forced cheeriness.
‘A few. Patrick came, of course. He ate half my biscuits and mesmerised all the nurses with his silver-fox charm.’ Ellie laughed. ‘Mum was impressed, as you can imagine. Ange popped in for an hour too. And, of course, Mum has been here as much as she could, though she had to go to Hazel too. I think she’s well and truly frazzl
ed now.’
‘Sorry.’
‘What for?’
‘I should have been here.’
‘You’re here now, that’s all I care about. I know how awkward things are.’ Ellie’s mind wandered, momentarily, to another man who had not visited that day. She hadn’t expected him to, of course, but… When she came back to her senses, Frank was brooding on the rapidly gathering darkness outside.
‘How did our family get in such a state?’ he asked quietly, his eyes still trained on the window.
‘Every family has their ups and downs. We’ll get through it.’
He looked at her. ‘Do you think so? Because right now it doesn’t feel like that at all.’
‘I know so, Dad. Mum will come round, I’m sure of it.’
‘I wish I could be that confident. I’m losing hope every day faster than I’m losing my hair.’
Ellie leaned forward, but then checked herself as she winced. Moving with more care this time, she reached for her dad’s hand. ‘When she comes tomorrow, I’ll talk to her again. Maybe she’ll be more receptive this time.’
He looked up at her with a small smile. ‘If anyone can talk her round it’s you.’
Ellie’s laugh turned into a cough. When she’d caught her breath again she leaned back on her pillow and stared up at the ceiling. ‘Oh, Dad. If only I could have your faith in me for myself. I’m afraid the one thing I don’t do right now is talk any sense.’
‘I know I haven’t been the best dad lately,’ Frank began carefully, ‘but if there’s anything you ever want to confide in me…’
‘I know. And you’re totally forgiven for being a rubbish dad.’
It was his turn to laugh. ‘Thanks for that vote of confidence.’
‘Well, you did say it first.’
‘I did, didn’t I? In that case you’re forgiven for being a clumsy daughter who almost got herself killed yesterday.’
Ellie looked back at him. ‘In that case we’ll call it quits.’
The last time Ellie had stayed overnight in a hospital before this admission she had been wearing a romper suit and sucking on bottled milk. The noise and activity, even during the small hours of the morning, came as a complete surprise to her this time around. It didn’t do much to help her sleep, either. Not that she needed noise and activity to keep her awake – the internal replaying of events on the road outside the Echo offices were doing a great job of that by themselves. Her recollections were hazy, to say the least, but better than they had been the previous evening when she had still been woozy from anaesthetic and painkillers. One feature of the event stood out through everything. Ben had seemed so tender, so worried, so absolutely invested in her survival. Had she imagined his look of distress as she lay there? He was bound to be distressed, she kept telling herself – after all, he had just witnessed a car knock down someone he knew. But Ellie couldn’t help seeing more than that in it.
She couldn’t remember falling asleep, but when the tea trolley came clanging into her room she woke with a start. It seemed a bit unnecessary to come and wake someone with tea that they didn’t particularly want rather than let them sleep on, but Ellie tried to smile with as much gratitude as she could muster as the cup was deposited on her bedside cabinet.
A little later breakfast came, much in the same fashion, and Ellie did her best to pick from the stoneware plate, even though she wasn’t really hungry. Once she had shuffled with surprising pain to the shower room and cleaned up, she was exhausted, but at least she felt better for being fresher. For what seemed like the hundredth time that morning, she thought about checking her phone for messages or emails, before remembering that her phone was now in pieces at the bottom of her handbag. Her mum wouldn’t turn up for about an hour, so, with nothing better to do, she climbed back into bed and dozed for a while.
A little later, she was woken by a nurse who had come to administer her medications.
‘Fantastic,’ Ellie said with a slight smile. ‘Drugs are my friend right now.’
‘They certainly make hospital more bearable,’ the nurse replied, plumping Ellie’s pillows as Ellie took her tablets.
‘They do,’ Ellie agreed. ‘It’s just a shame they can’t give you anything more fun.’
There was a tap at the door and a second nurse put her head round it.
‘You’re decent?’ she smiled.
‘I don’t know who started that rumour but I refute it,’ Ellie said.
‘You seem brighter than yesterday,’ she laughed.
‘I am.’
The woman disappeared from the room, to reappear a few seconds later with an enormous bouquet of white and pink roses, delicate white carnations and lush greenery.
‘These were just delivered for you.’
‘They’re amazing,’ Ellie said. ‘I have no idea who could have sent them, though.’
‘Colleagues, perhaps?’ the nurse asked as she produced a glass vase from the side cabinet and filled it with water from a sink across the room.
‘Probably.’
‘Well, your suspense needn’t last, as there’s a card here.’ The nurse handed a small envelope to Ellie, who ripped it open.
Her breath caught in her throat as she read it.
To Ellie
I hope you make a quick recovery. I owe you a half bottle of whisky – remember? We can’t drink it while you’re in hospital.
Ben. X
‘Ooooh, secret admirer?’ the first nurse asked Ellie with a wink to her colleague. ‘It is Valentine’s day, after all.’
‘No, just a friend,’ Ellie said, realising the date had completely passed her by. She stowed the card back in the envelope, gripping it as she gazed at the floral gift. ‘Just someone I helped once.’
‘Must have been some favour.’ The nurse moved aside Ellie’s other gifts and placed the vase on the side cabinet. The sweet, fresh fragrance of roses immediately filled Ellie’s head.
‘I’m sure everyone gets flowers in hospital,’ Ellie replied vaguely, only half with the conversation.
‘You’d be surprised,’ the nurse laughed. ‘Some poor things can go days without visitors, let alone flowers.’ She swept from the room, leaving Ellie still gazing at the vase and its contents.
‘I’ll leave you in peace too,’ the first nurse smiled. ‘Get some rest. It’ll be visiting hours soon and the place will sound like a bunch of chimps having a hoedown.’
Ordinarily, Ellie would have giggled at the nurse’s humorous simile. But it had hardly registered. She turned and nodded slightly as the other nurse left and the room was almost silent again, save for the footsteps, bleeps, clangs and voices in neighbouring rooms and distant corridors.
Ellie had plenty of time before visiting hours to think about what the surprise bouquet might mean, or not mean. Just as she thought she had got her head around it, and that nothing else could surprise her, the door of her room swung open. Gemma sashayed in, a cloud of perfume and pure sex appeal in her wake. Ellie bolted up, grimacing as pain shot through her chest. She had no reaction for this new development but to stare with a silent and rather gormless expression at Gemma’s entrance.
Had she come to make peace? Had she come to gloat? Or perhaps she did have a heart after all and was genuinely concerned for Ellie’s welfare. Judging by the immaculate grooming and the fact that Gemma’s outfit had obviously been chosen with great care for maximum effect, she had either been up half the night getting ready, or had a crack team of personal stylists hidden in the under-stairs cupboard at home. Ellie, sitting in bed, scrubbed of make-up and hair still damp from her early morning shower, couldn’t have felt any less worthy as a specimen of womanhood if she had tried.
‘I hope you don’t mind,’ Gemma purred, ‘I asked at the desk and they said you were awake and up to visitors.’
Ellie’s mind raced. The nursing team must have asked Gemma who she was before letting her in, surely? What had she told them? And Ellie’s mum would be due at any moment too. It was lucky that El
lie hadn’t told her the full story of what had gone on between her and Gemma, or Gemma might have found herself in the next bed with handbag induced injuries.
Gemma’s gaze flicked, momentarily, to the lavish bouquet by Ellie’s bed. She made no comment on it. ‘Ben and I were horrified when we saw what happened to you. We were on our way to do a Valentine’s special feature at your offices and… well, we couldn’t concentrate on it after that. It took lots of coffee for us to be able to talk to the feature writer. I even smoked a cigarette and I haven’t done that in months.’
Ellie paused, wondering who had done the Valentine’s story and why she hadn’t heard about it. Did people at the Echo know more about her feelings for Ben than they were letting on? Was that the reason she hadn’t been informed? She had confided in no one and, apart from Patrick and Ange making astute guesses (but even they didn’t know the true extent), nobody else knew. Was her inner turmoil so obvious to others that they didn’t need to be told? Did that mean follow ups had been done covertly? But they must have known she would see the article at some point.
She shook herself. She was obviously overreacting and it was a genuine case of departments not communicating fully with each other. It wouldn’t be the first time – she often recalled ruefully the occasion when, as a new employee at the Echo, she was reporting on allegations of fraud directed at a local double glazing company owner as the advertising features department were writing a glowing report of his stratospheric business prowess. The two articles were due to go to print the same day but luckily the mistake had been picked up hours before the paper went to press. It was Ellie’s piece that had been removed at the eleventh hour, and Ellie was quite certain that the decision had a lot to do with advertising revenues. It was a harsh introduction to the business, but one she had never forgotten.
‘Well…’ Ellie painted on a smile. ‘I’m glad that you recovered enough to go ahead in the end.’
‘The photos were lovely. I asked for some copies for the wall of our flat. The piece is in tonight’s paper. I’m sure you’ll see it.’
Worth Waiting For: A heart-warming and feel-good romantic comedy Page 20
