He already had a tourniquet around a tiny arm. Jenna knew it wasn’t going to be easy to find a small vein in such dark skin but also knew that Mitch’s confidence in being about to achieve a result was not misplaced.
His glance was adding something else, however. I’m really worried. Mia’s not doing well. We both know how quickly a severe asthma attack can become life-threatening.
Jenna nodded. ‘We could try some intramuscular adrenaline if there’s any delay with getting access.’ She held his gaze for a heartbeat. We’re a good team, Mitch. We’ve got this.
Mia didn’t make a sound as the small needle pierced her skin. She was looking up at her mother, holding her gaze fiercely. And Hanna was cuddling her, making the kind of soothing sounds mothers always made when comforting their child.
‘You’re doing a great job, Hanna,’ Mitch told her. ‘It’s helping a lot.’
Hanna simply nodded and Jenna could understand how she might not be able to find any words. How terrified she probably was. As she finished adding a bronchodilator to the nebuliser mask’s chamber to keep up the continuous mist of medication to be inhaled, she touched Hanna’s arm, catching her glance to let her know she agreed with Mitch—and that she understood exactly how hard this was.
Mitch was securing the IV line. ‘I’ll give an IV salbutamol bolus. And could you draw up some hydrocortisone for me, please?’
Jenna nodded. She’d noticed that Mia’s lips were starting to look blue when she’d lifted the mask to fill the medication chamber. Mitch had a fleeting glance for her as she reached for the drug ampoule.
I know how hard this is for you, too. I’m sorry, Jenna...
It’s okay... I’m fine.
‘She’s so drowsy.’ Hanna’s couldn’t hide how afraid she was. ‘Is she losing consciousness? How can we get her to hospital in time?’
‘The helicopter will be on its way now,’ Jenna assured her. ‘And it’s great they can land just across the road on the common. In the meantime, Mitch and I have got more that we can do to help.’
‘Please help her...’ It was no more than a desperate whisper. ‘Please...’
Minutes flashed past because there was so much to do. Listening to Mia’s chest as her lung sounds got alarmingly quiet. Getting electrodes on to monitor her heart rate and rhythm. Monitoring her blood pressure and oxygen saturation. Administering more drugs. Thinking about what they didn’t want to discuss out loud yet—that if Mia’s condition continued to deteriorate they might have to go to what was a last resort of intubating and manually ventilating her and that carried a very real risk of complications. Death, even.
This time, it was Jenna that needed the silent reassurance when she glanced towards Mitch and she got it instantly.
We’ve got this, Jenna... You and me...
* * *
If Jenna hadn’t been there with him, it would have been too hard to hold on to that confidence as the tension escalated, let alone to have enough to share. Thank goodness Mitch had recognised the severity of the situation as soon as Michael had run into the medical centre with Mia in his arms and he’d called for help. Thank goodness, by some extraordinary stroke of luck, Jenna had been dispatched and had been able to arrive in a remarkably short period of time. And thank goodness managing this life-threatening asthma attack didn’t have to include intubating Mia.
In the last minutes before the air rescue crew arrived at the medical centre, their young patient’s condition started to improve. By the time the intensive care flight medics were in the room and taking over to transport both Mia and her mother to a specialist paediatric hospital, the little girl was a lot more awake and, while her breathing was still too fast and laboured, she wrapped her arms around Hanna’s neck as she was lifted and even found a smile.
Hanna also managed to find one.
‘Love you, baby girl,’ she said. ‘We’re going for a ride in a helicopter. That’ll be something to tell Daddy about later, won’t it?’
It was controlled chaos moving the stretcher with two occupants, IV set-up and bag of fluids and all the monitoring gear and attachments swiftly and smoothly out of the medical centre, across the road and into the helicopter. Jenna’s vehicle was also parked on the Allensbury Common side of the road. Mitch was helping her carry some of her equipment back to her vehicle and a couple of officers from the local police were making sure bystanders were keeping a safe distance from the helicopter.
His father and Ollie were amongst those bystanders, standing on the footpath, hand in hand, not far from Jenna’s car, and Mitch saw the moment that Jenna was caught by the fear on Ollie’s face. She dropped the backpack she was carrying on the footpath and crouched, holding out her arms. And Ollie let go of his grandfather’s hand and ran to Jenna, hurling himself into those waiting arms and then clinging to her like a little monkey as his voice hitched and wobbled.
‘Is Mia going to come back?’
‘It’s okay, Ollie. I know how scary it is but she’s feeling better already and the people in the helicopter are taking really, really good care of her.’
Mitch was looking at those two dark heads so close together and their total focus on each other in this moment of seeking and offering comfort and his own heart felt like it was about to burst. It was hard to tell where the boundary was between where his love for Ollie finished and his love for Jenna began. Maybe there was no boundary. They were distinct parts but inseparable from the picture being created here.
A family picture.
Ollie didn’t notice him stepping closer, putting down the gear he’d been carrying. ‘But when can she come and play with me again?’ he was asking.
‘The doctors will want to look after her for a wee while,’ Jenna told him. ‘They might want to try some new puffers and medicine to see if they can stop something like this happening again.’
The rotors of the helicopter were picking up speed and the noise level was increasing but Mitch was close enough to still hear what Jenna was saying.
‘How ’bout if I go and see Mia as soon as I can and I’ll text Daddy to let him know how she is and then he can tell you?’
Mitch stepped even closer. ‘I might go to the hospital myself very soon and see Mia and her mummy.’
He caught Jenna’s gaze and was doing his best to convey a private message.
We need to talk. Please...asap.
‘That’s a great idea,’ Jenna said. But her gaze was also responding.
Yes...there’s so much we need to talk about.
‘Can I come too?’ Ollie raised his voice. The question was for his father but it was his grandfather on his other side who answered.
‘We’ll stay here, Ollie. I think your daddy and Jenna can look after everything all by themselves.’ Michael was smiling quietly as he looked from Mitch to Jenna—as if he’d heard that silent exchange they’d just shared.
Perhaps Ollie heard an undercurrent to what was actually being said, as well. He still had his arms wrapped around Jenna’s neck but he unfurled one to reach out to his father. He still looked pale and worried and Mitch could see in his eyes a plea for touch. Closeness. The comfort of knowing you had someone who loved you enough to make the world a better place.
And then his gaze shifted a fraction to catch Jenna’s and he could swear that he saw an identical plea in her eyes and Mitch could actually feel some jagged pieces in his soul shift a little. Enough that things were settling into place. A new place, perhaps, but that was okay. Better than okay.
He crouched down so that Ollie could wrap that free arm around his neck. He still had Jenna caught by his other arm so the most natural thing in the world was for Mitch to put his arm around Jenna as well. A group hug. They could feel the vibration of the helicopter’s rotors gaining enough speed to lift off and the sound was covering any voices but it seemed like Mitch could hear what Jenna was saying as she suggested that
Ollie should wave because Mia might be able to see him watching. As Ollie raised both arms to wave, she smiled at Mitch. He couldn’t hear her now but he could lip read her words so easily.
‘All good?’
Now it felt like there was hope that everything was going to work out in the best way possible. For Mia and her family. For his family, too. Ollie and his dad, himself and Jenna. He smiled back.
‘Couldn’t be better.’
* * *
They met in the observation ward next to the emergency department of the paediatric hospital.
Mia was sitting up in bed, eating ice cream. Her parents were sitting on opposite sides of the bed but holding hands across it. Hanna was brushing a tear from her cheek as she told Jenna about the enormous relief that Mia hadn’t needed to be taken to the intensive care unit—that she had improved enough to be only staying to be monitored overnight and then she would be able to go home, as Mitch came in to stand beside Jenna. He’d heard enough to know all was well.
‘That’s great news.’ He smiled. ‘I’ll have a chat to the doctors tomorrow. I’m thinking we might need a new action plan for Mia.’
Hanna nodded. ‘They want to get all the results of the tests they’ve done this afternoon and they said they’ll go over the plan with all of us. I’m so glad you came in, Mitch. I don’t know how to thank you for what you did this afternoon. And you, Jenna.’ She had to brush away another tear. ‘You have no idea what it means...’
Mitch’s gaze locked with Jenna’s. ‘Oh, I think we do,’ he said quietly. It looked like it was an effort to break the eye contact. ‘That looks like yummy ice cream, Mia.’
‘Mmm...’ Mia had ice cream over both cheeks and her chin.
‘Ollie’s going to be so happy to hear that you’re feeling better. Hey...why don’t we call him so he can say “hi” himself?’
The benefits of technology meant that it was only seconds before the two children could see each other on a phone screen and it was so lovely to see that wide grin on both their faces that Jenna had to swallow a rather big lump in her throat.
‘Will you get me an ice cream on the way home, Daddy?’ Ollie asked. ‘A big one, like Mia’s?’
‘I think you’ll be asleep by the time I get home,’ Mitch told him. ‘I’m going to take Jenna out to dinner first.’
Ollie’s clear voice made all the adults smile. ‘Because she’s your girlfriend?’
‘I think so...’ Mitch said.
He was smiling at Ollie on the phone but his gaze was on Jenna and the question in his eyes was unmistakeable. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth as she nodded. Just once, but it was enough.
‘Yeah,’ he added. ‘Because Jenna’s my girlfriend.’
* * *
Perhaps it was because they had such big things to talk about that neither Jenna nor Mitch wanted to be enclosed in a restaurant. It was a pleasantly warm evening, so they began walking in the direction of Hyde Park to look for a takeout meal and, when they saw the familiar signage of the fast food outlet, it felt like a circle was being completed. Their relationship had ended at another branch of this same restaurant so maybe it was the perfect segue into forging something new.
Something better?
‘I don’t suppose you ever eat junk food like this normally, do you?’
‘Only sometimes.’ Jenna felt her heart squeeze as she remembered Ollie telling her that. ‘And I think this might well be a “sometime”.’
‘Do you want to eat here or go into the park?’
‘I’d love the park.’
‘Same. What would you like to eat?’
‘Surprise me.’
Mitch was back with a large paper bag in no time and a minute or two later they’d found a bench just inside the park grounds, with a lovely view of grass and huge trees and...squirrels.
‘They’ll take that hamburger out of your hands if you don’t eat it fast enough,’ Mitch warned.
His eyes were dancing with amusement and something else. Something huge that told her he didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world right now. Or with anybody else. Which was exactly how she was feeling herself and her heart was so full that, curiously, she wasn’t very hungry any longer. She broke off a piece of the bun for her hamburger and held it out. Sure enough, a bold squirrel ran forward to pluck it from her hand, which made them both laugh. Then they looked at each other and the laughter faded instantly but neither of them looked away.
‘I love you, Jenna,’ Mitch said softly.
‘I love you, too,’ she whispered.
Mitch didn’t seem to be hungry any longer, either. He put the hamburger he was holding down on the bench beside him and didn’t even notice the squirrels that appeared from nowhere and stole it because he was so focused on Jenna.
‘Really? Oh, my God... I hoped so but...but I didn’t dare let myself believe...’
‘Same...’
It was Jenna that discarded the food in her hands completely this time but she wasn’t aware of anything other than the way Mitch was looking at her. The way his hand came up to cup her chin and cheek. The way he touched her lips with his own with that gentle whisper of a kiss that was becoming her favourite thing in the world—a promise of what was to come next. And, yes, the ‘real’ kiss that followed took her straight into another world. One that only she and Mitch inhabited. Where time stopped. Where anything that wasn’t good could be put aside for the moment, with the knowledge that when they went back into the ‘real’ world, it would be easier to cope with, because they would be coping together.
Maybe it was a vague awareness that they weren’t alone by any means in this park that pulled them back to reality. Or maybe it was the squirrel that ran along the back of the bench in search of more food. Not that they pulled apart entirely. Jenna’s head rested in the hollow beneath Mitch’s collar bone. He tilted his head so that it rested on hers.
‘I was going to call you,’ he said softly. ‘I was just waiting for the right moment. I’m not at all happy that Mia got so sick, of course, but I can’t tell you how happy I was to see you again.’
‘I was so scared when that call came through,’ Jenna told him. ‘My first thought was that something had happened to Ollie.’
‘He was that scared as well. He adores Mia.’
They sat in silence for a breath or two and Jenna soaked in the solid feel of Mitch’s chest beneath her cheek. The steady thump of his heartbeat.
‘I thought I was keeping myself safe, you know. Not letting anybody too close in my life. It was easy to avoid a relationship with a guy because I genuinely wasn’t interested. Until I met you...’
‘I get that.’ Jenna could feel Mitch’s head move against her own as he nodded. ‘I felt the same way after Tegan. If I saw a woman even looking at me twice, I’d think, Can’t you see that that’s never going to happen? Ever? Having Ollie to focus on made it even less likely. It felt like a life-saver.’
‘And I had Eli for a long time...’ Jenna let her breath out in a sigh. ‘Enough time to get through the worst of my grief over Stefan. It was a lot harder after I loss Eli, though. I might have been able to see an attractive man and not be remotely interested or affected but...seeing children and babies everywhere—that was something completely different. It was unbearable...’
Mitch’s arms tightened around Jenna. ‘Oh, I get that, too. I knew how big an ask it was for you to come to Pets’ Day but I was so happy that you did. Because I thought it could be the first step towards something bigger. Something that I realised I wanted very, very much.’ His voice cracked. ‘A future with you.’ He was pressing his lips to Jenna’s hair. ‘A family...’
She twisted her head enough to look up at him. So that she could see the truth of what he was saying aloud. And so that he could see the truth in her eyes.
‘I wanted that too,’ she whispered. ‘And I r
eally believed it could happen.’ One day—soon—she’d confess how she’d felt when she’d thought she was pregnant, and how she’d felt when she’d found out she wasn’t. But that could wait until an even more intimate moment. ‘Then Ollie fell asleep when I was reading him that story and...’ She had to clear her throat. ‘And I could smell baby shampoo and then, when he said he had a mummy to watch him like Mia did...’
‘Oh, darling.’ Mitch’s tone was raw. ‘It can just be a tiny thing that triggers grief and, for that moment in time, it feels like the worst just happened yesterday, doesn’t it?’
‘I got scared,’ Jenna admitted. ‘It was just that moment, but I didn’t think it would be possible to survive it happening again. And then you were angry with me and I totally understood why...’ Her breath hitched. ‘I’d hurt Ollie. I’d made him cry.’
‘No...’ Mitch was smiling at her. So tenderly that Jenna could feel her eyes filling up. ‘You know what he told me?’
‘No...what?’
‘That he knew why you didn’t want a cuddle. That it was because you were too sad.’
Jenna blinked. ‘He’s four years old. How could he possibly know something like that?’
Mitch’s smile widened. ‘He’s smart, I guess.’
‘Like his dad.’ Jenna smiled back at Mitch. ‘But why was he crying so much?’
‘Apparently, he’d lost something he loved. A little blue car?’
‘Oh...’ Jenna sat up. ‘I know exactly where that is. Maybe I should give it to you to take home for him?’
‘No...’ Mitch stood up and held out his hand to Jenna. ‘I think you should give it to him yourself. You should come home.’
Stolen Nights with the Single Dad Page 15
