‘Thanks Rob.’
‘No worries,’ he said. ‘But now I have to head home. It’s Madeleine’s birthday party today.’
‘Oh, Rob, why didn’t you say?’ said Liz. ‘I feel terrible.’
He shook his head. ‘She has one every year. It’s a makeover thing this time, I was just in the way,’ he added with a grin.
‘That’s so good of you,’ said Evie.
‘I’ll be home before she blows out the candles,’ he dismissed, glancing at his watch. ‘Can I have a word, Liz? Maybe you can walk me out?’
‘Sure.’
Soon after Liz had left with Rob, Emma was escorted into the waiting room by a nurse.
‘Hi,’ she said as they jumped up to greet her. ‘You both came.’
‘Of course we did,’ said Ellen, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
‘Where’s Liz?’
‘She’s just seeing Dr McGrath out, she’ll be back.’
‘Hm,’ said Emma, raising an eyebrow. ‘They make a pretty cute couple, those two, don’t you reckon?’
‘He’s going home to his daughter’s birthday party,’ Evie told her.
‘Drats, foiled again.’ Emma took a seat, wincing a little as she eased her back against the chair.
‘Did it hurt?’ asked Evie as she and Ellen sat down again.
Emma shrugged. ‘It stung a little when they injected the stuff. After that it was just boring. It takes forever.’ She looked at them. ‘Thanks for coming all the way in,’ she said. ‘After the way I carried on last night . . .’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ said Ellen. ‘You were in shock.’
‘I’m so sorry about Blake,’ said Evie.
Emma blinked, her eyes glassy. ‘Yeah well, so much for “in sickness and in health”, eh? It’s just as well this happened before we went through with the wedding,’ she added, but then her face crumpled.
Ellen reached over to take her hand, while Evie jumped up to sit on the other side of Emma, putting her arm around her.
‘It doesn’t feel real,’ Emma sniffed. ‘None of this feels real. One day I’m running around with my whole life ahead of me . . . and the next . . .’
‘You still have your whole life ahead of you,’ Ellen said firmly. ‘You’ve done the right thing, Em, getting on to this early. You are going to have a long, healthy life . . .’
‘Without Blake,’ she said sadly. ‘He was my life.’
They didn’t know what to say to that.
‘Do you want something to eat?’ was the best Evie could do.
Emma shook her head. ‘I’m not hungry,’ she sighed. ‘God, there are so many calls I’m going to have to make.’
‘You don’t have to worry about that now,’ said Ellen.
‘But they will have to be made soon,’ Emma insisted. ‘Things have to be cancelled. People have to be informed.’
‘I could do all that for you,’ said Ellen. ‘Maybe you could make a list?’
‘There’s a folder, at the apartment.’ Emma paused. ‘God, the apartment . . . what am I going to do about the apartment? I can’t afford it on my own.’
‘Emma,’ said Ellen, ‘you really don’t have to worry about that now. Blake hasn’t dropped off the edge of the earth.’
‘Pity,’ Emma muttered.
‘What I was getting at,’ Ellen explained, ‘is that he’s going to have to sort out all of that with you, but that doesn’t have to happen today, or tomorrow, or this week or next. For now, tell me where I can find this folder, and I’ll pick it up on my way home and start making the calls.’
‘Or I could do all that?’ Evie offered. ‘You have to work next week, Len. I have more time.’
Ellen nodded. ‘See, Em? We’ll work it out.’
But she seemed deep in thought, staring out in front of her, a worried frown on her face.
‘Emma, seriously, the only thing you should be worrying about is getting through this –’
‘And getting well,’ Evie added.
Emma stirred. ‘Sure, I know. But I was just wandering, whether I’d prefer you to tell everyone that I’ve got cancer, or that Blake dumped me.’ She glanced from one to the other. ‘Which one sounds better, or worse, if you know what I mean?’
Evie looked faintly horrified, but Ellen detected a glint in Emma’s eye.
‘Well, cancer’s always going to get you the sympathy vote, naturally,’ said Ellen. ‘And the dumping thing, that never spins well, does it?’
‘You’re right,’ Emma agreed. ‘Cancer’s more noble, more heroic. Whereas being dumped is just pathetic.’
‘You’re not pathetic, Emma!’ Evie declared. ‘You mustn’t say things like that about yourself.’
Emma and Ellen both broke into wide grins. Evie groaned.
‘Why do I always let you guys suck me in?’ she said. ‘Every time!’
Liz came back into the waiting area and pulled up a chair. ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ she asked Emma.
‘I’m okay,’ she said. ‘I hear that cute doctor is married.’
‘All the cute ones are,’ Liz sighed. ‘Anyway, he’s booked you in for surgery Monday morning.’
‘He’s waiting till Monday?’
‘That’s a good sign.’
Emma sighed. ‘Well, at least I can go home in the meantime.’
‘Yeah, you can, but you’ll have to be back again in the morning,’ said Liz. ‘Rob’s ordered more tests for tomorrow. He wants to get them out of the way so that you’re ready to go first thing Monday.’
‘More tests?’ Emma frowned.
‘It’s routine to do a chest X-ray to check your fitness for surgery.’ And to look for signs of spread to the lungs, but Liz decided to keep that part to herself. ‘And Rob thinks it’s worth doing a complete MRI, just so we have the full picture.’
‘So they can see how far the cancer has spread?’ Emma said bluntly.
‘Emma, the chances of that are very small, and it’s too early to detect anything on an MRI anyway.’
‘So why are they doing it?’ Ellen asked.
‘To have a point of comparison for the future,’ said Emma. ‘Isn’t that right, Liz?’
‘What does she mean?’ Evie was getting confused.
‘Yes, okay,’ Liz admitted. ‘It will give us a map of your internal organs so if there are any concerns in the future we will have a point of comparison, as you put it. But Em, they’re just being thorough. Please try not to worry, you’re in good hands, the best.’
Emma sighed. ‘Okay. So how early do I have to come in?’
‘Earlier the better,’ said Liz.
‘I don’t really want to stay in that apartment alone tonight.’
‘You won’t have to,’ said Liz, covering her hand. ‘You can come home with me if you like. Or I’ll stay at the apartment with you.’
‘Or I will.’
‘Or I will.’
‘I’ll be the one staying with her.’
All four of them turned around and cried ‘Mum!’ in unison.
‘What are you doing here?’ said Emma, as Evelyn walked over to them. ‘Aren’t you supposed to be climbing Machu Picchu right about now?’
‘It’s not going anywhere,’ Evelyn dismissed, leaning down to kiss her daughter on the cheek.
‘Is Dad with you?’
‘No . . . or I should say yes,’ she corrected herself. ‘He’s here in Sydney, but he’s gone with Eddie to book us into one of those serviced apartments.’
‘Why not just stay with me?’ said Liz.
‘Or me?’
‘Or me?’
‘You girls are like a gaggle of geese when you get together,’ said Evelyn. ‘We wanted to be nice and close to the hospital, and there are apartments just up the road. Dad and Eddie both send big kisses,’ she said as Evie made room for her so she could sit next to Emma. ‘They’ll be here just as soon as they’ve checked in and dropped off the luggage. I had them bring me straight here from the airport.’
Emma frowned
. ‘Do you all think I’m about to croak it?’
‘No!’ the gaggle cried at once.
‘But when did you find out about this?’ Emma asked her mother. ‘And how did you get home so quickly?’
‘I called Mum and Dad when the initial results came through,’ Liz broke in. It had been an instinctive reaction. She’d just needed to talk to her mum and dad. She hadn’t expected them to jump on a plane and fly straight home though.
‘Which was just as well,’ Evelyn was saying, ‘because she caught us barely hours before we were about to leave on the trek. After that, communication would have been patchy at best. So we went straight to the airport and waited on standby for the next available flight.’
‘You didn’t have to come all the way back,’ said Emma.
‘Nonsense,’ said Evelyn. ‘You think we would have gone ahead, happily marching up Machu Picchu with our daughter in the hospital?’ She gave Emma’s hand a quick squeeze, shaking her head. ‘Wait till you have children of your own, then you’ll understand.’ She glanced around. ‘Where is Blake anyway?’
The decision was finally made that Liz and Evelyn would take Emma home to her apartment so that she could pack up some things for her hospital stay. If she didn’t feel like sleeping the night there, she could go back and stay with her parents. Ellen and Evie both left after their father and Eddie arrived. There were more than enough people to fuss over Emma, and they didn’t want to overwhelm her. Ellen turned on her phone as she left the hospital building; there were several messages from Finn, both voicemail and text. The last one had been sent around midday. I guess you had to keep your phone off. Call me when you can. Thinking of you.
She stared at the phone for a while. This was really none of his business. Sure, she supposed he was being considerate, but at the same time he was being somewhat inconsiderate expecting Ellen to keep him updated. He didn’t even know Emma. It would have been better if he’d just left it at ‘Thinking of you’.
By the time Ellen got to her car she’d composed a text message in her head, which she keyed into her phone once she’d unlocked the door and climbed into the driver’s seat.
More tests tomorrow. Picking up kids now. Thanks for your concern.
After the message was sent, Ellen rang Tim.
‘How are you?’ he said when he answered.
‘Oh, okay, we’re getting through it.’
‘So what’s happening?’
Ellen didn’t feel like ‘sharing’ with Tim either. It was really none of his business any more. And she wasn’t going to get any comfort from going over it with him, so why should she?
‘Look, I’m really beat, so I’d just like to come and get the kids.’
‘Are you sure? I can keep them here if you want.’
‘I think I’d like to be with them tonight,’ said Ellen. ‘And anyway, I should talk to them about what’s going on . . .’
‘Oh, that’s okay, I’ve already told them.’
‘What? Why did you do that?’
‘Well, after you messaged this morning and said you were going to be at the hospital, I had to tell them something.’
‘But you didn’t know anything,’ said Ellen. ‘What did you say to them?’
‘I explained Emma has skin cancer and that she’d been taken to hospital, and you wanted to be with her. But don’t worry, when they asked if she was going to die, I told them no one knows yet.’
Jesus, it was like dealing with an adolescent.
‘All right, I’m on my way now,’ she said, trying to stay calm. ‘Please ask the kids to get ready. And don’t tell them anything else, Tim, because you don’t actually know anything else, right?’
Sunday morning
‘Mum, there’s someone at the door to see you,’ Sam called.
Ellen stepped into the hall and was immediately shocked to see Finn through the open doorway, standing on the front porch. What the hell was he doing here? She had to think quickly.
‘Oh, hi there,’ she said, walking slowly up the hall. ‘Sam, this is the mechanic who fixed the car a little while ago, you remember?’
‘Hey,’ said Sam with a nod.
‘Hey Sam,’ Finn returned.
‘You must be here about that spare key, Mr Finlayson?’ Ellen said as she came closer to the doorway.
‘Ah . . . yeah,’ he said warily.
‘You didn’t need to bring it over on a Sunday,’ said Ellen, with an awkward glance sideways at Sam. He just shrugged and wandered back down the hall to the kitchen. Ellen watched him over her shoulder, and when he was out of sight she stepped quickly through the door, closing it behind her.
‘What are you doing here?’ she hissed.
‘I just wanted to see how you were,’ said Finn.
‘My kids are here!’ Ellen declared. ‘You did get my message, didn’t you?’
‘Yes I did,’ Finn said in a level voice.
‘Well what were you thinking?’
‘I was thinking about you.’
‘Shh!’ she exclaimed in a whisper. ‘What if they hear you?’
‘Ellen, why are you making such a big deal about this?’ said Finn. ‘What do you think I’m going to do? Start groping you or something?’
‘Shh!’
He sighed. ‘I just wanted to check if you were okay. See how your sister was doing.’
‘You had no right to come here when you knew my kids were here,’ she returned. ‘What am I supposed to tell them?’
He shook his head, meeting her gaze directly. ‘Sounds like you’ve got that covered. I’m just the mechanic.’
‘Mum!’
‘That’s Kate now!’ Ellen whispered urgently. ‘You have to go.’
The door opened suddenly and Kate peered out. ‘Oh, sorry,’ she said.
‘Nothing to be sorry about, darling,’ Ellen said in a strange high-pitched voice that didn’t even sound like her. ‘This is just the mechanic who fixed the car, you know, he’s returning the spare key.’
He nodded. ‘Hi, how are you doing?’ he said to Kate.
‘Good thanks,’ she smiled at him. ‘Hey Mum, you wanted me to check with you before I put that load of washing on.’
‘Yep, coming right now,’ she said. ‘Well, thanks again, Mr Finlayson. See you next service.’
‘Ms Cosgrove.’ He gave a nod before turning away down the steps.
Ellen ducked inside and closed the door.
‘So did he give you the key?’ asked Kate.
Shit. Ellen closed her fist. ‘Yeah, right here,’ she said, snatching her keys off the hall table with her other hand and turning away slightly as she rattled them around. ‘I’ll put it back on this keyring while I remember.’
‘You keep your spare key with all your other keys?’ said Kate.
‘Oh, no, I’ll find a place for it later,’ she said. ‘I just don’t want to lose it for now.’
Kate shrugged and started down the hallway. ‘He’s cute,’ she said.
‘What?’ Ellen said, turning abruptly.
Kate looked back at her. ‘Mr Finlayson, he’s cute. Well, old-guy cute anyway.’
Ellen laughed nervously. ‘I wouldn’t know, he’s just the mechanic, Kate.’
She frowned. ‘Mum, you’re such a snob!’
Ellen sighed.
Ward 6E
‘You should go back to the apartment, Mum,’ said Emma. ‘You haven’t even had a chance to unpack yet. You don’t need to wait around, this is going to take a while.’
They were sitting in her room at the hospital, facing the window that looked out across the suburbs, while Emma waited to be taken down for her MRI. She was frightened. She was trying not to show it, but Emma had never been so frightened in her whole life. She realised now that she had been in denial – she had acted pretty crazy – but she had just been told that a lousy little mole might end her life. And there wasn’t a thing she could do about it, except wait and hope and pray that they’d caught it in time.
But Emma could
almost feel the cancer rushing in to fill the void that Blake had left inside her. If he loved her, if he had ever loved her, how could he have left her like this?
‘Of course I’m going to wait,’ Evelyn was saying. ‘For as long as it takes. That’s what a mother does.’
Emma raised an eyebrow. ‘So it took getting cancer for me to find that out?’
Evelyn looked at her daughter with a bemused expression. ‘It took you needing me,’ she said.
‘You think this is the first time I’ve ever needed you?’
‘Maybe not, but it certainly hasn’t happened very often,’ said Evelyn. ‘You’ve always been so independent, Emma.’
‘I don’t think I’ve had a choice,’ she returned. ‘You were never all that interested in what I was doing, so I had to make my own way.’
‘Is that what you think?’
Emma shrugged. She might as well say it now. ‘You haven’t always been there for me, Mum, not like you were for the others.’
Her mother took a moment to respond. ‘I guess I always felt that you were more than happy for us to stay out of your life.’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘Well, you seemed embarrassed by us,’ she explained. ‘We were – what do the kids call it now? – nerds. I know you thought the same way about Ellen and Liz. We didn’t wear the right clothes, keep up with the right TV shows, know all the celebrities. Dad and I were just boring old teachers who watched the ABC and read books, and your sisters were too serious about school.’
‘That isn’t true,’ Emma denied. ‘I mean it is true, the whole last part, but that doesn’t mean I was embarrassed by you. I wanted you to be involved. I used to beg you to help out at my dancing concerts.’
‘Oh, sweetheart,’ her mother shook her head, ‘is that still bothering you after all these years? I tried to tell you back then I couldn’t sew to save my life. And as for helping on the day with makeup and hair? I would only have embarrassed you even more.’
Emma shrugged. ‘I just would have liked you to show an interest. Or even just to show up.’
The Right Time Page 34
