Page 58 of Beneath the Sapphire Sky

“Why am I in hospital?”

Belle rubbed the top of her mum’s hand with her thumb. She’d lost count of the number of times she’d tried to explain to Jem what had happened to her. They currently sat at day three. “You had an accident. You fell.”

“Oh.”

Jem looked up at the doctor. “You’re a very handsome young man. I have a daughter. She’s probably a bit young for you, but then again you young ones do tend to date a lot. Far more than we did when I was your age.”

Belle winced and mouthedI’m sorryto the doctor. He shrugged good-naturedly and smiled at her mother.

“I must admit, Mrs Davis, I don’t have a lot of time to date. I’m so busy here at the hospital that I don’t often have time to get out.”

Jem nodded. “Although, you should make time for some fun. It’s such a demanding job, being a doctor. You need to be kind to yourself.” She looked at Belle, as if seeing her for the first time. “Oh! I know you. You look just like my Isabel. Older, though.”

Oh, no.

It was going to be one of those days. Belle shoved the futility deep and pasted her happy smile on her face. The one that madeher mother so happy to see. It wasn’t about her, it was about her mum, and her mum was the one who needed all the support and care in the world right now.

She looked up at the doctor. The sadness that she’d become so used to hiding must have stared back at him like a beacon.

He gripped her shoulder in a supportive pat as her mother turned to talk to her father. “Some confusion and disorientation is to be expected in situations like this. Your mum has had a severe shock to her system; it may take a few days for her to settle.”

Belle nodded and picked at the sheet beside her mother’s hand.

“I know. It’s just that days like this are getting more common, regardless of what happened in the national park.”

He nodded in commiseration. “We have a counsellor available if you need to talk. I can set up an appointment if you like?”

Belle shrugged and avoided his gaze, keeping that damned smile on her face. It had become her new normal.

Dante had been her safe place, her outlet for all things frustration related.

She’d screwed that up monumentally. He hadn’t responded to her message. Sure, she’d said she’d call, but she’d hoped he might text back with anokayor some such thing. Mind you, she probably wouldn’t reply either if he’d said those things to her.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

He nodded. “Let me see what I can do.”

Belle picked up her phone while the doctor focused on her father and mother, chatting to them.

“You’re a very handsome young man. You should meet my daughter…”

Belle patted her mum’s hand and blinked back the tears that insisted on stinging her eyes. She didn’t have the energyto be embarrassed if anyone noticed anymore. She swiped the messages app and sighed.

Nothing. Not a peep.

Her mother’s eyes lit on her and widened with happy surprise.

“Belle! You’re here. It’s been so long.”

Belle leaned over and kissed her mother’s forehead. “I have to go to the bathroom. I’ll be back in a minute.”

She hurried from the room and leaned her head back against the wall outside. She rubbed her eyes again, harder this time. She couldn’t breathe in that room. She’d needed to get out before she’d fallen in a heap on the floor and simply cried. If she started that, she probably wouldn’t stop.

She loved her mother so much, but each day was harder than the last. Each day she saw her slipping further and further from the bright, vibrant person she used to be, becoming a shell that looked like her mum, but wasn’t.

She breathed deeply and held it, pushing that thought from her head. She wished that a blinding ray of cosmic radiance would imbue her with oracular powers on how to make up her horrific blunder to Dante.

Nope. Nothin’.

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