Page 4 of Together Again at the Cornish Country Hospital

It had almost killed her to turn him down, but she suspected it had been an attempt to protect herself from getting even more hurt eventually. He talked about trying to keep things going long distance, but Amy had known it couldn’t last.

The bubble she and Lijah had existed within for more than three years belonged in Port Kara, where they had spent most of their time together in his room, listening to the music they loved and painting a picture of a future that seamlessly blended two such different worlds, which could never have worked in reality. Her friends had warned her that Lijah would outgrow her if he achieved the success he was craving, and it was all too easy to believe. She’d witnessed it first hand, after all, other girls hanging around wanting to spend time with him, even at the small gigs he performed in pubs, or when he was busking down by the harbour. Whether Lijah made it or not, there’d be someone to turn his head as soon as they stepped outside that bubble, she’d been sure of it. And as soon as he had made it, she hadn’t been able to avoid the evidence that she’d been right. There’d been other musicians, actresses and more than one model in his life. All of them had been Kate Bush cool, so any idea her friends at the hospital had that Lijah might still think about Amy was laughable. She didn’t even think about him that way any more. It would have been sad if she still fantasised about him coming back into her life, the way she had in those first few years after they’d split. The trouble was, she hadn’t been able to stop using her relationship with Lijah as the benchmark against which she’d measured all other relationships, and she could admit now that it probably hadn’t been all Zach’s fault that theirs had failed. He must have felt the comparison, because she did, and sometimes it worried her that she might never find someone who measured up. First loves were like that for everyone though, and the memories existed in a rosy glow of nostalgia. They’d been so young back then and they’d have both changed so much. There was no way Lijah would be the boy she remembered any more than she was the girl he used to know.

‘Things can change.’ Gwen’s voice broke into her thoughts. ‘You might not have been in contact up until now, but he’s coming home. So you never know.’

‘I don’t think he dates mere mortals like me any more.’ Amy might still believe in love, but she didn’t believe in fairy tales. They’d kept in touch for a little while, but it had almost been more painful than not talking at all and in the end it had petered out altogether. If Lijah had wanted to reach out to her, he could have done it any time over the past decade, but he’d never sought her out when he came home, not even after his mother died. What she and Lijah had shared was just a happy memory, the same memory he probably drew upon when he was looking for inspiration for his songs.

‘You’re not a mere mortal, you’re an A&E nurse.’ Gwen gave her a level look. ‘Not to mention the fact that you’re a ray of sunshine wherever you go, you rescue dogs that need rehoming, get every party started and, if all that wasn’t enough, you’re beautiful too.’

‘You have to say that, you brought me into the world.’ Amy grinned; it always felt good to be on the receiving end of one of Gwen’s pep talks. If anyone was a ray of sunshine, it was her and, if you’d been born in the Three Ports area, as Amy had, there was a good chance she’d have been the midwife to deliver you. That was the sort of experience most mothers never forgot, although it would have been impossible to forget Gwen in almost any circumstances. She had an incredible memory for names, and she’d recognised Amy’s mother immediately when she’d visited the hospital to see her daughter, not needing any prompting that her name was Kerry. That was the day Amy had discovered that the very first person to hold her had been Gwen, and it was something they still enjoyed ribbing each other about.

‘I’ve seen you naked, don’t forget.’ Gwen winked. ‘So if Lijah Byrne does come back on the scene, don’t think there’s any chance of you keeping it a secret from me.’

‘Don’t worry, you’ll be the first to know.’ Laughing, Amy was about to order the drinks, when a sudden commotion outside the shop made her turn and look behind her. Then she heard Aidan shout.

‘Ames quick, I need your help!’

Amy broke into a run in response, rushing back through the entrance to the shop to see him cradling a child in his arms, the woman standing next to him crying hysterically and shouting at them to help her little boy.

‘What’s happened?’ Amy had enough experience of emergency medicine to be able to keep her voice level, even if the circumstances were about as scary as they came. An unconscious child would always fall within that category.

Aidan looked at Amy. ‘He’s unresponsive, but he’s got a good pulse and steady breathing, so I don’t think there’s any immediate danger.’

‘We need to get him to resus. Shall I go and grab a trolley?’ There were wheelchairs in the reception area opposite the shop, but they couldn’t put an unconscious child in a wheelchair without the risk of him falling out, or possibly compromising his airway if they couldn’t maintain a stable position.

‘I could just carry him.’ Aidan looked uncertain, even as he made the suggestion. The child appeared to be about six or seven, but that was a lot of dead weight to carry. The boy’s mother was crying so hard Amy didn’t rate her chances of persuading the woman to do anything, and she still wasn’t sure whether to just run and get a trolley, but she decided to make another suggestion, as much to help the boy’s mother calm down as anything.

‘It’s going to be okay, but we need to get your son to an area where we can get him properly checked over. The quickest way is for you to sit in the wheelchair and hold him, can you do that?’

The woman nodded, for a moment seeming to regain some level of control, but when she tried to speak it came out as a strangled plea. ‘I can’t lose him, he’s all I’ve got.’

‘You’re not going to lose him.’ Amy couldn’t know that for certain, but she was as confident as she could be that he wasn’t going to die. There were lots of reasons a child could lose consciousness, all of them worrying in their own way, but the fact that his vital signs were so strong offered a lot of reassurance. As Amy took hold of the other woman’s arm, and guided her to sit in one of the wheelchairs, she could feel how much the boy’s mother was shaking. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Demi, and my son’s name is Fletcher. We were visiting my mum, they said she won’t make it through another day, and I wanted him to have the chance to say goodbye. But as we were coming back down in the lift, he just seemed to collapse.’ She started crying again then and Amy briefly put a hand on her shoulder, before Aidan lowered the little boy on to his mother’s lap.

‘That must have been terrifying, but you’re in the best place possible to find out what’s going on, and we’ll be able to get Fletcher whatever help he might need.’ Amy squeezed Demi’s shoulder again and gave Aidan a brief nod, the two of them not needing to exchange words. Like her, he’d be hoping that Fletcher’s loss of consciousness was down to something relatively easy to fix, like a temporary drop in blood sugar, or emotional distress in response to what sounded like a very difficult situation. But there was a chance it could be caused by something far more serious and Amy just hoped her assurances to Demi that everything would be okay, wouldn’t turn out to be a lie.

5

The day staff had taken over Fletcher’s care as soon as Aidan and Amy had reached the emergency department. The paediatrician on call had suspected hypoglycaemia, and Fletcher had regained consciousness almost immediately after they began to administer IV fluids. The doctor had started firing questions at Demi related to the possibility that Fletcher might have type 1 diabetes, but the forcefulness of his approach had made her burst into tears again.

‘See if you can get some sense out of her, while we get started with some tests, can you? She seems to trust you and if there’s something else going on, you’ve probably got the best chance of getting to the bottom of it,’ the paediatrician whispered in Amy’s ear as Demi clung to her son’s hand.

‘They think this is my fault, don’t they?’ Demi looked straight at Amy after the paediatrician left the cubicle. ‘They think I’ve been neglecting Fletcher.’

‘No, of course not.’ Amy was aware that the doctor might consider it a possibility, but she didn’t believe it. Over the years she’d seen things she wished she hadn’t, parents who’d deliberately hurt their own children, or endangered them as a result of neglect, stopping at nothing to try and cover their tracks, but that’s not what she saw in Demi. ‘We’re just trying to find out a bit more about what happened before Fletcher collapsed, that’s all. We need to ensure he gets the right treatment as soon as possible.’

Demi shot a look at her son, who by now was watching something on her phone, his face illuminated by the screen, and wearing a pair of green wireless headphones, topped with a row of dinosaur scales. He looked blissfully unaware of all the drama he’d caused; only Demi’s puffy, red eyes gave the game away. ‘He said he was hungry before he collapsed, and he’d gone a bit pale. I should have fed him before we went in to see Mum, but we were in a rush and anyway, I didn’t have any…’ She hesitated for a moment, seeming to catch herself. ‘We just didn’t have time.’

‘It sounds like it might be his blood sugar levels, and there’s a chance it might be diabetes, but it could just be down to the fact Fletcher hadn’t eaten for a while.’ Amy couldn’t help noticing how fragile Demi looked; her arms were so thin they were barely any bigger than her son’s. There was always a fine line to tread between nursing and social care, but she had to ask.

‘Are there ever times when you struggle to have enough to eat?’ Amy kept her voice as light as she could for such as heavy question. The last thing she wanted was for Demi to feel judged in any way, because that absolutely wasn’t her intention. It was clear how much Demi loved her son, and Amy didn’t doubt that she was doing her best, but she needed to be certain there wasn’t more to the family’s situation.

‘We get by.’ Demi had straightened her shoulders, defensiveness prickling her tone. ‘Money’s been tighter since I gave up work to look after Mum, before she came into hospital. Even his headphones are hand-me-downs from a friend.’

‘There might be support you can access that will help you to do more than get by. You shouldn’t have to go without because you’ve been caring for your mum.’ She didn’t add that Fletcher shouldn’t have to miss out either, but Demi had clearly picked up the implication.

‘I make sure Fletcher doesn’t go without.’ Demi’s defensiveness gave way to a shuddering sigh. ‘Although that’s more down to the kindness of others, like your friend, Aidan.’

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