Page 34 of A Doctor's Promise
We will be okay.
“Mary made it,” he said, tears threatening to spill from his own eyes once more.
Edie started. Her eyes widening.
“She’s okay?” she whispered, shuddering.
Finn chuckled sadly.
“I wouldn’t go as far to say she’s okay, there is a whole lot of recovery to be happening first. But she made it through the surgery.”
“Oh my…” Edie’s hand rushed to cover her mouth; more tears sprang from her eyes. “That’s amazing news. Anna that’s just wonderful.”
Finn watched as Edie gathered the young girl up in her arms and hugged her, tears flowing down her cheeks and onto the girl’s hair, turning it darker with the dampness. Anna wriggled after a while, and her head popped out from under Edie’s armpit. Anna gave Finn a strangled look and he laughed and took Edie’s arms. Anna escaped and started swinging Monty around by the arms, dancing their way through the cafe of curious onlookers. Edie turned to Finn, her eyes dancing as much as Anna and Monty. They searched out his face, and this time he did know how he could answer her unspoken question.
He grabbed Edie around the waist and lifted her off the ground, swinging her around. Her delighted cries sounded through the whole of the room. People’s heads were turning. Used to the quiet sobs of bad news, the hospital regulars were drawn to their cheers like children to the bright colours of cartoons. Slowly, Finn brought Edie back to the ground, wrapping her in his arms and drawing her close to his body. He leant down and kissed her softly on the lips, her lips tasted salty with her tears.
A collective gasp made its way around the cafe. Then someone let out a whoop and the rest of the customers joined in with cheers and clapping. Finn felt free for the first time in over ten years. Properly free. Not worried about what people thought of him, or feeling the need to keep secrets from his colleagues anymore.
“No way.” He heard a cry from over by the drinks counter. “Go, you guys!”
He turned his head and saw Moira. The smile on her face lit up like the buttons on the cappuccino machine. Finn felt his face heat, but he didn’t care. He looked back at Edie who reached up on her tiptoes and kissed him again.
“It’s going to be okay, isn’t it?” she said, dropping back down. “We’re going to be okay?”
“We’re going to be just fine, Edie,” he said, hugging her into him and resting his chin on the top of her head.
They stood calmly for moment, Anna was still racing around the cafe with Monty, narrowly avoiding crashing into the tables. The other patrons didn’t mind. They could see how joyous she was, and who were they to take that away from a child?
“Can I go and see her?” Anna asked, eventually, running back over to where Finn was still hugging Edie. “I want to go and see my mummy.”
Nervous energy escaped out of the pores of the young girl, and she looked depleted. Finn kissed the top of Edie’s head and reluctantly relinquished his hold on her. Edie placed a hand on his chest.
“Thank you,” she said.
He turned his attention to Anna, and hoisted her up on his front, feeling her body sag as he did so. She looked so young and vulnerable, an age away from the skipping young girl she had been only moments earlier. As she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight, Finn’s heart seized at the knowledge he would never feel this close to Anna again. His eyes searched for Edie, but she was already tidying away their cake plates to the tray station. In the last few days, Finn had been readying himself for a future looking after Anna, a future in which he and Edie were conjoined in the care of a small person that belonged to neither of them, yet both of them at the same time.
And now? Now he had done the unbelievable and saved Anna’s mum. Yes, Mary may not be out of deep water yet, but as far as her cancer was concerned, her heart looked like it would make a full recovery from the surgery. With a course of radiation and chemotherapy, Mary had a much higher chance of long-term survival. So, Edie and Finn were never going to be solely responsible for Anna. Okay, so Edie had been given the parental rights, but Finn had decided to act as though they were his too, for as long as Anna needed and wanted him there. Yet now Edie and he were going to walk with Anna and take her back to see her mum.
The idea should have been happy. Itwashappy. Yet it was also tinged with a sadness that Finn was having trouble keeping suppressed. Anna’s breath was warm on his neck as he stroked her hair. She felt light as a feather, yet heavy as lead in his arms.
“Let’s go then,” said Edie, as she came back rubbing cake crumbs from her hands to her dress. “Take us to the happy patient.”
“She’ll still be very drowsy from the anaesthetic and may not remember you coming to see her at all. But let’s go and be with her,” Finn said, leading the way out of the cafe and into the busy corridors.
As they were leaving another round of applause filled the cafe. Finn looked back at Moira, who was standing, leading the acclamation, she gave him a thumbs up then turned her attention back to her coffee.
“Edie,” Finn said as they headed towards the cardiac department. “Mary won’t be home for a few days, can Anna stay with you for the next few nights?”
Edie stopped in her tracks and Finn thought the realisation that hit him a few minutes ago was making its way to Edie now. His heart broke for her, as it had for himself. She looked back at him, sadness washed over her face.
“Yes,” she said, her voice crackly. “Of course she can. Her room is all set up ready for her. She can stay for as long as she needs to.”
Edie cleared her throat a couple of times and continued walking.
“Finn,” she said again, turning so abruptly he was in danger of tripping over her. “Please will you come over too. Not to stay necessarily, just to be with us.”
“Of course I will, Edie,” he said, his own voice crackling. “I’ll do anything you want.”
