Page 33 of A Doctor's Promise
“How about we head to the cafe and get some cake?” she said, her hands shaking as she logged out of her unread emails. Her ex-husband could wait, she had more important things to worry about right now
“But I’ve not had my lunch yet, mummy wouldn’t let me have cake before I’ve eaten my lunch,” Anna replied, squeezing Monty to her chest.
“Do you know what, Anna?” Edie asked, standing and taking hold of Anna’s free hand. “I think mummy would love for you to have cake right at this very moment. She wants you to be happy. And I don’t know about you, but cake makes me happy.”
Edie left a note for Finn on her desk, just in case he came to find her, and the pair headed out of Edie’s office. Anna chewed her lip as Edie locked the door behind them. She was so quiet that Edie wondered if going for cake was the right thing to be doing.
“Okay,” Anna said, after quite a long time deliberating. “As long as it’s chocolate, because chocolate makes me the happiest of all the cakes.”
Edie chuckled.
“I think we can probably do that.”
They walked together in silence to the cafe. There was no hopping and skipping from the young girl, she just clasped her hand tightly around Edie’s as though Edie was her anchor. Anna picked the biggest, gooiest chocolate cake slab she could find and some OJ, and Edie picked up a flapjack and a bottle of water, the idea of chocolate suddenly not so appealing. They picked a bench at the window over looking the cliff tops to sit at, Anna wanted to try out the high stools and Edie thought it would be fun for her. The sun was directly above the hospital now, illuminating the sea like a crystal vase.
“Do you think Monty would like to try a bit?” Edie asked Anna who was practically drooling at her cake now.
“No, Monty doesn’t like chocolate cake. Only flapjack,” she replied sternly.
Edie laughed, and made a mental note that Anna doesn’t like to share her chocolate cake for future reference. She couldn’t blame the girl, under normal circumstances Edie herself would have picked the same cake and she would have been loathed to share too.
Future reference?
Edie’s breath caught in her throat as she imagined Anna, her, and Finn going out for cake as a family. It had a nice feel to it, if Edie dug deep beneath the fear and trepidation of the uncertainty of the day.
The hospital directors and solicitors had come to an agreement that if Mary was to not make it through her surgery then Anna would be placed in temporary foster care with Edie. It was up to Finn if he would like to be involved. As Edie and Finn weren’t in a cohabiting relationship then only one of them could be granted custodial rights. Even then, the foster placement would be temporary until a permanent family could be found for Anna. If Edie wanted to be that permanent family, she would need to apply for adoption rights just like any other person looking to adopt.
It hadn’t been a perfect solution, but it had been enough to convince Mary to go through with the surgery. Mary and Anna had already spoken at length about the outcome and Anna had clung to Edie on each home visit Edie had made. And now Edie had the anxiety of not only possibly being the sole carer for Anna, but also a child of her own. The thought was dizzying, and she couldn't think about it too much or her own head would spin like a whirlitzer.
As Edie nibbled away at her flapjack and Anna wolfed down her chocolate cake, Edie kept one eye on the clock. She could be outwardly confident and collected in front of Anna, but inside her body was working overtime to not self-combust with anxiety. It had been just over three hours now. A little longer than the other surgeries. Edie wasn’t sure if this was a good sign or not.
The glass of water was going straight through her. An added bonus of being pregnant that no-one had warned her about.
“Anna, will you excuse me for just a moment? I need to use the little girl’s room,” Edie said, getting down from the stool. Anna’s face crinkled with worry. “It’s okay, I’ll be right back. And when I am, we could go for a little walk along the cliff tops if you like? Get some fresh air.”
“Monty doesn’t like fresh air, he wants to stay in the hospital because Anna wants to be near Doctor Finn,” she said, raising Monty up above her head.
“Okay, Monty, that’s fine. You stay here and look after Anna. I’ll be five minutes at the most. If you look to the far side of the cafe you can see where I’ll be,” Edie said, addressing her words to the stuffed bear and pointing at the doors to the toilets near the cafe entrance.
Edie splashed her face with water as she washed her hands. Today was proving to be more stressful than she could have possibly imagined, and the added pain of the email from her ex-husband. What on earth could he want? After all this time of not a word. Her poor baby would be swimming around in stress hormones and that can’t be good. She took ten deep meditative breaths, which was easier said than done in a public toilet and opened the doors back to the cafe.
It was the flash of blue scrubs that caught her eye immediately. Finn was hugging Anna, and even from here, Edie could see they were both crying. Without thinking what she was doing, Edie ran towards them, pushing the chairs out of the way in her haste to get to the people she cared the most about.
14
“Finn? Oh Finn, Anna, I’m so sorry.”
Edie wrapped her arms around Finn and Anna, it felt like she was gathering them up as tightly as her arms could squeeze. Finn could smell her sweet scent, and he inhaled deeply to calm his nerves. He could feel the shudder of Edie’s shoulders now, as her tears joined his own and Anna’s.
The three of them stood for a moment, wrapped in each other’s arms, supporting each other.
“Edie,” Finn said, slowly extracting himself from her tight grip.
He held her by the shoulders and moved himself back, so his arms were outstretched. He wanted to take in her whole face. To see her beautiful violet eyes. Anna was wound tightly around her legs now.
“Edie,” he said again. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll be okay.”
Her eyes were bloodshot, red rimmed, swollen with emotion. Finn wiped away her tears with his thumb.
