Page 45 of Falling for His Best Friend

‘The ambulance is almost there.’ The dispatcher’s voice came through the phone. ‘Can you hear the siren?’

‘Yes.’

‘OK. You can hang up now. Go and open the door for them.’

Kitty waited until the siren was switched off, indicating the ambulance was outside the front before she dared to leave Jess’s side to open the door. ‘This way,’ she directed the paramedics. ‘It’s my sister. She’s in respiratory distress.’

‘Is she on any medication?’

‘I don’t know.’ Kitty hated feeling so helpless. So useless. ‘She’s had treatment for ovarian cancer.’

‘Has this happened before?’

‘I don’t think so.’

She made another phone call, this time to Cam, while the paramedics assessed Jess. She was almost in tears but knew she had to hold it together for a while longer. The paramedics might need more information from her.

The baby kicked in her belly and Kitty had the feeling she was reacting to her distress. Picking up on her emotions. She needed to remain calm. She put her hand protectively over her belly, as if trying to shield the baby from the drama. ‘It’s all right, little one,’ she whispered. ‘Your mum will be OK.’

As she made the promise to the baby she realised it was the first time she’d really acknowledged that her sister was the baby’s mother. She’d said the words to others but had never said them out loud to herself. She had no idea if Jess would be OK, she had no idea if she was speaking the truth, but knew she was trying to calm herself as much as the unborn child. Jess had to be all right. Everyone needed her.

The paramedics had fitted an oxygen mask over Jess’s face and were loading her onto a stretcher as Kitty made a second call to Joe. She grabbed her keys, her bag and Jess’s handbag as she spoke to Joe. Keeping busy trying to do several things at once meant she didn’t have time to fall apart.

She climbed into the front of the ambulance as Jess was loaded into the back and fretted as they negotiated the streets to the hospital.

The ambulance pulled into the bay at North Sydney. It felt surreal to be climbing out of the ambulance and walking into the ED as a family member. Kitty was used to being there as a nurse. She was used to having some control, used to it being her job to remain calm and to comfort, assess and treat patients and victims. She’d been a victim herself once after the assault but her recollection of that day was hazy at best. She had never presented to the ED as a family member before and having no control over the outcome, but all the worry, was hugely stressful.

She was relieved to see Anna and Victoria in the ambulance bay. She was on comfortable terms with Victoria again now that Kitty was the one sleeping with Joe. Victoria didn’t seem to be holding any grudges.

She just had time to let them know that Jess was her sister before the paramedics pulled her from the ambulance and began to give Anna the rundown on Jess’s condition.

Kitty followed Jess’s stretcher into an exam room. She stood in a corner, out of the way. No one told her to leave and she figured if she was quiet no one would. She watched as Victoria replaced the oxygen tubing before strapping a blood-pressure cuff around Jess’s arm and attaching the pulse oximetry monitor to her finger.

‘Can you also put the ECG leads on?’ Anna asked as she tightened the tourniquet and drew blood from Jess’s arm. ‘Did Jess have her chemo here?’ she enquired. Kitty nodded. ‘OK. Can you pull up her file?’ Anna asked Victoria.

Victoria finished setting up the ECG and pushed the buttons to record Jess’s cardiac rhythm before she went to the computer and pulled up her sister’s electronic file. Kitty craned her neck but couldn’t read the entries from where she stood.

Anna turned to look at her. ‘She has metastases in her lungs?’

‘What?’ Kitty stepped forward, shaking her head. ‘No. There must be another Jess McIntyre. Check the date of birth.’

Victoria read it out—the birthday matched, but the diagnosis didn’t. ‘No. There has to be a mistake.’ Kitty reached for the edge of the barouche, steadying herself.

Anna double-checked the details. ‘It’s the right file,’ she said. ‘You didn’t know?’

Kitty shook her head. Secondaries! The cancer had spread. Why didn’t she know?

‘We need to get a chest X-ray.’

Anna wasn’t wasting time and she and Victoria wheeled Jess out of the room just as Cam arrived. Kitty could see the panic on his face. She expected she looked much the same.

‘Where are they taking her?’ he wanted to know.

‘For an X-ray. Anna thinks she might have a blockage in her lung.’ It was obvious to Kitty that Cam was nowhere near as surprised as she’d been by this news. ‘You knew she had secondaries?’

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