His mum shook her head. “All of the bedrooms are upstairs.”
With a groan, Frederick managed to lay down on the sofa. His feet didn’t quite fit, but close enough.
The doctor pressed gently on Frederick’s abdomen. “Tell me if it hurts.”
He winced a little bit at the first couple of palpations, but it wasn’t truly painful.
But when he pressed on Frederick’s lower right abdomen, Frederick couldn’t stop a sound somewhere between a groan and a sob from escaping.
“That’s what I was afraid of.” The doctor sighed and sat back. “We’ll need to do an ultrasound as soon as the portable one is here, but I feel certain you are about to lose your appendix. We’ll need to get you back to the palace as soon as possible. Your plane will be on it’s way momentarily. Normally, even if you needed fly, we’d take a helicopter, but I don’t want to risk it.”
“Is there an airport on the island?” Elise asked the question.
“Not really. It’s a paved landing strip and can only be used during the day under excellent weather conditions, but it’s long enough for your plane to land, turn around, and take off again.” The doctor sent a quick text.
“How long is the flight?” The question again came from Elise.
“Not long,” the doctor answered with a chuckle. “We need to get everyone to the tarmac fairly soon.”
“Your things will be moved from the yacht to the plane.” Fredrick’s head of security entered the conversation. “It’s already being taken care of.”
“Thank you, Cap.” Elise handled the gratitude for both of them.
“We’ll have the surgical suite at the palace prepared,” the doctor went on. “This is a routine surgery, and you shouldn’t be under anesthesia very long, but you will need to make the necessary arrangements before we get there.”
Necessary arrangements.
Appoint someone to act on his behalf while he couldn’t.
The odds that anything would need to be done were incredibly small, but it had to be done.
Frederick ran a hand down his faced and sighed.
The biggest question was who it would be.
It wasn’t technicallya medical flight. For that Elise found herself very grateful.
But the mood on the plane was still quite tense.
Frederick had to be helped to the bedroom in the back. The doctor and nurse stayed with him. Elise sat in one of the front seats. Her mother-in-law sat across from her.
Frederick’s assistant sat with them for take-off then went back to the bedroom.
“There’s paperwork that must be done,” the Queen Mother explained. “Since Frederick will be under anesthesia,arrangements must be made for someone to make decisions should a situation arise.”
On one level, that didn’t surprise her. “How long will he be out? Do they really expect something to happen?”
“Probably no more than a couple of hours. It’s highly unlikely that decisions will need to be made, ones that can’t wait a few hours, that is. However, it must be done. The possibility of complications always exists.” The Queen Mother glanced at her watch. “We won’t even make it to a reasonable cruising height. Rarely are planes used for such short trips.”
That concerned Elise. “Will it be noticed? Show up in the media before Frederick is ready to make an announcement?”
“It is a possibility,” the other woman admitted. “It’s the wrong time of day to go unnoticed. If Frederick can make it to the car mostly under his own power, I think it will be okay.”
Before she could reply, Elise realized they’d already begun to descend.
Frederick did manage to make it down the stairs and into the vehicle waiting for him. He was whisked away with the doctor, nurse, and George while Elise and the rest followed separately a few minutes later.
They were delivered to the same underground entrance she’d come to the first time she was brought to the palace. Once there, she was taken to a part of the palace she’d never visited before.
