Julie’s accident could’ve been so much worse. She’d had a few drinks, she got carried away dancing on the table so she could see the crowds or the crowds could see her, Maya wasn’t sure. Whatever way round it was, Julie had been having the time of her life. And then Maya had seen the accident play out in front of her. She’d heard the thump of her sister’s head against the coffee table, heard a scream from the other bridesmaid, saw the panic on her father’s face. And the next thing she knew, she’d made the call to the emergency services. Julie wasn’t speaking, someone yelled that she wasn’t breathing, Maya hadn’t checked the facts, of course she hadn’t, she’d made the call and the wheels were set in motion. The family property was a distance from a hospital, let alone a trauma centre, and if Julie’s injuries had been worse, the air ambulance might well have been her only option of survival and whoever took her call would’ve known that and deployed the most appropriate emergency services.
The taps in the shower squeaked as Maya turned them both off. She’d made the call and she’d do it again. Never mind what that arsehole on the blue team, a guy she didn’t even recognise, had implied. He must’ve been drafted in due to the staff shortage; it happened sometimes. All Maya hoped was that she wouldn’t have to see his judgemental expression or hear his condescending voice ever again. He’d made her feel as though she’d done something wrong when she hadn’t.
It was a little after midnight but Maya was buzzing too much to sleep, so, with hair wrapped in a towel and in her pyjamas, she found the cocoa from the cupboard and the milk from the fridge.
When her phone went, she groaned when she saw it was Kate’s number. Kate wouldn’t be calling this late for a chat,which meant only one thing: they needed an emergency stand-in on shift.
‘I’ve had a few drinks tonight,’ she said the second she picked up the call. ‘I’m sorry but you saw the wedding, Kate; the champagne was on tap.’
She’d expected a laugh in response, an assertion that it was fine, she’d try to get hold of someone else. But she didn’t get that at all.
‘Maya, I’m not calling about work. It’s Conrad…’
5
Maya arrived at the hospital by taxi thirty minutes later, hair still damp, face dewy fresh with no make-up, in jeans and a sweatshirt hastily grabbed from the washing basket.
She went straight to the main reception. ‘I’m here to see Conrad Miller.’
The nurse looked up from the form she was filling out. ‘And you are?’
‘I’m… his wife. Maya.’ She’d add the Miller if she had to, to overcome the bureaucratic red tape and get the information she needed. She’d already reverted her surname back to Anderson, altered her next of kin on her medical records to be Julie rather than Conrad, but she felt pretty certain Conrad wouldn’t have removed her contact details yet. Not only did he have no other family to speak of apart from her and their son Isaac, it was obvious he wanted to keep as closely connected to her as he could. Conrad had been unwilling to close the door on their relationship long before the divorce was finalised, even when they were living apart.
The nurse came around to her side of the desk. ‘Please take a seat here in the waiting area and I’ll find someone to come and let you know what’s going on with your husband.’
That meant he was alive, right?
That had been her biggest fear on the journey here. She’d seen enough and heard enough to know that a person alive at the scene, someone taken to the hospital living and breathing, wasn’t always out of danger. Internal injuries could creep up, even injuries they could see and deal with could be much worse than first expected. Kate hadn’t told her much apart from the basics about the accident and that he was in this particular hospital and, to be honest, Maya might not have heard much of what she was saying anyway; her focus had been getting to the hospital as quickly as she could. It wasn’t that she wanted Conrad to be a part of her life any more, but shouldn’t he always be in Isaac’s? Father and son didn’t see eye to eye but that was a totally different thing to having your father die and never having the chance to salvage your relationship ever again. The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on Maya given her relationship with her own father, but all she knew right now was that she wanted to give father and son the best chance of reconciling one day and having the sort of relationship she’d always longed for with her own dad.
It seemed to take forever before someone showed up, when in reality it was less than ten minutes going by the clock on the wall.
The nurse explained Conrad’s injuries – a broken arm and two fingers on one hand, severe bruising down one side of his body, cuts to his jaw line that had required stitches, head trauma and a concussion. She ran through the tests that had been performed, the X-rays, the scans. Maya knew without being told that it was a blessing Conrad had always been so pedantic about wearing the full gear – the helmet, the leathers, the boots.Had he not been kitted out properly, it might well have been a different story.
‘Your husband is in the high-dependency unit at the moment; we’re keeping a close eye on him given the head trauma.’ She pushed her wire-framed glasses up her nose. ‘I can take you to see him if you like.’
Maya followed the nurse along a corridor, into the lift, through the maze of the hospital until they reached the high-dependency unit. There was a bank of desks with computer monitors, a group of nurses talking in hushed voices, the bleep of machines, the smell that came with a hospital setting.
The nurse left her at Conrad’s bedside.
It might seem strange to people that Maya didn’t know many doctors and nurses when she worked for the Whistlestop River Air Ambulance but her part involved getting the patient from A to B and aside from meeting the odd emergency doctor or nurse who came out to the helipad when she landed the aircraft, she hadn’t met many of them at all, even at this hospital where she’d come countless times before on duty. Right now, Maya was reminded of the reality of what she was a part of with her team at work.
Maya reached out to touch Conrad’s hand, almost checking he was still there, still warm and alive. There was a cannula in place, he had electrodes on his chest, and machines beeped now and then, numbers flashing on and off. She knew enough to understand what they all were, that going by the numbers on the monitors, his condition was stable.
Conrad looked so different lying here in this bed – smaller somehow, unguarded. He murmured, perhaps aware of her presence.
Maya took in the bruising up his arm, creeping inside the hospital-issued gown, the injured arm and fingers on the opposite side to where she was sitting. She looked at his otherhand, the finger she’d once slid a wedding band onto as she promised him forever.
She didn’t stay long. He was helpless lying there, he wasn’t badgering her, and yet she still didn’t want to hang around. When the nurse came to do another round of checks, Maya picked up her bag to go.
‘You’re not driving, are you, love?’ the nurse asked her as she made notes on her clipboard.
‘No, I’m not driving. I’ll call a taxi.’
She put a hand on Maya’s shoulder. ‘Come back and see him in the morning; get some sleep for now. He’s in good hands.’
‘Thank you.’ The nurse mistook her worry as being for Conrad when really it was for Isaac. She’d have to call their son and let him know what had happened. She was finally registering that it wasn’t always a given that the pair would get a second chance to reconcile.
She made her way back to reception and outside into the fresh air. Then she pulled her phone from her bag to call a taxi but heard a voice behind her before she could make the call.
