Juan shook his head. “I’d rather stay. Tasha’s my friend, so maybe for a while, until we know something, but I would like to call Phil. He’ll be wondering where I am.”
Jim nodded but quickly added, “Just Philip, not Lizzie. I do not need either of them here, but I definitely don’t need to have to put a brave face on and cajole Lizzie right now.”
By the time Lenny arrived, Philip had been informed of Tasha’s accident but there was still no news on her condition. Lenny was about to make his way through the department to where Tasha was when a doctor appeared and introduced himself as Stan Marvin. He led Jim and the others towards a small office where he explained that Tasha was now stable, but still had some internal bleeding that would need to be stopped surgically. He briefly tried to offer some reassurances that Tasha was young and fit, but was clear that time was of the essence to maximise the chances of apositive outcome.
He left as quickly as he’d arrived leaving Jim to wait again. Lenny went through the possibilities of the surgery, complications and postoperative recovery while Bobby began to filter phone calls and a visit from the police who were investigating the cause of the accident. With Tasha out of the picture in terms of giving the police any information about her accident, the police quickly left but assured Jim that they would be back.
It was another two hours before there was any news on Tasha and then it was a simple message from theatre explaining that things were progressing and that Stan and his team were still working on stopping the internal bleeding. A call from Marc alerted Jim to the fact that news reports were beginning to circulate about a crash and that the victim was an actress meaning Jim was going to have to call Paul and Celia to let them know that Tasha was hurt. Bobby offered to make the call, but Jim refused, knowing it was his responsibility.
The phone rang no more than three times before Paul answered and as quickly and concisely as he could, Jim explained about the accident, that Tasha was hurt and still in surgery. Beyond that he had no more to tell them, nor could he assure them that she was going to be okay because he had no idea if she would be. He promised to get them all on flights as soon as was possible and once he’d hung up, he handed that over to Bobby who simply called Amanda who had flights arranged for the following night.
As the clock hit four in the morning Stan appeared with a short smile for Jim who allowed the longest and deepest breath he’d ever known to be released from his body. The relief was immediate, overwhelming and immense and yet it was at that point that his tears began to fall. She was okay, well, alive, and right now that was all that mattered. He still had her in his life. She had survived, although, as Stan had stressed several times, she was not out of the woods.
Jim kept going over how much she’d been through in her short life and now she was enduring even more suffering and pain, and it was his fault. For all the times he’d blamed her parents, Liam, even her grandparents for not intervening, the only person he held responsible now was himself. Had he never met Mickie and become embroiled in her cancer battle and need for a friend he and Tasha wouldn’t have fought and she would have had no cause to run away from him, leading to the accident that was still threatening to take her from him.
Jim became aware of an arm around him, Bobby’s. A loving and reassuring arm that wanted to comfort him and yet he found none; his head was full of thoughts of how his life might look without Tasha, how sad and lonely he would be, sad, lonely and alone because she really was his lucky seven, his life and his future.
“Hey, Jimbo, she’s holding her own. She’s telling the world to go fuck itself. This is good news.” Bobby reassured his brother who was shaking with the tears and sobs that wracked his body while Lenny and Juan watched on from a distance.
“I am nothing without her. She came into my life and put me on my ass. I can’t go back to my old life without her,” Jim cried as Stan returned to explain that Tasha had been moved from recovery to a room upstairs. “Can I see her?” Jim asked, but was already up on his feet and heading towards the lift.
Stan muttered something about,is there any point in me saying no?But was nodding his head.
“Five minutes and then she needs to rest.”
Jim nodded his agreement as he stepped onto the lift.
Once at the door to Tasha’s room, Stan was issuing warnings about the machines, tubes, bruises and dressings Jim would see when he entered the room. He also explained that it would only be Jim who could see her now and then everyone would have to leave. Before entering the room Jim thanked the men around him then instructed them all to leave, to go home and promised to call them if Tasha’s condition changed.
“Jim, we all need to go home, including you,” Lenny said, a concerned frown creasing his brow before giving Bobby a glance that suggested he expected the older Maybury to direct the younger one to going home.
“I’m going nowhere without my fiancée, so while she is here, I will be here too.”
With his composure regained and a strong determination, Jim stood firm until the others all nodded their acquiescence and once he was happy they were leaving, he took a very deep breath to steady his emotions. With the door before him being opened by Stan he braced himself for the sight of Tasha, but nothing could have prepared him for the image that greeted him; a motionless, bruised, battered, swollen and barely recognisable Tasha.
A loud sob of shock and grief left his lips before Stan gave his shoulder a reassuring pat.
“It’s a shock, right? But she’s doing okay and underneath the bruises, tubes, machines and lines she is still your Tasha.”
“My Tasha,” he said aloud and with that thought in his mind Jim entered the room fully to take the seat next to the bed, unaware of the door closing behind Stan.
The sound of the machines beeping was almost hypnotic for Jim as he sat in the chair next to Tasha’s bed, refusing to be moved. It was just after eight in the morning when Bobby returned on his way to work. After a final and futile attempt to get his brother to go home, even briefly, he left him, but not before calling Sandra and arranging for Mike to drop off some food, toiletries and a change of clothes.
Stan returned and checked on Tasha, along with what seemed like dozens of nurses and other doctors. They all smiled at Jim, a little too sympathetically for his liking. It all seemed too nice, as if preparing him for something bad, something final.
By the time lunchtime arrived Jim had briefly left Tasha’s side to speak to the police, Sargent Masterson, who explained they now suspected a second vehicle had been involved in Tasha’saccidentthat was looking less accidental with each detail that was uncovered. The police left but promised to keep Jim updated with developments. He managed to brush his teeth, freshen up and quickly got changed into the clothes Sandra had sent him. Stan had just made another visit and introduced himself as Lizzie’s boyfriend, Dylan’s father, which raised no more than an arched brow from Jim rather than his usual annoyance at the idea of that boy who dated his daughter and ogled his girlfriend.
With a tense headache behind his eyes, Jim pinched the bridge of his nose as the door opened behind him. Turning, he expected to find another nurse or doctor, but it was actually Mickie who stood there.
“Sorry if I’m intruding. How is she?” Mickie asked with a point of her finger in Tasha’s direction.
“Not good. She had internal bleeding, a punctured lung, and broken ribs. It seems she was struggling to breathe for herself so they’ve put a tube in. They’re checking on her every fifteen minutes or so and they all keep looking at me with sympathetic smiles and sorry eyes. Look, Mickie,” Jim began thinking that the woman before him, his friend, no, his former friend would be the last person Tasha would want here and he had stupidly allowed her to come between them once too often, but no more. Tasha was his priority and would continue to be so, forever, until death he thought and then shuddered at the reality of how imminent those two words might prove.
“I should probably go, I’m intruding,” Mickie interrupted and sounded so supportive and understanding that Jim was taken aback. “I know we didn’t get off on the right foot, Tasha and I, but I want to be here for you, like you were going to be there for me, me and my cancer diagnosis.” She left his support hanging between them. “We’re friends Jim, have been for so long and I don’t want to lose that so maybe we should focus on that. Look, I have to go, my doctor’s appointment.”
Jim nodded. He was unsure what was actually happening. Totally unsure what Mickie was saying or suggesting even as she left and the door gently closed behind her. His frazzled mind was at risk of going into overdrive but the sudden sound of alarms stopped it dead in its tracks. Machines were going crazy, one after another sounding panicked and desperate as the room filled with nurses and doctors, more and more surrounding Tasha and pushing him farther and farther away from her until she was completely hidden from his view.
Chapter 2
