“Shall we let Tasha breathe? Let's get you a seat.” She smiled, directing Pippa to a chair as Dan and their grandparents followed Pippa into the room looking as relieved as their youngest granddaughter had.
“God Tash, I thought you were going to die. Your car is a complete wreck and the police are doing their nut out there, but Jim won’t let them in.” She sounded excited and relieved at the same time. She was clearly preparing to unleash another tirade of musings and thoughts when her grandmother interrupted.
“Philippa, really.” Celia shook her head at her youngest granddaughter as she reached the bedside of her oldest one where she bent down to carefully kiss her before hugging her warmly. “It is very good to see you.”
Paul was on the opposite side of the bed to his wife and struggled to get past the machines, tubes and wires to get close enough to his granddaughter to hug her. “Oh, my darling, girl. You gave us all such a fright. What am I going to do with you?” he asked as she stretched to reach his open arms.
“You sound like Jim now.” She smiled up at her grandfather.
Paul muttered something but hugged her tightly. “I love you very much, Nat.”
“Ditto,” replied Tasha, noticing Dan standing nervously near the door. “You okay over there, little brother, or are you suffering the after effects of a night out with Travis?” She smiled.
“No, unfortunately not. Are you okay, Tash, really okay?” he asked warily, looking scared and young.
“Course I am.” With a wave of her hand, she gestured for her brother to come closer as Jim returned to the room looking harassed.
Tasha glanced across and smiled at him raking a hand through his hair and had a desperate urge to go to him and to hold him, to comfort him, not that she was physically capable of doing that, but she wanted to. He looked like he needed a big hug more than anything else. She loved her family, but right now wished they weren't there, that no one was there other than her and Jim. He looked confused, tormented and anxious and she wanted nothing more than to replace those emotions and expression with happier, more positive ones.
He looked across at her and smiled weakly. “Can I get anyone a drink or anything?”
“No thank you, Jim,” replied Celia as Dan and Pippa shook their heads.
Paul muttered a disgruntled, “No.”
“Philip and Juan are coming in later and bringing Lizzie,” said Jim, seeming to keep his distance from her and ignoring her grandfather’s churlish tone and demeanour.
“That's nice. Are they okay?” asked Tasha.
“Yeah, fine. Although they've all been worried about you so they're better now that you're better.” Jim smiled at her, but it seemed a little forced and Tasha couldn’t quite pinpoint what was off, but something definitely was. Finally, she decided it was probably something to do with his reference to her being better and just how un-better she’d been previously.
Paul muttered something again as Celia glared across their granddaughter at him with a warning expression. Tasha was still unsure what was going on, but it was quite obvious now that Jim and Paul had fallen out about something, most likely her. Tasha was considering how to proceed when an older and larger built smiling nurse appeared in the doorway.
“Tasha, my name is Rhona and I’ll be your nurse until ten o'clock. I need to take you down for some tests when the orderly arrives,” she said cheerfully as an orderly appeared beside her. “If I can ask you all to wait outside for a moment.” She phrased it as a question, but it was more of a directive than anything.
Celia, Dan and Pippa immediately headed for the door while Paul and Jim just stared across the room at each other.
“I'll come with you, Nat.” Paul smiled at Jim, but Tasha instantly noticed the insincerity of it and felt it was some kind of a point scoring exercise.
“That won’t be necessary.” Jim refrained from adding his ownI'll go with Tashakind of comment.
“Maybe Tasha would like to do this alone,” said Tasha firmly. “Look, I am really tired and am sure that once I’ve been wherever I’m going all I will want to do is sleep, so maybe you shouldallgo home for a while.” She emphasised the all, something Jim didn’t miss.
“Baby, I am not leaving you alone.” Jim still stood near the door.
“Jim, you look wrecked. You should go and get some sleep too and make the most of having the bed to yourself.” She offered him an encouraging smile.
“And I have told you before that my bed is far too big without you in it.” He looked sad.
“Okay, fine.” She laughed, holding her hands up in surrender. “But would you get me some clothes, pyjamas or something, anything that isn't a hospital gown, please?” She thought that would be an ideal excuse to send him on his way for a while.
“Sure. I’ll be back before you know it.” Jim turned to leave.
“Gramps,” she called to Paul who appeared to be following Jim.
“Yes, Nat?” He turned back to her.
She took her grandfather’s hand in hers and held it tightly. “Please don't be mean to Jim. He loves me and has found this very tough.”
