Luke came to kneel beside her.
‘Keep going, you doing a great job. They’ll be here soon.’ He counted with her. One. Two.
Her arms were starting to tire but she forced herself to keep going.
‘Let me know when you need me to take over. I know it’s exhausting. You’re doing brilliantly.’
There was a burning sensation in her shoulders and biceps, her own chest ached.
She kept it up as long as she could, listening hard for the siren, which mercifully sounded much closer, but she wasn’t sure she could keep going.
‘Luke.’
‘Yes, it’s OK. Want me to take over?’
‘One. In a sec. Two.’ She was worried she wasn’t pressing hard enough but she was too scared to stop. Luke shuffled closer and closer, so that they were thigh-to-thigh. ‘On my count of three, move along and I’ll take over.’
She nodded and she put her all in the final depressions as Luke counted down and without missing the beat, took over.
She sat back on her heels, her arms aching and her knees throbbing, watching Luke’s curls dance as he steadily pumped his arms over Amelie’s chest. Thank God he was here, she couldn’t have kept that up for much longer – although who knew what you could achieve when you absolutely had to?
The phrase heart-in-the-mouth had never meant as much as it did just then, as she watched Luke working over her godmother’s inert body.Please let her be alright, she prayed. Next to her, Johannes was rigid, his hand gripping one of the kitchen tables, the knuckles as white and proud as a mountain range and his mouth a straight, flat line that radiated tension.
There was nothing as welcome as the sound of heavy, determined boots filling the air, and automatically Mina and Johannes stepped back out of the way, leaving Luke still working hard. The paramedics in navy blue uniforms came in and went straight to Amelie’s side with brisk efficiency, one of them taking over from Luke with professional ease, the other immediately trying to find a pulse. They asked lots of questions in German which Johannes answered. Mina managed to pick up that they were asking her age and how long she’d been there.
‘How long had you been doing the CPR before I came in?’ asked Luke, forwarding the paramedic’s question.
‘Two minutes,’ she said, grateful for the digital clock on the cooker. It had been the longest two minutes of her life.
While the main paramedic continued to pump Amelie’s chest with professional vigour, the other with calm speed unpacked a defibrillator and within seconds the paramedic had attached the pads to Amelie’s chest. The punch of power lifted her body with a jolt that looked every inch as painful and dramatic as the images Mina had seen before. She winced and caught her lip between her teeth.
There was a sudden flurry, a nod as the second paramedic found a pulse. A thumbs up, although the first paramedic continued with the CPR while the second knelt and took out a blood pressure cuff and began calling Amelie’s name. They asked Johannes more questions to which he could only answer, ‘Nein.’
Mina was aware of a slight relaxation between the two paramedics, their movements were smoother and slower as if the immediate crisis was over, although they were still completely focused on their patient, talking to each other in low undertones.
Luke came to stand next to her and she found herself leaning against him. His fingers interlocked with hers and he gave her a hand a gentle squeeze. No one, it seemed, dare speak in case they broke the spell of dedicated treatment. At last the paramedic completed his last compression and gave his colleague a nod of satisfaction that signalled to the whole room that things were under control.
There was a brief conversation and Luke translated as one of them disappeared to bring in a stretcher.
‘They’re going to take her to hospital in Brig. They think she might have had a heart attack.’
Mina swallowed and felt tears gathering in her eyes. She was not going to fall apart now. Amelie needed her.
‘Do you want to go to the hospital with her?’ he asked. ‘One person can go in the ambulance.’
She nodded and turned to the older man. It was obvious to anyone that he was in love with her, even if perhaps he’d only just realised quite how deeply in the last half-hour. ‘Johannes?’
‘I can drive,’ he said gruffly. ‘I’ll follow the ambulance. You’ll need to get home somehow.’
Luke’s eyes met Mina’s; they were shadowed and full of concern but also something else. ‘Do you want me to come with you?’ The words were slightly stiff as if it cost him dear to say them.
It was rare for her to rely on anyone else or to let her lean on anyone else but in that moment, she really wanted to be with him. She needed his perpetual positivity, that sunny outlook, and that calm, unflustered demeanour. ‘Yes, please,’ she said.
He swallowed. ‘OK. I’ll go with Johannes. I’ll see you at the hospital.’
Chapter Seventeen
Inside the ambulance the siren wasn’t as loud as she’d feared, and Mina perched on a side-seat watching with fearful eyes every move the paramedic made as he kept up the careful monitoring of his patient. Regular pulse checks. Another blood pressure check. And reassuring smiles to Mina.
