They didn’t answer him, as their attention was drawn toward the doctor who walked into the waiting room. Andy tensed again and noticed that Narelle’s mother tightened her grip around her husband’s hands. He was also aware of Steve and Tabby moving to stand a little closer to him.
“I’m looking for the family of Narelle Hennessy?” The doctor looked around the room.
“That’s us, I’m Mike Hennessy, Narelle’s father. This is my wife, Julie.” He stood, and Julie followed, still clutching his hand.
Andy moved to the side a little, but still within earshot, so he could hear what the doctor was saying. Was it presumptuous of him, and a bit rude to be so close? Maybe, but he didn’t care because he needed to know what was going on with Narelle.
If she was okay.
He didn’t allow himself to consider the doctor was going to bring them bad news.
“How is she?” Narelle’s mum asked, when the doctor still hadn’t said anything.
The doctor sighed, and Andy braced himself for bad news, mentally cursing himself that he hadn’t looked for her.
“I’m not going to lie,” the doctor started. “Narelle is a very lucky woman. Her injuries could’ve been much worse. Having said that, her recovery is going to be long. She sustained a broken leg and a minor break to her arm. She also suffered internal bleeding from some lacerations, but we were able to repair them, and she didn’t lose any internal organs.”
The mixed sounds of relief and anguish from Narelle’s parents faded into the distance as Andy’s heart thumped louder, and he took a couple of deep breaths.
Narelle was alive.
Narelle was alive.
He was aware of the doctor saying more, but he didn’t hear it. The release of his fear was threatening to drown him.
An arm slid around his waist, pulling him back from the brink of the abyss he was being sucked into.
“Breathe, Andy.”
Tabby’s words centered him again, and once he became aware of his surroundings, he noticed that the doctor had left, and Narelle’s parents were watching him carefully.
Mike leaned forward. “How well do you know our daughter?”
Chapter
Eight
Every inch of her body ached, even her eyelids, as Narelle tried to open them.
Why did she hurt so much?
She hadn’t started a new fitness regime. Besides, doing exercise wouldn’t make her eyelids hurt.
Her brain was fuzzy, as if she’d drunk too much, but she never liked getting drunk, and at the most, had two glasses of wine whenever she went out. Always alternating between taking sips of the alcoholic beverage and sparkling water.
Nothing about her present mental or physical predicament made any sense.
She shifted and moaned when pain lanced through her middle, and one of her arms and legs seemed weighed down.
Her hand was engulfed by something warm. The touch immediately reassuring and calming.
Wait, why is someone touching me? Where am I, that I’m lying down so that can happen?
Panic began to swell inside of her.
Why couldn’t she remember what she’d done?
What had happened to her?
