“Kate?” It was Frances, a friendly nurse I’d come to know in the six days we’d been here.
She checked on my little girl’s condition, but from her chart I already knew there was little to report. They’d taken blood tests on admission to the hospital, which had confirmed pneumonia. As it was, we just had to wait for the antibiotics to do their job.
Wait. It seemed like all I’d been doing this past week.
To my surprise, the nurse took a seat alongside me. “How are you?” she asked, touching my arm. “You know you really should try to—”
“I know. But sleep isn’t easy...”
“I understand. It’s a horrible time, but rest assured we’re doing all we can. Measles, it can be such a nasty business when it takes this course. But, to be honest, it’s a long time since I’ve come across an outbreak in this hospital.”
She paused for a moment and then leaned forward in her chair, clasping her hands in front of her. “I heard that the other little girl from Rosie’s school has since recovered?”
“Apparently so.”
“And there hasn’t been any other cases in the school or in the town apart from Rosie?”
“No, I don’t think so. Not that I know of anyway. Thank goodness.”
Appearing thoughtful, Frances seemed to be studying me. “I understand the reason why Rosie isn’t vaccinated. And I know it was a hard choice that you and your late husband had to make. But do you happen to know why the other little girl wasn’t?”
“I really don’t know the family all that well...” I answered. My head felt foggy.
“No idea if it’s a political position? Something religious perhaps?”
She seemed to be just making idle conversation, but something about her tone of voice made me perk up. I tried to climb through the swamp of gray matter in my head.
“Why do you ask? And what does it matter?”
But the nurse didn’t have time to answer my question, because at that moment Lucy entered the waiting room with Christine Campbell in tow.
Handing over my recent mail as well as some other bits and pieces I needed from the house (my iPad and charger, one of Rosie’s favorite dinosaurs, a random book that had been on my bedside table), I introduced Frances to Lucy and Christine as they took seats on either side of me.
“Christine was really anxious about Rosie,” Lucy supplied when I looked curiously at our new visitor. It was nice of Christine to come, and surprising, too, when I didn’t know her especially well.
But that was one of the positives about living in a small community.
“Oh, you’re all from the same town?” Frances smiled. “I was just asking Kate about that other little girl with measles. Do you know her, too?” she inquired pleasantly.
I shifted uncomfortably. Given that Clara was almost certainly the cause of Rosie’s current trials, I didn’t like to think about the Coopers all that much. While I was happy that little Clara had recovered, I couldn’t deny that I felt a little...jealous, too. That they were the ones with all the luck and resources, as well as having each other to lean on when things were hard. While I had nothing or no one.
Apart from Lucy, of course, who had once again been wonderful. My mother had tried to make arrangements to travel up from Cork, but my dad was poorly with sciatica and, as she didn’t drive, she was relying on a lift from a generous neighbor.
Part of me was almost glad she hadn’t yet managed it. At least I could stay here at the hospital and focus all of my attention on Rosie, without having to think about hosting my mother, too, who suffered from her nerves and, God help her, wasn’t the best in a crisis.
But while I was reticent to discuss the Coopers, Christine was practically jumping in her seat waiting for her turn to speak. “Yes, we do know the family,” she said, her tone barely concealing her disapproval as she pushed her glasses back to the top of her nose.
“Unusual that she wasn’t vaccinated, either, isn’t it?” Frances said conversationally. “Unlucky, too, I suppose.”
“Nothing at all to do with luck,” added Christine with narrowed eyes. “It’s because the girl’s parents—the father in particular—are a pair of sanctimonious lunatics. Tom is one of those conspiracy-theory types,” she added bitterly.
I shot Lucy a look. I was grateful for Christine’s visit, but my daughter’s bedside wasn’t the place for gossip or airing personal grievances.
In turn, my friend apologized with her eyes.
“Christine, like me, the Coopers have just experienced a very scary time, exceptunlike me, they’ve managed to come out of it OK. Whatever the reasons for their choices, it’s their business. I’m just glad their little girl is better. That’s all that matters.”
Lucy spoke up. “Yes, and also Madeleine has been so concerned about Rosie. She asks about her all the time. The mother and I are friends,” she added for Frances’ benefit.
