Her mind whirling, Holly grabbed her things. ‘Oh gosh… Jessica, thank you for everything, and thank you too Carole. I’ll be in touch … ’ With that she rushed from the store, hailing a cab before she was barely out of the door.
35
Afew minutes later, she threw open the doors to the Lennox Hill Emergency Room and hustled to reception. Breathless, she dinged the small silver bell on the counter. ‘Excuse me!’ she said frantically, unable to make eye contact with a nurse behind the counter.
The young redheaded woman at reception snapped her gum and turned bored-looking eyes in Holly’s direction.
‘Um, excuse me,’ Holly continued, feeling the blood pound through her veins and tension sweep across her chest. ‘I’m looking for my son, Danny Mestas he was checked in just a little while ago by Kate—’
‘Holly, over here!’ called a voice to her left. It was Kate.
Thank God.
‘Kate,’ Holly cried as her friend rushed towards her and enveloped her in her arms. ‘What happened? Where’s Danny? Is he OK? What happened?’ she repeated, thirsty for answers.
Before Kate began, she turned to the bored-looking nurse. ‘It’s OK, she’s Danny’s mother, the boy I checked in.’
‘Sure,’ the nurse said, shrugging.
‘Tell me Kate, is he all right?’
‘Shh, shh, the doctor’s with him now. Sit down, and I’ll tell you everything.’
Holly took a deep breath as she tried to relax herself. It wouldn’t do Danny any good to see his mother in a state. She took two more deep, stabilising breaths and wiped her sweaty palms on her jacket. She couldn’t help it, though: worrying about Danny was something that she did as naturally as breathing. After all, it was just the two of them. Or it should be.
‘Was it Nick? Did he do this? I can’t believe I let him—’
‘Calm down,’ Kate insisted. ‘It wasn’t Nick’s fault.’
‘Well, I think I’m as calm as I can be when I’m told my child is in the ER.’
Kate took Holly by the elbow. As they walked to where Danny was being inspected by the doctor, she filled her in. ‘So we were at the ice rink, Danny and Nick were skating, and then, well, Danny got involved in a bit of horseplay with some of the other boys out there. From what he told me afterwards, they were simulating a Rangers/Islanders hockey game … ’
‘Oh Lord … ’
‘Anyway, so one thing led to another, and things got a bit too rough, and well… ’ Kate pulled aside a curtain that separated a small portion of the triage area from the rest of the ER. ‘He doesn’t look that pretty, but the doctor says he will be fine.’
Holly’s breath caught in her throat as her son was revealed. Lying on an examination table, as a doctor gingerly inspected an arm, Danny looked as if he had been the victim of a dozen two-hundred-pound NHL defenders. The right side of his face was swollen, with black and blue bruises settling in, his lower lip glossed over with what seemed to be an antibiotic cream, and his eye puffy as if he had been punched in the face. The worst thing, though, was his arm, which was now being carefully cleaned and set in a cast.
‘Holy shit!’ she exclaimed as she laid eyes on her boy before throwing a hand over her mouth at her outburst. ‘I mean, holy cow.’
Danny opened the eye that was not swollen and regarded his mother. ‘It’s OK Mom, you can say that; I know what I look like,’ he smiled weakly.
‘How did this happen? Who did this?’
‘We were just playing.’
‘Just playing? This is not just playing! This is grievous bodily harm!’
Danny put a meek hand up. ‘It’s no big deal, Mom, I’ll heal.’
Holly was about to launch into a protective tirade over how this could happen when the doctor spoke up.
‘Ms O’Neill?’
‘What? Yes, I’m sorry, I mean, yes, I’m Holly O’Neill, his mother.’
‘I’m Doctor Chapman,’ the man said, smiling kindly. ‘And in Danny’s defence, it looks a lot worse than it is, but—’
