‘There’s a but?’ Holly said, feeling exhausted.
‘He does have a concussion. Just a mild one.’
‘A concussion.’ She looked down at Danny and ran a hand across his forehead lovingly. ‘I can’t believe this.’
‘I’m OK, Mom.’
Holly sighed. ‘Danny, there’s a reason hockey players wear helmets and protective gear. It’s because of stuff like this, and those guys still end up getting hurt!’ She rubbed her temples. ‘So what’s the prognosis, doctor, what should I do?’
Doctor Chapman was finishing with the cast. ‘Well, we would like to keep him overnight for observation. The bruises on his face and the broken arm, which is only a hairline fracture, those will heal on their own, but we want to make sure his head is OK. We will move him to a room upstairs, and of course, you can stay.’ The handsome doctor smiled kindly.
She nodded. ‘OK, thank you.’ She breathed a sigh of relief and delicately planted a kiss on her son’s hand. ‘Danny, you scared the life out of me, do you know that?’
Kate put an arm around her. ‘I’m sorry about this, I really am. I should have told him to stop.’
‘Never mind that, where was Nick in all of this?’
Danny’s eyes were downcast. ‘It wasn’t Dad’s fault.’
Kate moved her aside. She spoke quietly. ‘It was and it wasn’t. It was Nick’s idea to go skating, but then he got a call – some emergency with his girlfriend and the baby - and had to leave. He wasn’t there when Danny ran into trouble. He doesn’t even know that it happened.’
Holly was in two minds whether to be annoyed at Nick for leaving early or relieved that she didn’t have another battle to face. Still, if there was an issue with the baby, she could hardly blame him and she hoped everything was OK. She shook her head at Kate. ‘I suppose it could be worse. I only have to worry about one boy. As the saying goes, if I had a girl, I would have to worry aboutallthe world’s boys. I’ll take concussion over that,’ she said wearily, giving her friend a hug.
She knelt back down by Danny’s bed. ‘And you, mister, don’t scare me like this ever again. Don’t you know my heart couldn’t handle it if anything bad happened to you?’
Danny grimaced. ‘I’m sorry, Mom, I’ll think it through next time.’
Hours later, Holly and Danny were settled in a room in another wing of the hospital and Danny was sleeping peacefully, under the doctor’s watch because of the concussion, and due to his own exhaustion and some strong pain medication.
Holly, however, was struggling to get comfortable on the hospital-issued cot next to his bed, and she was having a hard time feeling calm. Too many scary thoughts were going through her mind, and the idea of anything serious happening to Danny terrified her. With a bubble of panic in her chest, she closed her eyes and fitfully tried to sleep, only to toss and turn, remembering all the other situations where she had been worried about the welfare of her child.
‘Anyone who ever said having a child was easy was clearly crazy, or a liar,’ she muttered under her breath, remembering what her mother had said when Holly first told her that she was going to have a baby.
‘You never stop worrying, ever,’ Eileen told her. ‘From when they are just a tiny baby, to the time they become a teenager and then an adult. It never stops. You’ll see.’
Holly swallowed hard and fought back her tears, remembering several moments where this particular sentiment rang true, but then she remembered something else and modified the thought.
Her mother was only half-right. It wasn’t just when they were babies that you started worrying. It was long before that.
36
Manhattan, February 2001
Holly placedthe small white plastic stick on the marble counter of the sink and sat down on the edge of the claw-foot tub that Nick had insisted on having installed just two months before. The behemoth, usually so comforting when filled with warm water and bubbles, now chilled her as she sat on its side. She felt hesitant to touch it, as if it was pulling all of the cold from outside where a New York February was in full swing.
She swallowed hard and stared at the pregnancy test on the counter. It was the first time that she had ever taken one. And this was the first pregnancy scare that she had ever had.
She was five days late. She wasneverfive days late.
Holly knew that while she might be punctuality-challenged in her day-to-day life, her period did not subscribe to that particular personality trait. That was one area of her life where she was like clockwork. Until this month.
The idea of possibly being pregnant was so remarkably new to her, she still couldn’t get her head around the idea.
What was more, she didn’t know exactly what she would do if it happened to be positive.
Another thing that she and Nick hadn’t spoken about.
Sure, their relationship was good. And she enjoyed living with him. Their new apartment was practically palatial compared to her place, which she was subletting now. If they wanted a baby, there would be room.
