“Then that shouldn’tbe a problem.” Dr Morgan squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. “I’lllet them know. You can see her when they’ve finished cleaning herup.”
Todd accompanied Dr Morgan toregister his name with the ICU duty nurse, and reluctantly returnedto the plastic chair in the waiting room.
When a nurse eventually arrivedafter midnight to escort him to her private room in ICU, he hadnearly worn a track in the tiles on the waiting room floor. Heentered her room with trepidation. Chloe’s head had been swathed inbandages to just above her eyebrows. Dark shadows had spreadbeneath her closed eyes. Gold-tipped eyelashes fanned out on hersharply defined cheekbones. She appeared so thin, so gaunt in thehospital gown, his heart retracted in his chest when he looked downon her. The stark white of the cotton pillowslips did little toconceal her pallor. In the tiny room, the warm cloying smell ofantiseptic caused his stomach to lurch with painful memories ofhospital visits in the past. It didn’t help that his last meal hadbeen lunch the day before.
An armchair sat adjacent to thewindow, and a serviceable straight-backed visitors’ chair had beenplaced beside the bed. He chose the latter, comfort the last thingon his mind. He took her cool hand in his and willed her to openher eyes. Seconds ticked by and became minutes, minutes became anhour. The only noise in the room came from the monitors attached toher body.
The night shift nurse etered theroom so quietly she took Todd by surprise when she appeared at thefoot of the bed to pick up Chloe’s chart. Short and stocky, she hadgrey curly hair tucked into a bun. Dark-framed spectacles hungaround her neck on a chain. She exuded kindness.
The nurse spoke softly, lookingdown at Chloe. “Poor wee lass. Talk to her.”
“Sorry?”
“Talk to her. They saythat talking helps to bring your loved ones back to consciousness.”The nurse replied softly in her Scottish accent.
“What shall I talkabout?” Todd looked a little uncertain.
She consulted her notes. “Itdoesn’t matter what you talk about, Mr Baker.” She raised her head,and smiled reassuringly. “Just talk to her.”
The nurse moved about the roomsilently, patting Todd’s forearm encouragingly as she passed by.“Just ask at the desk for Nurse Andrews if you need me. I won’t befar away.” She clipped the chart back onto the bottom of the bed,and left the room as quietly as she had arrived.
Todd talked. He talked about hisbusiness. He talked about the apartment at Docklands. He talkedabout the house they inspected in Portsea, and his plans to expandhis business to open in another state. He related a few of theshenanigans Patrick had gotten into as a child, and told her abouthis younger sister Audrey, who was studying inSwitzerland.
Nurse Andrews came in regularlyto check on Chloe. She smiled benevolently as she performed herduties and listened to his monologue.
Hours passed, but Chloe didn’twake up. Mentally and physical exhausted, he found it hard to keephis eyes open.
“Chloe, please wakeup. There are so many things I want to say, but you need to beawake to hear me. I am so sorry for upsetting you. I don’t knowwhat came over me. Me and my big mouth, Sam would say. I came backto apologise. Just as well, eh? You really gave me a scare, Chloe,you’ve no idea. When I saw you lying there with all that blood, Ihad to stop myself from picking you up and taking you to thehospital myself.” He lay his head down on the bed for a moment,still clasping her hand.
“I know I like to bein control, but this is different. I’ve never beenthis protective aboutanyone outside the family before.” As he drifted off to sleep, hemurmured, “Chloe, please wake up. I think I’m in love with you, andI really want to tell you.”
Nurse Andrews, as quiet as amouse, continued to slip in and out of the room monitoring herpatient. She left Todd slumbering by Chloe’s bedside. When NurseAndrews transferred her patients over to the day staff at 6 am, shetold the nurses of the handsome fiancé Mr Baker, and how kind tohave stayed with Chloe all through the night, talking to her, andholding her hand.
Todd stirred. Bleak early morninglight filtered through the functional hospital blinds.Fuzzy-headed, stiff and dehydrated, he stretched his stiff back andtried to stand straight. Not surprisingly, the last few hoursblurred into his restless dreams. His whispered declaration of lovehad been forgotten, lost to him in the mists of sleep. It took lessthan a minute to work out, however, that nothing had changed. Chloeremained unconscious.
Todd left his mobile number withthe nurse on reception, and requested to be notified immediately ofany change. He needed to go home to shower and change out of hisbloodstained clothes. A gallon of strong coffee would help tosharpen his reflexes.
He planned to secureher house, check on the cat, and find her mobile phone to call herrelatives, when and if they needed to know. He had to informPatrick, and ask Samantha to move all his appointments for theday. So much to do, when all I really wantto do is stay here until she wakes up.
When Todd called Patrick toinform him of the accident, it took him a few moments to registerChloe had been rushed to the hospital. The pitiful amount of sleephe had achieved after the long drive home in the early hours ofthat morning had left him less than alert. Now Patrick understoodwhy Chloe hadn’t answered his calls. He swung his legs over theside of the bed, jotting down the details of the hospital, thefloor, the ward on a pad on his bedside table. He cut the callshort and headed for a cold shower to fully wake him up.
He couldn’t refuse the request tostay with her until Todd returned. He had pangs of guilt knowing hehadn’t been there to pick her up last night. Although he reasonedhe hadn’t been the cause of her accident, if he had been on time …well … it might never have
