‘Mum! Get your stuff, quickly, we’ve got to go. Now.’
Eliza was standing on the front door mat, tensing her fists, looking like she might sprint off at any moment.
‘Where are we going in such a hurry?’
‘Hospital. Patience.’ There was a jagged edge to her words.
‘But she’s at Morton Lodge – she left hospital yesterday.’
‘Not any more. She’s heading back there in an ambulance right now. I’ve come to get you. I thought it was probably best if I drove.’ As soon as it had come out of her mouth, Eliza realised she shouldn’t have said it. But it was too late now.
‘I am not permanently drunk, Elizabeth, whatever your father has told you,’ said Louise, hastily putting on shoes and grabbing a coat to cover up her pyjamas.
‘I didn’t mean that, Mum. I just thought you’d be too panicked. Oh, Mum!’
‘OK. Tell me in the car,’ she said, searching for her handbag in circles, barely even looking in her panic. ‘Serena! We have to go to hospital!’ she shouted into the house. ‘Can you find me a few things to wear and bring them to me in a bit?’
She found her bag and didn’t wait for an answer from her friend, instead running straight out of the house and into the car. Seconds later, Serena appeared at the door.
‘Of course!’ she shouted at Louise’s back, her concern registering in her voice. Eliza was still standing by the car, about to open the driver’s door. ‘Is it bad?’ Serena mouthed, both of them knowing what that meant.
Eliza grimaced. ‘I’m not a doctor,’ she said quietly, ‘but Auntie Serena – I’m frightened.’
*
‘Hello? Is that A & E? It’s Mrs Willow. My daughter Patience has just been brought in… Yes, in an ambulance… Can you tell me how she is? … Why not? I’m not asking for a full medical analysis, I just want to know if… Yes, I’m on my way in now… OK, OK, we’ll be there as soon as we can.’
Eliza listened with increasing dread. The reception team obviously wouldn’t part with any information on the phone, never a good sign. When the call had finished, Louise sat silently on the passenger seat with her head in her hands.
‘We’ll be there soon, Mum. Really soon. Have you called Dad?’
Her mum turned to look at her then. Her eyes were filling with tears.
‘This is my fault, Eliza. It’s my fault she did that trial. I can’t call him.’
‘Mum, you have to! He’s her dad.’
‘Can’t you? You’ve both been talking about me behind my back lately, so you’re clearly communicating.’
‘We are worried about you, Mum! It’s not a conspiracy. We care.’
‘If you say so.’ Louise reached down and retrieved a tissue from her handbag and began to dab her eyes. ‘Why are you here, anyway? Why were you visiting Patience so early in the morning? What on earth is going on?’
Eliza took a deep breath. ‘I’ve taken a week off work and I came down to have a chat with you. About something. But it can wait. This is much more important.’
Eliza hit the brakes as the car approached a notorious bottleneck on the ring road.
‘I knew there was something up with you and I’ve been so worried. You are so distracted and so thin. Eliza, please tell me what it is.’
Eliza looked over at her mother in surprise.
‘I didn’t think you’d noticed.’
‘I always notice.’
‘But you’ve been so busy with Patience and all this stuff with Dad…’
‘You’re still my daughter, Eliza.’
Now it was Eliza’s turn to cry. Not singular tears, but a whole river, interspersed with hungry gulps of air.
‘Jesus, Eliza, what is it? Pull over.’
‘We can’t, Mum, we’ve got to get there.’
‘A few minutes won’t make much difference. And you can’t drive in that state. Pull over here – there’s a lay-by.’
Eliza brought the car to a stop where her mother had suggested. She unbuckled her seatbelt swiftly and descended into her mother’s arms, sobbing. ‘Oh, Mum,’ she said, her whole body shaking as the tears fell. ‘Oh, Mum. I am so lonely.’
‘Shhhh, shhhh,’ said Louise, rubbing her daughter’s back, as she had done hundreds of times in Eliza’s childhood. ‘For heaven’s sake, tell me what this is all about.’
‘I can’t. We need to get there! Look, I’m OK now, I can drive, let’s go.’
‘No. Tell me. Now.’
‘You don’t need to hear this at the moment. Honestly. It can wait.’
Louise raised an eyebrow. ‘Eliza, the wedding is off, isn’t it? You’ve broken up with him. Ed.’
Eliza pulled herself up off her mother’s chest. ‘How did you know?’
‘You haven’t mentioned it, or him, for months. I put two and two together.’
‘Why didn’t you say anything?’ Eliza asked.
‘I didn’t want to add to your troubles.’
‘I’m so sorry, Mum.’
‘What for?’
‘For letting you down.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous! Now, let’s switch seats. I’m on the insurance so I’ll drive and you can tell me what on earth has been going on before we get there.’
Eliza obeyed, her tears slowing. She could hardly believe that she had finally told her mum about the wedding and that the world was still turning. In fact, Louise appeared much calmer now, more focussed; not angry, or disappointed. Eliza was dumbfounded.
‘Why didn’t you want to tell me?’ Louise asked.
‘Because I knew you’d be disappointed. And then all of the stuff with the trial happened and Dad left and I just wanted to shield you from it all. I was hoping we’d get back together…’ Eliza looked down and squeezed her hands together, rotating her thumbs first forwards, then back.
‘But you didn’t. And I’m glad,’ said Louise after a pause, staring straight ahead.
‘You’re glad?’
‘I was happy that you were happy, of course, but I never warmed to him. He seemed cold. And not very kind. Kindness is the most important thing in a relationship, you know.’ Eliza was gaping at her mother. It had never occurred to her that her parents had their doubts about Ed. ‘Your dad is very kind. It’s one of the things I…’ she swallowed ‘… really like about him.’
Eliza sighted the hospital sign straight ahead. ‘Turn in here, Mum,’ she said, pointing.
‘I know, Eliza,’ Lou replied wryly. ‘I’ve been here many more times than you!’
*
‘Oh, fuck.’
Patience was lying in a hospital bed flanked by medical equipment. She was wearing an oxygen mask, numerous lines criss-crossed her body, and monitors were issuing constant readouts on the activity of her heart, her oxygen levels and her blood pressure. Two nurses were working on her as they watched, noting down her readings and adjusting her machines.
Eliza and Louise stood at the foot of the bed, taking in the full horror of the scene. There was no room for them to sit by her.
‘I know this looks really awful.’ They both looked at the doctor who had shown them in, a tidy, efficient-looking young woman who had identified herself as Dr Fanning, in a sort of trance. This simply could not be happening. ‘Patience was in a bad way when she came in,’ she continued. ‘She had a severe fever, her breathing was very shallow, and she seemed confused. She was making all kinds of noises which her carer – Jimmy? – said were unusual. She also vomited in the ambulance.’
‘Jesus,’ said Eliza.
‘We’re carrying out some tests, but at the moment we’re working on the basis that Patience has an infection somewhere. A severe infection. We are concerned that it might be—’
‘An infection? So it’s not to do with the gene therapy?’ said Louise, interrupting.
‘I’m sorry?’ replied Dr Fanning, her eyes flaring, displaying her shock. ‘I didn’t know that she’d had such a procedure.’
‘A week ago,’ Louise replied quickly, as if by doing so she could somehow speed up her daughter’s recovery. ‘She’s one of the participants in the first human trial for Rett syndrome. She only left hospital a couple of days ago. She had problems with her breathing, but it had improved enough for her to be able to go back to her care home.’
‘Then I must look into that. But at the moment, more than anything else there are very clear clinical signs of an infection, so we’ve started her on antibiotics. And we are concerned that this is sepsis. Do you know what that is?’
Louise swallowed hard. ‘I do, yes. It’s blood poisoning, isn’t it?’
‘Yes. It’s what happens sometimes when an infection runs riot inside someone’s body. It’s a very serious condition.’
‘It’s what killed Patrick,’ Louise said to Eliza. ‘I’ll call your dad.’