Chapter 7 #2
‘She’s coming along separately, with the police.’ Jeff had a grim expression on his face.
‘Do they think it wasn’t accidental?’ Meg looked horrified and the question had taken the words right out of Eve’s mouth.
‘I’m not sure, but it was clear she was known to them and the social worker is also on the way. Poor kid.’
‘I hope they lock the mother up and throw away the key.’ Meg’s eyes had darkened and Eve had never heard her sound so hard.
It was understandable given what had nearly happened to Carter, but they were supposed to keep some degree of impartiality, especially as his mother might need treatment, and they didn’t even know if the woman had been charged with anything yet. But Esther was nodding vigorously.
‘It makes me sick to my stomach that there are people out there who don’t prioritise their kids at all and yet seem to be able to have them without any difficulty whatsoever, when me and Joe would do anything to have a child and we’d build our whole world around them.’
‘All we can do is make sure Carter gets the care and attention he deserves now. We’ll deal with the problem of his mother if and when she turns up.
’ Eve didn’t give the others any opportunity to respond, instead detailing what she needed Meg and Esther to do, before arranging his scan and calling the children’s ward to ascertain availability of a bed, if they decided it was safe to move Carter there for observation.
Technically Eve wasn’t Meg’s superior, but she had far more experience when it came to paediatric emergency medicine and there was no room for ego in A the other patients watching her, like she was an animal in a zoo.
‘I’ve called security.’ Cheryl, one of the receptionists, hissed as Eve approached and she nodded, hoping that by the time they came this would all be over. Taking a deep breath she approached the woman, and began to speak, keeping her tone deliberately soft.
‘Hi, I’m Eve Bellingham, one of the doctors and I’ve been looking after Carter.’ For a split second it crossed her mind that she may have got it wrong and that this might not be his mum after all, but the expression on the other woman’s face told her she was right before she even responded.
‘Is he okay?’ There was such desperation in the woman’s tone, that, in that instant, Eve’s heart ached for her.
Most people who came to the kind of addiction she would have sworn this woman was in the grip of, had been through trauma of their own and the haunted expression in the woman’s eyes told their own story.
‘He’s stable and breathing without assistance, but we won’t know for a while yet whether the submersion in the water has caused any further complications. He has two cracked ribs, likely to be from when the CPR was performed.’
‘Oh thank God, and thank you so much.’ Carter’s mother seemed to lose all her fight as she clasped Eve’s hand. And as her face relaxed there was a softness there that wouldn’t have seemed possible a moment or two before.
‘Can you be certain that’s what caused the injury?’ The social worked narrowed her eyes and Carter’s mother immediately tensed again, her arms flying upwards and nearly knocking Eve back.
‘I’d never hurt Carter, not on purpose and you fucking know that, Pippa. I’m in a bad place and I wasn’t watching him like I should have been. You know it wasn’t deliberate and so do the police, otherwise they’d be here.’
‘If you don’t calm down, Sophie, I’ll be calling them back and they almost certainly are going to be charging you with neglect. Getting angry and getting arrested at the hospital isn’t going to help.’
‘You love this, don’t you? You’ve been wanting to take him off me since before he was even born, every time I see your face I want to—’
Eve saw Sophie draw back her hand and instinctively she grabbed her wrist. Sophie might be tiny and painfully thin, but she was fuelled by desperation and it took all of Eve’s strength to hold onto her.
‘Don’t do it. If you want to see Carter, you need to step back and just breathe.’ Eve’s voice sounded melodic, even to her own ears, almost like the words were a lullaby.
‘Can I really see him?’ Sophie’s eyes widened and as Eve nodded, she yanked her hand free and threw her arms around Eve, almost knocking her backwards for a second time with the force of her embrace and the smell of unwashed skin.
Sophie clearly loved her son and yet her actions had nearly killed him.
It was one more reminder that sometimes love just wasn’t enough.