CHAPTER 4
Cornwall
Annabel sat at the side of the hospital bed, gently stroking her grandmother’s hand. She was so deeply asleep and looked so tiny and fragile that, at first, Annabel had feared the worst. But the steady beeping of the monitor in the background reassured her otherwise.
There was something fundamentally wrong about seeing Dotty like this.
She had always been so vital, so alive, that her current, diminished state made no sense to Annabel.
With her left wrist in a plaster cast, she reminded her of a little sparrow she’d once found in her garden.
It had a broken wing and couldn’t fly, so Annabel had put it safely in a cardboard box in the shed and had taken care of it until it was strong enough to take off again.
She hoped and prayed that she could nurse Dotty back to full strength, too.
The nurse had explained that Dotty had broken her wrist and cracked a rib when she fell.
They were giving her morphine for the pain and it was giving her ‘a good sleep’.
The nurse was a kindly lady in her fifties, with short blonde curly hair and a round, smiling face.
She’d introduced herself as Sue and patted Annabel’s arm sympathetically, telling her not to worry.
The kind gesture nearly had her in tears.
‘People don’t make it to a hundred without a bit of fighting spirit,’ Sue had said in her lilting Cornish accent.
‘Your granny’s a fighter, my love, and I’m sure she’ll be awake again soon and glad to see your pretty face! ’
As she sat there, sipping a vending-machine coffee and chatting to the sleeping Dotty as Nurse Sue had suggested, Annabel’s mind went back to those awful moments after her arrival.
She had made her grandmother as comfortable as possible and telephoned for an ambulance.
After that, she had called Dotty’s friend, Pam in the post office, to let her know what had happened and to ask her to take care of Monty.
‘I knew something wasn’t quite right,’ Pam had said on the phone, sounding worried.
‘Eleven o’clock and there’d been no sign of her.
You can set your watch by your granny; she comes in every day at ten thirty on the dot for her newspaper, come hell or high water!
I tried the house phone first and when there was no answer I knew something must be up.
So I was going to ask my Paul to keep an eye on the shop when he got back, so I could go up and check, but he was running late!
Thank goodness you arrived when you did, Annabel! ’
And now it was a waiting game. There was nothing else to do but stroke her beloved grandmother’s hand as she prayed for her recovery.
She wasn’t naive enough to think that Dotty would live forever.
She thanked her lucky stars that she’d had her in her life until now; most of her friends had few, if any, grandparents still living.
But the thought of her not being around anymore filled Annabel with an overwhelming sense of dread.
Needing some comfort and the sound of a friendly voice, she stepped out of the ward and went outside into the hospital car park to ring Luke.
Regardless of what issues were going on between them, he knew how much Dotty meant to her, and he was always a source of reassurance and support when times were tough.
But his phone was switched off. Her stomach gave an anxious somersault and she felt the icy chill of being alone.
Was this a premonition of things to come?
Instead, she rang her dad, needing to hear his comforting voice and reassure herself that he was alright after his hip surgery.
At the sound of his voice, she dissolved into tears.
‘Oh, Annie, I’m so sorry! How awful, poor Ma.
’ His deep voice had been filled with concern, for both Dotty and Annabel.
‘I can’t tell you how glad I am that you’re there with her, thank you.
I’m afraid I’m not much use at the moment, still stuck in hospital myself!
’ he scoffed. ‘Are you alright to hold the fort? I’ll ring William, maybe he can get down to help out, too. ’
‘No, it’s alright, Dad,’ she reassured him, using the end of her sleeve to dry her eyes. ‘Don’t disturb Will, it’s a long way to come and there’s not much point until we know what’s going to happen next. I’ll be fine, honestly. Just a bit tired.’
‘Well, if you’re sure? Thanks so much, darling. And remember, I’m only at the end of the phone; ring me any time. Keep in touch.’
Annabel bought another coffee and a chocolate bar then returned to the ward.
Caffeine and sugar were going to get her through today.
There was no change when she got back to Dotty’s bedside, the old lady was still sleeping peacefully.
Please wake up, Annabel silently willed her grandmother as she held her hand, please don’t leave me, Dotty, not yet.
A tap on the shoulder startled her and she looked up into Nurse Sue’s kind green eyes. The doctor wanted to see her, she said, then led her down the corridor and into a consulting room.
‘Ah, Ms Penrose, I’m Stephanie Underwood, one of the doctors here. Please’ – she gestured to the chair opposite her – ‘have a seat.’
Dr Underwood was an efficient-looking woman in her early forties. She had neat black hair in a bob and a clipped, well-spoken accent. Annabel thanked her and told her to use her first name.
‘Is she going to be alright?’ she asked.
The doctor smiled before replying, ‘Yes, I should think so. She’ll be rather sore for a while with the broken wrist, and the rib will take a bit of time to heal. But it’s not the injuries from the fall that I’m concerned about.’
‘Oh?’ Annabel was surprised. ‘Do you think she’s not safe at home anymore? Is it time for a nursing home, do you think?’
‘No, no; nothing like that. She’ll need more help while she recovers from the injuries, obviously, and you’ll probably want to think about arranging carers, if she chooses to stay in her own home, that is. But that’s not my main concern.’
The doctor paused for a moment as she referred to the papers on her desk.
‘I see on your grandmother’s notes that you and your brother William are named as her next of kin while your father is out of the country.’
Annabel nodded in agreement.
‘In that case, I can share more with you and give you the full picture.’
Another pause.
‘We did a scan when your grandmother came in; standard procedure when the patient’s had a fall. It showed a cyst.’
Annabel looked confused. ‘A cyst?’ she repeated.
‘Yes, but not just any cyst. It was the biggest cyst that any of us here had ever seen.’ The doctor’s brow furrowed. ‘To give you some idea of scale, it was around the size of a rugby ball.’
Annabel’s mouth dropped open.
‘Did your grandmother ever complain of being in any pain? Any breathlessness or stomach pain ever?’
Annabel cast her mind back to the last time she had seen Dotty, on her birthday weekend. She racked her brain but couldn’t think of anything, so mutely shook her head.
‘Incredible! That generation really was made of stern stuff!’ The doctor’s eyes widened, as if in admiration, then she continued, ‘The cyst looks ovarian in origin and it has been pressing on all her major organs for quite some time. It’s a wonder that she hasn’t been suffering from it.’
Annabel pictured her dainty grandmother and imagined the size of a rugby ball. She winced. It didn’t bear thinking about.
‘The scan also showed a malformation of the uterus; “uterine septum” is the technical term. Strange really, it doesn’t rule out conception, but I’d say nine times out of ten it would make carrying a foetus to full term almost impossible.
Your mother or father wasn’t adopted?’ the doctor asked in a clipped, business-like tone.
‘My father,’ Annabel clarified. ‘And no . . . ’ She paused, her brow furrowed in confusion. ‘He wasn’t adopted, he’s her son.’
‘Ah, there we are then.’ Dr Underwood gave a tight smile.
‘Your grandmother was obviously the lucky one!’ She looked a little uncomfortable, then moved on quickly to explain how they would take care of Dotty.
At her age, surgery to remove the cyst could result in further complications, so unless the family felt strongly, they would leave it alone and focus on keeping her as comfortable as possible.
A few minutes later, Annabel escaped the disinfectant-scented corridors of the hospital for some fresh air.
The consultation had left her feeling confused and emotional and she needed time to process what she had just heard.
The sun was emerging from a cloudy sky as she found a bench in the small hospital garden.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, tilting her face up to enjoy the sun’s warm rays.
There was something about the way the doctor had raised the question of adoption that had left her feeling unsettled.
The look in her eye as she’d said that Dotty must have been the ‘lucky one’ had unnerved Annabel.
Never in her life had she questioned her father’s parentage; why would she?
But the conversation with the doctor had introduced an element of doubt which Annabel was now struggling to shake off.