Chapter 9
Jade
W aking with a start, I realize I can’t move. Something heavy is draped across my stomach. Realizing its Max’s arm, I sink back into his embrace, but am quickly brought back to reality because my phone is ringing in my bag across the room. I gently lift his arm, trying hard not to wake him. He mumbles something in his sleep and a soft snore comes from his perfect lips. He truly is a beautiful man, and right now he looks so peaceful.
Padding across the room, I find my bag and take out my phone, noticing it’s my mum’s partner, Henry. I sneak into the bathroom, checking the time on my phone which tells me it’s only 7am. Throwing on a robe I spot in the bathroom, I answer the call.
“Hello, Henry. Is everything okay?” I try to keep my voice low, pulling my fingers through my bed hair, cursing myself for not brushing it before I collapsed.
“Jade, I need you to meet me at the city hospital. It’s your mum she…” He struggles with his words, sounding like he’s biting back tears.
“Okay, Henry, breathe. What’s happened? What’s wrong with Mum?” I’m well and truly awake now, taking in slow calming breaths. I stop pacing and sit on the edge of the tub, as a strong wave of nausea rushes through me, making me feel lightheaded.
“She went to get out of bed in the night and…” He cuts himself off.
“Spit it out, Henry. What’s going on with mum?” I snap. I realize I’m being too blunt with him, but I need to know what’s going on. Feeling bile rising in my throat at the panic clawing at my insides. My Mum is and always will be, the most important person in my life.
“Sorry. She had a seizure. I had to call the ambulance. I couldn't get her to come out of it,” he rushes out, panic lacing his voice.
“A seizure?” My voice rises slightly. I’m struggling to believe what Henry is saying, because she is so young and she looks after herself. It doesn’t make sense. “Do you know what caused it?”
“No. We’ve just got to the hospital. The paramedics managed to stabilize her and they will run tests on her today, but Jade, she, oh fuck. She hasn’t woken up.”
“What do you mean, she hasn’t woken up?” The walls of the bathroom start to close in on me as anxiety pools in my stomach.
“As in, they’ve got her to come out of the seizure, but her body has shut down and has put her in a coma. Until she comes out of it, we don’t know what the effects of the seizure are.”
Fear is now creeping in, grabbing hold of me, making it hard to breathe. I can’t lose my mum. She’s the only family I have. Every possibility is running through my head and none of them are positive.
“I’m on my way. I’ll call you when I get there, so you can tell me what ward you’re on.”
“Okay.” He sounds so broken. My heart’s cracking, not just for myself, but for him as well.
Walking back into the bedroom, I pick up my discarded costume, cringing that I’m going to have to do the walk of shame. But it’s either that or Max’s robe.
Once I’m dressed, I quickly take a look at him lying there and my heart squeezes. He was perfect last night, but I don’t want to wake him. I also don’t want to walk away. I spot a pen on his bedside table, but no paper. Panicking, I open my bag and am relieved when I find a napkin.
I leave the note on the dresser weighed down by the gold pin I had in my hair all night and leave.
I find Henry in the waiting room white as a sheet, with bloodshot eyes and messy hair. When he spots me, he practically runs towards me, wrapping his strong arms around me as his tears fall, which in turn makes me break. “Let’s take a seat so you can tell me what’s going on?” I finally say because I’m so scared of what he’s going to tell me. I want to run, but I can’t. Not from this. Not from the woman who has given me everything. She’s my constant, my rock, and now I need to be hers. He nods and hooks his arm around my shoulders, guiding me to the chairs in the corner.
“She’s still in the coma, but the nurses are saying that she’s stable—whatever that means.” He shakes his head and blows out a breath, looking up at the ceiling. “Jade, they’re talking about the possibility of a brain tumor.”
“I’m sorry what?” All of a sudden the air seems to have gone from the room and I grasp my stomach as the nausea I thought I had got under control early threatens to make an appearance.
“Oh, God, I thought this would be easier to say if I just blurted it out, but how do you tell a daughter her mum potentially has a brain tumor? I’m so sorry. I’m not doing this right at all.” Putting his head in his hands, he starts to sob again.
“So, what are the doctors saying we need to do to get her better?” I take his hand in mine and he looks over at me.
“Umm, well shit, Jade. Why aren’t you screaming and shouting at me? I don’t think I could’ve handled that worse?”
“Henry, it may be my mum who’s going through this, but she’s also your partner, your other half. You love her so much, it makes my heart soar. You were with her when it happened. That must have been so scary. I can't blame you for the way you told me. I know you will do whatever you can to get her better, so tell me what’s the plan? What have the doctors said?”
Shaking his head, he lets out a soft chuckle. “You’re just like her, you know. A fixer. I don't think you can see the bad in anyone. Never lose that.”
“Thank you.”
Turning his whole body towards me, he takes both my hands in his. “Okay, the specialist said that they’ll take her for a CT scan and MRI to see what’s going on today, then we’ll go from there. They’re hoping she’ll come out of the coma within the next twenty-four hours. As her body has been through trauma, it's just closing down to rest. Then when they’ve got the full picture, we can plan but Jade…” He pauses to compose himself. “They’ve told me to prepare for the eventuality of it being a tumor, which could have life changing effects, even if it’s treatable.”
“Then we’ll plan for that, if and when we need to, but for now we need to find out what’s going on, not lose our heads in front of her and be strong for each other, okay?”
“Okay.” He squeezes my hands, his eyes glassy with tears.
My heart’s beating so violently in my chest it hurts. I’m putting on a front, seemingly calm and collected on the outside because this situation doesn’t need us both to break down right now. I’ll break down. I’ll cry, scream, and shout, but I won’t do that now. I’ll do that when I get back to my apartment with Lily, Trixie, and Beck, who’ll be there to help me through this. I’m crumbling on the inside. My mum, the woman who’d literally walk on broken glass for me, is in a coma with a potential brain tumor and I can do nothing to help her. She’s only forty-five, with so much left to do and achieve, and right now her life, mine and Henry’s, are on hold. I refuse to believe that she won’t beat this, not be here to live her life alongside Henry. Or see me live mine.