Forty-eight
Jamie was relieved to see Erica arrive. He’d been in the hospital for what seemed like for ever. Cam and Joe had stayed awhile, then left with promises to return. Gary had stayed longer, had gone back to be with Mandy and fill her in on what was happening, returned and had now gone back home again. Although Jamie knew there was nothing he could do for Rory who was still sedated, he couldn’t bear to leave him.
‘How is he?’ Erica whispered, joining him at Rory’s bedside.
‘The doc says he’s holding his own. They managed to save his leg, but he’ll probably have permanent mobility issues. He’s lucky to be alive and to still have his leg.’
‘Oh, Jamie!’ Erica hugged him tightly, her eyes wet with tears.
As Erica’s arms wound around him, Jamie felt an easing of the tension in his gut that had been there since he heard about Rory. ‘Thanks, Erica. I’m glad you’re here.’
‘I’m sorry I couldn’t be here sooner. My phone…’ Her forehead creased.
‘It’s okay. Gary was here, and Cam and Joe. They’ve promised to come back, but they have families. They had to go home.’
‘Well, I’m here now and I’m not going anywhere.’ Erica hugged him again. ‘Have you eaten?’
Jamie shook his head. Food had been furthest from his thoughts. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and it must now be late afternoon.
‘Why don’t I go to the cafeteria and fetch something. You need to eat. You’ll be no good to Rory if you keel over too.’
‘I don’t think…’
‘Mr Whittaker…’ a nurse appeared in the doorway, ‘… I need to check Rory’s vitals. Why don’t you and your friend get something to eat while I’m here? Rory’s going to be fine.’
Reluctantly, Jamie followed Erica out of the room and down to the cafeteria, with its memories of him and Gary waiting there for news.
When they were seated with cups of coffee and sandwiches, Erica asked, ‘What happened? Joe left a message about a shark attack. Here in Pelican Crossing?’
‘Yeah. We didn’t think it could happen here. Rory and I even had a conversation about it… when we were discussing the removal of the shark nets. He and Gary were surfing when it happened. As I said, he was lucky. The shark took out a section of his thigh and he lost a lot of blood. He may need more surgery.’ Jamie felt his eyes moisten at the thought of what his son had gone through. ‘Joe was there, he…’ he swallowed, ‘… he used his dog’s lead as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. Without that…’ He shook his head.
‘Oh Jamie!’ Erica said again, placing a hand on his arm. ‘Poor Rory!’
‘It could have been much worse. We could have lost him.’ The thought of what could have happened brought back the tears that were never far from the surface. He brushed them away. ‘Sorry, Rici. It’s been the worst day of my life.’
When they got back to the ward, Rory was partially awake. ‘Dad?’ he murmured.
‘I’m here, son.’
‘I thought I was dying. I saw its eyes. It looked straight at me and…’ his voice trailed off, then his eyes closed again.
‘He’ll sleep for a while now. Why don’t you go home and get some rest? You can see him again tomorrow,’ a voice said in his ear.
Jamie looked up at the nurse he’d seen before.
‘There’s nothing you can do here,’ she added.
‘But…’ Jamie looked at Rory who now appeared to be sleeping peacefully.
‘She’s right,’ Erica said, taking Jamie’s arm. ‘Rory’s in good hands. He’s getting the best care. You need to rest too. I’ll drive you home.’
‘Thanks.’ Jamie took one last look at Rory and allowed Erica to lead him out of the room.
*
Neither Erica nor Jamie spoke much on the drive home. She was too shell-shocked to make conversation, and assumed Jamie was the same. When they reached Livvy’s cottage, she stopped the car and turned to Jamie. ‘Do you want to come in or would you prefer to go home?’
‘Here’s fine.’ The fit, energetic man she knew seemed to have shrunk. His eyes were red.
Erica got out of the car, and Jamie followed her in, slumping into a chair as soon as he reached the living room.
‘I think we both need a drink,’ she said.
‘Cam put brandy in a cup of tea, but that was hours ago.’
Glad his mate had had the sense to provide some sort of stimulant but realising it would have worn off some time ago, Erica went to the kitchen where she poured two glasses of whisky. She knew Jamie was a whisky drinker and she’d noticed the bottle hidden away in Livvy’s pantry. She could replace it later.
‘Here,’ she said, handing Jamie one glass. Then, taking a seat opposite, took a sip from the other. She flinched at the remembered taste, but it did help. It seemed to help Jamie too.
‘How did your talk go?’ he asked, after a few moments of silence while he drained his glass, then rolled it between his hands.
‘It was fine, it’s why I didn’t get Joe’s message sooner, or…’
‘You couldn’t have done anything.’
‘No.’ Erica bit her lip, wishing there was something she could do now, but all either of them could do was wait.
‘I think I’d like to lie down.’ Jamie placed his glass on the coffee table and rose, stumbling a little as he made his way to the door.
‘You can stay here.’ Jamie didn’t look as if he had the energy to walk along the road to his cottage, even if he wanted to.
‘Thanks. You’ll join me?’
‘Of course. I’ll be there shortly.’
After Jamie disappeared into the bedroom, Erica tidied up, then called Joe.
‘Thanks for letting me know about Rory, Joe,’ she said. ‘Jamie is taking it badly. I’ve never seen him like this.’ Seeing Jamie’s distress over Rory had brought home to Erica the importance of family and made her vow to try harder with Kieren, to help him see Geoff for what he was and change his own habits before it was too late, before his little family was lost to him.
‘It’s bad,’ Joe agreed, ‘but the boy will pull through. It could have been a lot worse.’
‘Thanks to you, it’s not. Jamie told me what you did.’
‘It was nothing. Anyone would have done the same.’
Erica could almost see her brother shrug. She knew it wasn’t true. Not everyone would have had the presence of mind to act as quickly as he had clearly done.
‘How is Jamie now?’
‘We’re back home, and he’s gone to bed, though I’m not sure how much sleep he’ll get. But at least he’s resting. I have tomorrow off, and we’ll be going back to the hospital, but I have to go back to work on Monday. I’m not sure about Jamie.’
‘It would be best for him to go back to work too, but I guess it’s up to him.’
‘I’ll talk with him about it. He can always visit Rory every day, and it can be wearing sitting by a hospital bedside day after day.’ Erica had seen relatives do that and end up becoming ill themselves.
‘Good. I’ll drop in too, and I know Cam plans to. We all need to support Jamie. He’d do the same for us.’
‘It’s going to be a long haul for Rory, Joe. More surgery, weeks of recovery then rehab. But he’s one of the lucky ones.’ She shivered remembering all the news items she’d read about surfers who’d lost their lives in shark attacks.
When the call ended, Erica took a shower then joined Jamie in bed, surprised to see he’d fallen into a restless sleep. She cuddled up to him and closed her eyes, hoping the warmth of her body would provide the comfort he needed.