Sweet Wonderful You

iii.

'Room 15.28, this is it,' Stevie says as she pushes Henry's pushchair along the hallway of the hospital.

'Are you sure this is a good idea?' Christine asks anxiously as she peers into the empty, dim room, Juliet slung across her hip.

'I'm positive,' Stevie replies with a reassuring smile as she opens the door and walks in. They are early, about 15 minutes so and they are the first to arrive.

'What if we are a distraction?' Christine asks placing Juliet on the ground and taking a seat in one of the chairs that is set in a circle around the room as she picks up a piece of her hair, twisting it between her fingers.

'If we are we can always leave but Susan said this was a good idea and I think she might be right,' Stevie responds patiently leaning over to place a light, reassuring kiss on Christine's cheek before taking a seat beside her.

'Is Lindsey still coming?' Christine asks looking towards the door.

'As far as I am aware,' Stevie responds.

The door swings open and two women, the taller of whom is carrying a child about Juliet's age on her hip enter the room. The woman holding the toddler places her down and she immediately crawls over to Juliet, 'I Annabelle,' the toddler announces loudly.

'I Juliet,' Juliet responds equally loud, 'play shop?' she asks pointing to a large pile of toys in the corner of the room.

'Yeah!' Annabelle responds enthusiastically.

The shorter of the two women takes a seat next to Stevie and the taller woman sits next to her, 'Hi,' the taller one says with a warm smile and a British accent, 'I'm Rachel and this is Maggie,' she says pointing to her partner who smiles hesitantly, 'is this your first time here?'

'Yeah, it is,' Stevie responds returning Rachel's smile, 'I'm Stevie and this is Chris.'

'It is our first time too,' Rachel replies, 'Simone, she is our family therapist, she recommended we come here, she said it might help, Maggie was reluctant but I made her come.'

'Christine was reluctant too,' Stevie responds and Christine glares at her, 'our therapist suggested that this might be a good idea for us as well.'

Just then the door swings open again and Lindsey enters, looking a little flustered, 'Sorry I'm late, this joint is a rabbit warren,' he says walking over and giving both Christine and Stevie a hello kiss on the cheek before taking a seat beside Christine, 'I see Juliet is making a friend,' he observes looking over to where Juliet and Annabelle are playing.

'That is Annabelle and this is Maggie and Rachel,' Stevie says introducing Lindsey to the pair.

They are about to get talking again when suddenly the room becomes a hive of activity, people begin filing in at a far faster rate, and the intimacy of the situation is lost. People are murmuring in low tones and catching up with already established cliques within the larger group. Stevie can only pick up on snippets of conversation. 'Isn't that Stevie Nicks?' A man in his 30s whispers to his partner.

'Yeah, and that is Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie,' the woman he is with replies.

'I haven't seen you in a while,' a woman says to another woman who is sitting on her own.

'Jonathan got pneumonia again, we have been in the ICU for a month,' the lone woman replies wiping away a tear.

'I heard that Sam died in his sleep last week, the poor darling was only 12,' a woman whispers to the man sitting next to her.

'But you think Elliot will get longer, right? the man responds trying to remain stoic, 'he has already been stronger than Sam.'

Stevie looks over to Christine who's eyes are darting around the room, Stevie can tell she is beginning to panic, she reaches over and picks up Christine's hand giving it a squeeze, looking to her left she can see Rachel doing the same thing with Maggie.