Happy ever ... after

Chapter 18

All she could see in front of her was the vehicle with its doors wide open. What terrible truth was hiding inside? She ran as fast as she could to the ambulance.

Matt watched her approach and forced his lips into a smile. She stopped in front of him but did not dare to ask anything. Panting, she just peeked through the doors. It was Martha all right. She was sitting on a stretcher. A woman in a white overcoat was wrapping the black sleeve of a blood pressure monitor around her arm. Something was reassuring in this scene. If she was sitting up, maybe it was nothing serious?

Emily's presence attracted the doctor's gaze, and the woman in white gave her a small, comforting look. Martha saw this silent conversation and turned her head slowly. There was a slight delay. A split second passed before she recognised Emily, but it felt like an eternity.

'Oh, Emily, how nice of you to be here.'

'What happened, Martha?'

'It's nothing, nothing at all, don't worry.'

Martha's words did not reassure her in the least. Emily turned around to Matt. He was standing right next to her. He had puffy eyes, swollen eyelids. His cheeks were barely dry from the tears that had flowed very recently.

'What happened?' she repeated, in a trembling voice.

She looked at him, but he could not return her gaze.

He was staring at his mother with a reassuring smile, yet everything in his face indicated deep and real anguish.

'She fainted this evening. We don't know why yet. She said she felt unwell. Her head was spinning, and then she started shaking. She couldn't get up. She said it felt like she had a veil in front of her eyes.'

He had to fight fresh tears.

The doctor invited Emily to climb inside the ambulance.

'You can come and sit next to your mother for a few moments if you wish.'

Emily did not correct her and readily accepted the role of the daughter.

'Come on, Emily, don't worry about me. Tell me about Paris.'

Martha's voice trailed more than usual as if she had just run a marathon and was trying to catch her breath. Emily did not want to talk, especially not about the trip, but she knew it would do her friend some good, so she forced herself.

'It was nice, we visited lots of monuments. I went to the top of the Eiffel Tower.'

'Oooh.'

'And last night, we had a dinner cruise on the Seine.'

'So romantic.'

The old lady wanted to adopt a mischievous smile but only managed half of it, leaving her face contorted. It was so difficult for Emily to see her like this. How could she talk about holidays under these circumstances? She wished she had spent the weekend at home instead of going to Paris. She would have been there; maybe Matt would have come to her for help. She could have comforted Martha while she waited for the ambulance. She even began to think that, perhaps if she had been there, spending the evening with them, none of this would have happened. But her regrets were useless – it was too late, and she knew it. She had to be stronger than that, for Martha, for this woman who had treated her like her own daughter. With that, she gave her a cheery smile and provided more details about the trip.

'He bought me a new dress for the cruise.'

'That is so romantic. Tell me everything.' Martha put a hand on Emily's thigh and squeezed it as much as she could. 'It's so beautiful, to hear about a young couple in love like that.'