His Second Chance

Chapter Thirteen

I ran through the hospital, the sickness in my stomach driving me on to find my family. Julian had offered to come with me, but I didn't think it would have been appropriate, so I had hurriedly asked him to wait outside, and leave if he didn't hear from me. The receptionist had told me where I was supposed to go, but I had taken a few wrong turns and now I had no idea where I was going. I went to run down one of the larger corridors, but I saw to my left down one of the smaller hallways at the end, Elliot's head. He was lying asleep on the floor. I shot down the hallway, almost crashing into the wall at the other end. Not that anyone would have noticed. They were all asleep, Elliot on the floor, Chloe was sitting on one of the hospital chairs, her head leaning on the wall and Archie was lying across three of the chairs, his head resting on his sister's lap. I didn't want to wake any of them, so I sat down next to Chloe. My coat brushed past her sleeve, waking her up. She never slept properly if it was in a foreign place. She looked across at me with an expressionless face.

"What happened?" I asked frantically as I sat down," Is she okay? Where is she?"

"We don't know," she answered, rubbing her eyes," She was in the kitchen, as normal, making dinner, and then she went as white as a sheet and just fell. I was there with Elliot, we tried to wake her up but nothing happened. So, I called an ambulance, but she stopped breathing."

I raised a hand to my mouth, terrified. Poor Elliot was probably mortified.

"Then what?" I said.

"The guy stayed on the phone and talked us through doing chest compressions until the ambulance arrived," she continued," They took her, me and Elliot followed in the car and I called Archie. He arrived a little while after us. I tried to call you, but you never picked up."

"I know, I'm so sorry, my phone was on silent," I said, feeling terrible," So, where is she now? Is there any news?"

"No, nothing," she replied, yawning," We've been waiting for five hours now."

I sighed, rubbing my eyes. I felt so bad for not being here. I pulled out my phone to message Julian. There was already a message from him, saying that he would wait outside until I needed him. I smiled slightly although my eyes were filling with tears of worry. I began to type out a response when a tall man with a white lab coat and a clipboard walked towards us. Both Chloe and I looked up at the same time. She shuffled slightly with the intention of getting up to greet the doctor, and this woke Archie up. He sat up, still half asleep. We were all silent, waiting for him to speak.

"Miss Maxwell." He was addressing Chloe. "It appears your mother suffered a severe anaphylactic shock that closed off her airway very quickly. This would explain the symptoms that both you and the paramedics described. We stabilised her, but she is on a ventilator and is so far unresponsive."

"But that doesn't make any sense, my mum isn't allergic to anything," she said, looking down at Archie," She wasn't doing anything different than she normally does when she cooks, we haven't bought anything different. Where has this come from?"

"Sometimes we can develop allergies later in life, or maybe is has been an underlying allergy that has never surfaced or presented symptoms until now," he answered," We're going to run some more tests to try and determine what caused the reaction."

"Can we see her?" Archie asked.

"Yes, of course," he said," I'll take you to her room."

I woke Elliot and we all followed the doctor like sheep through the winding corridors towards her room. I so desperately wanted to see her, but at the same time, I really didn't. She was in a room by herself. We all stood outside, looking through the window in silence. No one knew what to do or say. Chloe was the first to move, walking slowly into her room. We all followed her, leaning on each others shoulders, like we were walking through a haunted house. Chloe sat at the foot of the bed, not knowing what to do. Archie seemed to be more in touch with his emotions, sitting down next to his mother, holding her hand.

"I can't let you stay for long, as we're out of hours, but visiting hours are between nine and eight." I forgot about the doctor who was standing in the doorway.

"Five minutes."

The cold order came from Chloe. Her eyes were red, but there were no tears, visible emotion. The doctor got the message, and left us. We all sat in silence, none of us knowing if we should do or say anything. We all just sat there, waiting.

****

I forced my eyes open, focusing on the hands on my alarm clock. It was nearly midday, and my poor horses had been in all night. For the time I was getting dressed and ready I had forgotten about what happened last night. Only when I came downstairs and realised that Elizabeth wasn't there, tinkering about in her garden or experimenting in the kitchen, was when I remembered. Everything was such a blur last night as I pulled on my boots to rush outside. Just as I was leaving, Chloe came in.

"Don't worry, I've already done them," she said," Come and sit down, I'll make you some tea."

I did as I was told, not even bothering to take my boots off.

"Where is everyone?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"Elliot, as far as I know, is still asleep, and Archie is in his shed," she answered, before a silence fell upon the room.

"How was your evening then?" she asked.

"Good," I said shortly.

"That's it?" she asked.

"I'm not in the mood," I said," I feel bad for not being here last night."

"No one could have known it would happen. I'm sure Mum will forgive you."

I sighed. I saw her open her mouth to speak, but then we saw a car pull into the driveway. It was the inspector. I huffed. Of course it was. Chloe got up and walked outside to greet him. I felt so angry, for a reason I couldn't say. I watched as he gave her a hug, and a kiss on the head. They exchanged a few words, before she pulled away slightly, staring up at him. I raised an eyebrow, wondering what they were talking about. Chloe seemed almost upset; they looked like they were about to have an argument, but I saw Jack give her one last kiss on the forehead before getting back into his car and driving away. She came back inside with quite a shocked look on her face.

"What's the matter?" I asked," What did he tell you?"

"They've made some progress on the smuggling case," she said, leaning against the counter," They think they have evidence against a few people who could be behind it."

"Who?"

"Louie, Anouk's husband."