Vickie and I both laugh, my Mum knows we’re joking, it’s a tradition that we gang up on her whenever we are together but she knows we love her, don’t always like her but she’s our Mum so our love is unconditional.
“You don’t look very sick Lauren, I thought you would have had your head all bandaged and look at ya, you look like you’ve just stepped out of a beauty parlour, not just had a near death experience, look at ya, hair all nice and sexy pyjamas on; who’s all this in aid of, is the doctor good looking or is it your new fella, the one with the gay name.”
My sister and I try to contain our smiles as my mother rambles on.
“You do actually look great Lauren, how are you feeling, what have they said?” My sister asks.
“I feel okay, the knock was to my temple, there’s not really even a bump, it’s just the Jet Ski caught me in the wrong place and rattled my brain in my head, apparently the body’s response to this is to shut down your brain until it has recovered.”
“Oi Mum, you must have had a knock to the head at some stage, coz your brains been shut down for years.”
My sister and I burst into laughter at my sisters observation, my Mum flips us her middle finger.
“What were you doing on a Jet Ski anyway Lauren, ain’t you a bit old for all that malarkey now?”
I glare at my Mum but inwardly smile; I love the sound of her cockney accent, it’s just as strong as the day we arrived, it tugs at my heart, reminding me of happy times, family times, we used to be such a close family, my Mum and Dad, my sister and my two brothers, we were close in England but grew even closer when we moved here, we had to, we didn’t know anybody else. My brothers had both messaged since I had been in the hospital and so had all my nieces and nephews, it would be so nice to see them all, just to have one day, where all of us could be together; I can feel tears threatening at the backs of my eyes and I swallow down the lump in my throat.
Vickie and my Mum stay until after lunch and then go off to do some shopping, Gabe has arranged for them to stay at a nearby hotel and has apparently paid for everything up front, he has done all this for me, for my family, but he hadn’t even called to say goodnight or good morning and I can’t help the tears once I am alone and they start to fall just as Andrea walks in, she stops in her approach.
“You ok darl? It’s the meds, they make everyone teary after a couple of days, plus all that’s happened, you have a good cry, it’ll do you good, doctors about to come and see you though, so you might want to hold off for a minute.”
I smile at her weakly, I really wanted Gabe here when I got these results, what if there’s something wrong.
“Has Gabe called?” I ask hopefully, he hasn’t called or text my mobile so perhaps he has called the ward.
“Yes, he called last night and this morning but you were sleeping both times and he said not to wake you.”
Well that’s something I suppose. Dr Anderson breezes in with his doctor posse in tow.
“Good afternoon Lauren, my you are looking much better, all good news, nothing to worry about with the MRI scan and your blood pressure has come down nicely, I think we can let you go home tomorrow if all is well in the morning.”
He shines his torch in my eyes and takes my blood pressure as he talks, “Perfect, I’ll make arrangements and you can go in the morning.”
I don’t even get chance to speak and he breezes out again, Sam comes through the door minutes after, she looks almost as tired as Gabe. Without saying a word she comes towards the bed and hugs me.
“Thank god you’re okay Lauren, this, all of this has just been too fucking awful.”
“I know, it’s surreal; How is everyone, how’s CJ, what’s the latest on Ava?”
She frowns at me, “Have you not spoken to Gabe?”
I chew the skin on the inside of my lip as I shake my head and try not to cry.
“CJ’s fine, he’s upset about you and Ava and obviously devastated about his pops but physically he’s fine. Ava’s okay, they were going to start bringing her around but she’s had a reaction to one of the drugs she’s on and her temperature shot up last night, causing a bit of panic, she needs more tests today, I can’t believe Gabe hasn’t been in touch to tell you all this, has he not been to see you?”
I let out a long breath that I had been holding while Sam spoke, “He came yesterday, Jay was here, he walked in just as Jay kissed me, he walked out and I haven’t heard from him since.”
“Shit.”