In Falling Snow by Mary-Rose MacColl

Author:Mary-Rose MacColl
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-07-21T16:00:00+00:00

David picked up Phil and Henry and they had fish and chips at home. Henry drew a big S on Mia’s cast and told her she must have been exposed to white kryptonite. Why white? Grace had asked. She’s lost the power to fly, Henry said. Silly, David added. You should have known that.

Later, the kids in front of the television upstairs, Grace and David were drinking tea at the kitchen bench. Grace said, “I’m not sure we can keep going like this.”

“Like what?”

“Mia today. The school called me. I was in the birth centre. I didn’t even take the call.” Grace remembered Jennifer Wilson suddenly and put the thought away.

“Well, you can’t stop and drop everything in our line of work. It was just lucky I was in a clinic. And Mia was fine.”

“She was all alone. In the ambulance.”

“No, she was with the paramedics. They know how to treat kids. They gave her pain relief and one of them stayed with her until I got there. Lovely guy. I must pen him a note.”

“But one of us should have been with her. I told the school to call you.”

“Maybe they don’t have the Mater number. I’ll get Naomi to call it through tomorrow. But it didn’t matter. Mick called. I met Mia at the hospital. It really was all right, Grace.”

But Grace continued to feel uneasy. What if the attending hadn’t been someone David knew, if he hadn’t got David, if Mia had been all alone in the hospital system? What if the injury had been worse? And while Grace had been in the birth centre initially and then in theatre, she’d forgotten about the call. Sure, they’d had an emergency to contend with. But what mattered more than her own children? She couldn’t bring herself to tell David about Jennifer Wilson. She’d tell him tomorrow. Jennifer would be awake, she realised. Grace had wanted to be there. “I have to go back into the hospital,” she said. “You’re okay to wait here?”

“Sure, but do you really have to? Mia might want you.”

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Jennifer Wilson and her husband were in a private room. The hospital had managed to give them that much. He looked so soft sitting there on the little visitor’s chair holding his wife’s hand. Grace told them how sorry she was. They weren’t even beginning to come to grips with what had happened. Grace knew she shouldn’t tell them she felt responsible but she did say to Jennifer, “I wish I’d known yesterday you were in labour. I should have done more tests.”

“It’s not your fault,” Jennifer Wilson said. “I wish I’d known too.” Grace found herself biting back tears for about the third time that day.

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