31 Days of Summer (31 Days #2) (46 page)

‘Hello Daniel,’ came Mrs. McAdams voice. ‘Is that
Oliver I can hear crying in the background?’

‘Yes, Dean’s flying over now, I’m taking him to
the hospital. Is Ellie up there with you?’

‘Ellie? Of course not, she’d never go anywhere
without him.’

‘That’s what I thought, but I have no idea where
she is, I’ve been calling for her and she’s not answering.’

‘Maybe she needed a sleep, it’s very tiring being
pregnant.’

‘Yes, but she’d have taken Oliver to our bedroom
with her, not left him alone in her office.’

‘Maybe she’s not well either and she’s in one of
the hundred bathrooms you have in that house. I’ll come down right away.’

‘Thanks,’ I sighed I put the phone down. ‘Sssshhhh
baby, it’s ok, we’re going to take you to see a doctor who’ll make you better,
ok? Let’s go and find mummy and make sure she’s ok, she’s probably got your bug
too.’ I checked the upstairs en-suites first and cursed the fact that we’d
decided not to knock a door through to our master bedroom up here. I padded
down and called for her again as I checked the cinema room, then the utility.
My heart was starting to beat faster and my palms felt clammy. Something felt
off, she’d never leave him, unless he was tucked up in bed, or with me, or
someone else. I walked through to the playroom and checked Oliver’s bedroom and
en-suite, panic starting to rise when I didn’t find her in either. I walked
through to the other bedroom, which would be our baby’s new room when he or she
arrived. ‘Ellie?’ I yelled, then winced as Oliver started crying again.

‘Dada,’ he sobbed.

‘I know baby, I know, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to
scare you,’ I whispered, as I kissed his hot forehead and walked out. I froze
in my tracks, as my heart moved up into my mouth and threatened to explode. She
was lying face down at the foot of the stairs with blood matted through her
blonde hair, blood that was all over the oak floor like a dark red halo around
her head. ‘No, no, no,’ I groaned, as I fought the urge to be sick myself. ‘Not
you too, not you.’

‘Daniel, what’s going on?’ asked Mrs. McAdams, as
she ran in and looked at my face and Oliver crying on my shoulder. I couldn’t
move, I wanted to run to Ellie, to pull her into my arms and tell her she was
going to be fine, but there was so much blood I couldn’t. The minute I touched
her and had the worst confirmed it would kill me too.

‘O sweet Jesus,’ Mrs. McAdams cried. I couldn’t
look at her, I couldn’t take my eyes of Ellie crumpled on the floor, off the
sight of my world falling apart at the seams. ‘Ellie?’

‘Dada,’ Oliver moaned as he tried to get out of my
grasp, but no way was I letting him go, he might be all I had left. I stayed
rooted to the spot, tightly clutching Oliver, as Mrs. McAdams ran over to Ellie,
knelt on the floor and put her fingers on her neck. Those seconds waiting for
her to speak were the longest of my life, the sound of my heart beating crazily
was deafening.

‘O thank God, she’s alive, she’s alive,’ nodded
Mrs. McAdams. I blinked back tears, backed up into the wall and slid down it
until I was sitting on the floor, relief coursing through my veins as the shock
started to hit me. ‘Right, pull it together, they both need medical attention so
you don’t have time for a melt-down right now,’ she scolded. ‘You’re Oliver
Daniel Davenport, CEO and bossy control freak. You’ll get up and pull yourself
together. They both need you.’

‘She’s alive?’ I whispered, needing reassurance.
She nodded and I felt the pain in my heart lessen slightly.

‘Her pulse is really weak and I’m too scared to
move her in case I cause more damage.’

‘Dean’s on his way,’ I nodded, as I found the
strength to get back up. ‘He’s a trained paramedic.’

‘Grab me that blanket to keep her warm,’ she
ordered as she pointed at the sofa and I did as I was told, handing it to her,
barely able to look down at the state my Ellie was in as she carefully covered
her. ‘Ring Fred and tell him to get his arse down here to pack Oliver’s bag,
you go upstairs and pack a bag for Ellie. Nightie, some t-shirts, a clean pair
of jeans or whatever and fresh underwear.’

‘Ok,’ I nodded. I rang Mr. McAdams from the
kitchen and gave him a summary of the situation. Like Dean he put the phone
down without any pleasantries. That was men for you, see a problem, fix it. Except
I seemed to have turned into a woman, an emotional bloody wreck, I could barely
think straight. I was petrified of losing her. I reluctantly took Oliver to his
room and sat him in his cot, trying to breathe deeply to calm myself as I tried
to tempt him with one of his favourite toys. All I could hear was his cries,
all I could see was my Ellie lying there motionless. All because I’d ignored
her concerns this morning, all because I’d bloody left them alone. My past
wasn’t just affecting me, it was affecting my whole family, my present and now
my future. I couldn’t bear leaving Oliver alone, so I lifted him up, settled
him against me, and headed back out, feeling my stomach turn again as I saw her
lying there with Mrs. McAdams stroking her hair. I should be the one helping
her, she was my responsibility,
my
woman. I felt so damn helpless.

‘If you’re up to it and you promise not to move
her, you sit here with her, talk to her in case she can hear you. Her head
wound has stopped bleeding, I think. I’ll pack her bags, men are hopeless at
packing.’ She sounded so calm it only served to highlight my panicked terror. I
watched as she stood up and carefully made her way up the stairs bending over
to pick up the thermometer and a face cloth lying halfway up the stairs and I
silently cursed. I bet Ellie had been rushing down with those to head back to
Oliver and wasn’t looking where she was going. I wondered how long she’d been
lying there, how long Oliver had been screaming while I was sitting with Moira,
who probably didn’t even know I was there. I carefully sat down next to her,
trying not to sit in, or put my hand in, her congealed blood on the floor, as
bile rose in my throat.

‘Baby, please wake up. We need you,
I
need
you. I thought I knew how much, but seeing you like this just multiples that. Don’t
you
dare
leave me, if you think you’ve seen me pissed off before, you’ll
need to revise that assessment if you even think about not coming back to us.’
I kissed Oliver’s head, hoping I wasn’t giving him some kind of childhood
trauma that would stay with him for life seeing his mum like this. I reached
out with a shaking hand and lay it over one of hers, she barely felt warm.
‘Come back to me, Ellie.
Please,
’ I begged, as I fought the urge to
break down and sob.

‘O my God,’ came a voice. I looked up to see Mr.
McAdams. I just swallowed and nodded. ‘Don’t move her. Where’s Mary?’

‘Getting a bag together for, Ellie.’

‘I’ll sort one for Oliver, don’t look so
surprised, I’ve had six children. I do know what to do, I just never told the
Mrs or she’d have me doing it all the time,’ he winked, trying to lighten the
mood. I attempted a half-smile before I turned my head to watch the clock on
the wall, the seconds ticking away agonisingly slowly. Anything to not look
down and see her lying like that, in a pool of her own blood. Oliver had
finally stopped sobbing and now just let out the odd wobbly lipped gasp. I lay
my head on top of his wondering what I’d done in life to deserve such bad luck.
I suddenly took a pained gasp, the baby, I hadn’t even thought about our new
baby in my state of panic. If I lost both of them now, that would surely finish
me off. Only the sound of the helicopter blades slicing through the air above
us cheered me up.

‘Hold on baby, Dean’s here, he’ll know what to do.
Just hold on for me.’

‘Ok, the baby bag’s good to go. Why don’t you give
me Oliver to look after? Dean’s going to need to bring the stretcher, go and
meet him, I’ll stay with them both.’

I nodded and kissed my fingers before putting them
on Ellie’s head. After blinking back my tears I got up, handed Oliver over and finally
a surge of adrenaline kicked it. I was no longer helpless, I could do something
now. I started running, out of the house and up the path to the helicopter clearing
on top of the hill, ignoring the burning in my lungs. I was so out of shape
since they’d moved in, too much time spent playing with Oliver, eating Ellie’s
home cooked meals, in bed having sex. I made it to the top to find Dean
patiently waiting with the blades still turning. I yelled at him and indicated
to cut the engine and he looked at me surprised, before removing his headphones
and jumping out.

‘Where’s Oliver?’ he shouted.

‘The house. Ellie’s in really bad shape as well,
she’s unconscious, she fell down the stairs. Grab the stretcher,’ I yelled. He
nodded and slid the passenger door back, pulled it out and slung a red medics
bag over his shoulder.

‘Have you moved her?’ he asked as he ran towards
me.

‘No just covered her with a blanket, her pulse is
really weak. Oliver’s bad too with a high temperature, diarrhoea and vomiting and
he won’t stop crying,’ I advised, as we started to run back down the hill.

‘I need to look at Ellie first, if Oliver’s crying
he’s not in as much danger as she is.’

I swallowed hard as I heard the word danger, took
my focus off my footing and fell, sliding down the rock pathway. ‘Go,’ I yelled
as Dean slowed and looked back at me. ‘I’m fine, don’t stop.’ I took a moment
to catch my breath as he hared off in front of me. ‘Get up Oliver Davenport,
she needs you.’ I grimaced as I stood up, I had a deep cut down the side of my
leg where some granite had sliced through my jeans which were also stained with
my blood, my hand was bleeding too, but I could worry about my minor injuries
later, all that mattered was my family. I charged into the house to find Mrs.
McAdams holding Oliver, with one of our medium sized suitcases by her side, she
looked at me and shook her head as she saw the state of me. I skidded on my
knees across the floor to where Dean had put Ellie’s neck in some kind of brace
and Mr. McAdams was helping him turn her over onto the stretcher.

‘Stay back, Sir,’ Dean warned. ‘You’re upset and
your hands are shaking, you’re no use to me or her like this.’

‘I need to do something,’ I yelled, as I punched
the wall in frustration and Oliver started crying again. I was right back there
at Rebecca’s bedside, feeling totally fucking helpless again.

‘Oliver?’ My mother’s voice echoed in the private
room I’d secured and I raised my head from my forearms, which were balanced on
the railings on the side of Oliver’s hospital bed. The look on her face said
everything and I felt tears start to roll down my face. She shoved her bag in
my father’s hands and ran to fling her arms around me and clutch my head to her
stomach, as I started to sob. ‘It’s ok, we’re here now. I’m so sorry, you don’t
deserve this,’ she whispered as she kissed the top of my head.

‘How’s little Oliver doing?’ asked my father. He
was never overly emotional, not that I’d ever seen anyway, he was always so in
control. He must be so disappointed to see me sobbing like a girl in my mother’s
arms.

‘Dehydrated,’ I replied, as I quickly pulled
myself together and wiped my eyes on my sleeve as mother released me and ran
her hand up and down my back. ‘He has this sickness bug that laid me out, so
they’ve put him on a drip and given him some medication to help bring his
temperature down. He’s only just fallen asleep. He knew something was wrong
with everyone being so upset and just kept crying for Ellie.’

‘What’s the news on her?’ Mother asked softly.
‘Dean filled us in on her injuries when he picked us up. She has a broken wrist
and concussion?’

‘We’re waiting for the results of a CT scan, she
hasn’t … she hasn’t come around yet. They’re setting her wrist while we wait
and she’s really badly bruised from the fall,’ I nodded as my voice wavered.

‘You’re not here on your own are you?’ she asked.

‘No. Mr. and Mrs. McAdams went to get me some
coffee, to give me a minute with Oliver.’

‘What happened?’ she sighed as she took a seat
next to me and took my hand in hers.

‘I’m not sure, I wasn’t there,’ I laughed. My
parents looked at me shocked. ‘Ironic isn’t it? Sitting at the bed of my
comatose wife, while my girlfriend’s lying unconscious in our own house as my
son screams for her.’

‘You’re doing the best you can under less than
ideal circumstances, son,’ nodded my father. ‘You couldn’t have done anymore.
You got them both here as fast as you could. You just have to be patient now.’

‘The baby?’ Mother whispered. I gulped and nodded.

‘As far as we’re aware from the scan it’s fine,
they’ll be monitoring them both closely.’

‘O, baby,’ she sighed making me smile. Only she
could get away with calling me baby, at the age of thirty-five as well. We all
whipped our heads around as the door was opened, to see it was Mr. and Mrs
McAdams with my coffee and a couple of sandwiches. I gladly accepted the
coffee, but I couldn’t eat, not while I didn’t know what was happening to
Ellie. I zoned out again as they all started talking and picked up Oliver’s
tiny hand and kissed it. He was still hot, but much better than when we’d brought
him in. Seeing him with an IV in his other hand hurt me, you always imagined
adults getting sick, never children. I gave a lot of money each year to
charity, but now I saw him lying here, I was going to set aside a big chunk of
it for sick children’s foundations.

‘Ok there’s too many people in here,’ called a
nurse.

‘We’ll get Dean to take us back to the house and
we can clean up for you,’ advised Mrs. McAdams as she put a hand on my
shoulder. ‘You be sure to ring us the minute there’s any change.’

‘I will. Thank you, for everything,’ I smiled.

‘I’ll make up the guest room for your parents as
well, I doubt they’ll be able to stay the night here too. I’ll send Dean back
for them when visiting hours are over.’ I nodded and she kissed the top of my
head. I exchanged a nod and a smile with Mr. McAdams as they said their
goodbyes and left, as the nurse checked Oliver’s temperature and switched out
his IV bag.