Page 33 of The Happy Family

‘Like I said, it is still early and we have several tests to conduct to determine the extent of it,’ the doctor repeats. ‘At this early stage, it would appear it is her short-term memory, and more specifically, the events around her accident and the time before she went into the coma.’

I feel some air escaping through my pursed lips, a slight exhale that is my body’s way of releasing a little of the tension I have been holding onto ever since Sadie woke. What the doctor just told us is excellent news, at least for me anyway.

‘She can’t remember why she’s in hospital?’ I ask then, finding my voice now I feel less panicky on the inside.

‘Not at the moment, no,’ the doctor replies. ‘This memory may return. It’s very early days.’

‘When will you know if it will return?’ I ask.

‘It’s difficult to put a timeframe on that. It could be days, weeks, months. It could even be years. There really is no way to know if and when the memory will return, but it absolutely can and that is the outcome we will be working towards.’

As Arthur and Ruby ask if they can see their mummy now and the doctor confirms that they can, I take a step back from the eager family who all want to get inside that room and see Sadie. All I can think about at the moment is the doctor saying Sadie’s memory could return at any time and it might even be years from now. If that’s the case, I can never relax.

‘Are you okay?’

I realise Reid is talking to me, and while everyone else has now gone in to see Sadie, he is still out here with me and Jude. I appreciate that, although I’d rather be on my own at this moment to process what I just heard about Sadie’s amnesia.

‘Yeah, I just feel like I need to lie down,’ I say. ‘Maybe I should go back to my bed. The doctors are probably looking for me, anyway.’

‘That sounds like a good idea.’

I give Jude a kiss before handing him back to his father.

‘If anybody wants to speak to me about when Sadie woke up, you know where I am,’ I say to Reid, and he nods before I walk away, relieved to get myself out of this corridor where I have spent far too much time.

As I put some distance between myself and Sadie, I feel a little better, although I am still aware that everything could change if the patient’s memory returns. But for now, for the first time in a long time, I can relax enough and, as I do, my body lets me know that it is hungry.

I decide to make a quick stop off at the canteen to see what I might be able to get there, but no sooner have I walked in than I stop dead in my tracks. That’s because I see somebody in here who I recognise.

What is she doing here?

I make sure to stay well back so the person I am looking at can’t see me, and as I do, I notice she has a police officer with her. That makes sense: she is a convicted criminal, even if only because I framed her. What doesn’t make sense is why she is here and not in prison.

I keep watching Gemma as she buys a packet of crisps and some chocolate and then I see her leave the canteen.

Is she here to see Sadie?

There’s only one way to find out.

I have to follow her.

TWENTY-THREE

GEMMA

It should be easy to find a place that feels better than the one I’ve just come from. How hard can it be to beat a prison? But I might have come to the one place that is worse than being locked up behind bars.

I hate hospitals and everything they represent. Sure, some people are here because they are welcoming babies into the world. But most people are here because they are doing everything they can to not leave this world before their time, and that’s what brings me here today.

My request to leave prison on compassionate grounds to come and visit my sick and dying mother has been granted, thanks to Jack helping the process along, so here I am, walking these wards on my way to find the woman who gave me life. It feels cruel that I will now get to go on living while she departs, but it is the natural order of things, I suppose.

Being allowed here is not the only thing I have to be thankful to Jack for. I am also grateful that he has continued to do whatever he can to try and progress things with Reid and Sadie and my vendetta with Luna on the outside while I have been locked up, and he has most recently done that by visiting this hospital and checking up on Sadie’s current condition. Unfortunately, he was spotted by Reid, which led to another unpleasant altercation between the pair, but it was not in vain. That’s because Jack was able to overhear a doctor telling Sadie’s family that she was showing signs of potentially coming out of her coma, and that is fantastic news for me. It would mean that I have my ally back, another woman who is just as motivated to prove Luna’s guilt as I am, and the sooner she is back on my side, the better. I need all the help I can get against our common enemy, so hopefully Sadie wakes up soon and, when she does, I’ll be sure to try and get Jack to get a message to her to let her know that Luna is still at large, but her time is running out.

But for now, my focus has to be on my mother, and I take a deep breath as a nurse leads us to the room where she resides. I tell myself that I am ready to see her, in whatever condition she may be in, and I naively thought that was the case. Nothing can prepare me for when I walk into her hospital room and see my mum lying in the bed before me.

She looks half the woman she once was.

This is not the strong mother who supported me.