Page 48 of Tricks & Treats at The Cosy Cornish Bakery

It was only when the ambulance doors slammed shut and they reversed up the narrow part of Beach Lane, turning round in the pub car park, that Chloe remembered how wet Nik had been. He must have gone into the water. Nik must have saved Dulcie.

Chloe hadn’t much experience of the NHS. The bank she’d worked for provided private health care and the only time that had been used was when Jasper had had a suspected ankle fracture after a Snowdome boarding session.

The Emergency Department at the Royal Cornwall Hospital was busy, but Dulcie had been triaged swiftly and wheeled off somewhere for tests. After two hours in the stuffy waiting room with grumbling patients and wailing children, Chloe went out to get some fresh air. Dulcie had nothing with her; Chloe assumed either Pinky or Nik had her things safe. The problem was, Chloe didn’t have Hannah’s number to let her know what was going on and to ask her to collect some clothes and a bag of stuff should Dulcie be kept in. She rang Ginger instead and explained. Shocked, Ginger promised to pass the message on, so Chloe returned to the waiting room.

Another hour passed before Hannah, along with Maddy, Isaak and Tyler arrived. They burst noisily into the waiting room, Hannah red-faced and puffy with tears. Chloe felt a twinge of irritation. Surely she could keep herself composed in front of the children. What were they doing here anyway? It was no place to bring kids.

‘There you are. What’s going on? Where’s Mum? I need to see her.’ Hannah whirled around as if she expected to see Dulcie lying on a trolley right in the middle of the room. Those waiting looked up with interest. It was some welcome drama to pass the time.

‘Sit down, Hannah, and take a breath,’ Chloe said, tersely. ‘She’s still being tested. They haven’t told me anything yet.’

‘What do you mean, they haven’t told you anything yet? Haven’t you chased them up? Chloe, you’re useless.’ Hannah flung herself into the nearest plastic chair.

Chloe bit back the retort. ‘As far as I know she’s still undergoing tests and they’ll tell us when they’ve found something out. Could be a heart attack–’

‘Oh my God.’ Hannah covered her face with her hands. ‘I can’t go through this again. Not so soon after Dad.’

Tyler squeezed his wife’s shoulder. ‘Could be angina, love, or even a panic attack. We’ll have to wait and see.’

Chloe flashed him a grateful look. A man with a streaming bloodied nose began haranguing the staff at the reception desk. He was clearly drunk. ‘Do you think the children should be here? Maybe take them home?’ she said to Tyler as Isaak clung to his father, already looking scared.

‘Yeah, I’ll take them home. You’ll let us know as soon as they tell you anything, won’t you, Hannah?’

‘Of course I will.’

‘Did you bring the bag of stuff for Mum?’ Chloe asked. ‘She only had on her swimsuit. She hasn’t anything with her. No phone or nightdress.’

‘What bag?’ Hannah wailed. ‘You mean you didn’t get one ready?’

‘No time. I got straight in the ambulance that brought her here.’

‘She’ll have nothing to wear. Nothing to clean her teeth with. Oh, Chloe, how could you let that happen?’

‘Strangely enough, it wasn’t my top priority when I was told they were blue lighting her into emergency. I rang Ginger to pass the message on.’

‘Well I didn’t get it,’ Hannah said peevishly. ‘She just told me Mum had been in some kind of accident.’

If Chloe was a betting person, she knew who she’d put money on to pass on a message correctly, but stayed silent.

‘Don’t matter,’ Tyler butted in. ‘I’ll go round there now and pick up a few things.’

He was rapidly rising in Chloe’s estimation.

‘But what about these two? They can’t keep travelling up and down to Truro,’ Hannah whined.

Tyler bent down on his knees in front of Maddy and Isaak. ‘Hey, kids, how’d you fancy a night at your Auntie Tia’s?’

Isaak instantly livened up and began bouncing up and down. ‘Cool! Does that mean no school tomorrow?’

‘We’ll see.’ Tyler straightened. ‘I’ll get these two over to my sister’s, then head over to Wheal Kitty.’ He bent and kissed his wife’s cheek. ‘Back as soon as.’ He winked at Chloe. ‘Just as well I drive for a living, ain’t it?’

‘Tyler,’ Chloe said, ‘can you get hold of Nik Gunnarsson or Pinky? They’ll probably have Mum’s phone. She’ll need clothes and a nightie and her washbag, too.’

‘No worries.’ He grabbed a child by each hand. ‘Come on, kiddywinks. Off to Redruth we go. What an adventure, eh? Maccy Ds for tea?’

After he’d left, Chloe observed her sister. She seemed calmer but was still sniffling. Some of her irritation left her. After all, she’d had three hours longer to come to terms with the situation. ‘There’s tea or coffee from the machine, but I don’t recommend it. The coffee’s like sludge and the tea tastes like chicken soup.’

‘No, I’m good.’ Hannah fished out a tissue and blew her nose loudly. The old man next to her looked on in alarm and edged away. ‘Do you what happened, then?’