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“I’m sorry, Gary, I didn’t answer you. Yes, I’m afraid your mother will have to go to hospital.”
“But surely she’ll feel much better here. She has her sister to help while I’m working.”
Ross guided the young PC into the kitchen and sat him down at the table. “It’s for the best. While she’s at home, we can’t give her the care and attention she needs and deserves. And look at what it’s doing to you and your aunt. You’re both worn out with it all.”
“I’m okay, Mr Ross, really I am. We’re coping.”
“In a fashion, young man, but look at you. Have you looked in a mirror lately?”
Gary hung his head, as if he was ashamed.
“Gary, please listen to me. You asked where Mr Sinclair was and why he wasn’t here. I’m afraid your mother’s condition isn’t something he can help with. He’s not a neurosurgeon. But he has relayed everything he knows about your mother to me and he’s asked me to take her case personally, as a favour to both him and you. I want to continue to do my best for your mother, really I do, but I can’t do that here at the house. Are you aware that I was here in the early hours of the morning?”
Gary obviously wasn’t due to his shocked expression.
“Your aunt didn’t tell you, did she? And I don’t blame her. She was trying to protect both of you, just as I am.”
“Why were you here?” asked Gary.
“Your aunt thought your mother was having another fit. Gary, your mother has had a fit every day this week. What she has is very serious. I’ve allowed her stay at home much longer than I should have done, but it really is for the best that we put her into the clinic, where she’ll receive professional, round the clock care.”
Gary broke down and wept openly. The neurosurgeon understood his feelings. Gary thought that because he was a policeman, he would be able to take care of her. He’d repeatedly begged Ross’s partner, Robert Sinclair, to leave her at home where he could keep an eye on her, and so could everyone else in the family. They took it in turns, covering the twenty-four hours between them. But they were not professionals. Gary obviously now felt he had let his mother down.
But she wouldn’t know. Right now, Ross knew she wouldn’t be conscious of anything around her, and experience told him that there was every possibility she would not come out of the latest seizure. But he did not have the heart to tell the young PC, whose world started and ended with his mother. God knew he’d been long enough without a father.
Gary Close raised his head. “Is she going to die?”
Ross felt completely hollow. What could he say? “I’m going to do my best for her, Gary, as I’ve always done.”
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bsp; The young PC gripped the surgeon’s arms. “But Mr Sinclair said all her treatment would make her better. He said it.”
“Gary, I understand how you’re feeling right now. What was said to you at the time was she would have a much better chance of fighting and surviving with the right treatment. We gave her the best that money could buy.”
Ross paused. He was going to have to be really careful with his next sentence. “Sometimes, it isn’t enough.”
He noticed the change in Gary so he continued. “But listen to me. We’re a long way from over yet. Your mother is a fighter. She’s not going to give up, and neither am I.”
The medics called Ross to the living room. They had made Christine Close comfortable and had installed her into the ambulance. Gary joined them.
“Would you like to go with her in the ambulance, Gary?”
“Are you coming?” His eyes were like saucers. He must have been petrified.
“Yes, of course. I’ll follow in my car.”
“Where are you taking her, round the corner?”
Ross realized that even though he’d instructed the medics to take her to his own private clinic, Gary would never have heard him say that, not the world he was living in right now.
“No, she’s coming to my clinic. They can’t treat her round the corner, they’re only equipped for minor injuries.”
Gary grabbed Ross by his arms again. “But, Mr Ross, it’s miles away. She doesn’t know anyone. She’ll be frightened when she comes round.”
“Gary, please, it’s for the best. We can see to her needs much better. She has been before. She knows us, and she’ll soon get to know everyone else. By the time she leaves my clinic, we’ll all be on first name terms.”
Gary seemed to accept what he was saying and started to limp towards the ambulance.
