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“Wow, you’re here, too. This is right posh, innit?” The mother dipped and rose in some sort of half curtsy, half jump of excitement.
Dani forced a smile. “I hope you don’t mind me crashing the party?”
“No, we’ll budge up. Ella’s a proper fan.”
“Wonderful.” Catherine smiled. “Can we meet her?”
They followed the couple into the room. It was large, meaning it was semi-private and probably had more than one bed in it, but the curtain was drawn so Dani assumed the other bed was empty. And everyone—the medical staff, the media, Catherine—was focused on the little girl in the first bed.
She wore a light blue short-sleeved T-shirt and lay back against the raised head of the hospital bed, her dark blond hair falling in lank strands against her pale face. A nurse checked the machines and froze when they walked in.
“Oh no, no,” Catherine said. “Please, don’t stand on ceremony. And I know that sounds strange considering the source, but really. Continue what you’re doing.” She looked at the little girl. “Hi, Ella. Do you mind if I talk to you for a second?”
“No, Your Royal Highness,” Ella said, her light-colored eyes wide as they flitted over everyone in the room. She looked as if she couldn’t believe who was there.
That makes two of us, Dani thought, the sterile smell and beeping sounds placing her in a mindset she was struggling to escape.
“Thank you. How are you feeling?”
Ella shrugged. “Okay now. I’m still a little scared, though.”
“Of course you are. It was all very alarming. I can’t even imagine going through what you had to.”
Dani refocused on the conversation. Had the little girl been in some sort of car accident? Had the doctor explained but Dani missed it?
“Everyone’s been smashing. We’re chuffed to bits,” the mom said.
“That’s wonderful. I know many organizations are really interested in helping everyone affected.”
It must’ve been a really bad accident if people were responding in this manner. Maybe a drunk driver?
Dani didn’t want to bring more trauma to the girl, but it was clear she’d missed something. She could ask around the issue, maybe use context clues to figure out what had happened. She moved to stand on the other side of the bed.
“I see your cast,” Dani said, pointing to her left arm, wrapped from her wrist to her elbow. “Did it get hurt during your accident?”
Instinctively, the girl lifted it and then grimaced. “It got pinned ’neath the rubble.”
The rubble? From a car accident? Dani thought that was possible, but it appeared her context clue sleuthing was failing her at the moment.
“Where do you go to school, Ella?” Catherine asked, smoothly.
Dani clasped her hands in front of her and tried to focus on their conversation when she heard a sound on the other side of the curtain, like someone shifting then trying to stifle a moan. She peeked around the fabric and saw a young Black girl lying in the neighboring hospital bed, her face turned away from Dani. Where Ella’s half of the room was brightly lit, this side was dim and shadowy.
The teen moaned again, and the sound pained Dani. She swallowed and moved closer to the bed.
“Would you like me to get a nurse?”
“No,” the teen said shortly, her voice raspy.
“Are you sure? There’s several dozen over there.”
“I said no! Can you crack on?” the girl snapped.
Dani stiffened instinctively. “What’s your problem?”
“Are you daft? I’m in hospital. What do you think?”
Dani pursed her lips and squeezed her eyes shut. What the fuck was wrong with her, arguing with an ill young girl?
