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Hailey heard the edge of doubt infect his confident words. He looked so isolated, so alone. It was something she’d often seen on Paul’s face. The fact that the buck stopped at him, that he alone was responsible, that there was no one else to lean on. She reached forward and gave his knee a pat. ‘Well, for what it’s worth, I think you did. You’re well liked at the hospital and Tom seems to love it here.’
The urge to cover her hand with his was strong but she moved it away before it could happen. Her words did help. ‘Yes, he loves his new home.’ Due in large part to his afternoon visits to Hailey’s.
Tom returned his attention to them and they chatted about lighter things as the Ferris wheel inched closer to the ground until it was their time to get off.
Callum’s pager beeped as they alighted. ‘Sorry, I’ll just get this,’ he said, pulling his mobile phone out of his pocket.
Hailey took Tom over to watch the clown doctors and they were both giggling when Callum joined them. ‘Damn, I have to go to the General. There’s a baby they need me to see.’
‘Oh, Daddy, I don’t want to go yet. I still haven’t had a go on the merry-go-round.’
‘Tom, I’m sorry, we have to go.’
‘Can’t you go and I stay?’
‘You can’t stay here by yourself, Tom.’
‘I’m not by myself,’ he said, sliding his hand into Hailey’s. ‘I’m with Hailey.’
Hailey looked at Tom, who was looking up at her with pleading eyes, and felt herself melt. ‘How long will you be, do you think?’ She’d promised to help clean up afterwards. Not to mention she’d also promised herself not to get involved with the Craig men. A promise she’d already broken when she kept opening her door to Tom.
Callum looked at their joined hands and felt as if he’d been punched in the solar plexus. It looked so right. He shouldn’t encourage this. He looked at her sheepishly. ‘Hopefully only an hour at most.’ After today he really must start to curtail Tom’s time with Hailey.
Hailey capitulated with a light sigh. ‘OK, then.’
Tom jumped up and down and hugged her legs. Callum grinned at her.
‘Yeah, yeah,’ she said, rolling her eyes. ‘Just go.’
Tom didn’t seem concerned by his father’s absence at all as he ran around like a mad thing from stall to stall. Hailey felt exhausted, just watching him. The exuberance of childhood or a lethal mix of preservatives from the many and varied sugar-filled treats he’d consumed?
An hour passed. An hour and a half passed. People started to leave. The picnic was shutting at five and the organisers were looking forward to getting the cleaning up over and done with so they could have a well-deserved rest and a quiet celebration. The day had been a roaring success.
It was nearly five when Tom staggered off the merry-go-round after five turns. He looked dizzy and more pale than usual. He looked at Hailey and said. ‘I don’t feel too good.’
Hailey wasn’t surprised, with all that sugar in his system. She knelt down to give him a sympathetic hug when he suddenly bent over and dry-retched. Hailey picked him up and put him down next to a nearby bin and rubbed his back as he emptied the contents of his stomach. Luckily the park was nearly deserted now and he got to disgrace himself in relative privacy.
She wiped his mouth with a serviette she had stashed in her pocket. She made a note to tell Callum there was indulgence and then sheer gluttony! She pulled Tom close to her. He felt all floppy and his forehead was hot against her neck.
A prickle of alarm skittered down her spine. She pulled him away. ‘Are you OK?’ she asked, giving him a little shake as he shut his eyes.
‘Feel really sick,’ Tom whispered, his head flopping back against her shoulder. ‘Where’s orchie?’
Hailey felt a full-on surge of alarm rip through her system as she pressed his ‘security blanket’ into his weak grasp. Oh, God. God, no. It couldn’t be happening again. She picked him up, her legs charging towards the exit, her mind in full catastrophe mode, thinking too quickly to actually form any cohesive plan. All she knew was she had to get him to a hospital.
What if he was relapsing? She stopped. Put him down. Did a quick check for bruises on his limbs and torso. There were a couple on his legs she hadn’t noticed earlier. Her heart slammed in her chest. She picked him up again and continued on her way. His chances if he relapsed were awful. It was imperative she get him to medical help immediately.
She looked from side to side as she went, trying to think straight while the London disaster played over and over in her mind. Eerily similar echoes of that time taunted her. Tom felt like a boneless sack in her arms. She remembered how floppy Eric had been when his father had tried to wake him, how she had dismissed Eric’s tiredness as exhaustion after a big day. She wouldn’t do the same with Tom. She wouldn’t drop the ball with another little boy.
