Three-And-A-Half Heartbeats (28 page)
She and Tom had decided the best they could do would be to provide an environment that would give Isabella the skills to deal with whatever life might throw at her. They would tell her all about her big sister, show her pictures and videos and make her laugh with tales of her antics. Chloe would be a big part of her sister’s life, always, just as she was a part of theirs. Always.
Tom reappeared with a cold bottle of wine and four fat glasses. Sloshing the wine into two of them, he handed one to his buddy Huw. They clinked them together.
‘This is the life.’ Tom exhaled loudly, sitting back in the sunshine and throwing an olive into his mouth.
Huw placed his fingers between his lips and whistled. Monty came panting up the grass. ‘Hey, Monts, good boy.’ He patted his thigh and his faithful dog lay by his side in the cool shade of the terrace.
Grace stood up and stroked his head. ‘I wondered where you’d got to, mister.’ Monty beat his tail on the deck, happy as ever to be fussed over by her. She wandered over to one of the raised planters on the terrace and plucked a stray blade of grass from among her prospering plants.
‘They’re looking good, Grace. You’re obviously green-fingered,’ Huw observed.
‘I don’t know about that, but I’m learning.’ She pinched the leaves and raised her fingers to her nose. ‘The smell is intoxicating.’
‘That’s why Leanne chose them; she loved the scent of plants as much as the way they looked. I remember her telling me, “Rosemary for courage, thyme for strength.”‘
‘That’s beautiful.’ Gilly smiled. ‘Do you think we should put some rosemary and thyme in my bouquet? Courage and strength – I can’t think of anything better.’ She grabbed Huw’s hand.
‘I think that would be lovely.’ He kissed their entwined fingers.
‘I shall pop it on my list.’ Gilly smiled.
Grace turned to walk back to the table; that fresh sourdough bread was calling to her. ‘I was thinking—’ she started as she took her place.
‘Ooh, dangerous!’ Tom interrupted. Huw laughed.
‘I was thinking about that boy, Darren, the estate agent who sold our house in Nettlecombe.’
‘Why on earth were you thinking about him?’ Tom asked.
‘He’d never heard of sepsis, and he promised me he was going to look it up on the internet, and tell his friends about it too.’
‘I didn’t really know what it was either,’ Gilly admitted as she cut the loaf. ‘Huw had to explain it to me.’
‘And I only knew because Grace told me. I’d heard of it, but I didn’t know what it was, not really,’ Huw confessed.
‘That’s what I’ve been thinking about.’ Grace looked out over the valley. ‘And I know it sounds bonkers, but I want to tell the world about Chloe’s story. I want everyone to know about this horrible bloody disease that stole her away. I want them to know what to look for and what to say to the medics if they suspect it, and I want the medics to know how to treat it.’
Tom reached over and squeezed his wife’s hand. ‘I think that’s a wonderful ambition, Gracie, but how are you going to tell the world?’
‘Okay, well, don’t laugh…’ She placed a napkin over her lap. ‘But it was something Huw said ages ago that got me thinking. He agreed that everyone has a book in them.’
Huw smiled, remembering that day. ‘I did.’
‘And so I was thinking, maybe I could write a book. I could tell people about Chloe, her story and what happened, to try and stop this happening to someone else, to try and get people talking about this bloody horrible, sneaky disease.’
‘Do you
know
how to write a book?’ Tom asked.
‘No,’ Grace admitted, ‘but you know I love books and words, and my last boss told me I could do anything I put my mind to. He had faith in me. And Huw and Gilly can help me.’
‘Of course, we will!’
‘Yes. Absolutely!’
‘What will you call it?’ Tom sat forward, smiling at his wife with pride. This was her greatest strength: to have an idea and drive it though. He was confident she could make it happen, confident that she
could
indeed do anything.
Grace swivelled round, taking in the panorama of the river and the mountains. ‘I don’t know. I was thinking, something that isn’t just a title plucked from the air, something that means something. Something that makes people think.’
All four sipped their drinks, stared at the view and listened to Monty’s snoring.
Grace sat up straight. ‘I’ve got it! How about
Three- and-a-Half Heartbeats
? Because,’ she continued, quietly now, and with a sad, faraway look in her eyes, ‘somewhere in the world, someone dies of sepsis approximately every three-and-a-half seconds – that’s about every three-and-a- half heartbeats.’ She put her hand to her chest and paused, counting the beats.
‘I love it.’ Tom nodded, staring at his brilliant wife. ‘
Three- and-a-Half Heartbeats
.’
The four carried on with their leisurely lunch. Listening to Olive’s shrieks of laughter in the hallway, until it was time for Gilly to get back to her class. Huw decided to take Monty for a spot of fishing after he’d dropped Gilly in town, and Grace and Tom cleared the table before making their way back inside The Old Cowshed.
Grace flopped down on the sofa with her feet on a cushion on her husband’s lap. She picked up her pen and opened the first page of her spiral-bound notebook.
‘Where shall I start?’ she asked, tapping the pen on her teeth.
‘I don’t know.’ Tom gave it some thought. ‘I suppose just before Chloe was born?’
‘Good idea.’ Grace sat up tall and ran her hand over her baby bump before touching the pen to the page and beginning what she hoped would become a wonderful book, a book that would make a difference.
Grace Penderford had, for as long as she could remember, yearned for a child…
‘I just wrote my first line!’ She smiled.
‘How does it feel?’ Tom asked.
‘It feels pretty good.’ She nodded.
Tom smiled as his wife flexed her toes against his palm.
Sitting there with the man she loved gave her a glow of happiness. It was enough.
Grace paused and looked out at the majestic landscape of their Wye Valley home. She was unaware of being watched from behind the boundary hedge by a little girl in pink wellingtons and a matching raincoat, who gripped the hand of her grandpa; he, as ever, was resplendent in cricket jersey and striped tie, for once appropriate to the season.
The End. And the beginning.
If you have been moved by this book, please tell others, help us spread the word, help us stop more lives being devastated by sepsis. For more information about sepsis and to find out about the symptoms, please visit
www.sepsistrust.org
. If you would like to help us further in our fight to save lives, here is the link for donations:
http://sepsistrust.org/how-can-i-help-mend-sepsis/donations
. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you. X
~
We hope you enjoyed this book.
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Perfect Daughter
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An invitation from the publisher
All the proceeds from this novel will go straight to the Sepsis Trust. By buying it, you will help them save lives. Thank you for making a difference.
Sepsis is a common, potentially life-threatening condition triggered by an infection. Each year in the UK more than 100,000 people are admitted to hospital with sepsis and around 37,000 die as a result. Raising awareness of the condition could save many of those lives.
The UK Sepsis Trust was established to save thousands of lives every year from sepsis. This will be achieved by making sepsis a household word, by empowering people to speak up when worried, and by ensuring health professionals are on the ball.
Play your part. If someone you love is unwell, and develops any one of the following symptoms, don’t delay. Phone for help and say ‘I’m worried this might be sepsis’
