United State of Love (25 page)

Alcohol poisoning. Tube in windpipe. Help breathing. Pump stomach. Monitor. Serious. Lucky. Dehydrated. Worst case scenario. Seizures. Brain damage.

The words swam round in Anna's head. She could see the doctor's mouth moving, hear that he was speaking, but the words weren't making sense. She couldn't take in what he was saying.

‘Mrs Barnes?’ The doctor looked at Anna.

‘Come on, Anna. Get a grip,’ said Mark impatiently, giving her shoulder a shake.

‘Sorry.’ Anna shook her head. Mark was right. She needed to focus, this was no time to get all flaky. ‘What does it all mean exactly? In plain English. How is my son?’ She ignored the tut from Mark.

‘Mrs Barnes, your son is in a serious condition. He has drunk far in excess of the legal drink-drive limit. He has alcohol poisoning. When you see him, it may be a bit of a shock. We had to put a tube down his throat to flush out his stomach, to try to get as much alcohol out before it is absorbed. Severe cases of alcohol poisoning can lead to problems breathing, dehydration and possible brain damage.’

Anna closed her eyes. Please God, no.

‘It's okay, Mrs Barnes, we're not at that stage yet. I'm confident that your son will make a full recovery, however, as I said, he has drunk an excessive amount of alcohol and it's not going to be a pleasant or easy few days.’

‘Thank you, doctor,’ said Anna. ‘Can we see him?’

‘Yes, come this way.’ The doctor led them into a cubicle of the emergency treatment room.

‘Oh, Luke,’ gasped Anna, rushing to her son's bedside. The sight of him lying there looking lifeless, as a nurse took his blood pressure, made Anna feel physically sick from shock. Being told was one thing, but seeing her child in that condition, was another. Luke’s lips were dry and puckered from lack of moisture, his skin pale, almost grey. His shirt had been cut open for speed. His favourite Fred Perry one, thought Anna randomly. She stroked his blonde hair and kissed his forehead. ‘What have you done Luke?’ she said bleakly.

Mark let out an incredulous huff. ‘Obvious isn't it? Taken a leaf out of your book.’ He glared at Anna for a moment before returning his gaze back to Luke.

‘Not now, Mark. It's hardly the time or place for point scoring,’ replied Anna stonily. She glanced over at the nurse, who carried on writing up her observations, appearing not to have heard the exchange of words. As if, thought Anna, but all the same was grateful for her discretion. The doctor left them alone, saying he'd come back later to check on Luke’s progress.

Anna sat in silence by one side of the bed, clasping one of Luke’s hand, willing him to make a recovery. Mark, on the other side of the bed, doing the same. Now and again a nurse came in to check Luke’s blood pressure, pulse, and lift his eyelids to see if his pupils were responsive to the little hand-light she flashed across his eyes. Anna just sat there, feeling totally helpless, knowing there was nothing neither she nor Mark could do, it was totally out of their hands. Anna didn't know or care what the time was: time seemed to have no relevance. The hospital never slept, a constant revolving door of injured people, some worse than others, some accidental and some, like Luke, self-inflicted. Busy, busy, busy.

At some point during the night, the doctor came back to speak to them.

‘The alcohol levels in his blood are still high, but they are showing signs of dropping. He's not out of the woods yet, but I'm confident that we have things under control.’

‘Thank you, doctor,’ replied Mark, standing up. ‘Do you know if there will be any long-term damage? Has he done himself any lasting harm?’

‘Unlikely, although we can't totally rule it out at this stage.’ The doctor picked up the flip chart hanging on the end of the bed and flicked through the notes. ‘There's been no respiratory problems or seizures and although he was extremely dehydrated, none of this leads me to believe there's been any brain damage. Once he's awake we will have a better idea, but I think it's safe to assume that he will make a full recovery. He's a strong, fit, young man, there's no reason why he won't come out of this with just a hangover.’ The doctor gave a small smile before adding, ‘That'll be one heck of a hangover.’

Heavy-eyed and groaning, Luke eventually came round, rolling over on his side and retching on a now empty stomach, and finally opening his eyes. Anna rushed back in with the nurse she had gone to fetch, and poured him a glass of water.

‘Your throat's going to be a bit sore,’ explained the nurse as she helped Luke to sit up.

Luke grunted before resting back on the pillows and closing his eyes. Silence descended again as the nurse went through her usual observational routine of blood pressure, pulse and pupil reaction.

‘You'll live. Now, we'll be back soon to move you to a ward. We want to keep you in for a bit longer under observation. Need to do some more blood tests too, just to make sure everything is easing off.’ Luke didn't respond. ‘I think he's beginning to feel the after-effects already.’

With Luke now settled in the ward, sleeping off his hangover, Mark drove Anna back home. It was nine-thirty on Sunday morning. Anna felt absolutely drained. Not only had she herself been recovering from the effects of overindulgence in the alcohol stakes, but she had not had any sleep. She closed her eyes. What a day! What a past thirty-six hours!

Suddenly, remembering she was supposed to be meeting Tex later, Anna sat up. There was no way she could see him today. She was absolutely shattered, and she needed to be back at the hospital with Luke. She fished around in her handbag, found her phone and sent Tex a quick message.

Sorry Tex but I can't come over today. Luke very drunk last night, ended up in hospital. He's okay but I need to be with him today. I'll be in touch later or tomorrow. Sorry, I really wanted to see you! X

She hoped he would understand. Talk about lousy timing!

‘Anyone I know?’ asked Mark, nodding towards her phone.

‘Just Nathan,’ lied Anna. Actually, that wasn't a bad idea to text Nathan and let him know. She rubbed her temples, trying to stave off the headache that was looming.

‘You all right?’ asked Mark.

‘Yes, fine. Just tired.’

‘You look pretty rough.’

‘Thanks. You don't look that great yourself.’

‘Granted. Look, why don't you have a shower and a sleep when we get in. I can go back with some clean clothes for Luke.’ Anna looked at him in surprise. Mark smiled at her. ‘It's all right, I'll phone you if there's anything to worry about, which I'm sure there won't be.’

‘I don't know. I ought to go back and see him.’

‘There's really no need us both being there. When I get back, you can go over if you like. That way, there's always someone with him, rather than us both being there some of the time.’ Mark pulled up outside Coach House Cottages. ‘It makes sense.’

Anna knew it made sense but it was reluctantly that she agreed to it. She felt uncomfortable with Mark's change in attitude towards her, her escapades and that of Luke's. In fact, he was being surprisingly pleasant, understanding and non-judgemental this morning. Very different to the cold, brutal, spiteful person of the previous evening.

Anna's suspicions were roused further when Mark made tea and toast for both of them and then said he was running her a bath. She needed to relax and could do so better in a bath than in a shower.

‘Bath's run,’ he announced as he came back downstairs.

‘Thanks. You're being very nice to me,’ said Anna. She couldn't help herself. ‘What are you after?’

Mark came and sat down next to her on the sofa, running his fingers across his eyebrows, a pained expression settling across his face. ‘It frightened me. Luke. Last night. Sitting there with him, I couldn’t help thinking what if he didn’t make it. What if he didn’t recover or recover fully? The thought terrified me. I could have lost him last night. Lost him, when I had only really just found him.’ Mark sank back into the sofa and rested his head against the backrest. ‘All I kept thinking was please let him pull through so I have the chance to make it up to him. I’ve made such a fuck up of being his dad. In fact, I’ve made a pretty lousy job at everything. Not just being a dad … but being a husband too.

This time Anna didn't reply. He was unnerving her, this change in attitude. Despite the feeling of exhaustion that was gradually seeping through her, her mind was alert. Maybe this was her chance to get the photos back. Instead of making him her enemy, maybe she should make him her ally, or at least allow him to think so. He might be more willing to give her the photos that way. She swallowed hard and forced herself to reach out for his hand.

‘We’ve both made mistakes,’ she said. ‘Neither of us have been perfect.’ She felt him give a small squeeze of her hand.

‘Generous as always. Go and have your bath. Get into bed and get some sleep. I'll take Luke some clean clothes and give you a ring later. Go on.’

The message tone bleeping on her phone brought Anna out of her sleep. Leaning over to the bedside table she picked it up and opened the message box, half expecting it to be from Tex or Mark. No, neither. Some random text from someone who wasn't in her contact list as it just came up with 'unknown caller' and a phone number.

Who is this?

Anna deleted it. She couldn't be bothered to answer, it was obviously just someone sending her the text by mistake. Before she could ponder it any further, there was a knock at the front door. Pulling a sweatshirt on, Anna went downstairs to open the door. She was greeted by Zoe, concern across her face.

‘Oh, Anna, how is everything? Mark phoned and told me Luke was in hospital with alcohol poisoning. He asked if I could call over and check you were okay.’

Anna raised her eyebrows. ‘That’s very unlike Mark to be so thoughtful.’

In need of fresh air, the two women decided to go for a walk along the footpath that circulated Priory Park and Anna brought Zoe up to speed on how Luke was.

‘I'm so glad you came,’ said Anna, linking her arm through Zoe's.

‘Nathan wanted to, but I persuaded him to let me come,’ said Zoe. ‘He's looking after the kids but sends his love, and says that it goes without saying but if you want anything, you only have to ring him.’

‘I know. Tell him thank you. I'll ring him later anyway, when I know a bit more about how Luke is and what's happening.’

‘He wanted to go to the hospital himself but didn't particularly want to bump into Mark. He'll come over though, maybe when Mark's not about. Said he wanted to see Luke himself, and you.’ They followed the path as it rose up to the level of the city walls.

‘That's fine. I'll sort it out with him.’ Anna smiled at Zoe.

‘So was Luke at a party or something and overdid it, trying to impress the girls?’ asked Zoe.

‘I wish it were as straightforward as that,’ sighed Anna. ‘Me and Mark had an argument last night and Luke was pretty fed up. Went out to his mate's house and they decided to raid the drinks cupboard while the parents were out. The other lad, fortunately, wasn't as bad as Luke and had the sense to ring his parents when Luke collapsed.’

‘Oh, how awful,’ consoled Zoe.

‘The parents called an ambulance. The father went with Luke and waited to speak to Mark. I actually don't remember that. I was so upset by it all. I remember Mark talking to this man while we were waiting for the doctor to come and see us, but I had no idea who he was or what they were saying.’

Anna's phone interrupted. It was Mark. Luke was awake and apparently feeling like he was actually dead. He felt sick. His head hurt just to move his eyes, let alone his head itself. His throat felt like someone had put razor blades in it, and his hand was sore from the drip they had put in to rehydrate his body fluids. Apart from that Luke was fine!

‘They’re keeping him in until this evening at least,’ explained Anna to Zoe, slipping her phone back into her pocket. ‘They want to make sure his fluid levels are okay. Don't think he'll be drinking again for a while.’

‘Must have been a bad argument for him to react like that.’

Anna looked at Zoe and nodded. ‘It's a long story.’

‘Well, I'm in no rush,’ smiled Zoe, giving Anna's hand a squeeze.

Anna checked her phone yet again. Still no word from Tex. Initially she had thought it a bit odd, but with all that was going on, she hadn't had too much time to dwell on his lack of contact. However, it was now Monday afternoon and he still hadn't so much as acknowledged her text. She had sent another this morning, just in case he was holding off until things with Luke were a bit more settled. She had messaged him to say that Luke was coming home that afternoon, and suggested that she and Tex meet during the week. Perhaps she would try and actually call him this evening and speak to him.

‘Luke's sleeping again,’ said Mark as he came into the kitchen.

‘That's good. He seems a bit quiet. Is he okay?’

‘Yeah, he's fine. I think he actually feels embarrassed that a) he can't handle the booze and b) he's caused us all this worry and upset.’ Mark filled the kettle. ‘Cup of tea?’

‘Thanks.’ Anna watched Mark potter around getting the cups ready. There was a different atmosphere between her and Mark now. She still couldn’t be sure if Mark was being genuine though. Was he playing a game just as she was?

Mark put the cup of tea down in front of her. ‘Have you got work this week?’

‘No. Well, I should have but I left a message on Jamie's answerphone to say I needed this week off due to family problems. I didn't go into detail and he hasn't rung back, so I'm assuming it's okay.’ Anna took a sip of her tea. ‘I had already booked next week off because I knew I’d be busy with the move.’

‘Have you got much packing left to do?’ asked Mark.

Anna eyed the stack of taped-up boxes that had been gradually increasing over the last few weeks. All very organised, labelled in black marker pen with their contents and what room they would be going into at the new flat.

‘All pretty much done, except for the kitchen things, bathroom stuff and clothes that I can't really do until the last minute. Just hope I can fit it all in. The new flat is quite small.’