Seven Days Grace (A Grace Rose Novel Book 1) (23 page)

FRIDAY

24

Around 9 A.M.
the doctor came into the private room of the general ward
,
spoke briefly with the nurse who was monitoring the patient and then talked with the two people who gazed out of the fourth-storey window at the park and the people below.

‘
How is she Doctor?
’
Joy asked.

‘
How long will she be asleep? Or is she unconscious?
’
Jake asked.

‘
She
’
s stable but she is unconscious. We
’
re hoping she won
’
t be in this state for long. However
,
we can
’
t predict how long it will take for people to gain consciousness. The accident caused minor lacerations to the right side of her face due to some small glass shards from the side window broken during the crash. Most of the glass was held together from the window tinting
,
thank goodness. And luckily
,
no stitches were required. This is good as she should be left with minimal to no scarring
,’
Dr Philip said.

‘
Otherwise
,
she
’
s fine. Someone was definitely watching out for her. She
’
ll walk away with no broken bones or internal injuries. A few bumps and bruises is all. Now it
’
s a matter of rest and recuperation. Her brain activity is good
,
I
’
ve seen cases like this before and I
’
m hoping it will be a text book recovery and she
’
ll come into consciousness today. We
’
ll be monitoring her closely.

‘
The best thing you can do is go home and get some rest. I
’
ll call you both as soon as she wakes up. She
’
s in good hands.
’

Joy said she could stay for another half hour. Jake told the doctor he had no pressing appointments
,
he would stay as long as it took Grace to come around.

‘
She
’
s obviously important to both of you. Make it quick
,
please?
’
Dr Philip said.

They both sat down at Grace
’
s left side. The room was bathed in fluorescent light and smelt clinical.

‘
It
’
s extraordinary you knew Grace overseas
,’
Joy said.

‘
I know
,
small world.
’
Jake said.

‘
She told me about you when she was back home after her trip to New York.
’

‘
Oh
,
what did she say?
’

‘
She said you were engaged.
’

‘
Anything else?
’

‘
You seriously expect me to betray my sister
’
s confidentiality about any discussions we had about you?
’
Joy asked rhetorically.

‘
It was worth a try.
’

They heard groans from Grace. They both rushed to her side and searched her face
,
waiting to see if she was in pain or for a sign she would return to the Grace of before the accident. The healthy Grace
,
the fun Grace
,
the hard-working Grace – the Grace they both knew and loved.

She tried to lift her head off the pillow and winced in pain.

‘
Stay still
,
you
’
ve been in a horrendous car accident and you need to rest
,’
Joy said.

‘
Grace
,
I
’
m glad you
’
re still with us. How are you doin
’
?
’
Jake asked.

Grace looked from one face to the other and tried to take it all in. What happened? She couldn
’
t remember. The last thing she remembered was having lunch at the café in North Sydney after The Voice had given her the third package. She continued to look at them without speaking. I
t
w
a
s as though the few moans she had uttered had sapped all her energy. She turned her attention to Jake and looked at him long and hard. He sat at the side of her bed and she looked down towards where he held her limp hand between his larger ones.

‘
How are you?
’
he asked.

Grace smiled slightly then moved her head to see Joy who stroked her forehead with one hand and held her forearm with the other. She was muttering soothing words of comfort.

‘
You
’
re going to be back to your normal self in no time. You and Shadow can stay with us for as long as you need.
’

Machines she was hooked up to had triggered alarms upon Grace
’
s waking which set off further beeps at the nurse
’
s station. This caused immediate attention from Dr Philip and a nurse who ran to Grace
’
s room and began checking all the medical screens and their results. They checked Grace at the same time.

To look at Grace one would think she was at death
’
s door. She had tubes coming out of her nose to help her breath
,
heart monitors stuck to her chest in various places with wires leading to a machine that emitted beeping noises
,
a pulse monitor on her left middle finger lead to another machine that produced different beeping noises and a drip with fluids being fed to her intravenously through the top of one of her hands. Her face
,
where she had several cuts
,
was covered in cream to help fight infection. There were also sticky round electrodes with wires coming out of them on her forehead and temples to monitor her brain activity. This machine launched into alarm mode when she spoke.

‘
Grace
,
listen to me carefully
,’
Dr Philip said.

She looked at his name badge and noticed his first name was Gary and wondered if people confused his name and called him Dr Gary instead of Dr Philip. She found it unusual when someone
’
s last name was like their first name and their first name was like their last name. Then again
,
her name was like that.

‘
Follow my finger with your eyes
,
please?
’
he asked.

He held his index finger in an upward direction about twelve inches from her face. He moved his finger to the left and her eyes followed. He moved it to the right and her eyes followed. He then brought his finger back to between her eyes and she became cross eyed.

‘
Hmm
,
I see you haven
’
t lost your sense of humour
,
Miss Rose
,’
Dr Philip commented.
‘
I
’
m going to conduct a couple more tests.
’

After he finished
,
he said he was impressed with her recovery and soon she would be as good as new. The visitors were not to exhaust her as she needed to rest. She would have to be kept in overnight again for observation
,
especially as she had been unconscious since the car accident occurred. Words failed to escape her lips even though she tried to form them with her mouth.

‘
Rest for now
,’
Dr Philip told Grace. He then addressed the others.
‘
R
emember what I said
,
I don
’
t want her becoming too excited. Her body needs to recover from the shock of what
’
s happened
,
understood?
’

‘
Completely
,’
Jake said.

‘
You bet
,
no problem
,’
Joy said.

Dr Philip checked her again. The concerned visitors were immediately at Grace
’
s bedside and both of them started talking simultaneously.

‘
How are you feeling?
’
Jake asked.

Joy rolled her eyes at Jake.
‘
She can
’
t talk
,
silly.
’
Then to Grace
,
she said
,
‘
I was worried when we didn
’
t see you last night
,
I don
’
t know what I would have done if something had happened to you.
’

‘
Who are you? Where am I?
’
Grace asked.

‘
She
’
s lost her memory
,’
Joy said.
‘
But she can talk.
’

Grace looked at Jake
,
then at the Doctor
,
then Joy. She made more incomprehensible burbling noises which sounded more like a baby forming its first words.

‘
This is my fault
,’
Jake said rubbing his forehead and pacing around Grace
’
s bed.
‘
I had a stack of missed calls from Grace. I was in a meeting and had left my phone in my office. If I
’
d been there for her this wouldn
’
t have happened.
’

‘
Jake
,
you can
’
t blame yourself. You
’
re not omniscient
,
that
’
s God
’
s job
,’
Joy said.

‘
That
’
s true
,
young man
,’
Dr Philip said.
‘
Accidents happen all the time.
’

‘
Sure but if I talked to her then – ’

‘
Please don
’
t fuss
,
I
’
ll be alright
,’
Grace said with a slur and sat up a little in the bed.

‘
Oh
,
Grace. Thank goodness
,’
Joy said

‘
Can you say something else
,
Grace?
’
Dr Philip asked.

‘
I
’
m trying… to… um… I was in North Sydney –
’

‘
Do you remember anything after that?
’
Jake asked.

‘
I don
’
t know what happened until I woke up here. I
’
d like a mirror.
’

‘
No
,’
Joy said quickly.

‘
Is it bad?
’
Grace asked.

‘
No
,
it
’
s not bad. However
,
with all the wires
,
it doesn
’
t look good right now. Once they take it all out of you
,
and you have a shower
,
you
’
ll be looking fantastic.
’

‘
Jake?
’
Grace knew Joy would be no help.

‘
The important thing here is you get back to being you and back to your life when you
’
re ready. You
’
re as pretty as ever
,’
he said.