The Secret Ingredient (39 page)

‘He's waiting for you, Brooke,' she said. ‘Don't get a shock when you see him. He's very pale, this has really knocked it out of him.'

Brooke looked apprehensive.

‘It'll be okay,' her mother assured her. ‘He'll be better for seeing you.'

‘Where's Matty?' she asked Joanna after Brooke left them.

‘Off to find a toilet,' she said, as Andie took a seat next to her. ‘How is he, honestly?'

‘I'm not going to lie to you, Joanna . . . he looks like death.'

‘But he's conscious, talking?'

‘Oh yes, he's quite coherent. But he's very emotional, he started to cry.'

‘That's not uncommon after a life-threatening event, especially involving the heart.'

‘Really?'

She nodded. ‘My father had a couple of heart attacks . . . He used to be a crusty old man, never mean exactly, but definitely not in touch with his emotions. Afterwards he was like a big marshmallow.'

‘Mrs Corcoran?'

They both looked up and said ‘Yes' simultaneously.

The doctor looked confused. Andie assumed he was the doctor, given that he was wearing a white coat and was flanked by two young, earnest-looking attendants, also in white coats.

‘She's the current Mrs Corcoran,' said Joanna, standing up.

‘Not really,' Andie muttered as she got to her feet.

Now the doctor looked more confused.

‘Sorry,' said Andie. ‘It's complicated. I'm his . . . we're both family.'

‘Okay,' he said. ‘I'm Dr Jorgenson, I'm the surgeon responsible for your husband . . . I mean, Mr Corcoran's care. Doctors Bain and Lee are the registrars assisting me,' he added, indicating his two shadows. ‘I don't know how much has been explained to you so far?'

‘Not much at all,' said Andie. ‘You can start from the beginning.'

‘Okay, your hus—'

‘Ross,' said Andie.

He nodded. ‘Ross collapsed from an episode of cardiac arrhythmia, which is where the heartbeat increases to above a hundred beats per minute. In Ross's case his heart went into ventricular fibrillation, what we refer to as V-fib, which is life-threatening. He's a very lucky man that there was actually a nurse and a paramedic at the gym at the time. They administered effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation until an ambulance arrived and the officers were able to defibrillate.'

‘But he's okay now,' said Andie. ‘I was just talking to him.'

‘He's alive, yes, but we have to prevent this from happening again,' said Dr Jorgenson. ‘V-fib usually indicates an underlying medical condition, so we are in the process of evaluating that with further tests, but there's no doubt in my mind that he will need to have defibrillator implant surgery.'

‘That sounds serious,' said Joanna.

‘We're dealing with the heart here, so it is major surgery,' he said. ‘But at the same time I want to assure you that it's a relatively routine procedure. A device, called an implantable cardioverter defibrillator – or ICD – is implanted in the chest area. In case of an irregular heart rhythm, it sends out mild electrical impulses to restore normal heartbeats. If the heart is still not functioning properly, the ICD gives a shock to the heart, after which normal heartbeat is resumed.'

Andie took a deep breath. ‘But how long will it be before Ross is able to handle surgery?'

‘As I said, we have a number of tests to run first to ensure that he is strong enough, after today's episode. By the same token, the sooner we implant the ICD, the sooner he can begin to recover fully.' He paused. ‘Do you have any questions?'

Andie glanced at Joanna, just as Brooke rejoined them.

‘It's a lot to take in,' said Andie.

‘I understand,' said Dr Jorgenson. ‘I'm going to check on him now. We'll speak again after that, when you've had time to digest everything.'

‘Oh, Mum,' Brooke said tearfully after the doctors walked away, ‘he's really sick.'

‘I know, sweetheart,' said Joanna, putting an arm around her daughter. ‘But he's in good hands here. They know what they're doing, and they know how to make him better.'

‘You should have heard the doctor,' Andie added. ‘He was talking like it's all very routine. He's not concerned.'

Brooke seemed relieved.

‘Look, this might be a good time,' said Andie. ‘I need to make a phone call, I'll be back.'

Joanna nodded, and Andie walked over to the double doors and pressed a button on the wall. As they slid open, Matty was standing on the other side, looking perplexed. ‘I didn't know how to get back in,' he said.

Andie smiled at him. ‘Go on through, Matty, you'll be able to see your dad soon. I'm just going to make a phone call.'

She walked back to the nurses' station but Sue wasn't there, another nurse was now manning the desk.

‘Excuse me,' said Andie. ‘I have to make a phone call on my mobile. Do I need to go back to the entrance and outside before I can turn on my phone?'

The nurse directed her to an outside balcony where Andie could use her phone. She was relieved she didn't have to go all the way out of the building, she would have needed to leave a trail of breadcrumbs to find her way back again. She pushed on the doors at the end of the corridor and stepped out onto the soulless concrete balcony. She turned on her phone and checked the time. It would be busy at the restaurant, deliveries came in all morning, and they would be prepping for lunch service, she wondered if Dominic would be able to take her call. She pressed his number and waited, but it went straight to his message bank.

‘Hi, it's me, Andie,' she said. ‘Um . . . I know you're busy. If you get the chance, could you call me back? Oh, I can't have my phone on inside . . . I'll wait for a bit, um, maybe five, ten minutes? If you get this soon, could you call me? Thanks.'

She hung up and breathed out heavily, leaning against the railing as she looked out at the view across the uni and the racecourse. She felt . . . overwhelmed, was the only word to describe it. Ross was very ill, she'd never seen him look so frail, so old, or so vulnerable. Andie didn't know what was going to happen now. She was still his wife, maybe only on paper, but she couldn't just walk away. She might have to act or answer on his behalf, she might have to give consent, sign papers. She had a legal responsibility, and she couldn't help thinking she had a moral one as well.

And then there was Tasha. Andie wondered how devoted she would turn out to be, when push came to shove. She was very young, and this was a lot for anyone to take on, let alone someone so young. She'd only known him . . . Andie was not entirely sure how long, but probably less than a year.

More than anything, Andie was just frightened. Frightened for Ross, frightened about what this was going to mean for her —

Her phone rang. It was Dominic. ‘Hello?'

‘Hi, Andie, I just got your message. What's happening?'

A lump rose in her throat at hearing his voice, but she needed to keep it together. This must be weird for him . . .

‘Andie?'

‘Yes, um, well, Ross is still in the high-dependency ward, they're trying to keep him stable.'

‘Was it arrhythmia?'

‘Uh-huh, he collapsed at the gym, and he had to be resuscitated . . .' Her voice started to break. She swallowed, clearing her throat. ‘So they're going to do some tests, and they'll have to operate in the next few days, I gather.'

‘Are you all right?'

She sniffed. ‘Sure, I saw him, he's . . . okay. He's in good hands, his family are here as well.'

‘But are you all right?' he asked again.

She blinked back tears. He didn't know any of these people, he was only concerned about her. Andie appreciated that right now there was someone who cared about her in the scheme of things. ‘I'm fine, thanks, Dominic. I'm just not sure when I'll make it into work.'

‘It's okay,' he assured her. ‘I've already called in a casual. Don't even think about that.'

She sighed. ‘Thank you for being so understanding.'

‘Of course I understand,' he said. ‘You know that . . . don't you?'

She nodded, which was useless on the phone, but she couldn't seem to find her voice.

‘Andie?'

‘Yes, I'm here,' she managed to say.

‘Listen, I have to go.'

‘Of course, sorry, I didn't mean to hold you up.'

‘You didn't hold me up,' he said. ‘Keep in touch, okay?'

‘I will.'

‘Talk to you later.'

She ended the call and held the phone for a minute, before turning it off and walking inside, and all the way back down the long corridor. Brooke and Matty and Joanna were waiting near the nurses' station.

‘What's going on?' said Andie. ‘Why are you all out here?'

‘Trasha's back,' Brooke said glumly.

‘She shooed us all out,' Joanna confirmed.

Andie looked at Matty. ‘Did you get to see your dad?' she asked him.

He nodded. Poor kid, his eyes were all swollen and red.

‘You can go back in there now, Andie,' said Brooke. ‘Tell her to piss off, she's not wanted.'

Andie didn't know what to say, but Joanna spoke for her.

‘You can't expect Andie to do that, Brooke. Whether we like it or not, Tasha has a right to be with him. Your father would want that.'

‘No, he wouldn't,' she insisted. ‘He asked me to make sure Andie came back, after he saw Matty.'

‘He asked me too,' Matty said in a gravelly voice.

Andie didn't know what to do. ‘Did you talk to the doctor again, Joanna?'

She nodded. ‘He was with me when Tasha got back. He said Ross was stable, that they would continue to monitor him overnight, and run some tests tomorrow. He said we should all go home and try to get some rest.'

‘Well,' Andie shrugged. ‘Doctor's orders . . .'

‘But
she
went back into his room,' said Brooke. ‘You have to do something, Andie.'

‘The main thing now is not to upset your dad.'

‘Andie's right,' said Joanna. ‘We can't do anything about Tasha. The staff will ask her to leave eventually.'

‘Excuse me, Mrs Corcoran?' It was Sue, she was back at the nurses' station. ‘I need to get you to fill out those papers.'

‘Of course.' She looked at Joanna. ‘Did Tasha say anything about Ross's health fund?'

Joanna shook her head. ‘I didn't ask her.'

Andie turned back to Sue. ‘Did Ms . . .' She realised she didn't even know Tasha's surname.

‘Vassallo,' said Joanna.

‘Thanks. Did Ms Vassallo leave his health fund details with you?'

She flipped through some pages and shook her head. ‘No, I'm afraid there's nothing here.'

Andie took the papers from the nurse and asked Joanna to help her. She simply didn't know a lot about Ross's medical history; he had been in good health throughout their marriage, had never been hospitalised, so it had not come up before. Tasha had made a start of the basic information form, filling in his name and address and gender. But Andie had to smile when she came to his date of birth. She nudged Joanna and pointed it out to her.

Joanna shook her head. ‘So Ross is getting younger by the year?'

Tasha had also put herself as next of kin, but a clean line had been ruled through that, and Andie's name written above it, by the nurse, Sue, she imagined. She stared at it now, feeling the weight on her shoulders.

After they had completed the forms Andie returned them to Sue at the desk. ‘I think we covered everything,' she said. ‘We're just waiting on the health fund details.'

‘Look, we don't need actual documentation,' said Sue. ‘If you can remember which fund he's in, we can contact them and take it from there.'

‘Well, in that case,' said Joanna, ‘it's probably the same one we've always been in.'

‘It's worth a try.'

Joanna gave Sue the details, and Andie felt a little annoyed with herself. She recalled having a conversation about health insurance when they were first married. Ross was doing some paperwork one night, he asked her if she was in a health fund and she told him no. She was only young and had never had much money, so it hadn't been a priority. He'd muttered something about taking care of it, and it never came up again. Ross tended to handle that kind of thing, but whenever he got Andie to sign anything, she always checked it thoroughly. She was uneasy enough about being a kept woman, let alone a clueless kept woman. But she honestly couldn't remember ever signing anything regarding a health fund.

Lauren arrived at the hospital soon after; she had wanted to avoid bringing the baby in, and James had been in transit from Singapore on a business trip earlier in the day. She was quite worked up, and very anxious to see her father, so Andie had to call on Sue and pull rank again.

This time Tasha had nowhere to go when she came out of Ross's room. She paced back and forth for a while, clearly agitated.

‘Oh, by the way,' she turned to no one in particular, ‘I had a quick look for those papers, but I couldn't find anything.'

In other words, she'd opened a drawer in the filing cabinet and when they didn't jump out at her, she'd given up.

‘No problem,' said Andie. ‘Joanna sorted it.'

Tasha folded her arms and marched off to the other end of the waiting area to lean against the wall.

When Lauren came out from seeing her father, she did not mince words. ‘Dad said he wants to see Andie, that you should go take a break, Tasha.'

The thunder rolled in across her face, then just as quickly blew over again. ‘Good, I was desperate for a coffee anyway,' she declared as she turned and flounced off.

When Andie walked into Ross's room, she wasn't sure if he was looking a little better, or she was just more prepared now.