All They Need(88)

“The ambulance guys seemed really calm, though, and I figure that’s got to be a good sign. And she did the right thing with the water.”

“You’re probably right.” He pushed away from the counter. “We should get going.”

He started for the door, then stopped. “Sorry. Here I am, just assuming— You probably need to head home. I can take Mom’s car if you need to go.”

“I’m coming with you.” The answer was out of her mouth before she could think about it.

He reached out and hooked his arm around her neck, drawing her close and dropping a kiss onto her mouth. “Thank you.”

They locked the house and Flynn drove her car to the Epworth Hospital in Richmond. They walked hand-in-hand into the hospital and made their way to the emergency department. An enquiry revealed that his mother was being treated by a doctor and they were advised to take a seat in the waiting room. She sat beside Flynn, talking quietly, doing what she could to reassure and distract him. An hour later the nurse came to tell them that his mother had been moved to a private room and that they were free to visit her. They followed a complicated set of directions until they located her room and found her sitting up in bed with her injured arm carefully resting on a pillow to one side of her body. Her forearm was covered in a thick, many-layered bandage and the tight, pained look was gone from her face. Adam sat beside the bed, his face set in the same dogged, determined expression he’d worn earlier.

“There you are. We were beginning to think you’d gone to the wrong hospital,” Patricia said with a weary smile.

“We’ve been waiting downstairs until the nurse gave us the all clear. How are you doing?” Flynn asked, reaching to take his mother’s good hand.

“Better and better. The doctor wants to keep me in overnight so one of the plastic surgeons can take a look at it. Apparently it’s a borderline third-degree burn and I might need a skin graft.”

“And that’s something they’d do straight away?” Flynn asked.

“I have no idea. I forgot to ask them that.” Patricia gave him a small apologetic smile. “They’ll be back soon—you can ask them yourself.”

“But you’re comfortable?” Flynn asked.

“Very. A little spacey, but there’s no pain.”

“Good.”

Mel had been hovering in the doorway but Flynn drew her forward now.

“I didn’t get a chance to introduce anyone earlier, but Mel, this is my mother, Patricia, and my father, Adam. Mom, Dad, this is Mel,” he said.

“Lovely to meet you, Mel. I wish the circumstances were different, but there’s not much I can do about that,” Patricia said.

“I’m glad to hear you’re feeling more comfortable,” Mel said.



Flynn’s father didn’t say anything and Flynn fixed his father with an assessing look. “You doing okay there, Dad?”

His father met his eyes and Mel could see that the older man was working hard to keep a lid on his emotions.

“What’s going on, Dad?” Flynn asked gently.

“I’m fine. You’re mother is the important one here.”

Patricia eyed her husband shrewdly. “You’re blaming yourself, aren’t you?”

Again, Adam didn’t say anything but his answer was in his face as he made eye contact with his wife.

“Don’t go all quiet on me. Talk to me,” Patricia said quietly. “We said we’d always talk. So talk to me.”

There was a moment of silence before Flynn’s father responded. “I let you down.”

He said it so quietly Mel almost didn’t hear him.

“No, you didn’t. You called Flynn. That was the exactly right thing to do.”

Adam shook his head. “Don’t. Don’t try to make me feel better. I panicked. I couldn’t handle it.” The grief and self-disgust in his voice and his face were so real, so deeply felt, that Mel stirred uneasily and dropped her gaze to the floor.

“No,” Patricia said. “You got help. You helped me. You waited with me.”

“I stood there crying like a baby. I could barely think. I’m useless. Might as well have had a five-year-old in the room.”

Patricia surprised everyone by reaching over the edge of the bed to grab a fistful of her husband’s sweater. Her expression determined, she gave him a none-too-gentle shake.