The Cardmaker and the Caretaker - 22. Chapter 22 Matters of the heart

Patrick, Peter and Alice got up around six and had a quick breakfast before they left the house to catch the tube to the hospital. Peter wanted to be there around seven and Alice insisted on joining them.

“I can take care of Mum, so you two can focus on each other, while Michael is in surgery. We need to catch up on various matters anyway. It will be a good distraction for her.”

Patrick felt the need for distraction was mutual, even though Alice kept a cheerful face and denied being worried about her almost-nephew. He was grateful for Peter’s sake, because his fiancé was an emotional wreck. The unexpected visit from Alice had been a welcome relief from worry last night, as they relived funny memories from their childhood and lapsed into sibling-like teasing. It was clear Moster Grethe had been a surrogate mother for her niece and nephew, making Kim and Alice as good as brother and sister to Peter and Annika.

But once they had gone to bed, which happened fairly early, Peter clung to Patrick, quietly sobbing against his shoulder. “We could lose him tomorrow. I should stay positive, but the fear is always there.”

The cardmaker stroked the soft golden hair and whispered tender words of love and encouragement. He held Peter close most of the night, as they slept fitfully before finally dropping into a few hours of deep, dreamless sleep. He could sense how his lover drew strength and comfort from his nearness, which in turn bolstered Patrick’s pride, pleasure and ability of being a firm pillar of support for his man. No one had needed him like this before, and although he deplored the current reason, he knew their mutual trust and need was a sign of their deep bond.

On the way to the hospital, Peter held his hand in a firm grip, and smiled gratefully at Alice when she patted his other arm in wordless support. Before they entered the ward, Peter took a few deep breaths and managed to tag on a bright face to greet his sleepy son and Moster. Alice stayed in the waiting room outside the main ward, because she didn’t want to create a fuss.

“As much as I want to see Michael, I know he needs to be calm and relaxed, and that won’t happen if I turn up out of the blue. Send Mum out here, and I’ll say a quick hello and arrange to take her out for breakfast when Michael is ready to go. Will she be with him in the prep room?”

“We haven’t decided yet, but probably. One of us has to be there to translate, and I think she’ll manage better as a professional.”

“That’s fine. I’ll be here, whenever she’s ready.”

Michael was happy to see his daddies and clung to Peter, whispering in Danish. This enabled Patrick to lead Grethe out to the waiting room where a tearful, but joyous reunion took place. Promising to fetch her the moment she was needed, he slipped back into the ward and Michael’s room. The next twenty minutes were spent in quiet chatting with their son who patiently let them hold his hand, stroke his hair and kiss his forehead and cheeks. Patrick marvelled at the serene confidence of the small boy.

“Det er OK, Far. Min skytsengel passer på mig, Pappa. Han vil holde mig i hånden, mens lægerne fixer mit hjerte. Han har lovet, jeg snart kommer hjem til jer.”[1]

“He says your guardian angel will take care of him and hold his hand, while they fix his heart. And he’s promised Michael will come home soon.”

Patrick held his hand up and Michael high-fived him with a grin. For a moment Patrick thought he heard a grumpy voice mutter “the sooner, the better. I miss Theo.” But then the door to the room opened and Grethe came in, already changed into borrowed blue scrubs. Hard on her heels the nurse entered together with the orderly taking Michael away for surgery preparation. A few last kisses and ‘I love you’ in English and Danish, and then they had to wave to their son as he rolled away with Grethe at his side. They could hear his bright voice explaining about ‘sej skytsengel med sværd’[2] holding his hand.

“I’ve never seen Michael so confident and relaxed about being in hospital. He’s grabbed on to your idea about a guardian angel in a way I’d never have predicted. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for that.”

“I have no idea where the concept came from, Peter.[3] It seemed right at the time, and if Michael feels better about the situation due to him, I’m not going to question the inspiration.”

“Me neither.” Peter gave him a kiss and they hugged for a while, leaning on each other and breathing the familiar scents. Finally Peter sighed. “I guess we should go and tell Alice Grethe will be back in about half an hour. Then the waiting begins. Three hours or more.”

“I’m not going to say don’t worry, but we have to trust Michael is in the best hands.”

Peter nodded and they walked out of the ward shoulder to shoulder. Patrick liked the feeling of familiarity in having Peter’s warm fingers entwined with his own, and he knew he’d never grow tired of all those casual signs of affection.

Alice was busy on her smart phone, but she stopped the moment she became aware of them. She’d spent the waiting time applying some discreet make-up and was back to the stunning looks she’d shown on arrival. Or at least, Patrick assumed make-up was the reason, even though he couldn’t exactly see any traces of lipstick or eyeshadow. Seeing her phone reminded him to get his own phone out and switch it on, and Peter followed suit.

“Michael was doing OK, and Moster should be back thirty minutes from now,” Peter informed his cousin, who gave both of them a quick hug.

“Mum and I had a good chat, and she’s agreed to go out for a late breakfast. I’ve been trying to find a nice place around here. We want to be close by, but I see no reason to hang around in this waiting room. We have to wait several hours, right?”

“Three hours from the time Moster returns, say around eleven, and then Michael will be in recovery for several hours. He’ll need us there when he regains consciousness, but that may take up to two hours. The surgeon will brief us during that time, and depending on Michael’s condition, he’ll either stay in the recovery unit for the rest of the day, or be taken back to Bear Ward. Grethe will suit up again and attend him in recovery, but they’ll let me see him once he’s conscious. If he returns to Bear, as they expect, we’ll all be able to suit up and take time visiting, but I think it would be good for Grethe to get some sleep in the afternoon and early evening, since she’ll be here all night again.”

“She has a key to the house, and I’ll pay for a cab there and back,” Patrick offered. “It’s a bit boring for you, I guess, but….”

“No problem. I have access to your wifi, so I can keep myself occupied. I bet Mum has plenty of easy-to-heat meals and tasty sandwich ingredients.”

When Peter was distracted by a text message on his phone and moved away while he replied, Alice whispered to Patrick. “It works out perfectly, because Kim’s flight arrives at four. I’ll text him so he can go directly to your house, if that’s OK? He can come with us and if possible say hello to Michael, but I think he’ll be terribly jet-lagged and in need of sleep.”

“We’ll all need another early night, hopefully with more sleep. I’ll try to persuade Peter to go for a walk for an hour, but I have the feeling he’ll want to stay put.” Patrick smiled at his future husband, who moved back in time to hear his comment. Peter nodded distractedly.

“That was my mum. She sent her best wishes for a successful operation.”

“We’re all hoping for the best, and Mum said the surgeon was encouraging and confident about a good outcome. I know there’s always a risk, and Michael will have a long convalescence ahead, but the alternatives were a lot worse, right?”

“Yes, the doctors at Rigshospitalet said his chances of surviving to adulthood were small without this operation. An optimal result of the surgery would cure him, and even a less favourable outcome would improve his health dramatically. So either way, having Great Ormond take Michael on was the first miracle I’d hoped for.”

“We’ll have to believe a second one will occur now.”

“Actually, Michael making a full recovery will be the third one in a row. Meeting Patrick was the unexpected miracle of this trip.” The warm smile Peter gave him made Patrick’s heart miss a beat, and his words caused a pleased blush.

“I agree. You and Michael entering my life was a miracle I’d never dared to hope for.” Patrick reached out to take Peter’s hand and the Dane pulled him closer.

“I love you.” Peter’s voice was low but intense.

There was an unexpected flash. “Aww, you two are adorable.” Alice took another picture with her phone when they turned to look at her. “I’m so glad you’ve found each other. And I get the bonus of having my mum in England, which I hadn’t considered possible. I really am grateful to you, Patrick.”

“I hope you’ll be a frequent visitor, Alice. Maybe a permanent resident, once we have the second house done up.”

“Absolutely, and I can look after Michael too, between my model jobs. My skills as a nurse are crap, but I can entertain one bored patient just fine.”

“Don’t remind me! Your ideas of entertainment are quite unorthodox.”

“Hey, the face paint came off, didn’t it? And Michael swore he was going to have a bath anyway.”

“Yes, well, I was thinking about the spider incident. You nearly gave me a heart attack.” Peter tried to scowl, but Patrick could see he wasn’t serious.

“Are you scared of spiders?” Somehow, he couldn’t quite reconcile the idea with his strong Danish Viking.

“No, of course not. At least not in Europe. Michael had a phase where he was interested in spiders, so we watched this nature program about Australian spiders. Even I thought they were scary, and Michael had nightmares for a week. But then Alice babysat him one day and decided to cure him.”

“It worked beautifully,” she said with a smirk. “The eggs were just an added bonus.”

“The eggs?”

“I had gone shopping, and when I came back, Michael called for me somewhat urgently. I left the bags in the corridor by the entry door, but took the tray of eggs with me into the kitchen, in case the shopping bag fell over. When I walked into the kitchen, this huge fake spider dropped on me from the ceiling.”

“Oh no.” Patrick began chuckling as he had a vision of what happened next.

“Oh yes,” Alice giggled. “He screamed like a girl, and the eggs went flying into the air. At the top of the loop the tray opened and twelve large fresh farm eggs went splat, splat, splat, all around him.”

“The last one landed on my shoulder while I was busy stomping on a hairy rubber spider. The mess was unbelievable.”

Patrick was doubled up laughing, and Alice had tears rolling down her face. Peter was trying to scowl, saying “You’re as bad as Michael. He wet himself laughing, while this silly minx teased me about using egg grenades to fight spiders.”

Finally, the cardmaker got his breath back. “Were you angry with them?”

“Some, but the next morning Michael told me the spiders had turned up in his dream, but I chased them away with eggs, and he woke up laughing, because it was so funny. He never had another nightmare about spiders.”

“People I work with can’t understand why I giggle every time I see a spider,” Alice told them. Peter rolled his eyes and muttered something in Danish.

“Yep, you bet I tell them the whole story, and it never fails to make even the most ardent arachnophobe laugh. There seems to be a number of them in the model business.” Alice got out a mirror and repaired the minute damage to her make-up.

“How are you doing in the business?” Peter’s attempt to change topic was obvious, and Alice obliged with several amusing tales about various model jobs with insane hours, demanding photographers and negotiations with her agent about what kind of gigs she would accept.

“She seems to think because I’m Danish I’ll take on all kinds of jobs involving partial or even full nudity. I’m not a prude, but there are limits. I’ll do underwear for the big companies, but even they sometimes cross my limits.”

The talk about her work lasted them until Grethe arrived. She looked tired but pleased. Peter led her to the most comfortable chair before he sat down next to her and asked how the surgery prep had gone.

“Perfect, as far as I could tell. Michael was calm and went under fast. He didn’t even get to seven in the count down. From the comments I gathered they were very pleased with his stats and the easy anaesthetic procedure. The atmosphere in the theatre was focused, but not tense, when I left.”

Peter still looked worried, and Grethe leaned over to hug him. “I know it’s difficult to wait, but try to think of something else for the next three hours. I’m going to have brunch with Alice, and I’m sure Patrick can find something for you to do in the neighbourhood.”

“There are a few parks and museums within ten minutes’ walk from here, or we can find somewhere to have coffee. But if you want to stay here, I’m sure we can wait in Michael’s room.”

Peter gave him a grateful smile and nodded. Grethe wasted no time in trying to persuade him or chide him for not taking her advice. She and Alice left together after hugging both men and saying they would be back at eleven.

Once they were sitting on the sofa in Michael’s room, Peter leaned into Patrick’s embrace and sighed.

“I’m glad Alice is here to entertain Grethe. She’s been so focused on Michael and us, but her own children need their mum too, and she needs their company and love.”

“They chose to leave Denmark to pursue their careers, but I can certainly understand why they miss their mum. Alice seems happy about having Grethe here and the prospect of being able to stay with her when she has her own home next door.”

“I’m sure Kim will see her more often too, because his work brings him to London at least once a year. He does try to visit Copenhagen at the same time, but his schedule is usually tight.”

“This way he’ll save time and get to see you and Michael too.”

“I’m sure he’ll like you too, once he gets to know you.”

“Well, I look forward to meeting your other cousin. Alice is wonderful. She’s as beautiful on the inside as she is on the surface and intelligent too. I think she and Fiona would get on well.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice? We could do with some relatives who aren’t stressful company to be our extended family.”

Patrick didn’t want to bring up the matter of his future mother-in-law or Peter’s sister, so he decided to change the subject. But before he got very far in telling about the cleaners he had hired, two people entered the room.

“I hope we’re not disturbing you, but we wanted to say hello to Patrick,” one of them said.

“No, that’s quite all right. We could do with some distraction, and I did promise he would be here this morning.” Peter grinned at his fiancé, and Patrick realized this was part of the reason he’d insisted on staying in Michael’s room. He got up to shake their hands.

“Hi, I’m Diane. I’ve been a doctor at GOSH for fifteen years. I’m convinced Lizzie saved the lives of several of our patients, because she had great instincts for how they were doing before and after surgery. The accident was a terrible loss for us as well as you, and I cried for days. Your mother was a very special person.”

Patrick managed to squeeze a few words past the lump in his throat. “Thank you. I know she loved her work.”

“And everybody here loved her,” the other woman said. She seemed slightly younger and her name tag said Nurse Reynolds. “I only had six months as her colleague, but she taught me more about nursing dedication than anyone else. She also taught me to be cheerful and grateful for the small joys in life, and that was an even more important lesson.”

The doctor nodded. “What Tania means is she came here with a reputation as a brilliant anaesthesia nurse with a huge chip on her shoulder. But after Lizzie befriended her, only the dedicated nurse remained.”

Patrick was taken aback at the frank honesty, but the nurse grinned and bumped Diane’s shoulder. “And your girlfriend.”

They exchanged smiles. “That was an unexpected bonus.”

The couple spent another ten minutes telling Patrick how his mother had brought them together, mostly by making Tania face up to the fact she liked women in general and Diane in particular. They praised her for being patient but persistent.

“You won’t get everyone to admit it, but your mother helped staff, patients and their families deal with the pain of living, whether it came from physical or mental anguish. We do our best to continue the legacy and keep her memory alive.”

While Diane spoke, Tania shifted the pile of papers she was carrying, and brought a blue folder up. She held it out to Patrick.

“When we heard you were coming, we made copies of the best pictures of your mum at work and some of the letters of thanks sent to her. We’ve crossed out the names of patients and parents, since that’s confidential, but the descriptions in them will give you a good idea of how highly she was regarded.”

He was speechless, but hugged them in gratitude. They left with promises of checking in the next day and encouraging words about Michael being in the best of hands with their colleagues.

This time Patrick was the one seeking comfort in Peter’s arms. They sat for a while looking at the pictures and reading some of the letters and talking about the surprise visit of the couple. Peter said only the nurse had talked to him earlier. When Patrick put the folder away, the Dane returned to the topic of the cleaner.

“You were telling me about the youngest of Mr. Kumar’s daughters having a scar on her face.”

“Yes, and I’m almost certain she got it because someone assaulted her, maybe trying to rape her.”

“That’s terrible.”

“Mr. Kumar implied he wanted his daughters to work for us, because it was safe. They’re both students and would like to have the extra income. Sonia is aiming to take over the business when her father retires. Neeta wants to become a nurse.”

“Sounds ideal for us and them.”

“Yes. I liked them and I felt sorry for Sonia.” Patrick hesitated, but he didn’t want to have secrets from Peter.

“I phoned a P.I. who has helped me before.” Peter looked confused and he elaborated. “P.I., private investigator.”

“Åh, en privatdetektiv.[4] I understand, but why?”

“I want to find out what happened. I get the feeling the guy who assaulted Sonia wasn’t brought to justice. It would explain the bitterness she displayed.”

“Or it could simply be because she’s disfigured.”

“Yes, but good plastic surgery could remedy a lot. I’m guessing they can’t afford it. But I can’t ask them directly.”

“I see. How come you know a P.I.?”

“Uhm, I’ve used him before. He delivered the evidence against a man who was abusing his daughters. But no one knows I was the one who paid him. He’s expensive but discreet.”

“And good as his job, I presume.”

“Yes, that too. I’ve used him a couple of other times, but for minor matters in relation to my business. People who were trying to cheat me. I could feel it, but I needed proof.”

“What will you do when you find out about Sonia?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps nothing, but I’ll discuss it with you first.”

“You don’t have to. It’s your money.”

“I want to, Peter. Don’t you understand? It’s a relief to have someone to share my burden with. It’s not just because I don’t want any secrets between us. And anyway, it will be our money once we’re married. No, I love the fact I can open my heart and my mind to you, and you accept me and support me.”

“I love and trust you too.”

The cardmaker wanted to shout with joy over how well his handsome Viking understood what he was trying to say. But he settled for a long ardent kiss to show his gratitude. Love and trust and caring for each other and Michael would hopefully never end.

Sorry for the long wait and thank you for your patience. Thank you @Kitt for editing and sharing a good laugh.