Page 87 of On the Edge

‘No.A home is somewhere you feel safe.’

‘So …’ A long pause.‘Will we make a new home?’

Hot tears welled in Sophie’s eyes.‘Yes.We’ll make a new home.’

Chapter 56

‘For Christ’s sake,’ Lauren said.‘What’s taking so long?’

They’d been asked to move to the corridor beyond the curtain ten minutes before, but it felt like an hour.

‘Why was she …?She looked like she was in pain.’Lauren shook her head as though trying to dislodge the image of Poppy thrashing on the bed.‘Why was that?What was happening?’

‘It’s not unusual for patients to be agitated when they start to regain consciousness,’ Nel said.‘Especially if a traumatic event led to the injury.’

Lauren’s face contorted.She slid down the wall onto the floor and sat with her head in her hands.

Nel sat down beside her and put a tentative hand on her arm, expecting Lauren to push it away, but she didn’t.After a minute, she rested her head on Nel’s shoulder.For fifteen minutes, they sat like that, trying not to imagine the worst as people in scrubs walked briskly up and down the corridor and chatter drifted from the nurses’ station.

Eventually the curtain around Poppy’s bed moved back and a grey-haired doctor emerged.They scrambled to their feet.

‘What’s happening?’Lauren asked.

‘She’s been sedated,’ he said.‘You can come back now.’

They followed him to Poppy’s bedside.She was sleeping calmly, her face slack, expressionless.

The doctor spoke in a low tone.‘The scan results revealed swelling and bruising in her brain, but no bleeding.She’s taking some breaths on her own and the ventilator’s kicking in when she doesn’t.We’ll keep her on the machine overnight and reassess in the morning.’

Lauren nodded, then looked at Nel.

‘It’s good news,’ she said.

‘What happens now?’Lauren asked, her face still etched with fear.

‘We watch and wait,’ the doctor said.‘We’re not out of the woods yet, but the prognosis from here is positive.We’ll do repeat scans in the morning.If everything’s okay, we can take the tube out and see how things go.’

The phone in Nel’s hand vibrated.Jimmy.

‘Sorry, I need to take this.’She swiped to answer and moved away.‘Hey, what’s happening?’

‘I wanted to let you know that Ryan’s been arrested.’

She let go of the breath she didn’t realise she’d been holding.‘Where did you find him?’

‘The Victorian police picked him up on a back road.We’ve charged him with aggravated assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm for his attacks on you and Poppy.I tried to call Lauren, but she didn’t answer.’

‘I’ll let her know, I’m with her now at the hospital.’

‘How’s Poppy?’

‘Stable.No bleeding in the brain.She’s starting to breathe without the ventilator.She’s going to be okay, thank god.’She swallowed.‘What happens next with Ryan?’

‘He’ll be held at Mount Clare tonight and face court for a bail hearing tomorrow.’

‘What about the ring?Does he know you found it?’

‘Not yet.We’re dealing with the assault charges first.We’ll question him about Maddie in the morning.We need to ask you some more questions about Sophie and the letter too, so I’ll need you to come in again tomorrow.’