"James! James! It's mummy!' Lucy cried frantically, willing him to open his eyes. "James!" She leaned over him to see if he was breathing. He was! She felt for his pulse...it seemed strong. "Come on baby! Open your eyes!" she pleaded, tears now rolling down her cheeks.
"Is he your son?" asked the woman who had been driving. Lucy could see that how she was shaking. "I'm so, so sorry! He just appeared from nowhere! I tried to stop but I couldn't miss him!"
"We need an ambulance exclaimed Lucy, "Please, go to my house and knock at the back door...there!" She pointed to the house.
Moments later the woman returned with Dot and the other children.
"LUCY!" Dot exclaimed, "What's happened?"
"Why is James on the road mummy?" said a little voice.
Lucy looked up to see Daniel looking at his brother with great concern.
"He isn't feeling very well Daniel. He needs to go to the doctor." She turned to Dot, "Take them back to the house. I don't want them seeing their brother like this!"
Nodding Dot turned and taking the two children with her, Dot headed back towards the house. Daniel was shouting and crying for James but his cries went unheeded.
"Want Daniel." Mumbled a little voice.
"Oh James!" Lucy heaved a sigh of relief as James opened his eyes. "Thank goodness you're awake."
"Want Daniel mummy." He tried to move then cried out. "Mummy! My arm hurts!"
"Shhh...it's OK darling! You've had a little bump. Don't worry."
The little boy tried to sit up again. "Stay lying down James. You need to keep still." He continued to try to move, "I'll lie down with you James sweetheart. Come on, lie down with mummy." The pair lay on the hard tarmac and waited.
The ambulance arrived moments later and was surprised to find a woman and child lying in the road. Lucy sat up. "He's my son! He's only three! He was knocked down!" Her eyes filled with tears. "Help him! Please!"
She watched helplessly as James was stretchered into the ambulance. Lucy got in with him and tried to comfort him.
"My arm hurts so much, mummy!" Tears rolled down his face.
"Can't you give him something for the pain?" Lucy asked the paramedic, "Please!"
The man shook his head. "If he lost consciousness, the policy is no medication until he's been assessed by a doctor. Sorry love."
"When we get to the hospital James, the doctor will give you some magic medicine to stop it hurting. OK darling!" she told the unhappy little boy. "It won't be long now."
Once at the hospital James was whisked off to be examined. Lucy tried to follow him into the examination room but was stopped by a nurse.
"I need to go with him!" she cried, trying to get past her, "Please, he's only baby!"
"No parents allowed in the examination room," said the nurse firmly. She took Lucy by the arm and led her to some chairs on the corridor. "Wait here. We'll come to you once we know the extent of your son's injuries." She was told brusquely and then the nurse walked away. Lucy sat on the hard seat and waited...
"Lucy?"
She looked up and the colour drained from her face. "Paul? How did you know I was here?"
"Dot called me," he sat beside her, "Where's James? How is he?"
"In there," she gestured to the room behind them, "with the doctor. They wouldn't let me stay with him. They seem to be taking ages."
"How long have you been waiting?"
Lucy glanced at her watch. "About twenty minutes."
"That's ridiculous!" Paul stood up and pushed the door open.
"I'm sorry!" said a nurse, turning to Paul, "You're not allowed in here!"
"This is my son," said Paul firmly, "I want to know how he is. He's only three years old for goodness sake, I need to be with him!"
The nurse tried to force Paul out of the room.
"WANT MY DADDY!" cried a voice.
Lucy jumped to her feet and followed Paul into the room. They both pushed their way through to James's bed and stood beside him
"Hello darling!" said Lucy softly, "Mummy and daddy are here. Don't worry!"
Paul addressed the doctor. "How is my son? What's happening?"
"Mr McCartney, my name is Dr Kingsley. I'm a consultant paediatrician here." He looked from Paul to Lucy, "As you are aware your son was knocked down by a car earlier today. As a result he has a cut to the head which we need to stitch as well as a broken arm and a broken collar bone."
"Oh no!" said Lucy turned to James, fighting back tears. She was distraught as she blamed herself for the accident,
"Your son has been very lucky Mrs McCartney. His injuries aren't life threatening. They could have been much worse." He patted Lucy on the shoulder. "Small children are remarkably resilient," He told her, "We'll need to keep him for a few days at least because of the head injury and to set his arm but other than that I'm not expecting anything to concern us."
Lucy nodded and turned her attention back to James. She held his good hand, relieved to know he would be fine. "Can I stay with him?"
"For a while yes, but hospital policy states you can't stay all night with him."
"But he's only a ba..." Lucy began, dismayed.
"Let's let the doctor get on with treating James Lucy love," interrupted Paul gently, putting his arm around her shoulders, "Then we'll see about staying with him. OK?"
Lucy nodded and let Paul lead her from the room and back out to the hard chairs as before. Once outside, she turned on him. "Why did you say that?" she snapped, "I want to be with James!"
Paul sighed. "I know you do but arguing with the doctor isn't going to get James treated any quicker, is it? Let her do what he needs to do and we'll battle with the ward staff about staying, not the doctor."
Lucy nodded slowly. "I guess you're right. Sorry I snapped Paul."
He smiled at her. "It's no problem Lucy love. I know you're worried about him." He paused, "How on earth did this happen anyway? Dot said he was hit by a car!"
"He was," said Lucy, her eyes filling with tears, "but I really don't understand how it happened. One minute he was in the sand with Daniel whilst I was hanging out laundry the next minute he was gone! When I searched for him I found the gates open. He must have slipped out through them!"
"Why the hell were the gates open?" Paul was suddenly angry, "You know how busy the road is outside the house! That's just irresponsible Lucy!"
"Don't you DARE call me irresponsible!" hissed Lucy, "I've been look after those children virtually single handed for months! I didn't open the gates. I haven't been out of the house for days!"
"Oh don't start moaning about looking after the kids single handed!" He laughed scornfully at her, "For one thing Dot does more than her fair share and secondly, it's was your fucking decision to have them on your own!"
"Only because you can't keep it in your trousers!" She snapped, "I hate you Paul! Go away! James and I don't need you!"
"Clearly you do!" he snapped back, "Or James wouldn't be in this mess!"
"FUCK YOU McCARTNEY!"
She turned from him and walked towards the room where James was. Pushing the door open and ignoring the comments from a nurse, she went to stand beside James.
"Want daddy too!" he shouted. "Want daddy!" He began to cry hysterically.
Lucy had no choice but to go back to Paul. He was sat on the chairs like before, his expression furious!
"Paul?"
"WHAT? Come back for more?"
Lucy shook her head. "James wants you. He's crying for his daddy."
Immediately Paul stood up, his expression softer. "Thanks for coming to get me Lucy. Under the circumstances..."
"All that matters is James." she told him, "Nothing else."
Paul and Lucy followed James as he was taken to the children's ward on a trolley. It was the same ward where Lucy had previously worked. They both made to follow the trolley into the ward. Suddenly they were stopped by a hard faced matron.
"Only one person per bed please."
"But we're his parents," pleased Lucy, "James needs both of us."
"Only one person per bed. NO EXCEPTIONS thank you!" She turned and walked away leaving Paul and Lucy staring after her.
"Please..." Lucy called desperately, but she was ignored. She turned to Paul. "What do you want to do?"
"You stay with him," said Paul gently, "I'll wait here. We can swap after a short time. OK?"
"Thank you Paul." said Lucy gratefully, "For being so...considerate."
He shrugged. "Like you said before, this is all about James, not us." He turned from her and she watched as he walked away.
"Paul, where will you be? So we can swap?"
He didn't bother to turn around. "I'll come back to you, don't worry!" He disappeared around the corner. Sighing, Lucy headed into the ward and found where James had been settled into a large cot. James began to cry when he saw her so Lucy leaned over to lower the cot side.
"Don't do that!" said a passing nurse, "The sides must be up to keep the children safe!"
"My son's upset!" said Lucy, "I'm only going to give him a hug!"
"Matron will go mad!"
Ignoring the comment Lucy continued to lower the cot side and picked James up. "I'm here baby!" she told him soothingly, "Mummy's here. Let's have a big cuddle and make your poorly arm better." Rocking him gently as he lay in her arms, James stopped crying and began to settle. Lucy spoke softly to him as he finally drifted into sleep. About an hour later Paul appeared at the door of the ward. Lucy waved to him. He came into the ward and approached James's bed. Carefully taking James from her, he sat down and cuddled his still sleeping son.
"How is he?" he whispered.
"He seems OK at the minute. He was a bit weepy before." She stroked his head, "See you later little man." She kissed him on the forehead then looked up at Paul, "About an hour OK with you?"
"Sure." said Paul without even looking up at her.
"OK."
Again Paul didn't look at her.
"See you later."
"Yes."
Sighing deeply at Paul's lack of communication, she turned and walked from the ward.