Chapter 36 - The People Who Were Waiting
“Yes,” Vincent said gently. “He's going to the people who can treat him.”
Nora looked toward the corridor.
“Not somewhere else?”
He understood then.
The question was not about an ambulance.
“No. Not somewhere I've chosen. Celia knows the hospital. The team has explained the arrangements. You can ask them too.”
Celia put a hand beside Nora's shoulder without pulling her away.
“Nobody is hiding where he's going,” she said. “I'll show you the information.”
Nora stared at the paper her mother held.
Her breathing slowed enough for her to read it.
Vincent stepped aside so the responders could continue. There was no speech capable of removing the fear people had learned to associate with him. He could make the next action clear.
He let them pass.
The families began leaving only after staff and the responsible authorities confirmed the available routes. Some used their own vehicles. Others waited for the transport arranged for them. The damaged service entrance remained closed.
Emma wanted to stay with Nora until she knew more about Garrett.
Vincent discussed it with Claire and Celia rather than turning the request into a decision the girl had to manage. They agreed that the two families could meet at the hospital if conditions and the child's needs still made that reasonable on arrival.
They could change the plan if anyone became too tired.
Celia drove with Nora when the route was cleared. Vincent followed separately with Emma. Claire reached the hospital by another checked route after the travel restrictions affecting her journey changed.
When Emma saw her in the waiting area, she stood so quickly the canvas bag fell over.
Claire held her daughter without asking for an account first.
For several seconds, there was only the child's weight and the smell of a sweater borrowed from the observatory's emergency supply.
“I'm okay,” Emma said into her shoulder.
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Claire closed her eyes.
“I'm catching up.”
Emma let her.
Vincent remained a little distance away until Claire looked toward him. She held out her hand, and he came closer.
“You stayed with the plan,” she said quietly.
“We changed it when the people responsible told us what had changed.”
She nodded.
That was what she had asked of him years earlier, beneath gunfire and a helicopter's turning blades. It had taken time, consequences, and days she would never get back.
She could recognize the present without forgiving those days again on command.
Celia joined them after an update from the clinical team. Garrett had been assessed for his injuries and would remain for treatment and observation as needed. He was awake. More information would follow when the team had completed the relevant work.
The answer contained no guarantee.
It was still an answer the adults could trust.
Nora sat down abruptly.
Emma sat beside her.
For a while, they discussed nothing at all. Then Nora noticed that a corner of Emma's model notes had become wet inside the bag.
“Your labels,” she said.
“They survived worse criticism from you.”
Nora gave a startled laugh that turned into a sob.
Emma stayed beside her without trying to stop either sound.
Claire bought food after asking who wanted it. Vincent found the appropriate place to obtain an additional blanket. Celia made the calls she needed to make without being required to tell the Morettis every detail of her former husband's life.
The waiting area became a room occupied by people with separate responsibilities rather than a single powerful man's emergency.
Later, Nora asked whether missing work because he was injured would create trouble with the arrangements following Garrett's release.
Celia explained that the necessary people had been contacted and his lawyer knew what had happened. They would handle the actual questions with the relevant advice. Nora did not need to solve them from a chair outside a treatment room.
The girl nodded, tired enough to accept a smaller task.
“Can I see him?”
“When the team says it's appropriate and he wants visitors,” Celia replied.
She was able to do so later that evening with her mother.
Emma stayed in the public waiting area with her parents. Being a friend did not require witnessing every part of the other family's fear.
Emma leaned against Claire while Vincent checked the practical departure arrangements.
“Did she think Dad would send him somewhere bad?”
“I think she was frightened and remembering stories about him.”
“He isn't like that now.”
“He has changed. People can still remember reasons they were afraid.”
Emma looked toward the corridor.
“Will that always happen?”
“Sometimes. We can't decide when someone else's fear has to end.”
The girl thought about that, then asked whether Vincent would be angry with Nora for the question.
“He can feel hurt,” Claire said. “He won't make Nora responsible for proving she's no longer frightened.”
“How do you know?”
“Because we've talked about it, and because I'll speak to him if we need to again.”
Emma nodded slowly.
Her mother was not promising another person's mind would never become difficult. She was describing work the adults would do when it did. That answer was less impressive than certainty and easier for Emma to imagine believing.
She sat up and reached for her bag. The small decision to go home no longer felt like abandoning Nora.
“Do you want to go home?” Claire asked.
Emma thought about it.
“Yes. But can we check on Nora tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
Vincent collected the bag, checked that the model box had reached the car, and returned to say goodbye to Celia.
She came out alone.
“He's asking whether you'd speak to him,” she told Vincent. “Only if you want to. I told him I would pass it on once.”
May you like
Vincent looked toward the corridor.
Behind one of its doors waited the man who had carried his daughter out after helping bring the danger in.
