Night Shift (Book 1, the Night Shift series)

Chapter Forty-four

"Hello?" Stacey answered. Daniel could hear the panic in her voice.

"We're just around the corner," he said.

Earlier, he'd told her that Blanche was in his care, and that he would be bringing her personally. He suspected Stacey had been so worried about Maureen's deteriorating condition that she was willing to suspend disbelief and agree with anything he said.

What exactly was she expecting? he wondered. That he'll pull up with a mannequin wearing one of her aunt's favourite dresses?

Stacey said, "I don't have anything to help you take her up with. She'll be too heavy for us to carry."

Daniel glanced over at Blanche opening her purse and checking the rose for the fifth time. "You won't have to carry her," he said. "She's wearing Louboutins." There was only silence. "Everything is going to be all right," he tried to reassure her. "But you need to promise one thing."

"What?"

"Please don't faint."

"Okay," she said, weakly.

The limousine pulled up to the hospital. Daniel had never been inside one before tonight. He'd arranged it earlier, knowing Blanche deserved glamorous transportation.

She'd clung to his arm at first, eyes wide open and staring out the window. "There are no walls," she'd whispered. Then she remarked how fast they were going, and started to shake. By the time the car made the final turn though, she'd let go and had the window rolled down halfway.

Daniel stepped out and saw Stacey standing alone, tightly clutching her raincoat against the wind.

He wasn't surprised to see the dark circles under her eyes. She looked him up and down, noticing the suit and tie. She moved to the side, trying to see around him.

A cream-coloured stiletto came out first, followed by a manicured hand reaching for Daniel. In one elegant movement, Blanche stepped out of the limo and stood before Stacey.

"Blanche?" she whispered. Stacey's eyes fluttered and she immediately dropped.

Later, at the nurses' station, Daniel and Blanche watched Stacey taking sips of water while sitting in a chair. After a few nervous glances their way, she stood up and motioned for them to follow her down the hallway.

Halfway down, Stacey paused by a door. With her eyes only on Daniel, she stepped back to let them enter.

"Wait!" Blanche whispered. "Do I look all right?" she asked.

He smiled. "You were never lovelier."

The small, bare room was nondescript and anonymous. Even the patient herself was void of colour or personality. Maureen's wiry black hair flared out on the pillow around her head. The bruise on her forehead from the latest fall was purple and sore looking.

Daniel had flashbacks to his father's cancer ward. He put a hand on the wall to steady himself. Stacey hadn't been exaggerating: Maureen looked like she only had a few days to live.

Blanche let go of his hand, then took a few steps toward the bed. Her bottom lip quivered, and she turned her head away. Daniel worried she was going to run out of the room. She noticed the bedside table and her expression softened.

A plain, slim blue vase held a single white rose, now wilted and edged with brown. Blanche removed the dead flower from the vase and carefully replaced it with the one from her purse.

"Maureen?" she said, bringing her face close.

Her eyes opened and Maureen looked back with a vacant expression. Then slowly, her face squinted into a smile. A pale hand reached up. "My Blanche," she cried.