With My Body

by Jo Briggs

  "Ok sweetie, well, I am not sure how friendly Gina is going to be to mama, so I want you to go up to your room again if I ask you too, but let's go see if papa has managed to make her more pleasant company for now."

  "Ok," Christian slipped his smaller hand into Elle's, before they stepped further into the house.

  Wandering through a couple of interconnecting rooms, she could hear raised voices coming from the library. Catching the eye of Mrs. Reynolds, who was just closing the library door behind her, rolled her eyes in exasperation at Elle.

  "Thank goodness you are here." Mrs. Reynolds started. "Mr. Dexter and Mrs. Hoffmann are having a rather intense argument."

  Elle nodded. "Yes, I had become aware that Mrs. Hoffmann has become rather dispirited with Will's reconciliation with me."

  Elle was slightly hesitant, entering the library with Christian beside her, but she also felt quite defiant that she was not going to have her son feel uncomfortable, in his own father's own home.

  As she slowly opened the door, she caught some of what was being said within.

  "How many times do I need to say this to you? We are moving in together because we love each other, and I for one want to add more children to the one we already have, eventually. "

  "She broke your heart once, so what is to stop her leaving you again, and taking you to court for child support on a son, who might not even be yours."

  "Elle is not interested in my money." William said firmly, choosing not to give her gibe about child support any response. "Honestly, Gina if you cannot let this go then I don't know if I wish to continue being in your company."

  "You are throwing me out ….." Gina stopped speaking mid-sentence, as Elle stepped fully into the room.

  Elle could not help, but glare at Gina, as soon as her gaze settled upon the woman behind the voice.

  William was slightly startled at first by Elle's entrance. Gathering his wits together quickly, he stepped over to her and kissed her soundly. "Sorry, I did not realize you had arrived back; otherwise I would have come out to greet you earlier." He offered her a weak smile in apology, before moving onto his son and ruffling the top of his hair good-naturedly. "Have you finished your homework?" He asked, trying to defuse a possible confrontational situation by bring Christian’s presence to the forefront, as he knew Gina or Elle would not make a too much of a scene with him there.

  Elle sidestepped William and moved further into the room, as he began talking to Christian,

  "Hello, Gina," She said coolly as she seated herself on the sofa beside the other woman. "Or rather, should I say Mrs. Hoffmann," she added formally.

  "Elle," Gina nodded stiffly in acknowledgement of her greeting, turning to meet her gaze levelly.

  Elle leant forward slightly, so William could perhaps not catch their conversation. "I heard what you have been saying about me. I do not take kindly to you spouting aspersions about me to Evan and William, that you have no place saying. I have plenty of money of my own, so I have no intentions to take any of your precious inheritance. I am getting back with your brother simply because I love him, and he loves me. If I hear anything further about you calling me a gold digger, or make any reference to my son's father not being Will, I will make you regret it." Elle's voice was low and level throughout; her face blushed red, with the anger bubbling beneath. The slighter younger woman facing her became rather pale, as she took note of Elle's threat. "I hope you and I understand each other."

  The other woman nodded silently. "I am only trying to protect him." Gina replied quietly, avoiding Elle's commanding gaze.

  "You need not worry about protecting him from me." Elle said simply, still maintaining her voice at a low volume, to avoid attracting William's attention too much, as he and Christian came to sit on the sofa facing theirs.

  "Well, I need to get going," Gina said suddenly, standing up and leaving the room without a backward glance to Elle.

  William frowned, but said nothing, as he followed Gina out of the library, closely followed by Elle and Christian.

  "Do you need to be so rude?" Elle overheard William snapping at Gina, as they reached the hallway. "Why can't you just be pleased that I am happy?"

  Gina pulled her coat on. "I would be, if I thought it would last." She responded.

  "Well, if that is how you feel, do not bother making contact, unless it’s about the business, or you are ready to accept Elle is going to be a permanent fixture in my life, from now on."

  "Fine, if that is how you want things to be, then so be it." Her voice matched his bluntness, as she stepped out into the driveway.

  William slammed the front door, becoming aware that Elle and Christian had probably seen and overheard the exchange.

  "Elle, just don't say anything more about it." He warned, as he moved to cuddle the both of them. Elle could feel William trembling against her.

  ~~~

  As requested, she did not say another word about it, but that was mostly because late that evening, just as the two of them were heading to bed, the house phone had rung, alerting them to another drama to deal with.

  "Finally," An impatient Richard exclaimed. "I have left countless voice mails on your mobile."

  "Oh sorry, I had it on silent, as I have been trying to make sure I don't have to deal with any other interfering relatives today."

  "Don't worry; I don't plan on adding my name to that list. I am just calling to tell you about Charlotte – I need you to get to the Westminster & Chelsea hospital as soon as you can."

  "The one in London? Why on earth would I need to go there?"

  "Charlotte was found unconscious by one of her neighbours, Mrs. Woodhouse, earlier this afternoon. She has taken an overdose of heroin, and it looks touch and go as to whether she is going to make it."

  William ran a hand through his hair as he tried to take all the information in. He was already on overload with all the pent-up anger and confusion he felt towards Gina's stubbornness over Elle.

  "Ok, I will get there as soon as I can."

  "Mrs. Woodhouse said her apartment looked as it had been searched. Not enough to look like a burglary, but some things were out of place, which Mrs Woodhouse knew Charlotte took excellent care of. It seems this neighbour had tried to keep Charlotte on the straight and narrow in recent months, and knew that Wickham was an unscrupulous influence on her. "

  "Do you think Wickham had something to do with this?"

  "Possibly, but let’s deal with that once we know more about whether Charlotte is going to pull through this."

  "Agreed, I will see you in a couple of hours." William finished, before putting the phone back in its cradle.

  Elle had been observing William throughout the whole conversation, and had gathered something had happened to Charlotte from just the one side of the conversation that she could hear.

  "What has happened?" Elle asked, with some urgency, as William stood staring at the phone for some moments as if forgetting she was there.

  "There has been an accident, and Charlotte is in the hospital. Her neighbour found her unconscious, and it looks as if she has overdosed on heroin."

  Elle paled, and sunk to sit on one of the steps. "My god, you mentioned Wickham."

  "This is just the type of thing he might have been involved with, either pushed her to do it, or injected her with it, himself, to make it look as if it was her fault. He probably found out about the possibility of the court case, and knowing he might be called into answer questions, tried to get rid of her."

  "God, he truly is a scum bag. Well, we need to pack some things quickly if we are going to get there soon."

  William shook his head. "You don't need to come I am just going to be there to see what the doctor thinks about her recovering."

  "No Will, if we are going to be a couple, then I need to be, by your side, to deal with such things together. This is just the type of situation that will prove to Gina how serious we are about staying the distance."

  William smiled and nodded. He w
as used to dealing with family crises by himself, and he felt a sudden relief at being able to share the pressure on his shoulders with her.

  "We can leave Christian and Lily in the capable hands of Mrs. Reynolds and the nanny, for a day or two." Elle suggested.

  "Yes, we can always organise Lily to follow down later, if things take a turn for the worst." His voice trailed off at the mere consequence of that happening.

  Elle gave him a hug to reassure him that they would deal with whatever was thrown at them.

  Within half hour, they had settled Christian's care into the hands of their nanny under the guidance of Mrs. Reynolds, and packed some hand luggage for both of them. Initially thinking of travelling there by the helicopter, Elle convinced him to allow Edward to drive them there at a more sedate pace, reasoning that there was nothing they could do to make things any easier whether they arrived by helicopter as opposed to a car.

  Arriving some hours later, in the middle of the night at the hospital, they met Richard in the visitor's area, as he waited for the doctor to come out and update him.

  "They have been running all sorts of tests and flushing her system, to trying to counterbalance everything." Richard explained.

  "Have you been allowed to see her?" Elle asked

  "Yes it was honestly shocking; she is hooked up to all these machines and drips. I am actually not sure if she is going to make it."

  Elle began to feel quite faint as he described everything. She tried to take some deep breaths, but the continuous sick feeling she had felt recently seemed to incapacitate her ability to breathe. Richard noticed the blood draining from her face, and tried to manoeuvre her to a nearby chair, but his reflex was not quick enough, as she crumpled on the floor and everything went black.

  A long night

  2 May 2010

  Richard was knelt by Elle's side only seconds, before William mirrored the same position on her other side. Richard was composed to William's unnerved. "Elle, honey, can you hear me." Richard began speaking to her, leaning close to her head, while William sat, still unsure of what to do for a few seconds. "Will, go and see if you can get a passing nurse or something." Richard calmly instructed, as he looked around the otherwise deserted waiting room.

  Nodding, William straightened himself up, and with a quick backward glance of worry and concern to Elle's crumpled form, he set off on his task.

  Richard spent the next couple of minutes just talking soothingly to what seemed like a sleeping Elle, gently stroking her hand as she began to stir slowly by this time, William had managed to get a medical staff member to return to the room with him, and they took over.

  A male nurse knelt down in the spot that Richard had moments earlier vacated, as their patient continued to stir back into consciousness. "How long was she out for?"

  "Just a few minutes," Richard responded.

  The nurse took a pulse reading from her wrist. "Her pulse is slightly elevated. I need you to keep her lying down until she fully comes around, and maybe then slowly raise her to sit in a chair. I am going to go off and find her a cubicle in accident and emergency, so that we can transfer her there for some more tests.

  Slowly, over the next fifteen minutes, Elle came around fully, and felt composed enough to move little by little to a chair with the aid of William and Richard holding each of her arms. "Do you still feel dizzy?" William asked his voice thick with emotion.

  She shook her head, but offered him a weak smile as some reassurance. She was still extremely pale. "No, but I do feel like I have just been run over by a car!" In truth, she had not felt this rubbish in a long while; although she had the rare fainting spells in the years since her parents died, they had never left her feeling this terrible. She just wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep it off, but she knew the doctors would have many questions of her medical history before she would be allowed to do that.

  Richard, who was a trained first aider, explained, "That should wear off in an hour or so. Have you missed any meals today?" He asked, a worried frown on his forehead.

  "No, I ate breakfast and dinner, but skipped the lunch the flight offered. But they were both large meals, so I don't think it was from a lack of food." She felt guilty at not being able to find the words to tell Richard her suspicions.

  "Ok, well, I guess we need to find out what tests they have in mind," Richard said. He began wondering if she were pregnant, but that was a feeling he would keep to himself, and let the doctors ask instead.

  After a brief time, of the threesome, not speaking, the nurse reappeared with a porter and a narrow hospital bed.

  After answering some of the nurse’s questions, Elle was helped onto the bed, and laid down once again. The two men followed behind the bed, as they were led into the busier part of the hospital despite the late hour of the accident and emergency.

  Taken into a cubicle, the nurse asked if the two men could wait out in another waiting room, but Elle became slightly distressed, and began crying asking if they could stay with her. The whole fainting experience had quite scared her, even though she had become used to the odd fainting spell, this one had left her with feeling more disorientated that usual.

  With her blood pressure taken, and some other physical assessments, made the pregnancy question was raised by the doctor who had taken over the examination. Elle said she did not think she could be, as she was on the pill, but they still requested she had a test done to determine that fully. She also had to go through her medical history of having a complicated pregnancy with pre-eclampsia, and other on-going complications because of that. Secretly, Elle knew it was these complications that probably caused her fainting spell, as this was the cause for the earlier ones.

  "I do not know if this matters, but I have to have regular blood transfusions to treat an on-going blood disorder I suffer with." She felt uneasy revealing this part of her history in front of William, and avoided looking at him as she discussed it further with the doctor.

  William and Richard exchanged glances, as she divulged to the doctor that she had been suffering with vitamin deficient anaemia, in front of them.

  Through a few probing questions by the doctor, Elle explained about the circumstances relating to the massive loss of blood from the miscarriage, the pregnancy, and the discovery of her anaemia. With the revelation that her earlier doctor had concluded the anaemia started even before her pregnancy, this doctor decided he wanted to admit Elle for a few days to observe her symptoms, although he tried to forewarn her that she might need a transfusion in the coming day or so, once they had the results back on her blood count.

  Feeling slightly more stable on her feet, Elle went to the bathroom alone to obtain the required sample for a pregnancy test to be taken.

  Finding themselves alone for a brief while, the two men, took the opportunity to start airing their views on this new information.

  "Did you know she was still suffering from on-going problems exacerbated by the pregnancy?" Richard questioned a rather stricken William.

  He shook his head, running a trembling hand through his hair. "When she told me Christian was mine, she had gone into some brief details that she had been sick in the hospital for weeks afterwards, and had some postnatal depression, but never was there a hint of an on-going problem of this level of complexity."

  "It clearly explains why she may have stayed away from you for so long." Richard spoke the exact thought that William had been thinking to himself aloud. "She probably did not want to lumber you with a sickly girlfriend/wife, when she already knew you were so bound by duty, to looking after so many others."

  William did not answer this observation, as he was too absorbed with his own thoughts spinning around in his mind. He was not sure what to make of it all. He could not cope with thinking about it too much now. He just needed to deal with making sure Elle was well enough tonight, and deal with caring for Lily in the interim. His head was fit to explode with all the things he needed to organise!

  Elle returned slowly from the bat
hroom, sample already handed to the nurse for testing.

  "Are you feeling all right?" William asked as Elle pulled herself back onto the narrow bed. He sat down on the chair near the pillow end of the bed, as she lay on her side facing them both; he took hold of her hand, and squeezed in gently.

  She nodded slowly, clearly still out of sorts.

  For what seemed like an eternity, the three waited for a member of the medical team to return.

  "The pregnancy test is negative, so we will just take some blood, and once we have the results back of those, go ahead and transfer you onto an assessment ward for more observation tests," The returning doctor finally explained. "I suppose your blood count will be relatively low on this initial test, but if it remains low even after a dose of drugs, that I plan on having administered, via a drip, to promote increased red cell production, and then we will undoubtedly have to go ahead with another transfusion."

  William sighed slightly at this negative result to the pregnancy test, although he knew it w be highly unlikely to have been positive result, he still could not help, but feel a tinge of disappointment. He scolded himself for this. Let her get stronger first.

  With that, the doctor left them, and another nurse came into the room to place a cannula into one of Elle's veins to start taking the several vials of blood, that the doctor had requested, to get a full-blood workup picture of his patient. With that done, the three of them were alone once more, the curtain drawn across to give them some privacy from the rest of the buzzing cubicles, filled with a multitude of differing patients.

  William gave Richard a questioning glance and tilted his head backwards, trying to signal him to leave them alone for a brief interval.

  Understanding his request after some moments, Richard moved away from the bottom of her bed, and said, "I am just going to see if the doctors have any update in the other ward, I will be back soon." He offered a smile to Elle, who turned slightly to see him go. She knew William was probably going to ask her some uncomfortable questions about her health now they were alone.