Safe Harbour

Matt stayed at the hospital with Pip all afternoon, and they saw Ophélie again twice. The first time she was sleeping, and the second she appeared to be in pain. And as soon as they left, they gave her morphine. He tried to talk Pip into going home for an hour then, to rest and clean up and get something to eat. And after they'd given her mother the shot to make her sleep, she finally agreed, although reluctantly. He went back to the house with her, and Mousse greeted them. And then Matt went to make scrambled eggs and toast for them. There were two messages on the machine from Pip's school, expressing their concern for her. Alice had apparently called them that morning before she left, and she had left a note on the kitchen table, telling Pip to call if she needed anything. And she had left another note saying she had come back to walk Mousse that afternoon.

Matt took him for a walk before they ate, and then he and Pip sat at the kitchen table, looking like shipwreck survivors. Pip was so exhausted she could hardly eat, and Matt couldn't eat either.

“Do you think we should go back yet?” she asked nervously. She didn't want anything to happen, good or bad, while she was gone, and she was like a cat on a hot stove, waiting for him to finish.

“How about a shower before we go back, for both of us?” he asked patiently. They both looked a mess. Not to mention the fact that they both needed sleep. They'd have to get some eventually, and he tried to talk Pip into a nap at least before they went back.

“I'm not tired,” she said valiantly, and he didn't push her. They agreed to shower and clean up, and then Pip wanted to go back to the hospital for the night. He didn't argue with her. He wanted to be there too. He drove her back, after he walked Mousse again, and they settled onto the couch together in the ICU waiting room.

The nurse told them that their friends had come by to check on Ophélie, but she'd been asleep, and she was again. When Matt checked she was still in critical condition. And as soon as Pip sat down on the couch in the waiting room, she fell sound asleep, and he was relieved. He sat watching her, wondering what would happen to her if Ophélie died. He couldn't bear to think of it, but it was a possibility. If they let him, he would bring Pip to live with him, or take an apartment in the city. His mind was whirling with ugly possibilities, when the nurse came to get him at two A.M. She looked serious, and Matt panicked the minute he saw her.

“Your wife wants to see you,” she said quietly, and he didn't correct her. He just set Pip's hand down gently and followed the nurse into the ICU. Ophélie was awake and she looked anxious to see him. She beckoned him to come close to her, and he was terrified she was having a premonition of worse to come, and as soon as he bent next to her, and touched her cheek gently, she started to talk to Matt in a whisper. It was obviously hard for her to breathe.

“I'm so sorry, Matt… you were right… I'm so sorry… will you take care of Pip?” It was what he had feared. She was afraid she was dying, and wanted him to make some arrangement for Pip. He knew she had very little family, except distant cousins in Paris. There was no one to take her but him.

“You know I will… Ophélie, I love you… don't go anywhere, sweetheart… stay here with us…we both need you… you have to get well …” He was pleading with her.

“I will,” she promised, and then drifted off to sleep as the nurse signaled to him to leave.

“How is she?” he asked the nurse at the desk as he left. “Has anything changed?”

“She's holding her own,” the nurse reassured him. She was impressed that he and the child had been there all day and night. Things like that made a difference, and it always surprised her how many people didn't bother. But Pip and Matt had hardly moved, except for their brief trip home for less than two hours. And in the morning, when the shifts changed, they were still there. But Ophélie seemed a little better.

He took Pip home again, and told her he either had to buy some clothes or drive home to get his own. They discussed it over breakfast, and decided to stop at Macy's on the way back to pick up some things for him. It was obvious that Pip didn't want him to leave, so he didn't.

He finally got a minute to call Robert and tell him that morning, and made an arrangement with Alice to walk the dog regularly. He called Pip's school, and they assured him that she didn't need to come in. They were very sympathetic and hoped that Mrs. Mackenzie would be better soon. There had been several distressed calls from the Wexler Center, but he had no desire whatsoever to talk to them, and didn't.