19:30 27th February 2013 Dingle District Hospital, Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland
Cain was still sat in the same position in the corridor when he heard a familiar voice asking for information at the reception desk. He stood up and looked around to see his nephew waiting anxiously for news of his mother.
Aaron looked over and saw Cain glaring at him, but he was too angry to be scared by his uncle, he walked straight over and squared up to him, catching the attention of one of the nurses.
"I might've known it'd be you. Like mother like son, eh" Cain spat, "can't trust either of you".
But Aaron was in no mood for guilt trips, "I've just been to my mother's house. There's broken doors, blood everywhere, the place looks like something out of CSI. And you wonder why I never told you where she was? I suppose I should be grateful you didn't just kill her and leave! What the hell happened?"
"If I'd have known…" Cain started, but broke eye contact with Aaron, unable to maintain the anger in the face of his actions that day. He motioned for Aaron to follow him somewhere more private.
But Aaron refused to go "No. I want to know what's going on. Where's Mum? I want to see her"
"You can't at the moment. Doctors are working on her"
Aaron didn't believe him "the nurse on the phone said she was okay. Why would they still be working on her?"
"Just come with me and I'll explain" Cain begged him.
Aaron shook his head, "no. I'm going nowhere until I've seen her. And I'm especially not going anywhere with you!"
"She's in a coma" Cain growled at his nephew, trying not to cause even more of a scene.
Aaron stopped in his tracks, not expecting him to say that, "What? How?"
Cain lowered his voice again, leading Aaron to the plastic bench. This time he followed, wanting to know what happened. "Something called eclampsia?" Cain said. Aaron nodded his understanding. Since his mum had told him months ago that the doctor had diagnosed her with pre-eclampsia, he'd read everything he could find about it online. Chas had played it down, said developing eclampsia was very rare, nothing to worry about, but he'd heard the fear in her voice. And now the fear had become a reality.
"So have they delivered the baby?" Aaron asked. All he'd learnt from the answerphone message left for him was that she was at the hospital, that she was fine and that he wasn't to come over. As if that would have stopped him.
Cain nodded, but Aaron could see he wasn't saying something.
"Is that why they had to deliver early? Because of the eclampsia? Where is she? Is she okay?" Aaron asked more questions, trying to get everything out of his uncle.
Cain just looked at him, refusing to speak. "Tell me Cain, I want to know the truth!" Aaron was getting angry again.
"The truth?" Cain scoffed, "what do you know about the truth? I've been ringing you for months, and not once have you mentioned you knew where she was. How long have you known?"
Aaron this time was the one who refused to answer.
"Right, I'll tell you what," said Cain, "let's play a game. You tell me something and I'll tell you something in return. So…how long have you known?"
"Since the beginning" Aaron admitted, not particularly proud of himself, "she came to mine when she first left the village".
Cain was more hurt by this than he'd expected to be.
"Now tell me what happened" Aaron said.
"Fine. She was at home when she gave birth. On her own, with no help from anyone. Because she's a stubborn cow and wouldn't let me near her. Then she collapsed, but that was from her head injury…"
"Head injury?"
"She'd locked herself in the bathroom when I got to the house and then passed out. I had to break the door down, but she was in the way and it opened onto her head. That's where all the blood came from".
"Why wasn't she at the hospital if she'd gone into labour?" Aaron asked, "she wasn't due for another month. With her condition, she could have died giving birth at home".
Cain's face twitched as he heard this. He'd seen how desperate Chas was at the house, heard how worried she was at the idea of giving birth at home, but she'd never said why. He shrugged, "I honestly don't know why she didn't go to hospital. She was right at the end when I…"
"When you what? Broke the door down? Threatened her? Why had she locked herself in the bathroom, eh? Because she was scared of you!" Aaron was guessing a bit here, but he could see in Cain's eyes that he was close to the truth of what happened.
"Chas isn't scared of anything" Cain scoffed.
"You really have no idea whatsoever do you?" Aaron said to his uncle, "she was petrified of you finding her. I've never seen her work herself into such a state as when she first came to mine. She made herself ill with worry, nearly lost the baby after moving here because she was so stressed. And now she's been forced to give birth on her own in the middle of nowhere because yet again you stride in with your size nines and ruin things for her!"
Cain had no answer to this, he was taken aback by the ferocity of Aaron's speech. He started to feel guilty about chasing after his sister for so long. But then he remembered why he'd done it. His daughter, his granddaughter, his new grandson. "Shame Chas never thought about her family when she was doing that idiot. Debbie could have lost the baby from the stress, never thought about that did she? And if Debbie had lost the baby, that'd have meant Sarah would have died to. Why should I feel guilty about endangering a baby I didn't even know existed when she put both my grandchildren's lives at risk?"
"You're wrong, Cain" Aaron returned, "she always thought about what she was doing to Debbie. She thought she was protecting her by keeping it secret, for exactly those reasons. She even made Cameron agree to stay with Debbie until Sarah was better, because she knew how much Debbie needed Cameron. When Debbie ended up in hospital, she stopped it for good. She was stupid, and an idiot for falling for Cameron. But everything she's done, it's been because she loved them both – Cameron and Debbie. Whereas you…everything you've done is from hate."
A nurse came over before they could continue the conversation. Both men stood up as she approached. "She's ready for visitors now" she told Cain, "she's still unconscious, we're running her system function tests at the moment and we'll let you know as soon as they're back.
"Thank you" Cain replied politely. The nurse left and Cain motioned for Aaron to follow. He complied straight away this time, desperate to see his mother.
When they got into the room, Aaron was surprised by the amount of machinery Chas was hooked up to. She was on a ventilator, there was a heart monitor, blood pressure monitor, three different drips, and they were just the things Aaron could identify. He saw that her head was heavily bandaged and her lips were bruised. He felt winded. He sat down on a plastic chair next to her bed and took her hand in his. It was cold.
Cain hung back at the door, just as taken aback by all of the equipment as Aaron was. He couldn't understand how she'd been talking one minute and now she was relying on a machine to help her breathe. And they'd been arguing. He hoped that wasn't to be the last conversation they ever had.
"I'll be right back" Cain told Aaron and left without a response.
Aaron rubbed his mum's hand, trying to make it warm again. He saw that her skinny arm was covered in bruises, knowing that it was a symptom of her pre-eclampsia, he didn't panic. She'd skyped him in tears a few months back, showing him a patchwork of bruises that crept up her arms and across her chest. Once he'd ascertained from her that it wasn't something to be worried about medically, he'd told her off for being vain and her tears had turned into laughter. She'd thanked him for the straight-talk, saying she missed having people around her that were always completely honest with her. He knew she meant her family; Cain, Charity, Debbie – none of them would have let her wallow – and so neither did he.
He heard a noise behind him and turned to see Cain holding a baby in his arms. Cain brought the bundle over to his nephew and handed the little girl over, saying "meet your little sister".
"Is she allowed in here?" Aaron said, panicking.
"Yeah, they said it was okay before. Said it might help for Chas to hear her".
"She's tiny. Should she not be in an incubator or summat?" Aaron frowned.
"Will you chill out," Cain replied, "she's been properly checked, she's absolutely fine. Just a bit small".
Aaron looked properly at his sister. Cain wasn't lying, she was tiny, but beautiful. She had her mother's black hair and button nose, but when she opened her eyes, he saw they were blue - striking bright blue, just like Cameron's. But also, just like his.
"Looks just like you when you were born" Cain offered, "except half the size".
"You were there?" Aaron asked, surprised. His mother had told him she'd not told anyone about being pregnant with him.
Cain nodded, "I got there not long after she'd given birth. I was the first to see you both".
The baby started fussing, so Aaron shushed her, "ssh…baby…I don't even know your name.."
"Evie…Evie Rose Thomas" Cain told him.
"Evie? That was my nana's name" Aaron pointed out.
"Yeah, I know"
"Mum hates my dad's family. Why would she name her daughter after my dad's mum?"
"Do you remember your Nana Evie?" Cain asked.
"Vaguely. I was four when she died" he replied.
"She wasn't like the rest of your dad's lot. She was…special" he told his nephew.
"You knew her?" Aaron asked confused.
Cain nodded, "met her the day you were born. If it wasn't for Evie, you and your mum would probably have ended up living a completely different life".
"That would have been terrible" Aaron scoffed.
"Yeah, it would" Cain stressed, "you know, you wanted for nothing when you were little, your dad gave you everything you asked for. Your mam hated it."
"Only cos she never bothered to get us owt" Aaron sulked.
"She did. It was just tiny compared to the stuff your dad piled on you. She couldn't compete. But that wasn't why she hated it. It was because he was spoiling you. You were a right little brat. And that's not what she wanted for you."
"She should've stuck around then."
"Have you not learnt yet that life isn't as simple as that?"
"Thought you were telling me about my nana?"
"Yeah, I am. She was funny, right dry sense of humour. Chas always said she saved you both."
"From what?"
"Going into care I suppose. Living life in the system".
Aaron was gobsmacked by this. How would he have ever ended up in care? Cain sat down next to him and told him the story of when Aaron was born and how Cain came to meet Evie Livesy.