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‘Well, I’m not quite sure yet, maybe. Is that what you’d like when you get married one day?’ Freya asked her.
‘If I was getting married, I’d have five bridesmaids. My mom, my sister, Karen and my friends Anne, Britney and Erica. And I would make my daddy wear a real smart suit so he would look nice when he took me to the church,’ Katherine explained, a faraway look in her eyes.
‘That sounds like a perfect wedding day to me,’ Freya said.
‘Is your daddy going to wear a smart suit to your wedding?’ Katherine asked, looking directly at Freya with her huge, brown eyes.
‘My daddy,’ Freya repeated the words. Her pulse quickened and she had to take a breath.
‘Um, Katherine, Freya’s father can’t come to our wedding, but we are going to make sure all of our friends are there to help us make it a special day,’ Nicholas interjected quickly.
‘Why can’t your daddy come?’ Katherine continued. Her sorrowful eyes seemed to be getting larger and more questioning by the second.
‘Well, because…’ Nicholas began.
‘Because he died,’ Freya interrupted.
‘Oh,’ Katherine replied. She seemed satisfied with the answer.
‘Say, that nice man over there is going to take our photo,’ Nicholas said, indicating the photographer hired for the publicity shots.
Freya got up and left Nicholas and Katherine. She went across the ward to Bill Stanton, who was talking to one of the nurses on duty.
‘Hey, Bill, tell me. What are Katherine’s chances of recovery?’ She watched Nicholas with Katherine. He had his arms around her, hugging her close.
‘She has acute myeloid leukaemia. She’s already had a bone marrow transplant and extensive chemotherapy.’
‘She’s going to die?’ Bill’s tone had been clear but Freya couldn’t believe it. She didn’t want to believe it.
‘Yes,’ he responded.
‘But she’s only a kid.’ This was so unfair. ‘How long?’
‘It’s likely to be weeks rather than months,’ Bill answered.
She felt sick. She had had countless similar moments at hospitals all over the state, but she still wasn’t immune to the shock when the reality of the situation hit home. There she was, concerned about people knowing her wedding date, when there was an eight-year-old child losing her fight for life and talking enthusiastically about a wedding she would never grow up to have.
Freya’s eyes glazed over with tears as Nicholas came back to rejoin her.
‘You OK?’ he asked. He put his arm around her, held her close.
‘She only has weeks to live. Weeks, Nick,’ Freya stated. She felt hopeless and helpless.
‘I know.’
‘But it’s horrible and unfair and God, I don’t think I can stomach a lunch after this. I think I want to go home and cry.’
‘Hey, come on, put on a brave face for Katherine and all the other people here. Maybe there’s nothing we can do to save her, but there are hundreds of people we are helping by providing this equipment,’ he reminded her.
‘Nick, when I complain about stuff, I don’t know, like if the post is late or Sadie Fox has cancelled me or someone’s pissed me off driving like an idiot on the motorway. Will you tell me how lucky I am and remind me of this moment?’
‘Sure, you bet.’ He squeezed her hand and kissed her on the cheek.
11
The lunch with the board members of the hospital took longer than anticipated and it was almost three in the afternoon before Freya arrived at her studio.
When she entered the building, Sasha appeared, holding out a brown paper bag.
