Safe as Houses by Simone van der Vlugt Page B

Diagnostics.’ The doctors looks at her with warm, dark eyes. ‘You’ve kept us on tenterhooks for quite some time, MrsVan Dijk. It’s good news that you’ve woken up. Very good news!’
    â€˜Where—’
    â€˜You’re in Intensive Care at the Radboud Hospital in Nijmegen. You had a car accident. Can you remember it?’
    Senta looks at the doctor vacantly. A car accident?
    â€˜You drove your car into the water. Luckily a passer-by saw it and got you out. Do you remember?’
    Her only reaction is an astonished shake of the head.
    â€˜It might come back to you,’ Dr Reynders says in an effort to comfort her.
    Frank and the children run through her head, but she has difficulty in making sounds. Dr Reynders must be a mind reader, because she smiles at her reassuringly.
    â€˜We’ll inform your family right away. In the meantime we’ll run a couple of tests and see how you’re doing.’
    Senta resigns herself to the succession of activities that follows. They check whether she has regained control of her limbs – she has to move everything and say whether it hurts or not – blood is taken, and then a nurse wheels her away for an MRI scan.
    When she is returned to her room, Frank and the children are sitting there waiting for her. Assoon as her bed is rolled through the door, they spring to their feet.
    â€˜Senta, darling!’ Frank takes a step forward and then hesitates. He waits until Senta’s bed is back in place before sitting on the edge of it.
    The children remain standing, pale and nervous, with tense eyes focused on their mother. Cautiously, as though the slightest touch could send her back into a coma, Frank takes Senta’s hand in his and brings it to his lips. ‘We were so worried, darling. So terribly worried! Thank God you’ve woken up.’
    Senta produces a weak smile. Her husband doesn’t look well: he’s as white as chalk, and his red-ringed eyes have bags under them.
    Frank tenderly bends over her and kisses her gently on the mouth. ‘How do you feel?’
    â€˜Tired,’ Senta whispers.
    â€˜You must be. You’ve gone through a lot.’
    â€˜You could say you’ve had a lovely, long sleep,’ Niels laughs, causing his sister to elbow him in the ribs.
    â€˜Behave,’ she says angrily.
    Senta gives her elder son a reassuring smile. How tall the boy is, standing there at the foot of her bed. He towers over her, all arms and legs. His camouflage clothes and cap worn nonchalantly backwards are a good disguise for the emotionaltempest he’s been through, but they don’t fool his mother.
    Impulsively she holds out her arms to him. Niels moves forward and puts his arms around his mother as best he can. There’s something awkward about it, but it’s the first time they’ve hugged for a long time. Niels has never been very physical, and he has always shrugged off her attempts at affection with something like impatience.
    â€˜I’m glad you’re back, Mum,’ he says a little hoarsely.
    Next Denise rushes into her mother’s arms. She wraps herself around Senta and kisses her on the cheek. ‘You know what the doctor said? She said you might never wake up!’ She stands up and rubs her eyes.
    â€˜She didn’t say that: you read it on the internet,’ her father corrects her. ‘I told you not to get carried away by what was on those sites.’
    â€˜But it could have happened! Mummy was in a coma!’ Denise shouts.
    Senta turns to Jelmer, standing silently next to his father. ‘Hey, sweetheart,’ she manages to say softly. ‘How are you?’
    Without saying a word, Jelmer climbs up on to the bed and snuggles against her. Senta moves over and wraps her arm around her son. She runs her hand through his dark brown hair and kisses thetop of his head. The familiar smell of her child sets off memories of their bedtime ritual: one