Lauren toppled off her seat. Maddie looked on horrified as the cow trampled past and Ed rushed over to try to get hold of it, just as she could make out someone in the darkness who had grabbed the microphone. Oh, holy mother of Jesus. What was he doing here?
Tim was rocking back and forth on his heels and started to speak into the microphone, which was making amplified feedback noises.
‘Lashdies and gentlemen, thank you for coming.’ He looked down at the assembled guests, his eyes watery and glistening in the half-dark.
Somebody get that microphone off him. Maddie marched up to Tim, who put his hand out like an air-traffic controller and held her back. ‘No, Maddie, I have a right to be here.’
Oh, sweet mother of all mothers. No you don’t…
‘Thank yoush for coming today. I believe it’s Ed and his fiancée’s engagement party tonight.’ The Welsh lilt was even more pronounced as he was pissed. ‘And it’s usual to say a little something – so – I’d like say a big congrashulations to the lucky couple, but, as it’s customary for the father to say a few words, I’ll just hand the microphone over to him. He seems to know how to fuck things up – in fact he’s the one, along with fucking Maddie here, who—’
But he didn’t have a chance to finish as Greg, swaying slightly, stepped up to him and all Maddie could see was Greg’s right arm swing back and take a punch at Tim’s face with Greg shouting, ‘Don’t talk about her like that!’
With that, Tim wobbled a bit, then collapsed onto the floor as Taffie ran past chasing the cow. Greg looked from Maddie, to Ed, to Rachel (whose jaw was open), to Tim lying on the ground – and marched right past Maddie who closed her eyes tight shut. No, no, no, no, no.
*
Maddie was desperate to speak to Greg. It wasn’t how she’d wanted the party to be at all. Damn Tim.
But just as she looked around the garden to see where he was, there was a scream next to the BBQ. Rachel was yelling to get some water. Flames were licking up at the side of the pop-up from the BBQ and black smoke was billowing from underneath it. A guest had fallen over by the fence; she could make out Lauren putting ice on her ankle. It was a complete mess.
‘Quick, get some towels. Do you have a fire blanket?’ asked Alan, as Maddie rushed into the kitchen to fetch the one by the back door.
The next thing Maddie saw as she raced back to the garden was Ed stumbling backwards towards the flames on the BBQ.
‘Christ, Mum! It’s all going up in flames!’ Ed screamed. She simultaneously yelled, ‘No!’ and hurtled towards him, shoving him out the way and landing next to the flames, trying to cover them up. Only she didn’t. She missed. And the pain she felt in her hands was so excruciating that the next thing she knew was a black veil descended across her vision as she slumped to the ground and passed out.
55
Maddie woke to bright lights and lots of rushing around. She had a cannula piercing the flesh in the crook of her arm, which was attached to a drip. She was lying on a narrow hospital bed. As she tried to say something, the realisation of where she was and the pain hit her in equal measure.
‘Maddie? Mrs Brown? Good. You’re conscious. Right, you’ve had a bad shock and nasty burns on both your hands, but worse on your left. We’ve hooked you up to a morphine drip. Just press here.’ The nurse bustled to the side to show Maddie a device that had a button on the end, like a pen. She told Maddie to push that if the pain got worse. Ed was standing next to her, eyes wide.
‘Mum! Are you OK? No, I know you’re not OK.’ He shook his head. ‘The surgeon, the trauma guy, he says he’s going to take another look. You’ve got second-degree burns.’ His eyes were moist.
Just then a doctor came in. ‘Mrs Brown? Maddie?’ He scanned the room and looked at Ed.
‘I’m Doctor Thornton,’ he said and then extended a hand to Ed.
‘Ed, Maddie’s son.’
‘Right,’ the doctor continued, ‘you’ve got full thickness burns on your left hand, and we’ve bandaged you up. You’ll need to stay in overnight for observation, but I’m hopeful that you’ll be released in a couple of