‘OK,’ Harry replied, beaming. The little boy liked having visitors, and he’d taken a shine to Charlie over the time he’d known him.
‘Hey,’ Rachel said. ‘Holly said you wanted to speak to me.’
Charlie looked from Harry, who seemed incredibly little, propped up on the brilliant-white sheets of the hospital bed, to his mother, who, though calm, looked tired. This was the reality of a hospital stay with a CF patient, he realised; long hours waiting for medications to take effect, constant monitoring, and in between, trying to fill the time for a young child. No wonder Rachel was tired. He felt his throat constrict as he glanced back at Harry, who, aside from being a little bit pale, seemed in good spirits, possibly to do with the huge pile of sweets on the top of the cupboard next to him. Tearing his gaze back to Rachel, he took a deep breath.
‘I want to help properly this time,’ Charlie said, keeping his voice low, respectful of the fact that Harry, like all children, had ears on elastic. ‘I made a mistake by stepping away from your campaign. This time, I’ll do things right.’
Rachel shook her head. ‘When Hugo Fitzgerald was the MP, I was frustrated because he wouldn’t speak up for us, but at least I knew where we stood. It became a fight from the grass roots, with people who truly understood what it was like to be in our situation.’ She paused, and Charlie swallowed hard. Her clarity and grace under pressure was inspiring; he wished he’d had half her composure when he’d been caught on the hop during that ill-fated interview. ‘When you stepped up and asked that question at PMQs, I actually dared to hope that finally we’d have some support for getting this new medication funded. For a little while, Holly, me and all of the other families affected hoped things would start to change. But then you stepped back, for whatever reason.’ Rachel held up a hand as Charlie opened his mouth to interrupt. ‘I don’t expect you to explain or justify yourself to me, Charlie. I’m sure you’ve been through all that with Holly, and she’s made you go through it until you’re blue in the face as it is. The fact is that it happened, and suddenly we were back on our own again.’
‘I’m sorry—’ Charlie said, but Rachel cut him off.
‘I know you are.’ She smiled gently. ‘But being sorry doesn’t make Harry get better any faster. We need action, and we need it now, Charlie.’ She reached over and squeezed Harry’s little hand, and he promptly stuck his tongue out under the mask. ‘If you truly do mean to help us, then make it count. Otherwise it’s all just hot air and wasted breath. And this little one, and all of the other patients out there, they don’t have the breath to waste.’
‘I will do everything I can,’ Charlie replied. ‘From here, I’m going straight home and Holly’s going to help me work on my opening speech for the Adjournment Debate I’m going to table.’
‘That’s a good start,’ Rachel said. ‘I know the big things move slowly in the political world, but time is important here, not just for Harry but for all of the CF patients.’
‘You’d be surprised how time seems to operate in Westminster,’ Charlie said, a wry note entering his low voice. ‘Sometimes it grinds so slowly, nothing ever seems to change, and then you blink and something’s been passed. Let’s hope the CF medication is one of those things.’
Their attention was drawn quickly to the bed as Harry had a sudden fit of coughing. Rachel sat him up a little bit straighter and tapped him sharply on the back, starting a routine of physio that would help to keep the mucus from settling on his lungs. Charlie was struck, yet again, by the delicate balance Harry had to sustain in order to stay healthy and how easily this could be disrupted. He felt his resolve renewing to do something.
‘I promise you that by the time you two come home, I’ll have written my speech and be more than ready to give it,’ he said firmly. ‘And I’m going to speak to the Health and Social Care Committee, find out what’s holding up the decision. I will do everything I can, Rachel.’
‘I know,’ Rachel said, as Harry’s coughing subsided. ‘I trust you.’
To a politician, that was a great endorsement, and to a man who had grown so attached to this family, it was an indication of much more. He leaned forward and kissed Rachel on the cheek. ‘I’m grateful for that.’
As he walked out of the hospital room and rejoined Holly in the corridor, she glanced up from the book she’d been reading on her phone, obviously trying to distract herself from whatever conversation was being held between Charlie and Rachel.
‘OK?’ she asked softly.
‘Yes,’ Charlie replied. ‘Apart from the fact that I’ve now got to break the news to someone that they’re going to be spending their spare time this weekend helping me to compose a killer speech.’
‘Oh yes?’ Holly said, a little behind the curve for once. ‘Tom’s going to love that.’
‘Tom’s on holiday until tomorrow,’ Charlie replied, grinning. ‘It was you I was thinking about.’
‘I have got a business to run, you know!’ Holly said, trying not to give him an inch, but the light in her eyes gave her away. ‘You’ll have to use the kitchen table at my place if you want my help.’
‘Is that an offer?’ Charlie asked carefully. ‘Does that mean you can actually bear to be in the same room as me again?’
‘We’ll see how it goes,’ Holly said noncommittally, but she did draw closer to Charlie as she stood. ‘You’ve got a lot of ground to make up. And you can’t have any distractions.’
‘You won’t even know I’m there,’ Charlie said.
‘It’s a deal,’ Holly replied. She hesitated as though she was going to take his hand as they left the hospital, but held back at the last moment. In a not entirely companionable silence, they headed back to the Trenchard Street car park.
50
‘So, the way this works is that I need to apply to the Speaker on Wednesday if I’m going to get a chance to head up an Adjournment Debate over the next week. Effectively, we’ve got four days to research, time and then put the finishing touches on this speech, should it get picked by the Speaker or in the ballot,’ Charlie said as, after collecting up as many of his research materials as he could lay his hands on from his constituency office, he set up a temporary space at Holly’s kitchen table on Saturday evening. They’d also collected a takeaway from the Chinese restaurant at the top of Willowbury High Street but decided against a bottle of wine; they needed clear heads. Rachel would be dropping in briefly when she got back from the hospital later, as Vivian Renton was doing a shift at the BRHC, giving her a bit of respite, and a chance to come home and collect more things.
‘So, there’s still no guarantee it’ll be picked?’ Holly asked.
‘Well, no,’ Charlie conceded. ‘But thanks to you and the other campaigners giving the campaign a huge media boost, I’d be surprised if it didn’t get at least a fleeting moment of the Speaker’s attention. He’s quite fond of political drama, and he’s not been unknown to choose an Adjournment Debate because he knows it’ll get decent media coverage.’