Aftermath (4 page)

“
Take this,” he said, wrapping her
fingers around the
gold
necklace. “He will protect you now.”

Kerry knew that the necklace was probably the last material object that the man had left, and he gave it to her. “Thank you,” she whispered, overcome with emotion. “I will treasure it always.”

He smiled and lay back on his pillows, an expression of serenity on his bruised face.

Kerry couldn't believe how many times she'd witnessed such acts of
ge
nerosity from complete strangers. Many of t
hem had lost so much
but put their own sorrows aside to help others. She believed that for every deed
of goodness she witnessed,
there were many more happening all over the world. People were reacting the same way; they just wanted to help. The tsunami was a tragedy of epic proportions but out of it came a triumph of humanity.

A doctor approached her bed, shaking her from her thoughts. She was worried about the results of her X-ray.

“Do I need an operation?” she asked, afraid to hear his answer.

“Your pelvis is broken in several places,” the doctor explained. “However, it's a stable fracture and we think it best not to operate.”

Her
spirits lifted. “Are you sure?” She wanted to be certain of his diagnosis.

“I'm absolutely positive,” he smiled down at her. “Now get some rest.”

She closed her eyes and let his words
sink into her mind. She was
happy and relieved at her result. The path to recovery would be long and difficult but at least she didn't
need
an operation. It was a brief moment of victory in a day of so many untold losses.

Kerry slept fitfully that night. The pain kept her awake for hours and whenever she closed her eyes to try and sleep, the images from that horrible wave of black water came back to haunt her, frightening her awake. She begged the nurses for more morphine but there wasn't enough and very little they could do to alleviate her pain until emergency supplies arrived.

Ada and Peter came to visit her over the following days. They were very kind and caring young people and a complete joy to be around. Kerry couldn't believe how they continued to stay in Japan instead of flying home. They talked to her, which made her feel a little better, especially since their English was fluent. She told them about Conor and Saoirse and asked them to see if they could discover where they were. She also asked them if they would try to phone her family who she knew must be worried sick about her at this stage. She gave them Maura's telephone nu
mber as s
he desperately wanted to speak to someone she loved.

Kerry had no way of knowing that at that very moment, a network was forming. Maura wa
s already organising everyone; f
rom
Ireland to Australia to America
and London
,
all of Kerry and Conor's family and friends were going without sleep in their frantic efforts to find them. Maura wa
s desperately tracing the Darcy
s
’
exact whereabout
s
through their credit charges. They'd only just moved to their hotel the day before the tsunami struck and Kerry hadn't had a chance to telephone her sister to let her know where they were staying.

Nuala Mac Millan, Kerry’s editor and close friend,
took emergency leave from work, packed a suitcase and brought her family to Cork where she was on the phone for twenty-four hours straight, talking to every one of her contacts who might have news of their whereabouts. Kerry's old friend, Sophie, got the first plane from Sydney to Cork and was systematically working her way through Conor's contacts in her efforts to track them down. Conor's brothers were sear
ching for them in hospitals. E
veryone was involved.

A few days later, a helicopter arrived to transport the seriously injured to another, better equipped hospital. Kerry dreaded the thought of being transported because she knew it would be excruciating agony. Her knees remained drawn up to her chest and tied together with a sheet and she was still lying on her beautiful, filthy blanket. The nurses brought the gurney to her room and placed her and her precious blanket on it. She could not keep from crying out at every move as she was put in the ambulance and driven to the airport. When they tried to place her on a stretcher to get her onto the helicopter, she completely lost it.

“No! I can't do this! I won't do it! I need support, please, I'm begging you!” and she broke down into uncontrollable tears.

Everyone stared at her, seeing her obvious anguish, but not quite knowing what to do to help her. One of the nurses was smart enough to put a wide belt around her pelvis, and then they got her and her blanket on the helicopter. She screamed her head off as she was being lifted on board, but at last she was safely deposited inside. There were six patients including Kerry on the flight. A doctor and two nurses cared for them. The flight was only supposed to take an hour but it was more like two hours and achingly turbulent and bumpy.

Finally, the flight ended and they landed at the hospital. Once again Kerry had to endure the agony of being lifted on and off the gurney but she was relieved to see that it was a much superior hospital to the previous one. The nurses immediately took her to X-ray where she was photographed from different angles. The doctors at the hospital gave her the same result and concluded that she had four stable fractures and didn't need an operation
which was such a relief to her
. She knew that her recovery would be much longer if she had to have an operation and she wanted to stay alert to any news of Conor or Saoirse.

She was transferred to an emergency room which was spacious and airy with curtains around her bed for added privacy. The nurses were incredibly kind and gentle. They took soapy sponges and without lifting her so much as a centimetre, they gently cleansed her face and chest, her swollen, football of a stomach and her battered arms. They were especially tender when they washed her poor, broken legs. Every day that she was there, they washed her carefully and always with such kindness. She felt clean, even though she was still lying on her grubby blanket.

By this stage, she was off the catheter and had to wear nappies. It was quite embarrassing, but somehow the Japanese nurses made her feel okay and not too ashamed. Kerry hated being so helpless. She was usually the person who cared for everyone; always cleaning up and tidying things away, running around after her husband and daughters. Nobody had cared for lik
e this since she'd been a little
girl.

Through all her pain and agony, she kept asking if there was any news of her husband and daughter but nobody had anything conclusive to tell her. Still, she refused to give up hope and remained optimistic, praying for them and sending them her loving thoughts and energy.

A week had passed since the tsunami when a nurse came into Kerry's room and gave her an Irish passport. She examined the photo and was overjoyed when she saw her sister's face.
The nurse wanted to be sure that Maura was a genuine family member as Kerry
’s story
had been attracting some unwanted attention from journalists who were desperate to be the first to talk to her and get her exclusive story.

Ada and
Peter had managed to track Maura down and had told her
what had happened and where Kerry was located. She asked the nurse to bring her twin to her and they both cried uncontrollably when they saw each other. Maura's was the first familiar face she'd seen since the tsunami. Kerry was so happy to have her sister with her at last; someone she loved. They talked and talked. Maura told her that as soon as she'd found out where she was that she'd jumped in a taxi to the ai
rport and waited
for the next
plane to Japan. She'd hardly had
enough time to pack a toothbrush!

Kerry couldn't help laughing when Maura told her how she'd almost had a fight with a flight attendant about using her mobile phone on the plane. The flight attendant had even threatened to have her removed from the aircraft if she didn't calm down, but when Maura explained everything to her she quickly relented and asked if she could do anything to help! She gave Maura her contact details and told her that she'd organise free flights for everyone back and forth to Japan.

Kerry told her everything that had happened. She was so relieved to have her sister near her at last. Her twin was like her bodyguard from that moment and she spent hours on two telephones at once, trying to coordinate everything.

The phones rang incessantly. Everyone wanted to
talk to
Kerry and she wanted to talk, too, but it was very difficult to have a coherent
conversation because she was very
weak and medicated on strong painkillers.

The telephones seemed to ring nonstop because of the time difference between the countries; the middle of the night in Japan was late evening in Ireland. Somehow the press had gotten hold of Kerry's predicament and she was being bombarded by journalists who wanted her story exclusively. How they'd found out which hospital she was in was an absolute mystery to her. Some reporters called at four and five o' clock in the morning, and basically demanded to know her personal details!

The telephone call that Kerry had waited so long to hear finally happened. It was Saoirse! Maura had managed to find her at last. Kerry clung to the telephone at the sound of her baby girl's voice. She was overjoyed to hear her voice at long last. They talked a mile to the minute and were laughing and crying at the same. Saoirse was safe. “Than
k you God, thank you God,” Kerry
whispered over and over again. She was fine, except for a sprained wrist and a few scratches and bruises. Apparently, the wave had flung her onto a roof top
where she'd stayed until she was rescued
. Her rescuers brought her back to another hotel, just a few kilometres down the road from Kerry, where she'd been
staying
ever since.

“Are you sure you're okay, darling?” Kerry asked for the umpteenth time, at the end of their long conversation.

“I'm fine, mom, honestly. Don't worry about me.” She tried to reassure her mother. “Where's Dad?”

“I don't know, darling,” Kerry replied in a small voice. “I don't know where your dad is.” The minute she said it, she began to cry softly. She couldn't help it. A sudden, all-encompassing fear and dread gripped her heart. All the days of struggling to be brave and strong were finally taking their toll on her. Where was he? Why hadn't she heard anything from him?

“It will be okay, mom. I know it will. We'll find him.”

“I know, darling. I know.”

“I'll see you tomorrow, mom. Emer's here with me. We'll be at the hospital tomorrow.”

“Okay, sw
eetheart,
I'll see you tomorrow. I love you.”

“I love you too, mom.”

Kerry leaned back against the pillows, a strange mix of relief and dread flooding her. She was beyond happy that her beloved baby girl was safe and sound but her fears for Conor filled her with unease. Worry and concern for Conor's parents and brothers also played on her mind. She knew they would be going through hell. How she wished she could see them and tell them not to worry, that somehow, everything would be fine; but she didn't know herself where Conor was. The pain from her in
juries was a peculiar blessing;
it prevented her from becoming too consumed with her thoughts and made her focus on getting better.

Maura
arrived shortly after Saoirse's telephone call. She was staying in a hotel near the hospital and came every day to be with her.

“Is there any news on Conor?” Kerry asked her sister. Her voice was full of hope but she knew the answer by her sister's expression.

“We don't have any news yet,” Maura answered gently. “Everyone's searching for him and I'm sure we'll find him very soon.” She squeezed her twin's hand.

Kerry smiled weakly and glanced out the window, blinking back the tears that filled her eyes. How could this holiday of a lifetime have turned into such a nightmare?

“What if he has amnesia and can't remember who he is anymore?” Kerry asked.

“We'll find him, I promise you,” Maura replied, her voice full of determination and conviction.

Saoirse and Emer arrived at the hospital the following day. Kerry would never forget their faces when they walked into her room, such incredibly moving expressions of joy and sadness. They ran to their mother and covered her in hugs and kisses. They were all laughing and crying at the same time and talking at a million miles an hour. It was one of the best moments of Kerry's life; to have both her daughters back in her arms again.

Saoirse and Emer stayed with their mother for the rest of her time in the hospital. They were allowed to sleep in her room on hard little benches which weren't big enough to hold most adults, let alone a five feet nine inch adult as Emer. Kerry couldn't believe sometimes that the tall young lady in front of her was once a tiny baby in her arms. Saoirse and Emer took good care of their mother and the three of them bonded like never before. They played cards and talked for hours and spent quality time together, which included the evenings when they were sleeping on those little benches.