What Matters Most
by Dianne Maguire
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
There
is good love and bad love. Good sex and bad sex. And sometimes it's hard to
know the difference.
Paediatrician and mother
Mia Sandhurst is scraping to keep her marriage together after her husband of 25
years breaks her heart. Finally facing reality, Mia embarks on a series of
outlandish new behaviours to make startling discoveries about herself, love and
life.
But the lies and betrayal
Mia endures are nothing compared to those of her 15 year old patient, Rachel
Hooper.
Set on the magical coast
of the Fleurieu Peninsula, What Matters Most is a story of love, family,
misplaced loyalty and how our choices shape who we are.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
When her family
arrived, Rachel’s condition was stable, but she was still in a coma.
Mia left the
treatment room for the waiting area to see Jack in discussion with a short,
round woman wearing a brown coat and woollen cap from which locks of red hair
fading to grey seemed to be struggling for an escape. Her chin jutted as though
she was fighting for her life, and even from a distance Mia could see her blue
eyes bulging with anger. Beside her, a dungareed man of medium stature, with the
stoop that comes from back neglect, listened with no show of emotion or facial
expression, his hands clasped behind his back. Tim, morosely silent but
actively listening, held the hand of a boy aged about seven whose round face,
topped with a mop of dark hair like his sister’s, moved silently and intently
from his mother to Jack as they each spoke.
‘Mr and Mrs
Hooper, I’m Dr Sandhurst.’ Mia stepped up and extended her hand first to Peter,
who shook it flaccidly and flicked dark, seemingly bottomless eyes towards her
for a brief moment.
‘I’m Annie,’ the
woman said with a stiff smile and a perfunctory shake of Mia’s hand. ‘And this
is Ben, our youngest.’
‘Hello, Ben.’ Mia
shook his hand to elicit a wry grin before leading the way towards a room in
the treatment area. Jack bid his farewells in a way that made it clear to Mia
that he and the family knew each other well.
The moment they
entered the small interview room and sat on the trio of mustard vinyl chairs
facing the narrow desk, Annie let forth as though she had held back for long
enough.
‘This cannot be
true, Dr Sandhurst. It is not like Rachel,’ she said, absently watching Ben
climb onto Tim’s knee. ‘Yes … she can be unpredictable … Yes, she’s stubborn
about simple things like refusing to have a shower … But to her credit she has
never followed the crowd and she would never ever drink alcohol … and as for
taking drugs, well it’s just ludicrous to even entertain the idea.’ Her blue
eyes shone more than would be natural and she swallowed with difficulty.
Gently closing
the door, Mia knew she was about to make a highly provocative suggestion, but
she was experienced enough to know the reality — a harsh new reality that had
to be faced sooner or later by the family. ‘I gather Rachel was on her own in
the lounge room for quite a while, once her friend Cassie had gone to bed and
before Tim found her in the bathroom,’ she said sitting on the swivel chair
behind the desk. ‘It makes me wonder if she deliberately took the alcohol and
drugs with the intention of harming herself.’
Annie sprang from
her seat like a giant cork. ‘That’s insulting and ridiculous. How dare you even
suggest …’ She promptly sat again as though pushing away any semblance of
thought about the words she was about to utter.
Mia cast a glance
at Peter’s persistently bland expression, now intently aimed at the mottled
blue carpet. Then at Tim, who muttered something about bullshit.
‘No, it’s quite
feasible actually,’ Mia persisted, one eyebrow arching. ‘Rachel would not be
the first troubled teen to overdose on alcohol or drugs because she is
overwhelmed by problems. And she wouldn’t be the last. Hopefully, one of our
psychologists will get her to talk about it.’
Annie Hooper’s
eyes widened. ‘I’d prefer the shrinks left her alone. They cause more harm than
good in my opinion.’
Over the
following minutes Mia tried to make allowances for the parents’ rigid denial of
the possibility that their daughter was deeply troubled. Shock and even the
will to protect family dignity may have been factors, but these people
stubbornly refused to relent, despite her most determined efforts at convincing
them that much care was needed because their daughter could be in grave danger
of making a repeat attempt on her life.
‘Mm, it’s all a
bit of a mystery,’ Mia said, finally giving up. ‘But we shall know more when
Rachel regains consciousness. The good news is that there doesn’t seem to have
been any damage done to her heart muscle.’ She stood and a spontaneous sigh
escaped her. ‘You can see Rachel very briefly, then I suggest you go home and
get some sleep. That way you’ll be fresh for her tomorrow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Dianne Maguire is a social worker turned
novelist with over 20 years' experience in child welfare and protection.
She has won the Pauline Walsh Prize in
the Eastwood/Hills Regional Annual Literary Awards and in 2010 she co-wrote a
collection of non-fiction short stories, It's About Time, for children's
charity Time for Kids. Her articles have
been published in state and national newspapers and magazines.
Although Dianne lives in Adelaide with
her husband Jerome, she does most of her writing on the Fleurieu Peninsula.
What Matters Most is her debut novel.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
Dianne will be awarding an eCopy of What Matters Most
to 3 randomly drawn winners via rafflecopter during the tour.
It's great to be stopping at LibriAmoriMiei .... I'm around all day for questions and comments... or you can visit me on my web-site or FB page above. Dianne
RispondiEliminaThanks for hosting!
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