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connection to Fee, other than her being his client.
    Felicity fluttered her eyes suddenly, catching Glenda’s attention and putting an end to her thoughts of Dan and Stacey.
    Moving closer to the bed, she gently took her daughter’s hand and push ed a stray hair from her face. “Hello, love - are you awake?”
    Felicity tried to focus her eyes as the brightness of the room danced around her. Where on earth was she?  
    Slowly her mother’s worried face came into view, along with a blue floral partition curtain and metal bed frame.   A familiar smell filled her nostrils; institutional food.
    “ Mum, what’s going on?” Felicity asked, panicked. “Why am I in hospital?”
    Glenda hoped her sharp intake of breath didn’t shock her daughter further, but she hadn’t heard Felicity call her ´mum´ for a long time.  
    She patte d Felicity’s arm reassuringly. “Don’t worry yourself love, you had a bit of an accident that’s all. You slipped over in the pub the other night and banged your head. Doctors said there’s no permanent damage so you´ll be ok.”
    Felicity felt herself sink further into the hard mattress beneath as her mind recalled events. A sickening realisation dawned upon her as she pictured Dan’s face and the last words she had heard spoken from the attractive woman beside him. Dan had a partner.
    “ Dan’s got a girlfriend. I saw them together” Felicity blurted out, trying to sit up straight. Her head felt heavy and the sickness doubled in intensity with her efforts.
    “ I think I’m going to be sick. Can you get me a bowl?”
    Glenda quickly passed Felicity the cardboard sick bowl she had been provided with, just in time as her daughter heaved heavily into it. Glenda watched , torn, knowing that the tears prickling in Fee’s eyes were far more than just tears of illness; they were for Dan and his deceit. Glenda rubbed Felicity’s back as a nurse disposed of the sick bowl. 
    Felicity leaned back against her pil low and looked at her mother.  “You don’t look surprised at what I said about Dan. I thought you would be, considering you were the one who thought he was so perfect for me.”
    Glenda shifted uncomfortably; she knew Fee always thought she’d made wrong choices as a mother. Now her daughter was once again going to prove her correct. Dan wasn’t the right person for Fee. She deserved so much better than someone dishonest and two timing.
    “Well to be frank, love, I also saw the pair of them together, here at the hospital when they brought you in. Dan was the one who called me. You should have seen him with her - trying his best to brush her off, he was.”
    Felicity bit down on her bottom lip. Dan may not have been Mr Ideal, but he was her shining light in her bleak life. He’d seemed to understand her even though they never really had in -depth conversations.  It made her feel ill to think that he’d been going from her bed to his girlfriends. All those times they laughed and joked, she couldn’t help thinking of him sharing the same moments with his girlfriend. What a fool she’d been taken for. What hurt the most was that she’d actually allowed him to worm his way partially into her heart. Why else would she be feeling so sick and worthless otherwise?
    Glenda watched helplessly as her daughter ’s face crumbled in a rare display of emotion. Tears spilled freely from Felicity’s eyes as her shoulders racked with sobs.
    “ Why me, Mum? Was what I went through with James not enough? Why can’t I just find someone to be happy with?”
    Glenda instantly reached forward and hugged her daughter tightly. It was like being with the Fee she had always known, until the cold and distant Fee had taken her place. Her daughter was back. As much as it pained her to see Fee in distress, it was also heart -warming to know she was capable of emotion. It had been too long since she’d seen Felicity show any real feeling about life.
    “ Love, you are a beautiful, independent woman