Everlasting Love

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‘Mr Hamilton’s condition was critical when he was brought in,’ the other girl sighed heavily. ‘Mr Hamilton’s own assistant, Simon Brooks, is operating.’ She shook her head. ‘I feel partly responsible for the accident.’

Olivia frowned. ‘You do?’ What did this girl mean to Marcus? She was certainly young and pretty enough for him to find attractive.

‘If I hadn’t called him out for an emergency operation he wouldn’t have been in this part of London at all,’ the Sister explained.

Olivia heaved a mental sigh of relief—although why she should she had no idea. Marcus Hamilton was just an excellent surgeon to her now, nothing more. She didn’t care if he had a dozen women in his life. Now she was starting to sound jealous!

‘I’ll just go along to the theatre and check for you,’ the young Sister told her. ‘I won’t be long.’

‘I’ll be in the waiting-room with Sally—Mr Hamilton’s daughter,’ Olivia explained in case the other woman didn’t know her.

She took the promised coffee back to Sally, heavily sugared, although she saw Sally grimace as she tasted the sweetness but bravely drink it down anyway, knowing that it would be good for her.

The Sister came in about ten minutes later. ‘Mr Hamilton is just coming out of Theatre now,’ she informed them gently.

‘And?’ Olivia prompted, white with anxiety.

‘He’s no longer on the danger list—–’

‘Oh, thank God!’ Sally collapsed into Olivia’s waiting arms.

But Olivia knew the Sister hadn’t finished, could see by the compassion in the deep blue eyes that there was more to come. She tensed herself for that.

‘Mr Brooks removed several fragments of bone that had fractured,’ the other woman continued softly. ‘We have no idea yet what damage may have been done internally.’

‘You mean—you mean brain damage?’ Sally gasped.

‘It’s a possibility—–’

It was what Olivia had been expecting, and she felt Sally sag against her as she fainted.

‘I’m so sorry,’ the Sister helped her to get Sally into a chair, ‘but Mr Brooks is in with another emergency right now, and I don’t believe Miss Hamilton should be under any delusions as to how serious her father’s injuries are.’

‘She had to be told,’ Olivia assured her.

‘Mr Hamilton is being moved to a private room now, there will be a nurse in with him, but I’m sure Mr Brooks will have no objection to both you and Miss Hamilton sitting with him if you want to.’

Looking at Sally, Olivia knew the young girl would want to, and she couldn’t let her do it alone.

‘Mr Brooks will be in to talk to you both as soon as he’s available,’ the Sister told her. ‘In the meantime—–’ she hesitated, ‘Mr Hamilton also had severe lacerations to the face. You understand?’

A shiver ran down Olivia’s spine. Marcus’s beautiful handsome face cut and torn, possibly scarred for life? If he had a life …! God, he must be all right, he must!

‘I’ll prepare her,’ she told the other girl softly as Sally began to regain consciousness, groaning groggily as she did so.

But no one had prepared her! Marcus lay grey against the stark white bedclothes, a heavy bandage about his temple, several deep cuts on his face that had needed stitches, blood congealed along the jagged edges, the skin already looking bruised. There were several stitched cuts on his hands as they lay limply on the counterpane too, as if he had put up his hands to shield his face. Heaven knows what he would have looked like if he hadn’t put up his hands!

Sally wordlessly pulled up a chair to sit at his side, gently touching one of his injured hands so as not to hurt him, her gaze never leaving his still face.

A nurse sat silently at the back of the room, so Olivia sat in the chair opposite Sally’s across the bed, not touching Marcus herself, afraid even of that much contact with him. He hadn’t changed at all in six years, perhaps a little harsher in the face, but other than that he looked the same, the lines grooved beside his nose and mouth smoothed out in his unconscious state. His breathing was shallow and even, hardly breathing at all really.

‘I won’t let him die.’ Sally suddenly broke the silence, speaking with a calm that had Olivia looking at her with sharp concern.

‘Sally—–’

‘I won’t let him be a mental cabbage either,’ the young girl told her fiercely.

Olivia gasped, not having acknowledged such a thing even to herself. That could never happen to Marcus, not with his gift for healing others, a skill that would need every ounce of his old sure intelligence if he were to continue with it.

‘I won’t!’ Sally repeated vehemently.

Olivia wisely remained silent, not wanting to say or do anything that would push the emotional tension Sally was under over the edge, knowing the younger girl was likely to collapse altogether when that happened.

They sat there for what seemed like hours, although Olivia knew that in fact only two hours had passed since they were shown into Marcus’s room. She took advantage of one of the occasions she went out to the machine to get coffee to call the Hayes house and assure them that so far Marcus was holding his own. For once Clara hadn’t seemed so vague, telling her that of course she must stay at the hospital with Sally for as long as she needed her.

When she got back to the room it was to find Sally slumped back in her chair, fast asleep. She didn’t even bother to move the girl into a more comfortable position, not wanting to disturb her, knowing that sleep was the best thing for her right now. She would need all of her strength when Marcus finally woke up.

Dear God, seeing him like this, near enough to touch, took her back once more to that night he had asked her to share his bed.

‘Your mother-in-law,’ she had reminded him protestingly.

‘Sybil isn’t staying at the house. She’ll probably have left by now,’ he told her.

‘But—–’

‘I want to make love to you, Olivia,’ Marcus had stated calmly. ‘And I think you want it too.’

‘Yes …’ She made no effort to deny the yearning ache he had evoked.

‘Then you’ll come home with me?’ he persisted intensely.

‘No,’ she refused shakily. ‘I—I can’t.’

He sat back with a groan, his head back on the headrest, his eyes closed. ‘I’m too old to play games, Olivia,’ he told her harshly. ‘I warned you that once I started kissing you I wouldn’t want to stop. I can’t go back to our sterile relationship, not now, not when I’ve seen you, touched you.’

She swallowed hard. ‘Are you saying that if I don’t go home with you now you won’t see me again?’

‘I don’t know what I’m saying!’ He ran an agitated hand through his already tousled hair. ‘I can’t think straight right now.’ He took her hand in his, guiding it down his body. ‘Feel how badly I want you,’ he rasped.

‘Oh, Marcus …!’ she began to tremble.

‘Yes,’ he thrust her hand away. ‘And I feel like this most of the time. Up until now, until you asked me to show you how I felt about you, I’ve been in control of the situation. I know how very young you are, how inexperienced, and I’ve kept my distance because of that. But after tonight I can’t do that. Do you understand what I’m saying now?’

‘Yes.’

‘Go in now, Olivia,’ he instructed harshly. ‘We’ll talk again tomorrow.

‘Marcus—–’

‘Yes?’

His abrupt tone chilled her, her agreement to do what he wanted, go where he wanted suddenly not seeming like a good idea after all. ‘Nothing,’ she bit her lip. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘Yes.’ He didn’t even turn as she got out of the car.

Olivia looked down now at the man who lay so still and white in the hospital bed beside her, amazed that he could have caused such havoc in her life. Of course, she had been too young to cope with all that he wanted from her, but that hadn’t stopped her wanting to be all he needed. In the end it had nearly destroyed her.

He began to move restlessly in the bed, to groan in his unconscious state, his lips moving soundlessly as he fought against the covers that confined him.

‘You’re all right, Marcus,’ she told him softly, knowing he was nowhere near regaining consciousness yet, but wanting to reassure him anyway. ‘We’re here, Sally and Olivia.’

‘Olivia,’ he muttered, startling her with the ferocity of his tone. ‘God, Ruth! She means nothing to me. Olivia. No, don’t go, it’s you I love.’ He muttered unintelligibly for several seconds. ‘No, don’t leave me,’ he groaned. ‘Ruth. She means nothing to me. Olivia, nothing. God, I love you, I love you. Please don’t go, not again. Ruth …’ he trailed off into oblivion once more.

The tears were streaming down Olivia’s face by the time he had finished, and she moved away as the nurse came forward to check on him. Even in his unconscious state Marcus still hadn’t forgotten his love for his wife. It had been because of that love that he and Olivia had finally parted.

Instead of the two of them talking the next day as Marcus had said they would, he cancelled their date for that evening. Olivia didn’t even bother to ask him why, she could guess the reason, and knew he was finishing with her as gently as he knew how.

As she was coming off duty the next day she saw Marcus’s car parked outside the main entrance of the hospital, and seated in the passenger seat was a beautiful blonde woman of about thirty, her resemblance to Sally unmistakable. She knew immediately that it was Ruth Hamilton, and as Sybil Carr had predicted, Marcus had taken his wife back into his life.

At that moment he had come out of the hospital, not noticing her as he got in the car beside his wife, giving a smiling response to something his wife said to him as they drove away.