Chapter 39
CHAPTER
The silence in the room was deafening. Anna tried to sit patiently, but it wasn’t working.
Justin was going to be all right, that was the most important thing.
But knowing it wasn’t good enough. She wanted to see his face.
She wanted to hear his voice. Only then would she be certain.
She stared at the clock on the wall, watching the second hand move far too slowly around its face.
She still had her phone, but had stopped checking the fire alerts.
It didn’t matter now. All that mattered was seeing Justin.
She suddenly realised that the room was quite dark.
She stood up and walked to the window. Outside, night had fallen, and thick, dark clouds were passing overhead, driven by the wind.
A low rumble of distant thunder made her jump just as the door to the room opened and Ben and Carol walked back in.
Anna spun to face them. One look told her all was well. Better than well.
‘He’s asking for you,’ Carol said.
‘Will they let me see him?’
‘They will. I’ve told them you’re family.’
Anna squeezed Carol’s hand.
‘I’ll show you where he is.’ Carol led the way to a room with an open door.
Anna stepped into the doorway and looked at the figure on the bed.
Justin’s eyes were closed and he lay back against the pillows.
His hands, where they lay on the sheet, were swathed in white.
A drip was attached to one arm and an oxygen line sat below his nose, helping him breathe.
Anna’s heart almost broke at the sight of the bandages.
She lifted her hand to the scar that marred her own face, feeling the skin pull and tighten.
What if Justin’s hands were similarly damaged, with restricted feeling and movement?
The thought was almost more than she could stand.
He stirred a little in his sleep, and she wanted nothing more than to lie beside him and put her arms around him.
Damaged hands were nothing. They made no difference to the man he was.
To the man she loved. She would take the pain away for him if she could, and she would love him even though she couldn’t.
Nothing could make her love him less than she did.
In that moment, for the first time, she truly understood and accepted that Justin loved her.
She walked to his bedside and perched on the edge of a chair that had been left there.
She reached out as if to take his hand, but stopped.
Instead, she let her hand rest on the bedclothes next to his and waited.
Time did not pass at all as she listened to the slow rise and fall of his breathing.
It seemed forever and just a moment until he opened his eyes.
‘Anna.’ His voice was raspy and harsh.
‘Shh. Don’t try to talk.’
‘I’m all right. Honestly.’
‘I know you are.’ Tears ran down her cheeks and she brushed them away, angrily. She didn’t want him to see her cry.
He lifted one hand as if to brush them away, but didn’t touch her.
He let his hand fall back to the blanket.
‘I took my gloves off,’ he said by way of explaining how they had come to be burned.
‘It was a stupid thing to do. I know better. I was trying to help Dave Morrison …’ His voice tailed off. He knew that Dave was gone.
‘You did everything you could.’
He closed his eyes and nodded.
When he opened them again, he searched every inch of her face. ‘It’s so good to see you. When the fire trapped us, all I could think of was how much I wanted to get back. To you.’
‘And all I could think of was how much I wanted to see you walking into the hall.’
‘It may be a day or two, but I will be back.’
‘And until then, I’m here. If you want me to be.’
The look on his face was all the answer she needed.
‘They tell me I’ll have some battle scars on my hands. Maybe some restricted movement …’
Anna had no words. She simply took his bandaged hand in hers and ever so softly kissed it.
‘I’ve never been in hospital before. I don’t think I’ll be very good at this.’
‘It’s a breeze.’ Anna forced some gaiety into her voice.
Justin raised an eyebrow.
‘All right. It won’t be easy. I’ve been there. But you’ll get through it. I’ll help you.’
As she spoke, a flash of light lit the room, followed almost instantly by a great boom of thunder. They turned to look at the window. With a sharp splat, a huge drop of water splashed against the glass. Followed by another and another. Then the rain was pelting down.
They watched it in silence as it got heavier and heavier.
‘This will stop the fire.’ Justin’s voice was a sigh of relief.
Anna nodded. They sat watching the rain for a while. When she looked back at his face, his eyes had closed again.
The door opened and a nurse came in. She checked the monitors and nodded in apparent satisfaction. ‘He needs to rest,’ she said. ‘It will do him good to sleep now. You can come back later, if you like.’
‘I’m happy to sit here quietly,’ Anna whispered.
A sleepy voice came from the bed. ‘I’ll rest better if she’s here.’
The nurse smiled. ‘All right then.’ She straightened the bedclothes and left.
Anna leaned back in her chair, her body relaxing as the tension of the past few days drained away. Outside, the rain continued to fall. Good, solid, earth-drenching rain. Anna listened to it until her eyes, too, began to close.