Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sunday, 2 nd July
E mily stood at the rail as the passenger ferry approached the jetty on the tiny island of Mainau, where crowds of people were waiting for the boat. They were four out of literally hundreds of tourists today, but as Alan said, they didn’t have the luxury of time for a midweek trip when it would be quieter. It had been Rico’s idea to take the car to Kreuzlingen, park there, and pick up the boat to cross to the tiny ‘flower island’. They could have walked across the pedestrian bridge from the mainland, but taking one of the ferry boats did make the trip feel more special.
She glanced across at Stacy, beside her by the rail. Her friend was pale, and there was a drawn look about her cheeks that Emily didn’t like. Poor Stace; she’d been properly shaken up by what had happened yesterday evening. She was too sensitive for her own good, and typically, Stacy hadn’t wanted to spoil the evening for anyone, so the first Emily had known about the little boy’s accident was at breakfast this morning. And even then, Stacy had tried to play it down.
‘I was in the right place at the right time, that’s all. Any medical professional could have done the same.’
But it hadn’t been any medical professional, it had been Stacy, who only wanted to get away from the cut-throat drama of high-powered trauma medicine. The little boy was out of danger, so all was well, or it would be if Stacy’s nerves hadn’t been so jarred. So much for a relaxing weekend; it had turned into a busman’s holiday for Stace, and the bus had almost crashed.
The ferry lurched as it came to a stop, and they joined the large crowd of tourists disembarking. The equally large crowd on the jetty surged forward to board, but it was good so many were leaving, too. There couldn’t be unlimited space on the island.
Once on dry land, they turned towards the rose garden, and Emily linked arms with Stacy, who immediately stopped dead.
‘Emmy, for heaven’s sake, go and be with your guy, now that you’ve eventually found each other. This could be your last whole day together for weeks.’
Behind them, Rico and Alan were strolling along, deep in conversation.
Emily squeezed Stacy’s arm. ‘Right this minute, Alan doesn’t need an old friend with a shoulder to lean on. You look as if you might.’
‘Is that a polite way of saying I look a nervous wreck? Or just terrible? It’s okay, Em – I can deal with what happened.’
‘I know, and that’s what’s worrying me. I’m guessing there’s another problem to add to the reaction after last night’s rescue?’
Stacy kicked at a stone on the path. ‘You know me too well. I’ve been thinking about my future. I did all that training, plus I have the acute experience in the thoracic unit, and now I’m wondering if it’s wrong to drop that for a less high-powered job. My training literally made the difference between life and death for that kid yesterday. I should use it more.’
Emily screwed up her face. ‘I see what you mean, but – there are more ways than one to make a difference, Stace.’
Stacy bent to smell a perfect pink rose. ‘I know. But maybe some ways are more important than others. That’s what I have to work out. If David was here, he’d say–’
Emily lost her patience. Some people didn’t know how to help themselves. ‘For pity’s sake, woman, this isn’t about what David or anyone else would say or think! It’s your life. Your choice, and you want to be happy.’
‘And I will be. Now get back to your lovely man, huh? You can lend me a shoulder or an ear when we get back home.’
The men caught them up, and Alan reclaimed Emily’s hand while they visited the castle and the butterfly house. Emily was glad to see Rico chatting away to Stacy and showing her things on the brochure. Stace might say she was coping, but what had happened with David was enough to knock anyone right off course, never mind having a lifeless child thrust at you when you weren’t expecting it. A bit of pampering was a good idea, and how good it was that she’d be the one dishing it out, for a change. Emily leaned in to Alan, and he bent his head and kissed her, and oh, hopefully Stacy would find something like this too, one day. Would it really be with David? Emily grimaced. Time would tell.
***
The butterfly house was amazing, but having all those considerably larger than life insects flapping all around the place was unnerving, too. Stacy walked beside Rico along a tree-lined path by the lake, and they headed for a patch of gravel with a couple of benches overlooking the water. Emily and Alan were twenty yards behind them, locked in their own world, good. Stacy sat down on the bench nearest the lake, Rico beside her but not touching, his face calm as he gazed back to the mainland. He hadn’t said a word today about her engagement or David, and Stacy was glad. It wasn’t something she wanted to talk to him about, even if he was in the same boat as she was, with his life in turmoil. He hadn’t said anything more about the hotel and its future, either. And given that they would say goodbye forever tomorrow, it was probably for the best.
Emily and Alan arrived, and Emily sat down beside Stacy while the two men went off in search of some grub. The plan was to have a picnic lunch, then tonight they were all going out for dinner.
Stacy leaned back on the bench. Heaven only knew when she was going to have time for all the thinking she had to do before she arrived home and Mum started on at her about getting back with David, but the distance from the wreck of her relationship now could only be a good thing. It was going to need more than a few sensible thoughts to sort out the turmoil in her life.
‘This is spectacular,’ said Emily dreamily.
Stacy laughed, in spite of herself. ‘You’re so loved-up you’d find anywhere spectacular!’
Emily gave her a little push. ‘You could be right – but it is lovely, you have to admit.’
‘Mainau, or being in love with a great bloke who’s nuts about you?’
‘Both. Oh, Stace, this is it, I know it is. With Alan, I mean. He said last night he’d have a meaningful question for me when he comes back to England. Isn’t that romantic? I’ve never felt this way before. You will be bridesmaid, won’t you?’
Stacy pushed the little jab of hurt away. Her second bridesmaid request in the summer she’d thought she’d be planning her own wedding… ‘Try and stop me. And try not to have as long an engagement as David and me!’
‘Don’t worry. There’s no comparison, anyway. You guys were practically engaged before you left school.’
Stacy looked down at her hands. It was a nostalgic thought. First love, and then they left school and David went on to medical school, but somewhere down the line it all went pear-shaped, as far as communication went. Was the love still there? Some days she was sure it was, others, she just didn’t know.
The men returned with tomato and mozzarella sandwiches and orange juice, and they sat munching in friendly silence. It was good when you were with people you didn’t have to talk to all the time. Looking across the lake, Stacy heaved a sigh. Suppose for a moment she did go back to working in a big city hospital. She’d be using her training and doing vital work, like they’d – she’d – planned. She’d be working near David; he’d be pleased and Mum and Dad would be too, if she managed to persuade them that it was what she really wanted. Did she want it? Hospital work? This time yesterday she’d have said ‘no’, but last night had changed everything.
Emily asked Rico about the boat service across to mainland Germany on the opposite side of the lake, which was much nearer than it was further up the lake at Grimsbach. He replied, and Stacy leaned back. She was in a beautiful place with her best friend and a couple of lovely guys, and Alan at least would be in her life for the foreseeable future. She squinted across to Rico. He wasn’t saying much, but that was his way. He was a restful kind of holiday companion, and he was saving her from being alone beside a couple in love, which would have felt a tad lonely.
Rico must have felt her glance, because he grinned at her and jumped to his feet. ‘Okay, team, we haven’t seen everything yet. Let’s walk round the other side to the herb garden before we go back for the car, then we can take a different route home through the countryside. I know a place where they do the best Black Forest Gateau this side of the lake.’
‘You’re on,’ said Emily, scrambling up and smoothing her trousers across her stomach. ‘Coffee and gateau sounds brilliant, though I’ll have to go on a diet the second we get home tomorrow. And for our meal out later, can we go back to that fish place we went to last time? Stace and I’ll treat you two again.’
Alan slung an arm around Emily. ‘No diet, please. You’re perfect as you are.’
Stacy swallowed hard. That had sounded like something in a corny love story, but it was so sweet to see these two together now, and doubly so when you thought about the dark place Emmy had been in after the accident. And now they were heading for their last dinner in Switzerland. Rico was nodding, but his face was wistful. Was he feeling nostalgic too?
***
Rico turned back onto the main road to Grimsbach, his stomach full of Black Forest Gateau and his head full of regret. In a way, he wished it was tomorrow already and Stacy was gone from his life. Being with her was the definition of bittersweet; she was the girl he ached to have and to hold, but that was never going to happen. This David was the guy she was going back to, even though he’d hurt her – he must have hurt her, because Stacy wasn’t the kind of person to take an engagement ring off after a minor argument. She still wasn’t wearing it, and he was way too much of a coward to ask her about it. David deserved a real kick up the proverbial. What kind of guy would hurt someone like Stacy? He glanced across at the passenger seat, where Stacy’s hands were folded over the bag on her lap.
Rico’s phone vibrated in his pocket, but he let it go to voicemail. They’d be home in twenty minutes, and it wasn’t going to be anything that couldn’t wait that long. Emily and Alan were chatting in the back, giving each other a running commentary about the places they were passing through along the lake bank. Rico caught Stacy’s eye, and they grinned at each other. She was as much the running commentary type as he was, i.e. not at all, but it was fun listening to the others.
His phone buzzed again, and Rico chewed his lip. This could be Dad, about the hotel…
‘I think I’d better get this.’ He pulled up at a ‘cut your own flowers’ place at the side of the road. The girls immediately leapt out, followed more slowly by Alan. Rico flipped his phone case open. Oh – the calls had been from Karen at reception.
‘Ah, Rico, good you’ve called back. I’m checking you’ll be home soon, as distinct from later tonight – I’m off now.’
Rico frowned. What on earth? When Karen was off, Flavia or someone from the restaurant or bar kept an eye out for anything at reception. It wasn’t something they had to organise especially, not the way the guest numbers were these days .
‘We’ll be back in fifteen minutes. Is there a problem?’
‘No, not at all. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.’
She ended the call before he could ask anything else, and Rico snapped his phone case shut. Everything was weird and wrong today. He leaned out of the open window.
‘Ready to go?’
The others straggled back to the car.
‘If we were staying longer, I’d take half of that field with us,’ said Stacy, pulling her seat belt on. ‘Those roses are to die for. Everything okay, Rico?’
‘Yup. Karen needed to check our ETA, though I’m not sure why. Home in fifteen, guys.’ He swung the car back into the Sunday afternoon tourist traffic.
***
‘Rico! A card for Stacy has come! And flowers!’
Flavia bounced out of the office the moment Rico stepped into the front hall, and his heart plummeted to Australia. This would be why Karen had called; she’d needed to know if she should put the flowers into water. Were these from the boyfriend who may or may not be Stacy’s fiancé?
Flavia vanished into the office again, and reappeared with a little bunch of roses and a yellow envelope with ‘Nurse Stacy’ on the front. Relief swamped over Rico like a wave on a hot summer’s day. Not the boyfriend, then, and this would be to do with last night. He loped back to the door. Stacy and Emily were meandering up the driveway, taking photos of the hotel in all its geranium-filled window box glory.
He called to her. ‘Stacy! You have post!’
‘Post? For me?’ She hurried inside, her arms full of bags. She and Emily had bought a few souvenirs on Mainau, as well as some special Swiss choc for their families at the place they’d stopped for coffee.
Flavia thrust both flowers and card at her, and Stacy dropped her bags and took the card. She eased a finger under the flap and pulled it open.
‘Oh!’ She stared, then handed the card to Rico and wiped her eyes with the tips of her fingers.
Rico looked down. The front of the card showed a field of sunflowers, then stuck on the left of the inside was a print-out of a photo of little Elijah, sitting up in a hospital bed with a big grin on his face and holding both hands in a thumbs up. On the other side, his mother had written:
Dear Stacy, there are no words. You saved Eli’s life, so you saved our family life too. Eli is coming home tomorrow, and we can never say thank you enough. We have decided to make a donation to Doctors Without Borders, as a thank you to you for our son. Regards, Kim and Tobias Burri with Eli and Ben.
Flavia bounced up and down on the balls of her feet beside him. ‘Their neighbour brought this because they’re still up in St Gallen. Frau Burri wrote the card, and she asked her neighbour to pick the best roses from the garden and bring them here. Stacy’s a hero, she said!’
Rico translated all this for Stacy, who blushed fiery red. ‘I did what anyone else would have done.’
Emily was dabbing her eyes now too. ‘Not everyone would have been able to do it, Stace. CPR on kids can’t be easy.’
‘Nurses are wonderful!’ said Flavia, in her hesitant English, and Rico smiled. Flavia understood a lot, but it took a real occasion before she’d speak English.
‘We’re trained, that’s all.’ Stacy took the roses and sniffed. ‘These are glorious. And how weird that we were looking at roses just a few minutes ago. But put them on the reception desk, Flavia. I’ll be gone tomorrow, and I can’t take them with me. They’ll be gorgeous when they’re in full bloom.’
Flavia accepted the flowers. ‘I will send you a photo of them. And next week, I will dry the petals for you and send them too. Then you have a reminder of the good work you did in Grimsbach, yes?’
‘Thank you so much,’ said Stacy faintly, and Rico rubbed her shoulder before he realised what he was doing. A reminder of what must be up there in the three most stressful things she’d ever experienced possibly wasn’t on Stacy’s must-have list.
She turned to look at him. ‘Rico, can you get me the number so that I can thank Kim and Tobias? I think – I think I’ll go up for a shower. See you all later.’
Tears in her eyes, she wheeled round and scurried towards the stairs, the card pressed to her chest. Flavia moved to go after her, but Emily stopped her.
‘We’ll give her a moment, shall we? Come on, I’m sure you have a vase for these flowers somewhere.’
Flavia and Emily moved off together, followed by Alan, and Rico was left standing in reception. He slumped over the desk. This time tomorrow, Stacy would be back in Manchester, and there was no saying he’d ever see her again. And her flowers would be here at reception. It wasn’t enough, but maybe it would have to be.