Chapter 38 The Vigil
The Vigil
Brandon
Her foot needs surgery.
That’s the thought circling my brain after hours of radiology corridors and half-heard explanations. By the time we returned to her room, she was exhausted.
The radiologist completed his report. A doctor came by to confirm the fracture.
Then there was nothing to do but wait for the orthopaedic consult.
“He’ll be here soon,” a nurse promised more than an hour ago.
Finally, the orthopaedic registrar arrives and explains the findings in calm, clipped tones: complex break, misaligned bones, surgical correction required to ensure they heal properly.
They’ve scheduled it four days from now.
She’ll walk again in three months.
Full recovery in six.
Lily doesn’t take the news well. When the doctor says ‘surgery,’ she folds. A sob tears out of her, raw and sudden, making my hair stand on end.
Ellenor’s at her side in seconds, arms wrapped around her.
I don’t move. I just watch the two of them, Ellenor holding her fiercely, as if she can keep the world from her sister.
Every part of me wants to cross the room—to hold Lily and console her.
But she needs her sister more, and she needs a moment to process everything—the shock, the pain, the hours of waiting with uncertainty.
The yearning to go home.
Eventually, Lily calms, the worst of the panic easing, though she shifts restlessly beneath the sheets.
Nurses stop by every half hour, fussing and checking vitals. Ellenor stays for as long as she can, but she’s running on fumes.
When evening comes, Lily’s half-asleep, drifting in and out, her face still streaked with salt and exhaustion. Ellenor announces she’s heading back to the cottage.
“I’ll stay,” I say to Lily. “If that’s alright.”
She blinks up at me, wary. “Are you allowed to? The nurses said only family members can stay overnight.”
I shoot Ellenor a warning look—don’t you dare—but she just smiles innocently.
“I might have told them you’re engaged,” she says to Lily.
“What?” Lily hisses.
Heat crawls up my neck. I stare fiercely at a poster about hand hygiene.
“Look,” Ellenor continues, waving a hand, “Brandon really wants to stay, and I really want to shower and sleep in a proper bed. Problem solved.”
Lily groans. “Elle.”
“What? I may be your sister, but I’m not the one who’s besotted with you.”
There’s a hiss of outrage and a soft scuffle of blankets as Lily tries to swat her.
Ellenor chuckles and swoops in with a quick hug. “I’ll be back in the morning. Rest. Please.”
“You too,” Lily mutters, softer now.
When the door shuts, quiet settles over the room. Her gaze drifts to me. Her eyes are red, breathing still uneven from earlier tears.
“Do you mind grabbing my phone?” she asks thickly, pointing to where the old Samsung that Sean lent her is charging. “I need to call Mum.”
“Of course.” I hand it to her, our fingers brushing—and not by accident.
“You can stay, if you’d like to,” she says, almost shyly.
“I will.” I try to smile, but the veneer is thin. “I just need to step out for a moment.”
Her disappointment flickers like a shadow, and I escape before I can change my mind.
I find Ellenor at the lift.
“Ellenor, wait.”
She steps out, the doors sliding shut behind her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. She’s calling your mother. I just…” I drag a hand through my hair. “There must be something more I can do.”
“More? Brandon, you’ve done more than enough. You’ve saved my little sister’s life.”
“She could be doing better,” I say in an undertone. “She’s distressed. We should help her recover faster.”
Ellenor’s lips curl. “We’ve got ourselves a broken ankle. What do you want to do, fix it with Skele-Gro?”
I don’t understand the reference, but I ignore it. “I’m not talking about physical injuries.”
Her smile falters, understanding flickering in her eyes. She carries her own kind of pain—the kind no radiograph could show.
Lily feels deeply. Just when she was starting to stand again, life knocked her back down.
I’m relieved she hasn’t asked about Jack Willoughby yet. I’m not ready to tell her that Daisy dropped by in scrubs to check on her. That Jack knows she’s here yet has failed to visit.
Or that videos keep going up of their performance.
Coward.
I dread the moment she finds out. It’s the faintest silver lining to her losing her phone.
“I can’t just sit here,” I tell Ellenor. “I’ll go mad.”
She bites her lip—something I’ve only seen Lily do. “I could bring some books for you to read to her?” she offers. “Maybe your guitar?”
“Just the books.” I decide. “I’m not sure Lily needs any reminders of the guitar she’s lost right now.”
“True.” Ellenor presses the button to call the lift.
“What about your mother?” I ask.
She frowns. “What about her?”
“It might bring Lily comfort to have her here.”
“It would,” Ellenor concedes. “But you know she doesn’t fly.”
“Do you think she could be persuaded?”
She scoffs as if what I’m suggesting is outrageous. “No. She’s a real worrywart. Trust me, I’ve tried. She won’t even fly with us—she says if anything happened, she wouldn’t want to lose us too. It’s not entirely rational…”
“Fear rarely is.”
“Hmm.” Her eyes drift to the wall, unfocused, and I know exactly where her mind has gone.
The helicopter crash.
I don’t press, but a thought settles, quiet and immovable.
If Catherine won’t fly alone…perhaps she simply needs someone to fly with her. But not her daughters. Someone she doesn’t have to protect.
She wouldn’t need to be brave then. She’d just have to go.
“Is there anyone who could accompany her?” I ask hopefully. “A friend or relative in Sydney? I could cover the costs…”
Ellenor shakes her head. “Nope.”
I fall silent, ruminating, slowly piecing together an idea. It’s mildly insane, but not terribly so. And it would be worthwhile if it improved Lily’s spirits.
“When you return tomorrow morning, can you watch Lily for a few days?” I ask.
Ellenor tilts her head at me. “Of course… But why? Are the oysters calling?”
“The oysters will keep.”
“Not in my experience. Food poisoning’s a bitch.” Her eyes narrow. “If you’re contemplating what I think you are, Brando—you’re barking mad.”
“Quite possibly,” I admit, still working the plan over in my mind.
She folds her arms, studying me, then she grins. “Ah. A grand gesture, huh? Yeah, it might just pay off for you.” She wiggles her ring finger at me as the lift doors open.
“That’s not why I’m doing it. I have her best interests at heart.”
“So do I, Brando. So do I. And I approve.” She steps into the lift. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you call her Lily now.” She gives me a mock salute as the doors slide shut. “See you when you get back.”
As I reach Lily’s door, her voice drifts into the hallway—soft, unguarded.
“I don’t want to come home yet, Mum…Ellenor and I had plans.
And Brandon…” Her tone changes. Quieter.
Bashful. “Yes, I like him… Yes, he wants me to stay.” A pause.
I can’t hear her mother, but Lily groans in exasperation.
“Mum.” Another pause. “No, of course not forever… Well, we haven’t talked about anything like that, and I really don’t want to right now—” Another groan. “Mum!”
She shifts, and I step back from the doorway, heart pounding with equal parts joy and guilt.
Hearing her say she likes me… Christ. It shouldn’t matter.
Not now. She’s feverish, frightened, and held together by painkillers.
Mere days away from having her leg cut open and pieced back together.
Far too vulnerable for me to even think about making any advances, and shame on me for letting my mind go there.
Holding her hand, somehow, does not make me feel guilty.
Her voice drops to a whisper I barely catch: “Yes, the surgery’s in four days…
No, they can’t do it any sooner…Why? Because they said it’s not an emergency.
” She waits, then she snorts softly. “You sound like Ellenor—she said the same thing, then she started swearing at the doctor. She’s lucky they didn’t call security. ”
A longer pause. When she speaks again, her voice trembles. “I don’t know if I can, Mum…I’m scared.”
Emotion tightens my chest. I shouldn’t be listening. I force myself to step away—but I only go a few paces before her next words stop me cold.
“I miss you so much.”
The words float like fragile ice in spring.
“Yes, Mum, I’ll try.”
Catherine’s response is muffled with static, as if she’s been put on speakerphone, yet it’s full of tenderness.
“Oh darling…it will all be alright. I just wish I could hug you.”
Lily’s response cracks, “Me too. I miss you so much.”
The ache in her voice is painful to hear.
“Can’t you come to England?”
Her mother’s answer is muffled.
“I understand,” Lily whispers, defeated.
That’s the moment everything crystallises.
She doesn’t need distractions.
She doesn’t need me hovering like a shadow.
She needs her parents.
But her father’s gone, and her mother’s half a world away.
Ellenor’s trying, in her own way, but she’s raw too.
And for all the time I’ve spent by Lily’s side, I’m not what she needs most.
She needs someone who’s simply hers. Someone who always was, and always will be, bound to her by unshakable ties; by years soaked in history. A love she was born into.
I know what it feels like to have loving parents. I was fortunate to have them too. And I can’t help but think it would make the world of difference to Lily to have her mother here—if only it were possible.
I sink into a chair and take out my phone. While they talk, I scroll for flights.
And book the first one.