Chapter 47
Present
Rae had been completely honest when she told the fire officer at this point she didn’t give a fig if there was nothing but the foundations left of the building by the time the fire was put out.
It was the truth. All she cared about was that Siggy and Danial were safe.
It felt like forever, but in fact, it was only hours.
She’d made her way to the hospital. Melissa was travelling with her grandson, but she’d need a lift home and some support while she waited to speak to the doctors.
By the time Rae found them in the A&E department, she was relieved to learn he was already sitting up and even if he was bruised and burned, his prognosis was good enough that he would be released from hospital within twenty-four hours.
‘It’s a precaution, if I insisted on taking him home, I think they’d let me, but it’s better to stay, make sure that there is no concussion,’ Melissa said, looking at her grandson with unmistakable love in her eyes.
For his part, Danial couldn’t say very much, his face still covered over in an oxygen mask. He was hooked up to a drip for fluids.
‘Have you heard if Siggy is…’ Rae asked because she was sure Blythe wouldn’t want her anywhere near her family at this point.
All of this, she had a feeling was her fault – Blythe would blame her.
She should never have put part of the hotel up for sale.
At this moment, Rae felt as guilty as if she’d lit that damn fire herself.
‘She is going to be fine,’ Melissa said. ‘One of the ambulance men came in to let us know. Danial managed to save her from any burns by wrapping her in the soaking sheet, but her lungs are going to take some time to recover.’
‘Thank God for that.’ Rae felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her chest.
‘I think she’s in ICU, but you’ll have to check.’
‘I don’t think I’ll be very welcome.’ Rae began to cry. It was probably relief. Danial and Siggy were both going to be okay. Thank God.
‘None of this is your fault, Rae.’ It was Jay Larkin. He too must have dodged past the busy nurses outside to check that Danial was okay. ‘Now, you need to pull yourself together.’ He put his arm around Rae, which only made her cry more.
‘Look,’ he said when the tears subsided.
‘This young man is a hero. Siggy is going to be fine, alright, so it may take a few days for her to get back on her feet, but maybe, all of this…’ Jay stopped for a moment as if he was going to say the most difficult thing that he’d ever had to say.
‘Well, it can be surprising how a near disaster can put things into perspective. I’d say even Blythe might look at things differently after tonight. ’
‘She was there, too,’ Danial whispered as he tugged at the oxygen mask to move it from his mouth.
‘What’s that, darling?’ Melissa leant in more closely to hear her grandson speak.
‘I saw her, walking around the hotel, she had…’ His breath was still ragged, his voice thin, shaking and hardly more than a whisper.
‘Don’t strain yourself son, there’ll be plenty of time later, you can tell us all about it,’ Jay said softly.
‘No. No. I think Mrs Carney did this, I think she set the hotel on fire…’ He stopped, looked from one of them to the other.
‘Blythe?’ Rae felt as if she’d been pushed backwards, right off her feet, as if the ground beneath her had turned to something malleable and maybe she would never feel what it was to stand on solid earth again.
‘Blythe torched the hotel?’ she repeated, because there had to be some mistake, surely?
Blythe loved the hotel, far more than Rae did, that was for sure. ‘No. Blythe would never…’
‘If it wasn’t going to be the Hope Square Hotel anymore, maybe…’ Jay said gently.
‘Oh, my God. She could have killed all of us.’ And then, Rae remembered seeing her on the road earlier.
Blythe knew she wasn’t there. She mustn’t have realised that Siggy had returned to the hotel later.
‘Oh, my God.’ She felt herself fall backwards.
Melissa stepped forward, grabbed her around her waist, guided her to the only available chair in the cubicle.
‘Blythe did this? All of this, oh no. Oh, no. Blythe – how could you?’
Blythe may have set fire to the hotel, or she may not, but ultimately, the blame for everything as far as Rae was concerned lay firmly at her own door.
This was the train of thought careering around Rae’s mind as she tried to push open the door of the intensive care unit.
Of course, it was locked. She noticed then a keypad on the side and a serious- looking sign that said, Immediate family only. One visitor per patient permitted.
So, that was that. She pressed her face up against the glass panel in the door, on the off chance that Siggy was in one of the open-fronted cubicles opposite.
No such luck. She dropped down onto a faux leather bench, completely and utterly emptied out by it all. She started to cry again – was this it?
Was this her life now? No family. Nowhere to call her own either, because let’s face it, if the hotel was at this point burned to the ground, she no longer had a home, much less a business.
‘Oh.’ It was an exclamation more than a greeting but when Rae looked up, she saw Blythe standing across from her.
‘How is she?’ Rae dried her eyes roughly. Her voice wobbled, unsure if she was being confronted by a friend or foe.
‘She’s going to be fine,’ Blythe said, and even she sounded different to her usual no-nonsense self. ‘By some miracle, she’s going to be fine.’
‘Thank God for that.’ It was the confirmation that Rae needed. She’d already heard, but she needed to see for herself, just to be sure, because at this point, it felt as if nothing could be depended on.
‘Kip is with her now, but if you want to go in next…’ Blythe said, and she dropped to the bench on the opposite side of the corridor.
‘What about you?’ Rae asked because after all, Blythe was Siggy’s mother, Rae was only an aunt.
‘I…’ Then the strangest thing happened.
Blythe began to cry.
Blythe, who she’d known all her life, had never cried before anyone.
Even when their parents died, she had kept her grief to herself.
Rae had never once seen her drop a tear, although she remembered a time when Blythe had cried herself to sleep every night, that had been behind a closed door in a dark room where she believed she could not be heard.
‘Oh, Blythe, I’m so sorry for what I’ve done. Putting the hotel up for sale….’ Rae said then and she moved to the bench next to her sister and put her arms around her.
‘You’re sorry? What on earth have you to be sorry for? You’ve done nothing, your whole life, you’ve just tried to keep the peace and make everyone happy, you’ve…’
‘You make me sound like a saint and I’m a long, long way off that…’ Rae said, because even if Blythe didn’t know it, Rae knew now that she was going to sell the hotel, if she could, if anyone would buy what remained of it from her. She would sell it and she would start again.
‘I started the fire, Rae.’
‘I know,’ Rae said simply and then Blythe looked at her as if to check she’d heard what she’d said.
‘And I almost killed Siggy. And that boy…’ Blythe started to cry again. ‘I got it all so wrong, didn’t I?’
‘How were you to know?’
‘Oh Rae, seriously?’ Blythe shook her head, moved out of Rae’s embrace. ‘I can’t face Siggy now.’
‘Blythe, we’re sisters. No matter what happened, no matter what you’ve done, we’ll always be the Hope Square sisters, and I will stand by you through this.
’ She pulled Blythe to her once more and this time, they fell against each, clinging desperately, and they both cried, but there was comfort at least, in being together.