The smile, those eyes, the sheer joy as he reached up to…
Ouch. He flinched with pain again.
‘Sod it, you leave your head on the pillow and I’m going to kiss you,’ Tress said.
She leaned down, let her finger trace a line along his gorgeous face, kept her eyes locked on his, and she kissed him. It felt warm, and sexy and heart-thuddingly incredible…
And it didn’t feel awkward at all.
EPILOGUE
ONE WEEK LATER
‘Well, there she is, the most demanding diva in the whole of Glasgow Central Hospital,’ Calvin declared with a wink, as he came through the doors of the ward, laden with flowers and chocolates. ‘Ladies, we’ve got a wee treat for you all too for putting up with her. Freda…’ he said, before plonking a huge vase of flowers on the lady in the next bed’s trolley table, ‘Here you go, and there’s some Ferrero Rocher for you too.’ He crossed the room. ‘Janet, there’s yours, and Vera, here’s your flowers and you get a fruit basket because last time you told me your diabetic chocolates were rancid.’ Apparently, someone called Emily had been in this bed before her, but she’d been discharged the morning after Odette had arrived down in A&E.
Vera hooted with laughter, and Odette shook her head. The spectacle of this man. She couldn’t love him more.
Finally, he got back to her, and he pulled a chair closer to her bed, next to Harry, who was already sitting there, reading his paper.
‘Just so you know, you cost me extra Botox this morning and I’m adding it to your bill. I was positively haggard. Anyway, how are you, my love?’
How was she? Alive. That was the biggest bonus. She’d woken up last Saturday morning and been terrified. She was in the hospital. She was confused. The right side of her body was stiff. She couldn’t make her mouth work properly and her words wouldn’t come.
Two nurses called Keli and Yvie had been the first faces that she’d seen, and they’d told her that she was in a private room on their floor of the hospital and then explained everything that had happened. She’d had a stroke, but she’d got to the hospital quickly and they’d managed to give her an injection that would hopefully minimise the effects of it. They were right. After twenty-four hours, she was feeling so much stronger. After forty-eight hours, her speech was better and the stiffness was less too.
But that didn’t help how she was feeling. Miserable. Worried. Sad. Once this documentary came out, everyone would hate her anyway. What was the point of still being here? Her future wasn’t going to be worth living.
Calvin had been up to see her at visiting hours, Tress too, and lovely Harry had come every single day, but the rest of the time she’d stared out of that window at a world she truly didn’t care about. One that didn’t care about her.
That’s when Keli had breezed back in and told her they were moving her to a ward. She knew what it would be like. Her worst nightmare. The lack of privacy. The judgement. Forced conversations with people she didn’t know. And it had been exactly that… for about half an hour. Then she’d got chatting to Freda, a lovely woman from up north, in the next bed, who’d introduced her to Vera and Janet across from them and she wasn’t sure they’d stopped talking since. What a laugh they’d had too. And a few heated discussions as well. The debate over whether the Beatles or the Rolling Stones were better had lasted for two days, and in the end, they’d agreed to disagree.
All the awful stuff would still be wating for her when she got out, but for once, she was living in the moment and just taking it day by day. For now, ‘alive’ was going to have to be good enough.
‘Feeling stronger every day,’ she told him. ‘Doctor McVitie said this morning that there’s no reason I won’t make a full recovery.’
He looked way too satisfied with himself. ‘Good, because I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but you’ve had an offer for panto at the King’s this Christmas.’
‘What? You’re kidding.’ The King’s Theatre was an iconic Glasgow venue and the Christmas shows there were attended by thousands.
‘I never joke about money, darling. I’ve given them a provisional “yes”, and we can get all the details ironed out when you’re feeling better.’
‘Calvin, I don’t want to do it. I can’t face what’s coming and it’ll be worse if I’m still in the spotlight.’
‘Yep, about that… Nothing is coming. The studio slapped a restraining order on Elliot and his team and if it any of it ever sees the light of day, they’ll be eating beans until the end of time. Much as the piranhas would take any publicity they could get, they didn’t want any negative stuff to take attention away from the new direction of the show and all the new talent they’re bringing in. Actually, “talent” is a stretch. That lot couldn’t act their way out of the backside of a panto donkey. They make Rex Marino look like Robert Downey Jr. Plus, they’re worried that they’ll get sued for failing to protect you that night. Duty of care and all that. I may have suggested legal action was pending, so they’d like you to know that they offer profuse apologies for Elliot’s actions. And if all that wasn’t enough, new information has come to light that calls the documentary findings into question.’
‘But they were true,’ Odette argued. ‘And I’m not going to call that woman a liar. I’ve done enough…’
She didn’t get to finish the point, because right then a face she hadn’t seen for forty years came through the door.
‘All right, Olive? It’s been a minute, pet. Yer looking well, considering you’ve been through the wars.’
Odette promptly burst into tears. ‘Nancy…’
‘I was just telling Odette about the new information,’ Calvin said, and Odette slid into a well of puzzlement.
Nancy pulled up a chair, on the opposite side of the bed from Calvin and Harry, opened the grapes she’d brought with her and popped one in her mouth. ‘Do you feel strong enough to talk about this, Olive?’
She nodded.
