Bridge Over the Atlantic (34 page)

Mallory let out a strange, convulsive grunt of relief as what Colin had said sunk in. She threw her arms around him. “Thank you, Colin, Thank you, let’s go. I want to see him.”

Ron and Colin helped Mallory to her feet and toward the door. Colin went ahead to bring the car over to the pub. The rain had slowed and the storm had calmed.

“I have your spare key. I’ll go over and check up on Ruby for you,” Ron reassured her.

“Oh no! Angus!” Mallory was terrified that he had gone out with Greg.

“Don’t worry, hen, he’s at Greg’s. Stella has a key and she’s going over there to bring him to the pub now that the weather is calmer.” Mallory breathed a sigh of relief and turned her concentration to thoughts of Greg as she mentally prepared herself for what she may see.

Colin pulled up in the car and Ron helped Mallory into the passenger seat. Her head was throbbing, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to get to the hospital. Eventually Colin parked the car and they made their way into the hospital to the reception desk. They were pointed to intensive care. Mallory almost ran to get there and Colin followed close behind.

They buzzed on the door and were let in by a nurse. They explained who they were and after initially being told it was family only, Colin had convinced the nurse that Mallory had been asked for by the patient. Reluctantly, and after protest, she let Mallory in alone. She was shown to a side room.

Mallory’s eyes were assaulted by a vision of a bruised and swollen man she hardly recognised. She let out a sob when she saw that he was laid out on the bed surrounded by machines; tubes going in and coming out of him; an oxygen mask over his battered face. It was a truly horrific sight.

She walked slowly over to his bedside. His eyes were barely visible under all the swelling, his head was bandaged and his ribs were strapped up. She sat on the chair at the side of the bed and held his hand.

A nurse walked in to check on the machines that bleeped and flashed myriad numbers and letters.

She smiled at Mallory kindly. “Are you Mallory?” She asked in a soft Scottish accent.

“Yes,” Mallory whispered.

The nurse smiled. “Good, he’s been asking for you repeatedly. He keeps drifting in and out of consciousness so you’ll have to bear with him. He is heavily sedated due to his injuries and the tests we’ve had to do, but talk to him. He can hear you. It’ll help him very much to know that you came.” She patted Mallory’s shoulder and left the room.

“Greg, it’s me, Mallory.” She let out another sob, “I want you to open your eyes for me and talk to me. I need to know you’re okay.” She stroked his hand. He didn’t respond.

“Greg, I want you to know that I’m sorry for how I reacted when you told me about Alice. You said you don’t love her and I should’ve accepted that. It doesn’t matter that you are still married if you don’t love her. It’s just a piece of paper that can be dealt with…You said you love me. I should have just been happy and now I’m scared I’m going to lose you, too. You need to get better, Greg. You need to come home.” Still nothing.

She stroked his hair where it poked out of the top of the bandaging. “It’s strange how it’s taken something like this to kick me up the arse and make me realise exactly how I feel. I was intent on talking things through with you tonight to see if we could get past what happened between us. But when I found out that you had gone missing I thought through everything we’ve been through. The arguments, the kisses, the laughs. And it dawned on me. Nothing else matters.

“The thing that matters most is that I love you, Greg.” Her face was wet with tears. “Greg, can you hear me?” She squeezed his hand. “Greg, I’m in love with you. Please don’t leave me. I’m stupid and I’m stubborn and self-righteous. I judged you and made assumptions about you and I was so, so wrong. You told me exactly how you felt and I threw it back in your face. And now I realise that I love you and don’t want to be without you. It doesn’t matter how soon this has happened. It’s no one’s fault. It doesn’t make it wrong. Please just wake up and tell me you still love me.” She sobbed. She sat just holding his hand for a while staring at his unresponsive face. Then she stared at the rain drizzling down the window mirroring her tears.

After what felt like hours she felt Greg squeeze her hand. She looked up at him. His eyes had opened a little and he squinted at her.

He lifted his free hand and removed the mask from his face. “Hey, Mally.” He smiled, his words slurring as he spoke. “You came.”

She squeezed his hand in return. “Of course I came, Greg.” She laughed through her tears.

“It’s good to see you…Oh, no, please don’t cry. I’m always making you cry,” he croaked.

She kissed his hand. “Oh Greg, no, I’m fine…It’s so good to see you.”

Greg’s eyes widened, filled with dread and fear. “The Carrick boys…Tom and James…are they okay?”

“They’re fine, please don’t worry. Just shocked and a little bruised, that’s all.”

“Oh thank God.” He closed his eyes and puffed out a long breath, relieved at the good news. After a pause in which confusion washed over his face he squeezed her hand. “I had a dream earlier.” He smiled as he watched her. “It was such a good dream…but…I think you woke me from it.” His brow furrowed again as he seemed to be trying to make sense of things.

“Oh, I’m so sorry Greg. I just wanted to hear your voice and see your eyes open again.”

“The dream was strange. You were in it, crying and stroking my hair…and you told me you were in love with me and it made me so happy.” A tear escaped and trailed down his cheek soaking into the bandages on his head as he closed his eyes. “But then I woke up.” His lip quivered and her heart felt like it would rupture. The hand that had pulled his mask off now covered his eyes as his raw emotions broke free. He shuddered and sobbed with a deep, deep sadness.

“Greg, look at me, open your eyes, please,” she begged him fighting back her own tears.

He lifted his hand to halt her. “I’m sorry, I know all that’s gone now, I ruined it after Alice and Kate…I’m so sorry. I blew it. I always mess everything up,” he struggled to form the words as he fought against his sedation.

“Greg, look at me please.” He opened his eyes again as best he could and looked at her. “Greg it wasn’t a dream. I said and did those things. I stroked your hair and squeezed your hand. And...and I told you I’m in love with you and that I never want to be without you again.” Her tears cascaded down her already damp face.

His brow furrowed and his eyes closed briefly. When he opened them again his gaze was intense. “You did? You love me?” His voice wavered as he searched her expression.

“I love you. Greg, I want to be with you, always.” She leaned down and kissed his cut lips gently. “Do you still…want me though Greg?”

His lips curled upward. “Do you really need to ask me that?”

She blew out a long relieved breath. “That’s so good to hear.” She stroked his hair. “Now please get well so we can get you out of here and decide where the heck I’m going to live…seeing as I think I may have sold my house.” She kissed him again.

His hand came up to touch her hair. “Mallory?”

“Yes Greg?”

“I love you. More than anything in this world.”

Somehow, Mallory had managed to convince the nurses to ‘forget’ she was there, she had told Colin to go home. She slept in Greg’s room in a rather hard and unforgiving chair with a single blanket for warmth. She was as uncomfortable as hell, but she didn’t care. In the night she was woken by Greg shouting out
.

“NO! No, please! No! Mallory?” Mallory stood and went to his side immediately.

She took his hand, “Shhhh, Greg, shhhhh, it’s okay, I’m here.”

His eyes snapped open. His breathing was shallow and ragged. “Mallory? You’d gone. You left me. Was it all a dream that you loved me?” He grabbed onto her hand as tightly as he could.

She kissed his furrowed brow. “No, Greg, I’m not going anywhere, I’m here to stay.” He calmed and drifted back off to sleep. He kept his grip on her hand and she had to drag the chair over to his bedside and rest her head on the bed near his hip.

When she awoke it was daylight. Greg was already awake and stroking her hair. When she lifted her head to look at him, the oxygen mask had been removed from his face and he looked a lot brighter. He was still attached to the machines but his whole demeanour was much more alert.

“Hey. How are you feeling?” She asked him softly.

“Much better for seeing you beside me,” he croaked. “I’m still terrified you’ll tell me it was the drugs or that I was dreaming.” He looked at her with pleading eyes.

She reached up and stroked his face. “Well, that’s not going to happen. I’m not going anywhere this time.”

“Do you promise? Because I’m in this for the long-haul, Mallory.”

“I promise. After what we’ve been through since we met I think we can deal with whatever gets thrown at us, don’t you?”

“I hope so…but I’m scared.” Greg squeezed her hand.

“You have nothing to be scared of Greg. When I thought I’d lost you last night I realised that some things are totally insignificant. You and I can work things through together. No more secrets, eh?”

“Well…there’s one more I need to tell you…”

Mallory’s heart sank and she braced herself for what was to come. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. His grave expression was not instilling her with confidence for what he was about to impart.

She opened her eyes and looked directly into his. “I…I…quite like the Bee Gees…” He smiled and Mallory burst out laughing.

She kissed her funny, bruised and sore man gently on his poor swollen lips.

~~~~~

Mallory went home to freshen up and pick up some things for Greg. She bought him a couple of music mags and picked up his MP3 player from his house. Sure enough as she flicked through the discs on his old Jukebox there it was, plain for all to see,
The Bee Gees Greatest Hits
. She chuckled, it was a far cry from heavy metal but very sweet. She carried on collecting a few more things.

She noticed a pile of official looking documents on the coffee table. She knew they were private, but couldn’t help herself.
Curiosity killed the bloody cat!
But she ignored the voice in her head and picked them up to quickly examine them.
Divorce papers.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she realised that both Alice and Greg had put their signatures to the documents. She placed them back on the table as they were and left the house.

Stella was out and about as she drove back from Greg’s. She was walking Angus…well, if the truth be told Angus was actually walking Stella. Mallory was laughing as she pulled to a stop beside them.

“Hi, Mallory. How are you doing, hen? And how’s Greg?”

“He’s doing much better now thank you and I’m just relieved that he’s okay. They’re talking about letting him go home this weekend. He’s bruised and sore, but not in any danger now. Thanks for taking Angus. I’m sure he’s getting spoiled rotten just like Ruby is with Ron.” She giggled.

“Oh, it’s nay bother. He’s eating me out of house and home, mind. Look Mallory…I wanted to say that…I hope you and Greg work things out…you’d make such a lovely couple.” Stella waved and took off to finish her drag; as opposed to walk.

When Mallory arrived back at the hospital, armed with goodies for her new love, his bed was empty. She panicked. There was no one at the nurses’ station so she had to hang around tapping her foot and waiting. The thing she hated most in the world was waiting.

Eventually, a nurse came along and informed her that Greg had been moved onto a general ward. She breathed a huge sigh of relief and made her way to his new location.

He was sitting up when she got there. His chest still gloriously bare, apart from a few remaining disconnected electrode pads and bandages. The drips had been removed and the heart monitor had gone too. He looked a little like he’d had the proverbial altercation with Mike Tyson, but his eyes sparkled all the same.

She nearly ran to the bedside. “Oh, Greg, look at you. So much better.” She leaned in to kiss him gently, but his hand came up to the back of her head pulling her in for a deeper kiss. When she broke free she looked around to see if anyone had just witnessed the veraciously passionate exchange between them. Thankfully no one was taking the slightest bit of notice. She looked back to Greg who was smiling and shaking his head.

“If being out there in that icy water, fearing for my life, has taught me anything, it’s that from now on I’m not going to hide my emotions any more. I love you and I want you and I don’t care who sees or who knows it.” His low growl sent shivers down her spine. Her cheeks heated and she returned his gaze with just as much passion.

“Have they said when you can come out?” She asked, hopeful that it would be soon.

“Well, it turns out I have no internal bleeding, just bruised ribs and a bust up face so they are happy for me to go home at the end of the week. I’ve been so lucky, Mally.” He looked pensive.

“What happened to Little Blue?” She asked cautiously, knowing how much he loved his boat.

“Capsized. I got thrown overboard. There was quite a bit of damage, but they managed to tow her in. Hopefully I can repair her. But she’ll be out of action for a while. That’ll teach me for trying to be the hero, eh?” He looked puzzled for a while until he spoke. “Mally…did you tell me you’d sold your house? Or was I dreaming?” His brow was scrunched in confusion.

She bit her lip, feeling anxious at telling him now that he was fully conscious. “I had an offer on Monday from a young couple who came to look around twice.” She fiddled with the sheet on the bed, nervously. She knew what was coming.

“So you were serious? About leaving here?” He looked shocked.

“Yes, Greg, I
thought
I was serious. I still feel that maybe I should sell up. I just don’t feel that things have worked out since we…I moved in there.”

Greg took her hand and tilted her chin up. “That’s all about to change. Please don’t sell up. I think it would be a shame. It’s got your fantastic workshop. I saw some of your stuff in Colin’s shop and was so impressed. Don’t give that up.”