Saved by an Angel

by Roberta Capizzi

  I leaned against the hard plastic seat and rested my head against the wall, closing my eyes.

  “Mag, calm down. I can explain,” I cut in when she finally took a break to breathe.

  “You’d better have a good excuse for not taking our calls. Mum was seconds away from calling the police headquarters and checking if you’d been involved in some kind of accident. What the hell were you thinking?”

  Guilt squeezed my stomach, even though it hadn’t been my fault that I’d been unable to contact them since I’d run out this morning. After what happened to Declan and Kathy, our mother had always been extremely apprehensive when it came to us being out. Maggie and I had mutually agreed to always text or call if we were running late, so that our mother would know we were safe. To Michelle it had always sounded as if my mother treated us like little kids, but obviously she couldn’t know what we’d gone through when Declan died. I didn’t mind taking a couple of seconds from whatever I was doing to send my mother a text, if that would put her mind at ease.

  With all that had happened today, though, sending a text to my mother had been the last thing on my mind. I opened my eyes, and as I checked the clock on the wall at the nurses’ desk, I noticed it was way past three p.m. I’d ran out of our house five hours ago without letting anyone know where I was going or when I’d be back, especially since I rarely missed our big Sunday lunch. No wonder they’d all been worried. I would’ve gone crazy if we hadn’t been able to reach Maggie and didn’t know where she was.

  “I’m sorry, Mag. I’ve been . . . well, unable to get on the phone.”

  “Are you with a girl?”

  The tone of disdain in her voice was loud and clear. She thought I’d been fooling around with a new girl and had forgotten to text to say I wouldn’t be home for lunch. Although I didn’t want to scare her or our mother, I needed to tell her the truth.

  “Not exactly. Is Mum listening?”

  She let out a huff. “I’m in my room. What’s going on, David?”

  I took in a steadying breath and let it out, closing my eyes again. “I’m at the hospital.”

  “WHAAAT?”

  I had to move the phone from my ear before Maggie’s shrill voice turned me deaf. Okay, maybe I should’ve phrased that a little better.

  “I’m okay, I only have a broken wrist. Calm down. I don’t want Mum to worry.”

  “What the hell happened? How did you break your wrist? Did you have a car accident? Or did you fight with some big guy, like you did a few months ago? God, David, Mum was going mental. She said you rushed out and didn’t stop to say where you were going, and when you didn’t come back for lunch—”

  “Maggie, please, just let me speak, okay? I’m not exactly in the right mood to listen to your rants about what a shitty son I am.” She let out a snort and I took it as a sign to go ahead with my explanation. “Do you remember Claire, the girl who lives with Ciara Fahey? She was there the night I broke up with Michelle and you came to pick me up?”

  “What’s this got to do with her? Are you two dating now?”

  Yeah, I wish. We’d actually be on our first date if it hadn’t been for the accident. But I wasn’t going to tell that to my sister, not yet anyway.

  “She nearly got run over by a car this morning. I managed to push her away before the car hit her, but now she’s unconscious and I’ve got a broken wrist. She’s got no family left, and I don’t have Ciara’s number. I can’t leave her until I’m sure she’s okay.”

  Maggie remained unusually silent. I could almost see the frown on her face, the one she always got when she was in a pensive mood. I wasn’t sure whether this was a good or a bad sign, so I decided to wait for her reaction.

  “Did you call Kathy? Maybe she has Ciara’s number.”

  “Actually, you may be right. I hadn’t thought about that. Thanks, Mag. I’ll call her now.” I didn’t tell Maggie that even if Ciara were here now, I wouldn’t leave Claire’s side until she woke up. “Tell Mum I’ll be home as soon as I can. I’ll text you later.”

  “Do you need me to pick you up?” The tone of her voice was much softer now, and I felt awful and selfish for not thinking of my family and how worried they’d be.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll call a taxi and pick up my car in Salthill. But thanks, Mag.” I cleared my throat and took a steadying breath. “And I’m sorry for having you all so worried.”

  When she hung up, I immediately called Kathy but avoided telling her about the accident or the real reason why I needed Ciara’s number. She sounded wary, and I was sure she’d question me about it once we met, but hearing the urgency in my tone, she’d probably thought it best to let it go for the moment.

  I dialed Ciara’s number and told her the whole situation, trying to choose the best words in order not to scare the life out of her. She said she’d be here in ten minutes tops, and after I hung up, I walked to the nurse’s desk and put on my best puppy eyes, hoping I could charm at least one of them into taking me to Claire’s room. The nurse who’d told me about Claire’s situation chuckled, and shook her head.

  “I have three sons, love; there’s no way you could charm me with that pretty face of yours. But it was a good try, I’ll give you that.” She stepped around the white desk, and patted my back once. “Follow me. I’ll take you to her room.”

  I walked into the sterile room after the nurse moved aside, and an iron fist squeezed my stomach when I saw Claire lying on a bed, tubes and wires connected to her body. A screen with numbers and colored lines was beside her and the steady beep was the only reassuring signal that her heart was still beating. The nurse pushed an uncomfortable-looking white plastic chair close to the bed and motioned for me to sit.

  She checked the monitor and then the IV before turning toward me. “You can stay as long as you like, dear. I’m leaving in a bit, but I’ll let the nurse taking over know that you’re allowed to stay as long as you want.”

  I looked at her and my vision blurred again. Damn. After today I could hand in my man card and let all my friends know I was a sissy. I couldn’t help it, though. I hadn’t gotten over losing Declan yet—I wouldn’t be able to survive losing Claire, too.

  “Thank you.” My voice cracked, and the nurse reached for a box of tissues on the metal table next to Claire’s bed and handed it to me with a soft smile. I took it and waited until she’d walked out of the room and pulled the door nearly closed but for a tiny crack before I let the first tears fall freely.

  I took Claire’s hand in mine. It was cold, but just as soft as it had been last night. I closed my eyes, remembering how close I’d been to kissing her, and now I didn’t know if I’d ever have the chance to.

  “Please, stay with me, Claire. Give me a chance to prove how right we are for each other.”

  I brought her hand to my lips and placed a soft kiss on her velvety skin. The nurse was right: I could only wait and pray now. Keeping Claire’s hand safely sandwiched between mine, I closed my eyes and started a one-way conversation with my brother, hoping he would heal Claire just like he’d healed our sister.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Claire

  I was in a dark place. I couldn’t remember how I’d gotten there and I had no idea where I was. I squinted, hoping my eyes would adjust to the never-ending black, but I still couldn’t make out my surroundings. My body felt lighter than it ever had and even though I didn’t know where I was, I wasn’t scared. I was peaceful and carefree, two feelings I hadn’t experienced in a very long time.

  Suddenly, a tiny dot of light appeared on the horizon and I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. As I got closer and the dot of light became bigger, I saw two silhouettes. I squinted against the bright light, trying to understand who these people were, and when I saw them I let out a gasp.

  “Mum?”

  My eyes filled with tears seeing my mother perfectly healthy, with her brown hair grazing her shoulders and no sign of the illness that had slowly eaten away at her life, causing the pain and t
he stress that went with it to mark her face with deep lines and black rings under her eyes in the last few months before she died.

  She smiled and reached out for me with open arms. I stepped into her warm hug, as sobs bubbled up my throat. If I was here with her, it could only mean I was dead too—or that she’d finally found a way to contact me, just like David’s brother had contacted him and Kathy. Either way, I was happy to see my mother again, without that handkerchief on her head and all those tubes connected to her fragile body. My mother released her hug and as I turned, I saw a young girl next to me. She was just as beautiful as I remembered her, with her golden locks and blue eyes. The white light that surrounded her made her look like the perfect angel from the movies.

  “Aoife.”

  She giggled and reached out for me, holding me in her arms. She’d died when she was only eight so she should be a child, but in this weird place we were she was just as big as me, even though her face hadn’t changed a bit.

  “Am I dead, too?” I asked my twin sister, and she shook her head, making the golden curls bounce. “Is it a dream, then?” Again, she shook her head. My mother placed a hand on my forearm and my whole body filled with warmth and peace. The warm hug Kathy had written about—I was experiencing it now with my two angels.

  “You’re just unconscious. David saved you from what could’ve turned into a tragedy. Do you remember him pushing you away from that car?”

  Flashes of confused images appeared in front of my eyes, and the sound of wheels screeching resounded loud in my head, just before I’d fallen to the floor. In those few seconds before everything had gone black, I’d thought I’d been hit by the car—I hadn’t realized it had been David who’d pushed me away. But how had he known I was there? How could he have had such perfect timing? I would be dead if it hadn’t been for him.

  “I might have had something to do with that.”

  A male voice coming from behind me made me spin around. Engulfed in the same bright light as my mother and sister was a tall, very handsome guy, with brown hair and strikingly blue eyes, accentuated by the white attire he was wearing. His soft facial features reminded me of someone, and when he smiled, the way his lips curved hit me like a déjà vu. I was sure we’d never met, but he looked weirdly familiar.

  “Even though my brother always insisted I was more handsome than him, people used to say we could never lie about being related. In spite of the different hair color, of course.” I frowned at his words and he gave me another sweet, rather dazzling smile. “I’m Declan. David’s brother.”

  Of course he was! That smile was exactly like David’s—except when he put on the cheeky grin I adored so much.

  “I told David where he could find you so he could get there just in time. You’re not ready to join your family yet, and David needs you in his life—just like you need him.”

  “Everything happens for a reason,” I whispered, quoting Kathy’s words in the book. The angel had said exactly those words to the protagonist.

  Declan nodded. “You two were meant to be together. You only needed a little help to find each other.”

  “I won’t die?”

  “No. You’ll be going back soon. They’re reducing the drugs as we speak. We won’t be able to keep you here much longer.”

  I turned toward my mother and sister, who were both smiling at me. All the guilt and sadness I’d stowed inside my body came crashing back, and the peace I’d felt only a minute ago was immediately replaced by a heavy weight on my chest. Before I could tell Aoife how sorry I was for not stopping her from climbing the tree, or my mum for not being there when she’d discovered the illness, they reached out their hands and touched my arms.

  “Stop blaming yourself for what happened to me, Claire. I was a wild monkey; you know that. You couldn’t have stopped me even if you’d pulled me by the hair.”

  I chuckled, remembering just what a crazy girl she’d always been.

  Aoife gave me a one-shoulder shrug and a cheeky grin, just like she used to do whenever I told her she shouldn’t have done whatever naughty thing she’d come up with. “It was just an accident, and you were only a child yourself. You couldn’t have done anything to prevent what happened.”

  “You shouldn’t feel responsible for our family’s break-up.” I turned my head to look at my mother, and the softness in her gaze made my eyes veil with tears. “Your father only wanted an excuse to leave. We’d been having problems for a few months. Losing Aoife was just as good a reason as any to go his own way. He’d always wanted to get out of the country and move somewhere warm and exotic.”

  Tears now streamed down my cheeks. I’d always thought it had all been my fault: Aoife’s accident, our father leaving, even my mother getting sick for working too hard to support me. Peace filled my body as both my mother and sister squeezed my shoulders, injecting hope and calm as if through an IV. It flowed through my veins and warmed me deep down to my soul.

  “Get over the pain now, Claire. It’s time to work on your happily-ever-after with that gorgeous guy who’s been sitting by your bed for over twelve hours.” My sister’s cheeky tone made me giggle like a little girl. I wondered what it would’ve been like if she’d grown to be a young woman and had still been around. We’d probably be sharing an apartment, and I would’ve confided my feelings for David to her, and all the kinds of secrets sisters share about boys they like.

  “You have Ciara for that. She’s a good friend and she’ll always be there for you.”

  I looked at my sister and nodded. It was weird that they could all hear my thoughts but I couldn’t hear theirs. They all chuckled at yet another of my thoughts they’d heard.

  “Mummy and I will always look after you, Claire. One day, a long, long time from now, we’ll be together again. In the meantime, live life to the fullest—for both of us.” Aoife hugged me and I held on to her. I was so blessed to have been able to talk to her again.

  My mother wrapped me in a hug as soon as Aoife released me, and reminded me how much she loved me and how proud she was of the woman I’d become.

  “It’s time to go back, Claire.” Declan stood by my side, tall and beautiful in his bright aura.

  I nodded. “Thank you for saving my life. Well, for telling David how to save my life.”

  He smiled. “Tell Dave I’m sorry about the nightmares. I didn’t mean to play with his mind, but it was the only way he’d understand whom he should hand his heart to.”

  I turned around, and just before I left the light to fall back into the darkness, I heard him say right behind me, “And tell him I’ve forgiven him for all his stupid pranks.”

  I opened my eyes slowly and I saw a vision next to me. A beautiful set of silver-blue eyes, red-rimmed and bloodshot, locked with mine, and the rest of the world disappeared. David was holding my hand, squeezing it firmly but gently at the same time. He pressed a button next to my bed and an alarm sounded in the distance outside the room.

  “Thank you for coming back to me, beautiful girl.” He kissed my knuckles and my heart fluttered in my chest, its rate picking up a notch. I blushed. He’d just called me beautiful. Again.

  “David, you . . .” I cleared my throat, locking eyes with him. “You saved me. You could’ve died,” I croaked, oblivious of the plastic tube in my nose and the needle in my arm. Nothing else mattered but the fact that he was here with me, that he’d saved me and had risked his own life for mine. If I’d had any doubt before—not that I had, anyway—I was sure that I loved him now.

  Tears filled my eyes at the thought of what could’ve happened. He brushed a lock of my hair away from my face and wiped a stray tear with his thumb. I shivered at the touch and closed my eyes.

  “I couldn’t lose you, Claire. I couldn’t bear to live without you.” I opened my eyes. His baby blues veiled with tears. “I’m just sorry I didn’t do enough, and you still got hurt.”

  “But I’m alive, and only thanks to you.”

  A nurse came through the door and let
out a pleased “hello, there” when she saw I was awake. She came close to my bed, checked the monitor and pushed a few buttons before turning her gaze back to my face. She asked me a few questions, then asked David to leave the room for a few minutes and to tell the other nurses to call Doctor Feehily. David nodded and gave me a loving stare before walking out the door.

  “He’s been sitting by your bed since my colleague allowed him into the room at three in the afternoon,” the nurse said, as she lifted the head of my bed with a remote. “It’s almost four a.m. and if your friend hadn’t brought him food sometime before she left, he’d be lying in another bed with an IV attached to his arm.”

  “Ciara was here? God, she must’ve been so worried.”

  The nurse nodded and removed the small tube from my nose. I took a deep breath, happy that the annoying thing was gone.

  “We’ve been making a huge exception letting him stay. He insisted he’s your only next of kin and you have no family left.” She stared at me with a raised eyebrow, waiting for me to confirm this was true. When I nodded, her frown eased. “Well, we couldn’t have two people staying, so your friend left around ten. Not without a fight, though.”

  The nurse chuckled. I could very well imagine Ciara’s drama queen act. She’d probably stomped her feet and threatened to kick someone’s butt if they didn’t let her stay. I couldn’t help wondering what David had done to win the fight.

  A minute later, the doctor walked through the door, followed by David. The nurse went to the door and asked David to wait outside. He frowned and the nurse reassured him she’d let him in as soon as the doctor was done checking me.