“They said that he’s had a concussion,” Kate Foster Brennan observed.
“I don’t like how he hasn’t regained consciousness. Suppose he never wakes up.’
“Don’t say that,” Kate gasped as she glanced quickly at her sister.
“Oh, Aunt Kendra, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.” Prudence rushed back to her seat and put an arm around her aunt’s shoulders.
Kendra nodded and looked down at the floor. “I know.”
“I called Barbara about ten minutes ago.”
“Barbara?” Kendra’s head lifted.
“Barbara Dickson. She’s on her way here.”
“That was fast.”
“She was actually already in London when I called. She’d just left Gatwick. I didn’t think to ask her what she was doing in London. But anyway it certainly worked out.”
At that moment the Indian doctor who had been attending to William appeared in the doorway. They all stood.
“Lady Lamport?” she asked as she came towards them. She looked from Kendra to Kate, seemingly unsure which of the identical sisters matched the moniker.
“Yes,” Kendra responded.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to you. We ran some tests and I wanted to have the results before I came.” She took a deep breath. “The good news is that William doesn’t seem to have sustained any major injuries. There’s only been a little bruising.”
“And the bad news?” Kendra asked, sounding braver than she felt.
“The bad news is that he’s still unconscious. The vast majority of concussions do not involve loss of consciousness and even brief LOC does not usually reflect significant issues. Prolonged LOC, however, could suggests preliminary evidence for caution.”
“What are you saying?” Prudence asked impatiently.
“It may suggest intracranial injury.”
“What is that?!” Prudence exclaimed.
“Brain damage.”
“Dear Lord.” Kendra’s knees threatened to give way and she sank back into her seat. Kate sat beside her and held her hand.
The doctor quickly stated, “I don’t want to alarm you. We can’t determine the reason for his state without doing the appropriate test. I’ve ordered a CT scan to get an image of his brain. I’m keeping visitors to a minimum at this point but I’ll allow you to see him for ten minutes.
~*~*~*~
Kendra entered the room and her heart clenched. William looked so vulnerable and tired and ragged. The tubes hooked up to him didn’t help matters. She hadn’t seen him in about two weeks so his appearance had shocked her when she had initially seen him on arrival at the hospital. He had bags under his eyes and his stubble indicated that he had left off shaving for a few days. That was so unlike William. He was always so well groomed. She was sure that something had happened to have led to his disheveled appearance, and she suspected it had to do with Barbara. She smoothed back his hair from his forehead and lay a gentle kiss there.
“Oh God,” she prayed. “Please take care of him. Please heal him, Lord. Please help him to wake up.”
She took a seat next to the bed and took his limp hand in her own. She closed her eyes and began to recite Psalm 91 out loud. “Whoever rests in the secret place of the Most High shall rest in the shadow of the Almighty, I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He shall cover you with his feathers and under his wings you shall find refuge...”
As she reached the end, she felt William squeeze her hand. Her eyes flew open. William’s eye lids lifted slowly and then fluttered shut. A minute later they opened again.
“I’m thirsty,” he said.
~*~*~*~
William Lamport sat on a hospital bed with several women fussing over him. There was his mother, his aunt, Kate, Prudence, a nurse, and a doctor and while the bandage on his head spoke to physical trauma, as far as he was concerned the only real injury he had was to his pride. How embarrassing, falling off his own horse like an amateur.
He brushed his mother’s hand from his face. “Mum, for the umpteenth time, I’m fine. Now, will you stop fussing over me?”
After a loving, indulgent look at her son, Kendra Lamport turned to the pretty doctor. “Dr. Ramasingh, are you sure you don’t want to sedate him. He’s awfully grumpy.”
“You try getting kicked in your head by a horse you’d be more than grumpy mother,” William muttered.
Dr. Ramasingh hid her smile of amusement. “Lady Lamport, your son has refused any pain medication. As far as sedatives go, even though I do want him to rest, I prefer his sleep to be natural. All I can say is that he’s very lucky that he walked away from such a blow with only a seemingly mild concussion. Plus, he fell from his horse and has no broken bones. The only evidence of injury is that bruise on his head and the two on his arm and his leg. Somebody up there must like you Lord Lamport.”
Despite the pain in his head one corner of William’s mouth lifted. “Yes, I am indeed very grateful for God’s tender mercies. When can I go home?” He hated hospitals and right now all he wanted was the comfort of his own bed.
Dr. Ramasingh checked the clipboard chart in her hand and pursed her lips. “Despite the fact that you’re doing remarkably well, you did lose consciousness for a few hours after the impact so we’d like to observe you until at least tomorrow afternoon.”
William groaned, then flashed his most charming smile. “Dr. Ramasingh, come on. I’m fine. I’m sturdy. What’s the worst that could happen to me at this point?”
“We’d still like to monitor you for worsening symptoms and/or focal neurological deficits.”
“English please, doctor,” Prudence interjected.
“Essentially we just want to be sure that there are no symptoms to suggest that the condition is more severe than we’ve concluded. In essence, that there’s no brain damage. That seems unlikely to be the case, however. You’re very alert and intelligible. We’ve been checking you every 15 minutes since you awoke and there’s been no indication of sensory change so we’re pretty sure that there’s been no intracranial hemorrhage.”
Following another look from Prudence she quickly clarified, “That happens when a blood vessel raptures between your skull and your brain. The collection of blood can crush your brain tissue.”
Kendra gasped. “What about the CT scan? Don’t you still need to do that?”
“At this point I’d say no. Like I said, Lord Lamport has not demonstrated any symptoms to suggest brain damage, but as a precaution we want him to remain,” replied Dr. Ramasingh.
“Remain it is then,” said Kendra. “We’re not taking any chances.”
“We can’t,” Kate agreed.
William’s head hurt terribly and he began to rethink the whole ‘no pain killers’ stance. “Hey, Dr. Ramasingh, I think I need that pain killer now.”
The doctor smiled. “That can be arranged, sir.”
She turned and spoke quietly to the nurse, who brought over two capsules and a glass of water.
William downed them in a hurry and then lay back on his pillow wearily. “I feel a little tired. I think I’m going to rest now.”
The doctor nodded. “Ladies, you’ll need to leave the room. My patient needs his rest.”
She told William, as the nurse dimmed the lights, “A nurse will come back and check on you in another 30 minutes. Try to get a nap until then.”
William nodded gingerly and for the first time since he had regained consciousness two hours before he drifted off to sleep.
~*~*~*~
There was a sound at the door which woke William. He felt drowsy but at least the terrible headache had subsided. He figured that it was the nurse come back to check on him so he didn’t open his eyes. He just turned his head over to the other side and moaned softly as he drifted back to sleep. He was having a lovely dream about Barbara, a very vivid dream in fact because he c
ould actually smell her perfume. He could even hear her voice. What a lovely dream.
“Wills,” she was saying softly.
He smiled dreamily. He didn’t ever want to wake up.
“Yes, sweetheart,” he muttered.
Then she touched him, caressed his cheek. He smiled contentedly. The caress continued, moved along his chin then over his lips. His eyes fluttered open halfway. He felt the soft hand on his face and then his eyes opened all the way in shock as he saw the vision in front of him.
He hadn’t been dreaming. Barbara was standing by his bedside, watching him with concern all over her beautiful face. His first instinct was to reach for her and then he remembered how they had parted; remembered what he had said. No, he didn’t want her there.
He shook his head to remove her hand from his face and said gruffly, “What are you doing here?”
Her head jerked back in surprise and she caught her breath. She snatched back her hand and blinked a few times. Then she closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them they looked suspiciously moist. “I was so scared when I heard, so very scared.” She hesitated then reached out to gently trace her hand over the bandage on his head. “Oh, honey, I was so worried about you.”
What did she just say? Did she call him honey? William’s heart began to race. Then he thought back to all the months Barbara had kept him at bay. No, he refused to read anything into her actions. She was probably only there because Prudence had asked her to come. “Sorry to have worried you but as you can see I am perfectly fine, no bones broken, all in one piece,” he said coldly. He shifted his body to lie on his back and turned his head so that he wouldn’t have to look at her.
There was silence for a short while. “Praise God. I was praying for your recovery ever since I heard that they couldn’t wake you. God is so merciful,” she finally said softly.
“Yes he is,” he muttered. He turned his head slightly and snuck a peak at her. She looked so good. Why had she come there to torment him? She was causing him more pain than the head injury because it was tearing him apart to be so close to her and not be able to hold her.
“Why are you here, Barbara? I appreciate your concern but I thought I’d made it clear that we shouldn’t see each other anymore.”
He saw something flash in her eyes. It looked like hurt although he couldn’t fathom why. She’d made her choice, hadn’t she?
Barbara was silent for a minute. She took off her coat and placed it in a nearby chair along with her handbag and then took a seat beside his bed.
He sat up so that he wouldn’t feel so vulnerable in her presence. He had to be tough. No way was he succumbing to any wish of hers for them to continue as ‘just friends’.
“William, I was already in London and on my way to see you when Prudence called and told me you’d been injured in a polo game.”
He couldn’t contain his astonishment. “Oh? Why?”
To his amazement, her beautiful brown eyes filled with tears. “Because I wanted to ask you to forgive me for being such an awful, stupid woman.”
“What?”
She gave a short nervous laugh. “What I’m trying to say is that I came here to beg you to give me another chance. Give us another chance.”
William’s heartbeat went into overdrive. He was about to reach for Barbara but something stopped him, stilled his hand. It all seemed too good to be true. Barbara had rebuffed him for so long it didn’t seem possible that she could have changed her mind so drastically in just a week.
His voice was laced with skepticism as he said, “What has changed? Not a week ago you were telling me you were afraid to commit to me. Why the change of heart?”
Barbara bit her lip and looked down at her hands. “Remember after the ultimatum, when you suggested that I pray about our relationship and whether we should be more than just friends?”
William gave a short nod.
“Well, I did pray. I prayed to God that he should give me a clear sign about what to do either way. I didn’t get a flashing neon sign but I knew in my heart that I wanted to be with you. I missed you so much when I was in Morocco. And then during that six weeks when I couldn’t communicate with you I felt such a hollowness in my chest every day.”
She paused here and took a deep, shaky breath. “But when I saw you and that woman dancing on the night of the gala I was instantly transported to that day at Rother Hill Manor when you told me it was over. I felt like someone had slam dunked me. The pain was so real. I took that as the sign from God that if I married you I was in for pain like that again.”
“And yet you’re here.”
“Yes. When you left, I managed to convince myself that it was for the best, but my heart was breaking. Each day apart from you it broke a little more until finally it broke altogether. That was when I finally sought help. The help that I had never sought all these years. I prayed a lot. Took all the pain in my heart to the cross and finally listened to God as he whispered to me. Rev. Fulbright helped me to see that I didn’t trust God with this area of my life. I finally asked God to forgive me for not trusting Him and to help me to trust him with my future. That was so freeing.”
“So, does that mean that your future includes being with me for the rest of our lives?” he asked tentatively, finally allowing his heart to hope.
“Yes, it does. In fact…” She got up and rummaged through her handbag. When she returned to his bedside she was holding a small gift wrapped box. She resumed her seat and handed it to him. “This is your Christmas present. I was going to present it to you on Christmas Day but after almost losing you today I don’t want to wait that long.”
William took the gift with a puzzled look and unwrapped the intricate wrapping. He cracked open the box before him and beheld, with astonishment, a perfect platinum band with round cut diamonds in rows of three.
“William, I know it was you who first broached the question, but I didn’t give you the right response. I love you with all my heart, and I want to be with you forever. So now I’m asking, will you marry me?”
There were no words to describe how William felt. The only thing that stopped him from jumping out of the bed and swinging Barbara around the room was the fact that the medication had him feeling slightly woozy and he didn’t want to stumble and cause her to fall. Instead, he did what he could. He placed the box and wrapping on the bedside table, reached for her hand and tugged her out of the chair.
“Come here,” he said roughly, his voice thick with emotion. “Kiss me.”
Barbara eagerly leaned forward and met his lips with hers. William wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, not wanting to let her go, afraid that if he did he’d wake to find that it had all been a dream.
“Sweetheart, you are the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met, do you know that?” he said against her lips, when they finally came up for air. “Does all this mean that you finally forgive me for choosing Victoria the first time?”
Barbara drew back from him slightly, placing her hand on his chest and staring into his blue eyes. “There’s nothing to forgive. You did the right thing. I’m the one who needs your forgiveness. I’d unfairly held that against you for years and then even after I understood why you’d made that decision I was afraid to trust you again. I felt that if I gave into my feelings for you I would be giving you the power to hurt me.”
“And now. What do you think?”
“I know without a shadow of a doubt that being apart from you now is far worse than the pain I felt when you ended things with me nine years ago. My love for you has intensified over these last several months as I’ve gotten to know you better. I never want to be apart from you again if I can help it. Besides, I think that love is worth the risk of pain. Was it Shakespeare who said ‘tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all’?”
“No, actually it was Alfred Lord Tennyson.”
Barbara laughed and touched William’s cheek lovingly. “Have I ever told you that one of the things I love about
you is how brainy you are?”
He smiled, but then he sobered as the enormity of his feelings for this beautiful woman hit him with the force of a sledgehammer. He pulled her tight against him, turned his nose into her hair and took a deep breath.
“Oh, Barbara, my precious Barbara, by God’s grace we will have the rest of our lives to share all the things we love about each other.”
“Does that mean you’ll marry me?”
William loosened his hold so that he could look at her. He took her face in his hands. “About that. I want you to always remember this, and to ensure that when you tell it and retell it you do so correctly. I proposed to you, Miss Dickson, you did not propose to me. In fact, remember that I proposed to you not once, not twice, but three times.”
Barbara wrinkled her brow in confusion. “Three times?”
William grinned boyishly. “I’m going to propose to you one more time, properly. I’ve never proposed to you in the way I really wanted and I’m going to do that as soon as they release me from this prison. So we’re making no announcements until I’ve done that, understood.” He drew her back into the embrace and covered her mouth with his before she could respond. When they finally drew apart he said, “Good, I’ll take your silence as assent.”
Barbara shook her head at him. Her eyes shone with tears again. “You are so lucky you’re already injured.”
“Since you’re forced to be gentle with me, I’ve got one more thing to say.” He tightened his grip around her waist and pulled her even closer to him. “I’ve waited for you long enough. No long engagement.”
Barbara smiled. “Believe me, I don’t want one either. I think a June wedding would be perfect don’t you?”
He groaned. “June? I was thinking New Year’s Day.”
“But New Year’s Day is just two weeks away.”
“Yes, that’s the point.”
Barbara smiled happily and shook her head. “Honey, marrying you will be one of the most important events of my life and I want my family to be there to celebrate with me.”
The Royal Couple: A Christian Romance (Royals Book 1) Page 36