‘Thank you.’ He finally dug in his fork and twisted it, collecting up some steamy, fragrant pasta. They ate in comfortable silence. He devoured his dinner much faster than Lauren and then said, ‘Do you want to talk about what happened this afternoon? Despite what ensued, my intentions when coming around here were honourable. I wanted to check that you were okay. I know how close you are to Whitney and Rats.’
She dabbed her lips with her napkin and sighed. ‘To be honest, I’m a complete cocktail of emotions. I feel guilty that I put Rats out of my mind while we tore up the sheets but I don’t for a second regret that we did.’
‘Me neither. I was kind of surprised you were at home though. I thought you might have gone to Perth. I was worried about you driving all that distance when you were already tired and emotionally fraught.’
‘I thought about it,’ she admitted, ‘but you know what ICU is like. Flynn and Ellie went, and Rats’ family too. No one except close family will get to see him for a while anyway, and I’ve not been the best friend to Whitney lately.’
‘What do you mean?’
Lauren glanced down at her near-empty plate. ‘She’s pregnant.’
‘I know. She came in to get a referral to an obstetrician yesterday.’
‘She asked me to tell you on Boxing Day, but quite aside from the fact we weren’t exactly talking, I felt so bitter and twisted about it. I couldn’t even be happy for her.’
‘Why?’
He saw her swallow. ‘It just seemed like everyone around me had found the love of their life and gotten married lately. I wanted the chance to catch up before they started on the next stage of their lives. I’ve been a terrible friend.’
‘Do you want kids, Lauren?’ Although the conversation had started around Rats’ accident, he needed to know her answer.
She shrugged. ‘I guess. It was about a lot more than that though.’
But he couldn’t get the idea of a little Lauren out of his head. Or a boy. Someone he could eventually teach to surf. ‘I want to have children with you,’ he confessed, feeling a little whiplashed by how fast things were moving, but needing to get this out. Previously he’d been dead against the idea, not wanting to risk passing on the defective gene. But seeing Rats close to death and being with Lauren had made him reassess his whole outlook.
If his parents had known about the gene and prenatal testing had been available back then, maybe he wouldn’t be alive.
Lauren smiled, but she looked close to tears as she pressed her hand against her heart. ‘I do believe you’ve just made my day, but we should—’
He didn’t get the chance to hear what they should do because her phone started ringing from its spot on the kitchen bench. Her eyes widening, she leapt from her seat and went to it, staring down at it like it was some kind of bomb.
She looked back to him, terror scrawled across her face. ‘It’s Whitney.’
His insides clenched. ‘Answer it.’
As Lauren did so, Tom stood and came to stand behind her. He saw her hand shaking as she clutched the phone against her ear. Whatever the news, he would be there for her. He heard mumbling on the other end of the line but couldn’t make out any actual words. Until she shrieked and dropped the phone like it was on fire. He caught it and handed it back.
And then let out a breath of relief when he saw the smile that lit her face.
The rest of the conversation was quick and when Lauren disconnected, she yanked him into a hug. ‘It looks like he’s going to be okay.’ She sniffed, obviously struggling to hold back tears. ‘The CT scan revealed the injury wasn’t as bad as we suspected. They’re going to keep him in a couple of days for monitoring while the swelling goes down, but he’s just woken up and they think he’ll make a full recovery.’
Relief swept through Tom. He tightened his arms around her, grinning. ‘I guess it’s a good news day all round then.’
‘Yep.’ They stood there simply holding each other for a few moments, and then she pulled back. ‘I’m going to Perth first thing tomorrow morning. I want to see Whitney and offer any help I can. She doesn’t need any more stress this early in pregnancy.’
‘Good idea. How about I drive with you and then catch the first flight to Adelaide? You do what you need to do and I’ll do the same, and then we’ll come back here to work out what happens next. But whatever it is, we’ll do it together.’
She cocked her head to one side and scrutinised him. ‘You promise you’ll come back?
‘Lauren.’ He ran his hands down her arms and then clasped hers. ‘I wouldn’t be able to stay away. I told you, once we crossed the line, that was it. I’m yours, you’re mine, and nothing is going to keep us apart. When I drove into Hope Junction, I never dreamed that this place would come to mean so much more than just a name on a map. Little did I know that the highway into town was the road to you, the road to a future I hadn’t allowed myself to imagine.’
She grinned. ‘In that case, let’s go book you a flight.’
Chapter Twenty-nine
Lauren dropped Tom off at the domestic airport just after midday and had a smooth run to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. She stopped briefly on the way at the shops for a few comic books for Rats to read, and finally found a car park that felt about ten kilometres from the actual hospital. Not that she minded the walk—despite the cars and cyclists flying past her, she lost herself in reflection of the last twenty-four hours. The highs and lows would have given the world’s scariest rollercoaster a run for its money, but now that Rats looked to be over the worst, Lauren concentrated on the positives; the things Tom had said to her and how it had felt to finally be in his arms.
Her smile was stretched to capacity, but she didn’t care if people saw her ridiculous grin and thought her crazy. She felt like she was soaring high above the stratosphere, much further than cloud nine, like she’d died and gone to heaven—but was somehow still very much alive. Amidst these thoughts her phone beeped, signalling a message. She pulled it out of her bag and sighed as Tom’s name looked back at her from the tiny screen.
About to board flight. Say hi to Rats and Whitney for me. I’ll call you when I land. x
There was nothing mushy or romantic, but it would go down in her personal history as the best text message ever. She held the phone up to her chest and resisted the urge to dance a happy jig on the footpath. It felt amazing to know that whatever she was doing, Tom was out there, thinking about her as much as she thought about him, but at the same time she was glad to be making this visit on her own. Even before Tom had made her world complete, she’d known she needed to make things right with Whitney. Until she did, she wouldn’t be able to embrace new Lauren one hundred percent. She tapped out a quick reply:
Will do. Have a safe flight. xo
Striding towards the hospital entrance, she silently prayed that Tom’s family reunion would be successful. She knew how big this was for him—they’d talked about little else during their drive to Perth. It had been hard for him to admit his fear, but he’d tried his best to explain why he’d put a chasm between him and his dad and she thought she understood. He couldn’t change his dad’s illness, or the possibility that he might develop the same disease, and no man liked not being in control. But Tom, as a competent doctor who found solutions and fixed people for a living, had felt unbearable helplessness.
She wasn’t foolish enough to believe that him accepting her love and beginning a relationship together meant that all his other issues had been resolved, but he’d taken the first step to putting things right and she’d be there to help him through whatever else life threw at them.
Arriving at the entrance to Charlie’s, she smiled her thanks at a guy who held the door open for her and then headed over to reception to find out where they were holding Rats. No doubt he’d be as happy about being imprisoned in hospital as Ned was about being stuck in residential care. The woman behind the desk informed her that Rats had been moved out of ICU that morning, and then rattled off a ward and room number.
> ‘Thank you.’ Lauren scribbled it down on the back of her hand because in her current frame of mind she was liable to forget.
About five minutes later, after navigating a maze of lifts and corridors, she arrived at her destination. The door was ajar but she knocked as she peered around. ‘Can I come in?’
‘Lauren!’ Whitney jumped up from where she’d been sitting in a plastic chair beside Rats’ bed and ran over to throw her arms around her.
‘Only if you don’t have a camera,’ Rats muttered from the bed. ‘I don’t want any memories of this hellhole.’
Lauren smiled as Whitney let go of her so she could properly come inside. She walked over to Rats, who had a bandage wrapped around his head and a large bruise across his left cheek. ‘Glad to see the horse didn’t knock the sense of humour out of you.’
He snorted. ‘I wasn’t being funny. This is a hellhole.’
She hit him with her best reprimanding glare. ‘Now listen to me, Jordan Kage O’Donnell. You be nice to the nurses and doctors and do as you’re told, understand?’
‘Whatever.’ He rolled his eyes but his lips twitched up at the edges. ‘What have you got in that bag? Anything for me?’
Lauren looked to Whitney. ‘He’s just like a child.’
Whitney laughed and shrugged apologetically.
‘Anyway—’ Lauren put the bag down on the end of the bed and pulled out the latest issues of The Phantom and a couple of Commandos ‘—as it happens, I did bring you a little light reading.’ She passed them over to him.
He grinned. ‘Thanks, Loz. And by the way, Whitney told me you were working yesterday when I got brought in. Thanks for everything you did.’ He paused a moment and for the first time in her life, Lauren thought she noted moisture in his eyes. ‘I hate to think about what could have happened.’ He looked to Whitney and she knew he was thinking about how close his wife had come to losing him and being a single mum.
This was about as emotional as Rats ever got, so Lauren patted his hand. ‘One thing I’ve learnt in the last few days is we have to be grateful for each day we get. We can’t lament what might have happened or what may happen in the future.’
‘Right.’ Rats looked a little uncomfortable at her heartfelt philosophy. ‘You girls wanna go get coffees or something so I can read these comics before Mum arrives and starts fussing again?’
‘Are you sure you’ll be okay?’ Whitney asked, her tone anxious.
‘I’ll be fine,’ he urged.
‘In that case…what do you say, Lauren?’
‘Excellent idea. I’m in dire need of caffeine and some cake wouldn’t go astray.’ She didn’t add that she wanted to talk to Whitney alone, that she had some things she needed to get off her chest.
Despite Rats’ assurance that he’d be okay, Lauren still had to drag Whitney out the room. They met his parents coming out the lift and this helped her relax, although Lauren guessed Rats wouldn’t be so pleased. Goodbye his only chance of solitude.
Finally, they arrived at the lower level café. As they stood in the queue, Whitney babbled on about how pleased she was that Lauren had made the trip.
‘Yesterday was the most terrifying day of my life. I’ll never be able to forget seeing him lying flat and lifeless on the table with the drip in his arm, that neck thing and… He didn’t look like my man. I was so scared that he’d die and that’s how I’d remember him. We’ve barely been married six months, there’s so many things we want to do together. And this baby…’ Whitney placed a protective hand on her still perfectly flat stomach and sighed.
Lauren let her talk as they waited for their coffees (decaf for Whitney) to be made, but when they sat down at a table, she jumped in. ‘I owe you an apology.’
‘What?’ Whitney had just lifted her mug but she put it straight back down on the table. ‘What are you talking about? There’s no one I’d rather have had working on Rats yesterday. Well, you and Tom, that is. He’s awesome.’
Lauren’s heart lifted at the mention of his name. Awesome didn’t even begin to describe him, but she didn’t want to get distracted from her task. This wasn’t about Tom. ‘That’s not what I’m talking about.’
‘What is it then? You’re scaring me.’
Cradling her own mug in her hands and drawing strength and comfort from its warmth, Lauren said, ‘I’ve been in a bad place lately.’
Whitney opened her mouth to say something but Lauren held up her hand. ‘Please, I need to say this.’
‘Okay. Go on.’
‘I’ve always been happy for what you and Rats have but I have to admit that I’ve also been jealous. Love seemed to come so easy for you and yet no matter what I did, no man ever took me seriously. Then Ellie came back and Flynn asked me out. I was beyond thrilled because I’d always had a crush on him and well, who wouldn’t want him to like them? So, when he went back to Ellie, I felt as if the bottom had dropped out of my world.’
Whitney bit her lip. Lauren knew she was itching to say something, but to her credit she didn’t.
‘I became more and more resentful, and felt like you and I were drifting apart. You were happily married and trying to start a family, and I was looking head-on into a life on my own. I just didn’t feel like we had anything in common anymore.’
‘Hello!’ Whitney held up her hands. ‘What about our shared history? Not to mention our love of Diet Coke, soppy movies, the fact we are the same dress size and can swap our wardrobe whenever we choose? I could go on… Do you need me to?’
Lauren laughed. ‘No. I know all those things, but I just felt so low, so seeing you so happy was hard. And then when you told me you were pregnant, I actually cried. I should have been sharing your glee, but all I could think about was when was something good going to happen to me?’
‘Oh, my darling, Loz.’ Whitney peeled Lauren’s fingers off the mug and squeezed her hand. ‘I’m sorry, I know I’ve been a little obsessed with baby-making.’
‘It’s okay, I’m good now,’ Lauren assured her, ‘and I’m beyond happy for you, but I needed to tell you how I felt and apologise for not being there to celebrate when you told me.’
Whitney put her hand back on her stomach. ‘Hey, you’re here now and I want you to promise me that if you ever feel so down again, you’ll let me in. You’re my best friend and I want you to be just as happy as me. But if you’re not, I want to know about it.’
‘Well, as it happens…’ Lauren fiddled with the pendant around her neck and smiled. ‘I’ve got some news.’
‘Oh?’
‘You know how I told you Tom was a lost cause?’
Whitney nodded.
‘Apparently not.’ For the next ten minutes, Lauren filled Whitney in on her new but promising love affair. She kept some of the more intimate details private but Whitney got the gist.
‘I knew it.’ She almost knocked over her coffee in her excitement. ‘I knew he was perfect for you.’ Her smiled dimmed a little. ‘But I guess that means you’ll still be moving on?’
Lauren shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Probably, because Hannah Bates will be home soon and I think Tom will want to go back to South Australia to be nearer his family, but I’ll visit lots. I want to be a huge part of your baby’s life.’
‘I’m counting on it. And maybe you and Tom will hear the pitter-patter of tiny feet in the not too distant future?’
‘Maybe.’ But the truth was, a baby didn’t seem quite so much the be-all and end-all now. She and Tom would have to discuss how he wanted to proceed, knowing their children may also inherit a defective gene. And there was plenty of time for all that.
For the foreseeable future, Lauren would be quite happy having him all to herself.
Tom landed at Adelaide airport, waited impatiently for his bag to appear on the luggage carousel, and then all but ran outside to flag a taxi. Now that he’d given fear the metaphorical middle finger, he couldn’t wait to see his family. It had been too long and no matter what he and Lauren decided to do next, he would
not be a stranger anymore.
On the twenty-minute drive to his family home in the leafy suburb of Hawthorn he should have been thinking about what he’d say to his parents, but his thoughts kept coming back to Lauren. At what had felt like the darkest time in his life, she’d burst into his world like the bright light at the end of a tunnel. He’d never been a wordsmith but if anyone could inspire him to poetry, she could. Holding her in his arms after the best sex of his life had been like no other feeling.
He couldn’t comprehend why some other man hadn’t already snapped her up, but nor could he be disappointed. He wished she thought more highly of herself but although he couldn’t change her past, he’d make it his mission—and enjoy the task immensely—to change her opinion of herself. He grinned at that idea, wishing he’d thought to bring a photo of her because one night away already felt like too damn long.
‘This it?’ The taxi driver slowed in front of the four-bedroom house Tom had grown up in. His parents had bought it prior to having kids and done it up into something quite magnificent over the years. Yet, despite having an interior that would impress the top designer magazines, it had always felt homely. Lots of cushions, warm lighting, and grandkids’ drawings plastered across the fridge.
‘Yes. Thanks.’ Tom pulled out his wallet and handed over the fare, before heaving his backpack on his shoulder and climbing out of the car.
The taxi driver sped off but Tom took a moment to stare ahead from the footpath, letting memories wash over him. He hadn’t called to notify anyone of his visit, but he wasn’t surprised to see two of his sisters’ cars parked out the front. Even before his dad got sick, all his siblings had spent a lot of time at his parents’ place. It had always been a happy home, full of laughter and love. It was a home he wanted to emulate one day. Taking a deep breath, he heaved his bag a little higher up his shoulder and stepped through the gate onto the garden path.
When he got to the front door and heard the joyful squeals of his nieces inside, he didn’t know whether to knock or walk right in. He’d never knocked before but after what he’d done—after such a long absence—he wasn’t sure he deserved the privilege of entering without an invitation.
The Road to Hope Page 29