Sunrise for Two

by Merlot Montana

  “Please.” Harry said quietly, and left without making eye contact with Mike.

  “What’s going on?” Julia asked her, when they were safely away from the hospital.

  “Well Chris fell asleep last night, after I’d pretty much thrown myself at him. Mike is not talking to me at all. And that creep that assaulted me when we were at University has left about ten messages on my mobile phone.”

  “Wow. That really is horrible.” Julia paused then added respectfully, “That might actually be the worst day you or I have had for a really long time.”

  “Thanks,” said Harry grinning at her, “I feel better now.” And she did, right up until the point when the man who had taken her innocence so roughly, crashed through a red light into her side of the car.

  Chapter nine

  Julia called an ambulance and held her hand as they cut her out of the wreckage and lifted her onto a stretcher. She felt a savage searing pain down her arm and her hip and closed her eyes. Julia knew her story, Julia could talk for her, and she listened to the woman who cared about her relating her details. They rushed her into the heart of casualty, where the monitors clustered closely together and the alarms chimed softly. She heard the paramedic condensing her down into a couple of tight phrases. “Twenty seven year old female paraplegic, severe lacerations to the left forearm and the left leg, significant blood loss.” She felt the bloods being taken out of her right arm, she answered the questions as steadily as she could. Yes she knew where she was, she knew the day, she knew her name. She let them shine the light into her eyes and through it all she held Julia’s hand very tightly, determined not to cry.

  “Hello,” said a voice she recognised, and she looked up into Jeff’s gentle eyes. “I was hoping it wasn’t you.”

  “Not as much as I wish it wasn’t me,” she said ruefully.

  “Have the pain meds kicked in yet?”

  “Not really.”

  “I’m sorry Harry. We’re still trying to stabilise your blood pressure, once we do that we can give you something stronger.” She nodded and closed her eyes again. She tried to take her mind back to glorious old bed and breakfast that they visited in the Lake District, tried to smell the wood smoke and remember the sight of the hills. “One final thing,” he said apologetically, “I’m going to need to look at your wounds, I want to see if we can suture them with local anaesthetic.” Apologetically he held up the shears that would cut through her clothes. She nodded again and concentrated on her breathing, thought about taking a boat out onto the water and drinking wine in the sun.

  Chris focussed on the tricky repair he was finishing. He could see Mr Patel trying to catch his eye through the glass, but he wasn’t in the mood to talk. Taking Harry home had been his idea, and he blamed him for the fact that she didn’t seem to be talking to him. A junior surgeon opened the door and smiled nervously at him. “Mr Patel asked me to close up for you.”

  “Why?”

  “He says he needs to talk to you urgently.” The younger man told him, hating the tremor in his own voice. Chris looked at him and forced himself to remember how it felt to be a trainee.

  “Okay,” he said finally, “I’ll be inspecting your suturing later.” The junior doctor nodded miserably, and Chris thanked the theatre staff and walked outside.

  “Harry has been in an accident.” His mentor told him, he knew Chris too well to try to sugar the truth.

  “What happened?”

  “A drunk ran a red light and hit her friend’s car. He’s damaged her arm and her leg.”

  “Which arm?” he asked unsteadily.

  “Her left.”

  Chris leant against the wall feeling suddenly sick. “That’s her dominant side.”

  “Poor kid.” The older man said softly.

  “Where is she now?”

  “In resus. They’re trying to stabilise her blood pressure.”

  “Who’s working on her?”

  “Jeff.” Mr Patel told him, holding his gaze. Chris left the theatres at a run and started down the corridor. “Chris calm down, you know he’s the best.”

  “He stole Nicola from me, I’m not let that happening again.”

  “Well I don’t really know what happened with Nicola, but I can see how Harry feels about you.”

  “Not anymore,” Chris said wretchedly, “I fell asleep last night, just after she offered herself to me.” He stopped suddenly and ran his tired hand through his hair. “I just wanted the first time to be good. Not tired and a bit forced.”

  Mr Patel looked at him in silence, then said coolly, “There’s a beautiful young woman down in accident and emergency, she’s been badly hurt and she must be terrified. At the moment she’s having her arm sutured without proper anaesthetic because of how unwell she is, and if you are going to lean against the wall feeling sorry for yourself when you should be holding her hand then you’re not the man I thought you were.” Chris started moving then, he looked apologetically at the elegant surgeon and pushed open the doors to the hive of activity that marked the gateway to the hospital. Mr Patel watched him go, he knew what had happened to his family, but he cared about the younger man too much to watch him let the beautiful woman slip through his grasp.

  Chris walked into the heart of accident and emergency without noticing the way the staff slipped respectfully out of his path. He scanned down the white board until he saw her name, then he stepped behind the curtains and felt his chest tighten. Harry was lying very still, she was wearing the tattered remains of her favourite blouse, and a possessive part of his mind noted with relief that her lovely chest was covered. Her left hip was exposed, and he fought the urge to throw everyone else out and look after her himself. Then he forced himself to take a deep breath, he knew this was the time to be gentle. “Hi,” he said tenderly, and smiled when she opened her big dark eyes.

  “You came.” She said quietly.

  “Of course I did.” He nodded at Jeff and touched Julia’s arm. “Have we got any bloods yet?” He couldn’t help asking.

  “The system is really slow again.” Jeff told him, he leaned out of the curtains and asked one of the nurses to chase the bloods again. The charge nurse nodded then counted to ten. She liked Jeff, she really did, but sometimes she wondered if he had any idea how unreasonable he was. She had been phoning the IT every ten minutes for most her shift, and she would keep phoning them, she didn’t need any reminders.

  She managed to get through, and she spoke to the same man she always seemed to get. “It might interest you to know that it’s one of your own down here,” she said bitingly. “That pretty girl who uses the wheelchair.” There was silence, then the line went dead. She put down the phone and went to answer one of the alarms. “Try working in a real department.” She said under her breath.

  Mike banged on Belinda’s window just as she was finishing a particularly pleasing flow chart. “Harry has been in an accident.” He told her, and ran out of the portacabin. Belinda thought about following him, then realised that there was nobody left in her department. She sighed and sat down in Mike’s recently vacated seat and wondered why she was always the last to know to about anything.

  Mike was breathless by the time he reached accident and emergency. He tried to attract the attention of one of the fast moving figures, but they wove around him, slowing him down and adding to anxiety. He replayed the moment she had smiled at him and he had not smiled back until he spotted the signs to resus and pushed open the door. “Can I help you?” asked a voice that he recognised.

  “My friend,” he said unsteadily, “you told me she was hurt.”

  “You’d be more use to her if you made the blood results appear faster.” She said, but then she smiled at him and pointed to the cubicle in the middle of the row. “In there,” she said, “just follow the smell of testosterone.”

  “Hi,” he said awkwardly, crowding in beside Julia and Chris. Harry opened her eyes and smiled at him. She was really pleased that he was talking to her again, but if she wa
s honest, then she just wanted them to give her a decent painkiller and leave her in peace.

  “I’m really sorry,” Mike said unsteadily, “I was an idiot, and when I heard that you had been hurt, I had to come down here and tell you how much I care about you.”

  “What did you do?” Chris couldn’t help asking,

  “I didn’t talk to her all day.”

  Harry closed her eyes again and Jeff looked up sharply at the scruffy technician. “This is not the coffee room.” He said bitingly.

  “Shall we get some air?” Julia asked him, and he nodded forlornly and led the way out into the corridor.

  “Chris was talking too.” He said finally.

  “I know, it’s unfair, people never yell at men like Chris.”

  “She was right though,” Mike said finally, “that nurse, I would be more use to Harry if I kept the blood results stabilised.”

  “Probably.” Julia conceded gently.

  “Would you come with me?” he asked, and realised how lovely she looked when she smiled.

  “I’d like that very much.” She said, and tucked her arm through his.

  “What’s happening?” Belinda asked him, as they walked arm in arm down the echoing stairs to the bay of computers.

  “She’s a trust employee,” Mike said defensively, “and she’s a doctor, so she might have some useful insights.” Julia nodded, surprised at how pleased she felt to finally have a role in this crisis.

  “I was asking about Harry.”

  Julia felt the lump of pain settle down in her stomach again. “She’s not well, the cut on her arm is not too bad, but the cut on her leg is really deep. She’s lost a lot of blood and they’re trying to stabilise her.”

  “I’m sorry.” Belinda said softly, and gestured to his screen, “it looks like there’s something really important that you can do.” Julia nodded at him and he took a deep breath, at last he was riding in to her rescue, but somebody else was holding her hand. Julia put a cup of coffee down beside him and smiled at him. He smiled back at her, the knights must have had a supporting cast he decided, and maybe they didn’t have to sleep alone.

  Chris looked at her beautiful face and wished more than ever that he had taken to her to bed the night before. “How are you doing?” He asked her softly,

  “I’m okay,” she said unconvincingly, biting her lip as Jeff finished the careful work on her arm.

  “Harry I’ve got some good news for you at last,” Jeff told her, “the metal missed all the major structures in your arm, you’ll have quite a scar, but there should be no permanent damage.”

  “Thank you,” she told him, “I can live with that,” she moved her fingers tentatively and smiled at him.

  “The wound on your hip is much deeper, when we’ve cross matched your bloods, we’re going to have to operate.”

  Harry took a deep breath and forced herself to smile shakily at him, “Okay then,” she closed her eyes, and tried to think her way back to the Lake District, but the memories of her childhood in hospital kept intruding.

  “Excuse me,” a very large policeman appeared in the cubicle and smiled at her. “I know that you’re still getting treatment, but I’m going to need to interview you and your friend.”

  “Not now.” Chris told him, glad to have someone to glower at. “Can’t you go and arrest the idiot that did this?”

  “My boss is arresting him, it turns out he’s some kind of fancy Lord, you know how funny they are.”

  Harry suppressed a smile and opened her eyes briefly, “I’ll be happy to speak to you tomorrow.” she told him, and provided her details.

  “You didn’t tell him.” Jeff said quietly, when his heavy tread faded away.

  “I find that it usually complicates situations.” she said ruefully.

  The hospital was silent by the time Jeff had finished the operation. The long corridors echoing as their lonely party navigated the arrows on the polished floors back up to the surgical ward. Chris took a deep breath, this was his space, usually he sat in the office and they brought him coffee and entertaining anecdotes. But now he felt awkward and unsure. “So she's the reason you've gotten all preoccupied.” the charge nurse said with a grin. He nodded and sat down beside her bed. “She’s a lucky girl,” the nurse said feelingly.

  Chris smiled at her, remembering the last time he had been alone with Harry, he wondered if she would agree. “Do you think we can resite the drip in her arm? She's paralysed and she can't move her legs, I want to make things as easy as possible for her.”

  The nurse nodded, sympathy in her eyes, “why isn't she on the spinal unit?”

  “It's an old injury, she copes really well with it. Then some idiot hit the car she was she was travelling in earlier tonight. Now she's got this great big wound on her left arm, and that's the hand she uses for everything. I just thought if we freed up her right arm, then she could at least hold a cup of coffee.” He closed his eyes and added unsteadily. “Do you mind if I make myself a drink? I'll be back in ten minutes.” She was still asleep when he came back, delicate and still, and he reluctantly borrowed a room in the doctor’s mess and slept fitfully until morning.

  He woke early and bought himself some toast in the mess. Then he walked slowly up to the ward where she slept. He acknowledged that he was frightened that she would reject him, frightened that his thoughtless reaction to her tentative advances had damaged their interaction. He walked onto the surgical ward and nodded at the nurses, he realised that they were different, warmer and more attentive, and it made him really pleased to think that they supported his choice. He stepped into the nurse’s office and leant on the wall, “How is she doing?”

  “She’s doing okay, she’s tougher than she looks,” the charge nurse told him approvingly. She was awake when he walked out onto the ward, her sister had pulled rank as a visiting dignitary and was breaking the iron visiting hours rule. She was sitting next to a bunch of flowers that would probably crush Harry if it fell on the bed, and she explained that her parents had to send their apologies as they were hosting an important party of guests. When he came back at lunch time Julia and Mike were sitting together, and Mike smiled up at him with the confidence of a man who hadn't gotten much sleep for all the right reasons.

  By the end of the day there was a crowd around her bed. He stood in the doorway and watched a particularly good looking man in a suit that probably cost the same amount as his car make her laugh. “Hi.” he said finally, looking only at her.

  “Chris,” she said with a smile, her dark eyes unreadable, “meet Tim and Richard and you know my sister.” He nodded, and sat down awkwardly on the edge of the bed. Both of the men used wheelchairs, and they treated him to a series of jokes that he didn't understand. When visiting hours ended, the nurse threw them all out very firmly, and he followed her sister into the corridor.

  “Any chance of a lift Chris? I was going to ask Julia, but she seems to have finally discovered boys.”

  “Of course,” he smiled down at her and led the way to his old car.

  “Are you ok?” she asked, “You looked a bit miserable in there.”

  “She's gone all distant again, just when I thought I was getting to know her.”

  “Of course she has, she's back in bed with a whole lot of tubes that everyone can see when they walk in the room. You've got no chance of talking to her about anything that matters until she's back in her jeans using her own chair.”

  “When you put it like that it's perfectly reasonable.”

  “She's my sister, I love her, of course I think she's reasonable.” she paused then added more gently, “The night nurse told me that you got them to move the drip out of her right arm. Thank you for that.”

  “I really care about her.” he said softly.

  “I'm glad to hear it.” she told him.

  “Did she tell you about the night I stayed over?”

  “Of course she did.”

  He sighed and looked at the road. “What did she say?”
he asked tentatively.

  “Well it didn't make her feel good about herself.”

  “No I guess not. I just had this silly notion about making it really good for her.”

  “It's not silly Chris. It's just that you have to see things from her perspective.”

  “People keep telling me that.”

  “So listen to them, I know that her paralysis makes things much more complicated, but if you really care about her, then I’ll think you’ll agree that it’s worth it.”

  “I really really care about her.”

  “Then start thinking about what her life is like.” she said softly, he nodded, and pulled up outside her sister’s house. “Thanks for the lift.”

  “My pleasure.” he said, and drove in lonely silence back to his house.

  Jeff and Nicola were sitting in the lounge. He stretched out tiredly on the sofa and looked at his oldest friends. “How’s she doing?” Jeff asked him.

  “Okay I think. She's had loads of visitors and she doesn't really give a lot away.” He paused and smiled his thanks when Nicola poured him out a cup of tea. “How bad was the cut on her arm?” he asked finally.

  “It'll heal.” Jeff said gently. “I must say she's got style, she let me suture her without a whimper.”

  Chris nodded. “She's definitely got style.”

  “Are you okay?” Jeff asked him.

  “I think so,” he took a deep breath and said with a half embarrassed smile, “I’m missing her.”

  “Does she know that the story is all over the news?” Nicola asked him.

  “I don’t know, she’s not very forthcoming on the subject of her lineage.” He ran across the streets of Manchester until it started to rain, then he lay in bed and regretted the only night in the past week when he had been able to sleep.