Claudia crossed her hands over her heart, love for him filling her completely. “I choose you.”
“I was hoping you would. But, Claudia, you must understand that even without the vigilante attack at the chateau and Oriana’s kidnapping.” He grimaced and paused for a moment. “I still would have made sure you spent time with your mother. You needed to be able to make an informed decision about how to live your own life. She is your mother, right or wrong.”
Claudia felt a strong pull at the back of her head; white spots dashed in front of her eyes. A slight tingling ran up her leg and continued throughout the whole left side of her body. She reached out to Dane and he engulfed her hand with his own.
“I can’t fight this anymore,” she whispered.
“I know. It’s time. I love you. Brishan loves you. We all do.”
“I love you too.”
Dane squeezed her hand and kissed her palm, letting her see the tears shining in his eyes. The image of him was fading and black shadows etched shapes over his body until all she could see were the laugh lines on his face and the shimmering water on his cheeks.
Thunderous cracking exploded in her head. She blinked furiously to loosen the dirt and ash coating her lashes and clenched her teeth when sharp specks scratched her eyes. One side of her body was trapped under the fallen baggage shelf and severe, shooting pain pulsed up and down her leg.
The salty tears cleared the dirt and she saw a bright light. Sunlight? In the train? It blurred her vision and she remained still, focusing ahead for long seconds as her mind struggled to register anything but pain. Cool air circulated, moving the dust in small patterns in front of her nose. She sneezed, wincing as the movement caught her rib cage.
Outside, grass came into focus and beyond was a hill, dotted with houses. A gaping, jagged hole in the side of the train served as her window and precious sunlight streamed through it, warming her face and distracting her, briefly, from her battered limbs. Voices, echoing in the distance, reached her ears. She opened her mouth to scream. Nothing but a rattling moan came out. She closed her eyes for relief from the sharp stinging. Only now, under darkness, did she feel the motion of the train, a slow rocking, and the occasional roar of a power tool, suffocating the distant yelling.
Where is Grace? Alive or dead? Claudia couldn’t sense any life nearby, only her own terror as it gnawed at her stomach. The voices sounded so far away, maybe at the very front of the train.
A numbing sensation invaded her legs, spreading over her trapped toes to her calves and thighs. Like severe pins and needles, it’s killing the pain as it comes. Claudia stretched her neck to try to see outside. Please, someone walk by, please.
But the small movement of her head put too much pressure on her trapped arm. As her shoulder popped out of its socket a silent scream tore at her throat. Her eyes shut against the white-hot pain.
It was almost unbearable. She was dizzy, desperate to give herself up to the pain. But, one more time, she opened her eyes and relished the rays of sunlight, with the dust particles shimmering as they floated. Amazing, nature can turn even the most horrific things into something beautiful.
She sighed at the thought and the sound of her own voice reached her ears. Ah — too late to scream now. Surely such pain meant her body was broken beyond repair. She didn’t panic, there was only an overwhelming calm that threaded through her, infusing her with white light. And this was to her a place of no return…bliss
And there they were, Snow-White and Rose-Red, returned to her in her moment of need, floating above the grass outside.
Someone else was there too, running towards the makeshift window. His black hair streamed behind him in the wind and he ran like an athlete, arms pumping strongly, consistently at his sides.
“This is it then,” she whispered into the dirt on the floor, waiting to take her last breath, ready to greet whichever gypsy relative came fast to take her to the afterlife.
The runner was so close she could hear his heavy breathing. In an instant, the sun blacked out and the heavy breathing consumed her — and the smell, the smell so familiar; like sandalwood and rain.
“Claudia.”
And that voice. So cherished, so soothing, something out of a dream.
“Claudia, open your eyes. Please, my fairy, look at me.”
Dare she open her eyes and view the afterlife? Her head felt so fuzzy and light, like it would float off her neck any moment. But that voice…
Something warm touched her forehead. It was a hand. The gentle movement, back and forth, making waves of pleasure cascade down her body, infiltrating and relaxing her muscles, cooling the flames of pain licking at her bones.
“That’s it, my fairy, let yourself relax, accept the pain, don’t fight it. It will fade, I promise you.”
Claudia’s eyes snapped open. There, above her, Brishan’s bright, green jewels gazed at her, glistening and soft, imparting all the love and healing from his body into her own.
“You came for me,” she whispered, her stomach clenching.
“I never left you, not really, not in here.” Brishan pointed to his heart and smiled his lopsided, beautiful smile.
This can’t be real. I’m dead. Surely he’s not really here, leaning over my broken body, healing my pain and staring at me with such…love. “Are we…Where are we? Am I dead?”
“No, beautiful, you’re not. I’m here, with you. You’re fully conscious. Can you hear that noise?”
She’d been blocking out the harsh sounds of screams and power tools, but now her ears rang with the sound of drills and sharp hammering.
“That’s the rescue team. They’re coming in through the carriage in front of this one.” He tensed, clutching her one good arm. He did not take his eyes off hers.
Claudia breathed deep to allow words to come through the limited air in her lungs. “Tell them to be careful! Grace is over there, right near the door, but she’s trapped…” And the hoarse sound that was her voice stopped abruptly.
Brishan’s lips tightened into a pale, straight line and he bent down, so that his nose touched hers, his hand still stroking her face. “Claudia. Grace can never be hurt again.”
As his words started to make sense, Claudia watched him pull a bottle of water out of a bag on his back and tip it up so tiny droplets dribbled into her mouth. His eyes flicked over her trapped body and his chest rose and fell too quickly.
“How do you know, did you see her?”
“No.” He shook his head and kissed the tip of her nose. “The rescue team told me they’d found you, both of you, earlier. They thought you were dead, Claudia, and they couldn’t reach you…They helped others while they called for equipment to come and cut you out. Grace, well, she’d fallen out of the train, probably at the same time you got trapped.” He dipped the edge of his shirt in the water and softly wiped her face. “My fairy. Brace yourself. They’ve taken her body away.”
Claudia sighed and inhaled Brishan’s smell. “And Preston could have saved her,” she whispered to herself.
Brishan paused, then began to wipe away the blood and dirt, now from her neck and arm. Gently, he touched her knee, staring at the wound left by the glass shard. His face paled.
“I’m sorry about your mother, Claudia,” he whispered as his eyes came back to rest on her face.
“I hardly knew her.”
“I know.”
Deep understanding passed between them. He knows. He knows what I feel.
“Ahoj,” a deep voice bellowed. It belonged to a dirty face, suddenly peering at them through the hole.
“Er…can you speak English?” Brishan turned to face him.
“Yes.” The man scratched his beard as he looked at Claudia. “Now, we will lift the rack from your feet. Up and up, okay? Pain, yes, but the ambulance is outside and we will stretcher you out. Okay?” He frowned, as if concentrating hard on speaking perfect English.
Claudia nodded, reaching out to grip Brishan’s hand.
“Focus
your eyes on mine, Claudia,” Brishan said, crossing his legs under him and leaning in close to her face.
She held his gaze and took a deep breath as more men moved into the carriage, carefully moving debris and luggage and positioning themselves around the metal frame.
“Okay, we will try to move this now; we hope we won’t need the saws,” the man said. He flexed his muscles, glancing at his team of rescuers. “On three. Ready?” He waited until each of the six men nodded. “One, two, three.”
A dull, loud groan filled the air. The men heaved the rack upwards, lifting it off her feet first, then her legs, before pushing it over the demolished seats. Excruciating pain. Claudia’s head fell backwards, her eyes involuntarily closing. She bit her lip to stop the scream, but it came out anyway, shattering the sudden silence that followed the extreme effort.
“Claudia, come back to me, look at me. Now.” Brishan held the back of her neck and rubbed her check, coaxing her eyes open. She tried, she tried so hard but her eyelids fluttered and the darkness beckoned. Her head swam in circles and bile rose in her throat as her stomach churned.
Two fingers now rested in the middle of her eyebrows, the ‘third eye’ Dane had called it. The pressure calmed her fluttering lids and she was able to hold them open, long enough to see Brishan’s face, so tender and so pained. She felt like a fragile, baby bird as he cradled her head in both arms now and continued pressing her forehead.
“Everything’s going to be fine, Claudia, the medics are bringing pain killers. They’ll be here any moment. I…promise.” His voice broke and faded into a whisper.
A rabble of voices descended and suddenly, Claudia saw a woman standing over her. Where had she come from? Brishan gently lifted her arm towards the woman. She felt a sharp jab, then Brishan placed her arm back in his lap, pressing points in her hand. She relaxed into the calming pressure.
The dark behind her eyes became even harder to resist. So cool and quiet and pain free. The emerald eyes she loved so much held her gaze, and she wanted to keep his gaze, but it was too late to fight anymore, even with him alongside her, giving her every ounce of his soul to lean on.
“Claudia, please, please stay with me, my fairy. We’re nearly there, the stretcher’s coming and we’ll be in the hospital before you know it.” His voice was so distant now and his face, that gorgeous face — winged eyebrows bent inwards and jaw clenched and pulsating — was disappearing. She tried to smile, really concentrated on it, just to show she’d heard him, knew she loved him. Tears rolled down his cheeks, and as they landed on her chest, she remembered the story he’d told her when they’d first met, about tears making dreams come true, and as she prayed that the story was real, she managed to smile, just a little, before all noise, all light, all pain, disappeared.
Why is the world so white? Her nose refused to take in air and a slow, methodical beep, beep, beep rang through her head. She scanned the room with her eyes only, while her head remained immobile and trapped in the white. A face smiled above her, its startling, white teeth blending with the surroundings.
“Claudia! Oh, my darling, how very thrilling to see you open your eyes. I’ll call for the doctor.” The shiny, white teeth glared at her as the lips moved.
Rushing feet announced a new, smiling face. “Hello, Claudia, my name is Doctor Novákový. Do you know where you are?” The man in a white coat fussed over her, fiddling with a machine at her side and adjusting a tube in her arm. Why are those in my arm?
“No,” she said. She recognised the kind of place, but the actual word just wouldn’t come to her.
“You’re in the hospital. You were in a train accident. You have a broken leg, wrist and a fractured pelvis. Your shoulder was dislocated. All in all, after a period of recovery, you will be completely back to normal.” Doctor Novákový’s voice was monotonous and clipped, but kind. “Really, you are a very lucky girl, to be alive.”
An accident? Only blank space greeted her when she tried to understand him. For the first time she noticed her leg; encased in an ugly, large metal brace.
The doctor turned to the sparkling white teeth. “She is going to be very confused for some time, weeks maybe, she has concussion and shock. Just gently release information as needed and she will slowly return to normal.”
The handsome face peered down at her again with a smile. “Claudia, do you recognise me?”
Yes! The dimples and the teeth and the blond, blond hair. “Preston, of course, silly!” Why would he ask something so absurd?
“Good girl. Edward is here too and you needn’t concern yourself with the secret you’ve kept for so long. I know all about it and I think it’s wonderful! You must not concern yourself with anything, dear girl, but recovering.”
Secret? Nothing like a secret came to mind. In fact, she understood absolutely nothing.
“Your father is understandably eager to help you, and it will be so much easier for you, not having to pretend he’s only your distant cousin. No one cares about children being born out of wedlock these days anyway. Aren’t you relieved, darling? I’m sure Grace would have been.”
“Where is Grace?” Last time Claudia recalled seeing her mother was right before dinner, on the eve of a trip of some sort, as Margaret had bustled around them, packing suitcases and warning her of ‘earthly pleasures’.
“Oh, Claudia, I’m so sorry, my darling,” said Preston taking her hand. “Grace…she died, in the accident. You don’t remember anything, at all?”
Claudia gasped. “No. She’s dead?”
“Yes. I’m so very sorry. We will all miss her dearly.” Preston’s lips curved downward. “There was a terribly bad train crash. Hundreds dead, darling. You are very lucky to be alive, and Edward and I, would you believe, escaped with barely a scratch. Blessed, I tell you. We are all blessed.”
Grace. Gone? No… She’d been gone before, but now, in the last few months, she’d come back. She’d returned, eventually, to claim what was hers. Surely that meant something.
“You mustn’t worry, I’ll look after you. Edward will too. Of course he shares your grief.” Preston stared at her, his face a study of exaggerated sadness.
The words were like a life raft just as she began to flounder. “Thank you.”
“Oh, silly Claudia, you don’t have to thank me. It’s my duty…I mean, well it’s the least I can do for the woman who will soon be my wife!” He laughed, too loudly for the quiet room. “Now, darling, as you’re awake…there is one more matter we should discuss. It’s rather urgent.”
“Claudia!” A cool breeze swept over her face as she saw a figure running to her side from the open doorway.
“Speak of the devil,” Preston said, folding his arms and glaring at the intruder.
“You’re awake, my precious fairy.”
“Brishan?” She stared, unable to believe he was here, in front of her, after all this time.
“Just give me the word, Claudia, and I will have him removed. He has refused to budge from your side all night, despite Edward and I being quite firm with him. Cursed public hospitals…if only we were back in England, where riff-raff like this are kept out of such places. Unfortunately we could not stop him from coming to the hospital. Godforsaken boy won’t even speak to us, but I imagine he was on the same train, worst luck.” Preston’s fists curled at his sides.
Brishan did not glance at Preston, or show signs he had heard anything. He reached out to stroke her cheek, but Claudia flinched. Hurt came like a torrential downpour, flooding her body. Why now? After he abandoned me so long ago?
She lifted her hand and tried to rip out the pipes blocking her nose. Her chest heaved and adrenalin rushed through her veins so fast it felt like she was sprinting as fast as her legs would carry her. Move. Escape. But her broken body lay limp, helplessly trapped on the bed.
“Claudia, what is it? Are you in pain? You might need more morphine.” Brishan’s eyes darted to the machines controlling her world. His hands raised high above his head, splaying out a
nd descending over her body.
Love for him exploded through her, mixing with the uncontrollable hurt. The emotions swirled and battled against each other, neither winning. But both serving to build a tension so fierce it blinded any thought.
There was now a loud, rapid beeping from the machines and she could hear feet rushing, coming closer and closer. She gasped and clawed at her throat, pushing his hands away and staring as white-coated men invaded the room.
“See what you’ve done? Leave, now!” Preston shouted, his voice almost a growl.
Claudia looked from one to the other as she was moved and prodded by the doctors. The beeping pierced her ears, drowning the sound of her thudding heart. As an oxygen mask was pushed onto her face, she took a deep breath, desperate for air.
“Claudia, he needs to leave, he should never have been here. Goddamn gypsies, as if they haven’t caused you enough trouble. Just nod, darling, and I’ll have him removed.” Preston caught her hand in his own, squeezing it until she looked at him.
But she could not look away from Brishan’s gaze, a gaze that never wavered from her face. Yet, his eyes were wild and confused as he raked a hand through his dark hair. She’d started to feel so safe, just moments ago, calm even, in the circle of Preston’s care.
And this beautiful gypsy brought chaos, and she couldn’t stand the feelings building, building, threatening to destroy her sanity.
She looked at Preston, closed her eyes — and nodded.
Chapter Fourteen
A Wash of Red
The cigarette smoke curled above his head, drifting in smooth arcs towards the trees. All was quiet inside the caravan and he knew his family sat in silence, waiting for him, sending their love out to cocoon his aching heart.
Finally, Dane emerged, his arm sitting at a stiff angle but almost mobile, his face still covered in yellow-tinged blotches. “You saved her, Brishan, that’s all that matters for now.”
Gypsy Trail Page 19