by Lexie James
Trying to make her focus on conversation he questioned her. “Did you check that branch before you climbed along it?”
Her eyes opened, he could see that they were glazed with pain, but she tried to concentrate on his question and her own answer.
“What do you mean, did I check it?”
“Before you climb out on anything, you should always test it to find out if is safe for you to go on it. Check if it is strong enough to hold your weight.” Christos informed her.
Her eyelids fluttered again. “I didn’t know that.”
“Obviously, otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten on to it, would you?” He glanced down at her. “I’ll tell you what, once you’re over this little mishap I’ll teach both you, and your brother, how to do it properly.”
Puzzled her eyes sought his face. “Why would you do that?”
He smiled at her with amusement. “Why? Well isn’t that rather obvious? So I won’t have to rescue you again.”
“Oh.” She smiled weakly, and then cried out, as she tried to stretch out her foot.
“What is it? What hurts?” He demanded.
“My leg, it hurts really badly.” She bit her lip, trying to stop herself from sobbing.
He stroked her forehead, tousling her fringe, and smiled at her tenderly. “Well what do you expect when you go mountaineering, with no planning whatsoever, and then tumble down? Besides pain is good you know, it tells us where the injury is.”
He continued to stroke her hair, trying to absorb some of her pain with his actions.
She scowled. “You don’t have to make it sound like it was my fault, it wasn’t. It was that stupid trees fault; it should have grown its branch stronger.”
He chuckled. “You could be right; I’ll give it a severe talking to, before you climb up it again.”
Her eyes flew to his face, laughter replacing the pain he had seen earlier. “Are you always so silly? Her face grew solemn. “Why did you follow us?”
Just as solemnly he replied. “Because I saw you two sneaking out. It was just the sort of thing my brother and I used to do when we were younger. I knew you two were up to mischief.”
She bit her lip. “Oh. Mum gets real upset when we do things she thinks are dangerous, but we’ve been good all weekend long. We didn’t think there was any harm in having a bit of fun, now the hardest part is over. Michael’s been working so hard at that piece of music that I agreed with him, he deserved a break.”
He smiled conspiratorially at her. “My brother and I always found excuses for mischief too.”
Her eyes flew to his face disgruntled. “We weren’t looking for excuses!” She looked away and decided to ignore him.
They were silent for a while; out of the corner of his eye he could see she was flexing both her hands without flinching. That’s good he thought, nothing hurt there then, but what did worry him was the bump that he could see on the side of her head. It was quite large, he was concerned that she might have a concussion, and he thought of the damage that could cause. Once he had thought of it, the thought refused to go away, and it didn’t bear dwelling upon. He wished the ambulance would hurry up.
“Why are you here?” her voice was beginning to sound drowsy and he began to panic, he shouldn’t have stopped making her talk.
“Because I thought you needed me.” Her eyes began to close and he had to stifle the urge not to shake her awake.
Sternly he spoke to her. “Chrissie! Wake up now and talk to me, tell me what you like doing at school, tell me your boyfriend’s name.”
Her eyes opened drowsily and she stifled a giggle. “I haven’t got a boyfriend, I don’t want one; they break your heart; that’s what happened to our mum.”
Christos looked down at the child looking up at him with his own eyes, and gently stroked her cheek. “She broke his heart too you know.”
Chrissies eyes widened in confusion. “What do you mean? How do you know that?”
Deciding it was now or never, he told her the truth. “I know I broke your mother’s heart, even though I didn’t mean to but you know she broke my heart too, trust me, she did.”
Chrissie struggled to understand what he was saying, bemused she told him. “I don’t understand what you’re saying, it was our father who broke her heart. You can’t be our father, you’ve only just met my Mum; she would have told us if you were our father. Wouldn’t she have told us that, when you got here?”
She tried to turn so she could see his face more clearly. “Ow!”
“Lie still. You’re not meant to move when you’ve had an accident.” He told her, afraid suddenly of what Emme would say to him, when he told her what he had done.
“You didn’t answer me. You’ve got to answer me. You’re not our father are you?” She demanded, her voice catching with growing hysteria.
Wretchedly he replied. “I’m sorry, I am afraid I am your father.”
“No!” She shouted, trying to wrench herself from his arms, and then she screamed and fainted with pain.
Panic began to set in with Christos as she fainted, but all he could do was hold her, willing her to wake up, as he kept talking to her and calling her name.
<><><><>
Racing up to the house, Michael couldn’t quite believe he had done as he was told by an adult he hardly knew. He didn’t often do what his mother and grandfather told him, maybe it was just because of the seriousness of the situation. He ran into the house shouting for Patrick and Emme. Patrick reached him first, but it was Emme who sprinted out of the house as soon as she heard her daughter had been hurt.
Racing through the trees, she found her daughter cradled in Christos’s arms.
She went to try and gather her up but he stopped her. “She’s hit her head and I think she’s broken her leg, wait till the ambulance men get here, let them move her once they know it’s safe to do so.”
She wanted to argue with him and get him away from her precious daughter, but reluctantly she had to see the sense in what he said. She sat on the other side of her, holding her hand and whispering her name, with little response.
Chrissie could hear her, but she was still trying to make sense of what Christos had told her, and having difficulty taking it all in. She just kept her eyes closed, concentrating on her thoughts and what might be said between this stranger and her mother.
Taking her eyes from Chrissie’s Emme quizzed him. “What are you doing here?”
The same question that Chrissie had asked him, he smiled faintly at the irony of it.
“I’m here because I saw them going out, and I recalled the mischief I used to get up to with my brother. So I followed them out, quite lucky really, otherwise Michael would have been dealing with this all by himself.”
He glanced at her to see how she was taking that. She seemed oblivious to his answer; in fact, although she had spoken to him, it was obvious she hadn’t listened to a word that he had spoken. All her focus of worry was upon her daughter.
In the distance the sound of an ambulance siren could be heard.
She glanced up.
“Not long.” He reassured her.
The ambulance men were very proficient at their job, and in no time at all Chrissie had been loaded onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. As Christos helped Emme into the back of it, he spoke to her again.
“I’ll see you at the hospital in a minute.”
“What?” she looked at him dazed. “No thank you, there’s no need, you’ve been very kind, but really there’s no need, she’ll be in safe hands now.”
“I’ll see you there in a moment.” He told her implacably.
CHAPTER TWENTYTWO
Somehow between last night and this morning’s activities he had finally come to his senses and made the decision to stop feeling sorry for himself and the mess he had made of everything. Striding decisively towards the house to collect his car he grimly reviewed his behaviour over the last few days.
Most definitely these had not been his finest moment
s, he considered wryly and certainly not the normal behaviour of a man, who, for the last twelve years had taken his father’s businesses and amalgamated them into a twenty billion empire. He was well aware that she was owed a heartfelt apology for the crass way he had handled their situation twelve years ago, a smile touched his lips, and that was nothing to the apology that she was owed for his words the other night.
But if she had told him the truth in the first place it would never have happened.
Now, she was going to have to accept that she had been wholly to blame for his interpretation of the situation because she had never disclosed to him that he had made her pregnant.
He wondered if she had any idea how much his rage had been fuelled by the jealousy that consumed him at the thought that another man had touched her the way he once had. He had every intention of taking the reins of this situation now, and leading it exactly where he wanted it to go, where he had always wanted it to go, marriage and children.
Starting with his intention to be at the hospital, knowing exactly what was going on.
He raised his eyes to the heavens, devoutly praying for a little help. If his children had inherited his temper, the way to his ultimate goal would be rocky. But what the hell, he grinned to himself, the ride was going to be so worth it.
Reaching the house he found Michael surrounded by Patrick, Sophia, Adrienne and his mother. Altogether, great, he grimaced. Adrienne detached herself from the group, walking towards him, he saw her square her shoulders, an action he was so familiar with, one he had seen her do a thousand times, when she went into a situation she found difficult, he knew she was still concerned about her deceit.
Forestalling her, he moved towards her and enveloped her in an enormous bear hug.
“Thank you.” He whispered in her ear. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for bringing me here, and showing me my family. Thank you doesn’t even begin to get close to how I feel about what you have achieved.”
Turning and still holding her close to him, as if by his physical closeness he could transmit some of the gratitude he felt for her selfless actions, they approached the small group comforting Michael, who raised a tearstained face to Christos.
“She is going to be alright isn’t she? I didn’t mean for her to fall.”
Christos grabbed Michael in a hug, which made Michael look up to him warily. “Of course you didn’t Michael, accidents just happen, they were always happening to my brother and I. Look what you did as the branch broke, you tried to catch her and the branch, that took some doing.”
Critically, Christos surveyed Michael’s arms and face, although there were some scratches and signs of bruising appearing he had obviously come to no lasting physical hurt. The same could not be said though, for his emotion wellbeing.
“Now what you need to do now is something practical, in order to help your sister. Can you sort her out some books and games, all the sorts of things you think she might need to keep herself occupied?” He ruffled his hair.
“Why should I do that?” Michael looked bewildered.
“Well I believe she’s broken her leg, and she’s also given her head quite a bash, so I expect that the doctors will want to keep her in hospital overnight.” Christos told him as calmly as possible.
“Oh no, it’s all my fault!” Michaels’s eyes filled with tears, and he looked as if he was being eaten up with guilt.
Christos spoke to him kindly but firmly.
“No Michael it’s not your fault, Chrissie and I have discussed it, and decided, that it was the fault of the branch, it was just not up to the job. Of course it goes without saying that the first fault lies with your father for not teaching you both how to climb safely years ago.”
Christos’s voice had begun to take on an edge of anger, as he considered what might have happened if he had not been there.
Michael looked even more bewildered. “But we don’t have a father to teach us. I don’t understand what you are talking about; are you cross with me?”
Christos sighed deeply. “No I’m not angry with you Michael, I’m angry with myself and the idiot I’ve been for all these years, but that is all going to change starting now.”
He looked over at Patrick. “I promise you it will. Look Chrissie will be back here before you’ve really had time to miss her and as soon as she’s recovered from her fall, and is ready to climb again, then I will teach you both all I know about climbing safely, and we will have a splendid time.”
Michael continued to look at him with confusion written all over his face, Christos smiled down at him. “I’ll explain it to you later.”
Turning to Patrick he firmly told him. “Don’t let him blame himself too much. I’m going to the hospital.”
Nodding at him, he began to walk out, but his exit was arrested as his mother followed him out and stepped in front of him.
Impatiently he looked down at her.
“And just where do you think you are off to? She demanded imperiously. “Don’t you think you’ve got some explaining to do to me too?”
He grabbed her in a hug. “Mama I’m sorry, as usual you are right, but at the moment I don’t have the time, Chrissie and Emme are on the way to the hospital and I need to be there when the doctor is talking to them. You do understand that don’t you?” He glanced back at Michael and spoke quietly to her. “Mama, do you remember how I was when Mikolas died, and I knew it was my fault?”
Her voice caught. “It wasn’t your fault, it was just a freak accident, it could have happened to anyone.”
Christos’s eyes glazed for a moment as he cast his mind back to that day. “I know, but at the time I felt that the failure to protect my brother was mine. I should have stopped him falling. Look at Michael, he’s torn apart by the guilt he feels, you know first-hand how hard that is to cope with. Go and help him Mama, you know you can. I haven’t got time to explain it all to you now, but I will just as soon as I can. You are his grandmother, and I’m sorry to tell you like this, and I’m sorry you didn’t know sooner. But then, I’ve only just found out myself, in the last twenty four hours, that I’m a father. The twins sneaked out this morning to go climbing, does that seem familiar to you? Chrissie fell when the branch broke and Michael tried to save her, but he couldn’t stop the fall and she has been hurt. Please go and help your grandson from blaming himself.”
At her sharp intake of breath he looked down at her realisation dawning. “You knew about them didn’t you? When, when did you know?”
“The first night, Adrienne told us; Christos how could you have made love to that beautiful girl then leave her all alone?” Her voice reproached him sadly.
He sighed. “Don’t Mama, I can explain it to you but not now. I have to get to the hospital; I’ll leave Michael in your capable hands.”
He hugged her and as he pulled away he looked down at her and smiled.
Her heart soared as he turned from her; finally she had seen a smile that she thought was lost to her. The smile of her wonderful gentle son, who had been buried in the armour he had built to protect himself with for all those years. Her heart considerably lighter, she turned to carry out her son’s request.
Christos ran down the front steps, two at a time, before he ground to a halt by the side of his car.
He realised he had no idea where the hospital was.
“Well now, will you just be waiting there for a moment, till I catch you up then?”
He looked up to see Morag, hurrying as quickly as she could, down the stone steps. “Patrick was after telling me you’d not know where to go to the hospital and sure isn’t it easier if I were to show you myself rather than trying to tell you; me having such difficulty remembering my left from my right.”
She plonked herself in the front seat of Christos’s car, much to his astonishment.
“Will you not be getting in then? These ambulances drive so fast you’d be thinking they were flying, we’ll need the devil’s luck to catch up with it, do you think you have t
hat?” Her eyes twinkled at him.
Christos stifled a laugh and slid into the driver’s seat.
Morag looked at him smugly. “Well you’d best be putting on your seatbelt young man.”
Christos silently did as he was told then turned the key, and the engine sprang into life.
Morag looked towards him sternly. “That’s better now, but you’d better put your foot down, or it’ll be teatime before we get there.”
Christos dutifully did as he was told.
CHAPTER TWENTYTHREE
Maria walked slowly back to the small group. Michael was still looking rather shell shocked.
Now how, she pondered, do I begin?
Glancing around the hall she made a decision. “Patrick is there somewhere out of the public view where we can patch up Michael?”
Slightly hard of hearing, which he was very loath to admit; Patrick had been unable to overhear the two conversations Christos had had with Adrienne and Maria. He hoped he was now about to find out what was going on between all the attendees in this little drama.
“Let’s go into Emme’s office.”
Putting an arm protectively around Michael’s shoulder, he led them out of the hall and in to the office where he settled everybody in chairs, before shutting the door.
Maria’s heart thumped painfully, as she surveyed the many pictures of the twins growing up, a poignant reminder of everything that she had missed.
Turning to Michael she smiled confidingly at him. “I hear you’ve had quite an exciting morning.”
“Exciting?” Michael’s horrified eyes looked at her as if she was mad. “Chrissie fell out of the tree, I couldn’t stop it, I didn’t know what to do, and it was my fault.”
Keeping her voice as calm as possible she answered him.
“Really? What do you mean you couldn’t do anything? That’s not what Christos just told me, he said you rushed under the branch and tried to catch both it and Chrissie. By the look of you, you’ve been hurt in your attempted rescue. Patrick I think we’ve got some patching up to do because, Michael once that’s done you have got to pack a bag for your sister and we can’t have you bleeding all over her belongings, no girl in her right mind could cope with that.”