The things we do for love.

by Anderson, Abigail

  “That’s okay.” She replied.

  “How are you feeling?” He asked her.

  Yes, how was she feeling? A strange calm had shrouded Cassie. Nothing seemed real to her. Her brain refused to think. Her body felt relaxed and even her skin seemed to have no feeling.

  “I hit my head.” She told him promptly.

  “I can see that.”

  “There was a guy here.”

  “Yes, he ran out of here like a bat out of hell. Gave me a hell of a fright.” Luke’s face looked grim as he concentrated on what he was doing.

  “I’ve been burgled.” She told him. What was wrong with her. Why wasn’t her brain functioning properly? Everything seemed so strange, like nothing was quite real. Maybe it was shock.

  “Yes I can see that too.” Luke told her. “Well, luckily it doesn’t look that bad.”

  “What doesn’t?” She asked him.

  “The cut on your head. It looks superficial.”

  “Will it scar?” Not that she cared, it was a silly question really.

  “No, and if it does it won’t be very big.” He reassured her. His voice soothing.

  “Do I need to see a doctor?” She asked him. Perhaps she needed stitches or something.

  “You’re seeing one.”

  “Did you need a needle and cotton. I have a sewing kit.” She said.

  “Why would I need that?” Luke frowned down at her.

  “In case I need stitches in my head.”

  “Oh,” There was a pause. “I think it will be fine without that. But thanks for the offer.”

  “Well, if you are sure.”

  “Quite sure.” He said. “Do you feel sick. Do you hurt anywhere else?” Luke asked her as he looked her over.

  “Aren’t you going to hold up three fingers?” She asked him and he looked back at her face.

  “Why?”

  “To see whether I can see them of course.” She told him.

  “What good would that do?”

  “I have no idea. I saw it on a tv show.”

  “Ah…” He said.

  “Ah… what?”

  “Ah… nothing.”

  “Ah… something.” She complained.

  Luke held up three fingers dutifully and with a smile on his lips he asked her.

  “How many fingers am I holding up?” she looked at them.

  “Four.” She said. Luke lifted another finger so that he was holding up four fingers.

  “How about now?”

  “Three.” She told him. “How did I do?” she asked him.

  “Fantastic.” He said. She smiled up at him.

  “Has the bleeding stopped?”

  “Yes, nearly. Head injuries bleed quite a bit. They often look more serious than they are.”

  “Oh. What about my throat?” She asked.

  “What about it?” Automatically Luke transferred his fingers to her throat as he looked at it. She heard him gasp. “Did he put his hands round your throat?”

  “I thought he was going to kill me.” She told him as she gave a high pitched nervous giggle. “He was squeezing so hard. I couldn’t breathe” She watched Luke purse his lips into a tight line as his fingers felt along her trachea.

  “There’s a little bruising but there doesn’t seem to be any permanent damage.”

  “I could feel my whole head throb. And I thought my eyes were going to pop right out of my head.” She said.

  “You’re okay now. I’m here. I won’t let anyone hurt you.” He promised her and she did not doubt him for a second. He wouldn’t lie to her.

  “I went very dizzy.” She told him and his eyes came back to hers.

  “That does happen when no oxygen gets to your brain.” He explained to her calmly. She took in a deep breath.

  “I’m sorry, I seem to be a lot of trouble.”

  “It must run in your family.” He joked and she laughed.

  “Well if it is any consolation I don’t mean to be trouble. Am I trouble?” she asked him.

  “Almost as much as your sister.” He agreed.

  “Really?” she couldn’t help the hurt note that crept into her voice.

  Her voice remaining strangely calm and childlike. In fact, she felt very calm and relaxed. Almost chilled out. Why was she so calm? Something bad had just happened, she was aware of that, but she was lying on the floor tranquilly as though it were a natural thing to do.

  “Just in a different way.” Luke told her as he brushed hair away from the wound at her head and then rested his hand on the top of her head. She felt his other hand on top of her own hand. His thumb stroking it softly.

  “I am very sorry. I don’t mean to be.” She told him.

  “I know.”

  “I do try to make myself invisible.” She told him.

  “I had noticed that too.” He gave her a little smile. “I wish you wouldn’t.”

  “I like being invisible, It’s easier that way.”

  “It’s safer that way.” Luke corrected. “You fail miserably at it though.”

  “I do?”

  “No one as beautiful as you could ever manage to go unnoticed.” He replied.

  “Oh.” For she really did not know what else to say to that.

  “Don’t you realise how many men you had looking at you tonight?”

  “No.” Had men been looking at her tonight. She had no idea.

  “A lot.” Luke told her.

  “I think you could be wrong.” The poor man, perhaps he hit his head or something.

  “Trust me, I am not wrong. You got many appreciative glances.”

  “Oh.”

  “You seemed oblivious to them all.”

  “I guess I don’t expect to be noticed.”

  “You don’t want to be noticed.” Luke corrected.

  “Maybe it was the dress.” It was a little daring, she conceded.

  “The dress certainly helped.” He agreed. “But, it wasn’t just the dress.” Luke brought a hand to her cheek and crushed a solitary tear that escaped and was falling down her cheek with a sweep of his thumb. “Though the dress is very nice.”

  “Adam made me buy it.” She confessed. “I didn’t want to. I thought it was too much.”

  “Too much or too little.” He asked her and she smiled up at him.

  “Too much at being too little.”

  “I’m glad Adam managed to convince you.”

  “It’s okay you can go. I’ll be fine now. I must be keeping you from something important.” She did not want to put him out, or be too much trouble. He probably had better things to do than be sitting on her living room floor.

  “My diary is free right now.” He said.

  “Are you sure.”

  “Positive, I think I should stay.”

  “Oh no, really it’s okay. I don’t need any help. I can manage on my own.” She tried to reassure him. She did not want him to worry.

  “Why don’t you just let me manage things for you for a while.” He suggested softly. He looked worried she noticed and quite pale.

  “I think you’re suffering from shock.” She informed him confidently. “I should make you some sweet tea.”

  “Why?” he asked her.

  “Because I don’t have any brandy.” She explained. “Do you not know how to treat shock? You’re a doctor, surely that was one of the first things you were taught.”

  “Don’t tell me? Tv show again?” he looked amused, a smile playing on his lips. His very nice teeth on show and a little shiny twinkle in his eye.

  “Yeah, how did you know?” she frowned and then winced. The skin on her forehead felt stiff and sore.

  “I think I need to ban you from watching tv. You might start trying to operate on someone.” He remarked, she could hear the humour in his voice.

  “I don’t have any anaesthetic.” She said.

  “Thank god for some small mercies.”

  “I suddenly don’t feel very well.” She told him as feeling seemed to returned to her skin
like a slap. Reality sunk into her brain, and she re-joined the world. And, before she could stop it she burst into tears.

  “And there it is.” She heard him say and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her so that he could hold her against his chest and hold her like a baby whilst she cried.

  Finally, the tears stopped. The sobs died away and she lay still against him emotionally spent. His hands stroking her arm and her back.

  “Feel a little better?”

  “I think so. I am so sorry. I don’t know what happened.” She tried to apologise for her actions.

  “The shock wore off.” Luke told her.

  “I should get up.”

  “When you’re ready.” Luke agreed. So, deciding that she wasn’t ready just yet Cassie relaxed back against him and closed her eyes.

  Chapter 26.

  “Do you think you can get up?” Luke asked her sometime later.

  “Yes, I think so.” She said as she sighed.

  “Here let me help you.” Luke helped her to her feet and then eased her down into a chair.

  “I should… do things.” She said.

  “Why don’t you just sit there while I make some phone calls.”

  “Who to?” she frowned as she watched him take his mobile phone from his pocket.

  “Police, locksmith.”

  “Oh yes, of course. Sorry.” she seriously needed to get her brain in gear.

  Luke leant down over her and planted a gentle kiss on her lips and looked into her eyes.

  “There’s no need to be sorry. It’s fine.” And he straightened and turned his attention to his mobile once more.

  Cassie brought up a hand and touched her fingers to her lips. Lips that were tingling from the touch of his. “When you are ready I want you to pack some things for a couple of days.”

  “Oh no… I…”

  “No oh no’s, or any I’s.” he cut her off.

  “But.” She tried again.

  “I don’t want to hear any buts either.” He sounded like a stern parent.

  “I will be fine.” She said, though she did not relish the thought of staying here. And, certainly not on her own. She shuddered at the thought. Suddenly her home, her safety haven, no longer felt that way to her.

  “You are not staying here” he told her firmly, and she could tell from his tone that he meant it.

  “I have nowhere else to go.” She told him in a small lost voice.

  “You can stay at my place.” She made a noise and he turned to her. “There is more than one bedroom, you are perfectly safe.”

  “I wasn’t suggesting anything untoward.” She assured him as she felt herself blush.

  “Good, then that’s settled.” Luke smiled triumphantly.

  “Yes but.”

  “I don’t like the word but.” He said. “Everything is fine. There is more than enough room at my place. I have more than one bedroom and more than one bed.

  Don’t worry. I’ll phone Vera, she can get one of the guest bedrooms ready for you.” Luke turned his back and went out of the room, as he answered who ever had just begun speaking to him on his phone.

  Luke ran a hand through his hair as he headed outside into the hallway. Damn he felt as though he had aged twenty years.

  It was lucky that Luke had not just driven off after Cassie had high tailed it out of his car. Running scared.

  Instead he had sat weighing up his options. He had already made up his mind that he was going to knock on her door and stay the night.

  He had just been about to get out of the car and lock up when a flurry of movement had caught his eyes.

  When he had watched the figure running from Cassie’s home a little after she had gone in Luke had not given another thought as to what to do.

  He had jumped out of the car and had run up the path and into the house as though demons were out to get him.

  His heart had been beating furiously in his chest, in fear, as he had pushed open the door and had called out her name in desperation.

  When she had not responded to her name panic had really set in then. Even more so as he saw the damage in the hallway and things had been tossed around all over the place.

  He had looked in at the kitchen on his way to the living room. It had been a mess in there too. But still no Cassie and still he could not hear her. Please be okay, he had pleaded in his head.

  He had tried to prepare himself for the worse as he had pushed open the living room door and stepped inside, frantic eyes scanning the room.

  But nothing had prepared him for when he had turned on the light and saw her lying there. she had been on her side, her back to him. Just beginning to move, groaning.

  And then when he had turned her and saw the blood and the red swollen angry skin. If that man hadn’t already run off Luke would have killed him. Of that he was sure.

  She had looked so vulnerable, so fragile as she had looked up at him with those big hazel puppy dog eyes of hers. Her eyes glazed and unfocused on anything.

  He knew straight away that she was in shock. The vacant look in her eyes told him. Along with her skin. It had lost all of its warm peachy colour and it had been clammy to the touch.

  There had been quite a bit of blood too, matted in her hair, at her temple. There was a small pool of it on the rug she had been lying on and the corner of the coffee table was also sporting some, along with a couple of her hairs that had been snagged.

  But then, it was a head injury and Luke knew that they bled excessively, even a small cut bled more. They always looked a lot worse than they were, making people panic.

  Luckily the wound itself was very small and there were no obvious signs of a severe concussion. Dazed, she may have been, but her pupils were reactive and, while she remained uncomprehending at what she was focusing on she could at least follow movement.

  It was also an encouraging sign that she had not blacked out and become unconscious. Instead she had remained awake.

  Still, he would keep an eye on her for a while just to be on the safe side. There was such a thing as delayed concussion. Not that he thought that she had that. But, head injuries had the potential to turn nasty quickly without warning. He knew that too. Had dealt with it.

  He was confident that she would make a quick recovery. He wasn’t a novice at dealing with head trauma. He had worked in resuss and the trauma unit for some time after med school.

  Luke dealt with calling the police and then he phoned a locksmith to come and secure the house and change all the locks on the doors. Both back and front, to be sure.

  After that he called through to Vera and let her know what was happening and asked her to make up one of the guest rooms, which she finally agreed to without too much fussing.

  Why couldn’t Cassie just sleep in his bed, Vera had asked. Luke would not have minded but he thought Cassie would have something to say about that.

  It was best to give her the option of having her own room and hopefully she wouldn’t actually get around to using it. Because she would be in his bed. Luke’s loins gave a jump and he took in a deep breath.

  Luke also managed to find a phone book in the hallway and, after searching through it he had found Adam’s number and so he had called him.

  They had chatted for a while, Luke assuring the other man that Cassie was fine and that, apart from the cut on her head and some bruising, she was fine.

  Luke looked in on Cassie from the door way several times whilst on the phone, just to make sure. But he did not step completely into the room.

  It was best to get all the arrangements done whilst she sat and waited. She would only end up insisting that she was fine and that she could stay here tonight. And as far as Luke were concerned that was not an option.

  Before hanging up the phone Adam had arranged to come over and see Cassie tomorrow which, Luke had agreed, was a good idea. It would give Cassie a chance to talk it through with someone close to her that she trusted.

  Luke shoved his phone back in his pocket and wal
ked over to the door and looked in on Cassie. She was still sitting in the chair where he had put her. She was staring into space a strange little look on her face.

  She was scared he knew that. He had been able to see that when he had turned her over. The same fear that had raced in his heart. He tried to put it from his mind.

  He could see the bruising coming out now. At her temple and at her throat. His stomach clenched as anger took hold. He could make out finger marks on the side of her neck.

  If he ever managed to get a hold of that bastard, he would kill him. How dare anyone hurt her. Hadn’t she been through enough in her life?

  That was it, Luke made his decision, right there and then. She would come home with him tonight and then he would make sure that she stayed there. permanently.

  It would be her home too. He loved her. He had known that for some time. He had known that in the courtroom that first day but it had taken a couple of days for him to admit it.

  He smiled as he watched her, his beautiful Cassie. Did she really think she was invisible? How on earth had she managed to convince herself of that?

  A woman as beautiful as she was got noticed. And boy did she get noticed. He had seen the looks that many men had given her tonight.

  If she had been dressed in an old sack cloth with a paper bag over her head she would still be noticed.

  And yes, he had felt that twinge of jealousy but she had failed to notice all the looks. She had failed to notice him staring at her like some love sick fool all evening.

  In the same way as she had failed to notice him in the court room. The way she had failed to see other men in the corridor as she walked along with her sister.

  He had watched every little move, every smile, every time she had reached up a hand and brushed her hair away from her face. Both then and again tonight.

  He had stood mesmerised as she had stared open mouthed at the lights in the dining room right up until Adam had nudged her with his elbow. Adam should have left well enough alone. That look. It was something alright.

  Luke felt that familiar throb and his stomach clenched. How many times had his body reacted to Cassie over the last few months? More times than he could count.

  Adam had noticed him straight away in the reception room. He had nodded his head in his direction and given a little wave. Cassie hadn’t even noticed that. But Adam had not told Cassie that he had seen him.