He looked down at the metal limb and then down at the empty sheath of fabric still quivering from the sudden movement. The material looked horrible lying flat and insubstantial against the side of the bed. He tried tucking it under, but it in order to keep it in place he had to drag the material up under his thigh, stretching the fabric uncomfortably tight over his knees. He sighed and gave up, sliding the bottoms back off his legs and donning fresh protective socks before reattaching his prosthetic legs once again.
He stood up and dragged on a pair of clean denims and a fresh linen shirt. After running his fingers through his hair he glanced in the mirror to see the overall effect. Not too shabby, he decided, but then rubbed the back of his hand over his chin. He’d shaved that morning, but the dark stubble was already through again. He wondered if he shouldn’t have given himself more of a tidy up seeing that Crystal was going to be at the dining table.
A soft grunt left his lips as he turned towards the door. He didn’t need to shave again. He wasn’t trying to impress anyone and he was damn sure that the others didn’t shave twice in a day just because they were having their meal all together. He closed his door behind him and made his way downstairs.
A flurry of noise and laughter warned him that there were more people in the château’s dining room than he had expected. He walked into the chandelier hung room and was immediately engulfed in a whirlwind of dark curls and wild laughter as Gemma threw herself at him and hugged him hard.
“Hey, I’m so happy to see you, but really sorry I couldn’t get to the funeral. These guys had just arrived and they were so pathetic that I couldn’t abandon them.” She grinned as she indicated with a jab of her mechanical thumb over her shoulder. James followed her direction and came face to face with three handsome young men, all of whom laughed at Gemma’s ribbing.
The tallest of them came forwards, walking slightly awkwardly. He held out a hand in greeting.
“We’re still a bit pathetic actually, but we seem to be getting there. Andrew Lawson.” He introduced himself with an easy smile as James shook his hand. “These other two miscreants are Charlie Fellows and Chris Teal. Gemma has been helping us re-adjust after some lunatic took us out with a well placed IED. Fucking bastard!” He added with feeling while all three men looked downwards. James followed their gaze. Nothing showed outwardly through their clothes but he assumed that they all had prosthetic limbs concealed beneath their trousers.
He nodded sympathetically.
“My sentiments exactly, though it was a suicide bomber in my case. Some shithead made a child wear a bomb belt and we didn’t stand a chance.” He shook the other men’s hands and they all made their way to the dining table.
Ellen and Geraldine supervised places as Patrick came through with the huge joint of beef, already carved onto serving plates. David followed with what looked like a small mountain of garlic butter smothered new potatoes and Joe followed with tureens of steaming vegetables. Robbie came in last, half hidden behind a vast pile of Yorkshire puddings that threatened to spill from the plate.
The delicious meal continued while the conversation flowed easily, though James had to bite the inside of his mouth when Gemma’s three visitors began to flirt outrageously with both Crystal and Emily. His stomach turned to knots and his fingers curled into fists as Andrew threw out jokes, laughed, and caught Crystal’s attention continually.
It was only as Lucy and Ellen cleared away the empty plates and brought back a delicious smelling apple and cinnamon crumble with huge bowls of thick custard and jugs of pouring cream that Gemma brought up the reason why she had brought the three men to the château.
“Of course, Patrick’s cooking had a lot to do with it.” She gave the man a wink and stuck her spoon into her dessert before carrying on. “But I wanted these guys to meet Crystal. We have many treatments available at the rehab centre, but we’re always open to something new. There’s a lot more to these alternative remedies than you might expect. I’m sure that relaxation plays a major part along with the manipulation of certain areas of the body that brings relief to others. I think that acupuncture as well as some forms of hypnosis might be possible. Reflexology could possibly help too.” Gemma glanced along at James who studied his pudding minutely.
“Might work if you had any feet to practice the reflexology on, I suppose.” James muttered under his breath the moment before he took a mouthful of his dessert.
He almost choked the moment later when Gemma suddenly stuck her elbow into his ribs.
“Shut up and listen, idiot. You don’t know anything about it, so don’t offer an opinion until you have all the facts,” she hissed before nodding towards Crystal whose cheeks had flushed with embarrassment at James’ words.
Crystal cleared her throat and glanced around the table hoping that no one had noticed the exchange. If they had, no one commented upon it. Everyone looked back at her, waiting for her to speak. She put down her dessertspoon and gave a little shrug.
“It’s not an exact science, but therapeutic remedies have been used for thousands of years. Most of them were invented long before modern medicine and many have been relied on for centuries. Every one of us is different and some need an equally different approach. I don’t think we should dismiss anything that might work to relieve pain, or stress, or even mild discomfort. I’ve only just finished my course, but I had excellent results with pain management on my test subjects. The relaxation techniques could eventually help conquer things from trivial random headaches to the intense pain that some cancer patients suffer. I don’t see why these same procedures won’t help with anything from stiff muscles to phantom limb syndrome. I’m willing to give them a try at any rate.” She spoke with passion, and the belief in her skills shone through.
Chris, one of the men from the rehabilitation centre, spoke up quickly.
“You can experiment on me any day. I’d try just about anything to get rid of the throbbing in my ankle. I mean, my non ankle. I feel like beating my head against a wall most days.”
Andrew nodded in agreement.
“I’ve tried a lot of the recommended stuff but with varied degrees of success. If these other methods don’t cure it, they add to the arsenal you can use against it. My problems vary from day to day. I can’t rely on one method at all. I’d be willing to have a go at anything you can offer.” The seriousness of his tone after all the laughs and jokes spoke volumes.
Charlie didn’t speak. He just stuck up his thumb in agreement as he savoured a mouthful of the crumble and Crystal smiled delightedly back at him.
“Wow, thanks for your confidence in my abilities. I’d love to try and help you all, and being here for the next couple of weeks gives me the perfect opportunity. Why don’t Gemma and I schedule some appointments for you all?”
Andrew nodded quickly.
“All good with me. Charlie is on dinner rota tomorrow so I’m completely free apart from my physiotherapy session at eleven. I’d be especially interested in one of those relaxation massages. I don’t feel as though my mind turns off at all these days.” He gave her a cheeky wink.
James swallowed his mouthful of pudding and pushed the rest of his bowl of crumble away, his appetite suddenly gone.
“I thought we might be able to discuss these investments tomorrow.” He hissed along the table to Crystal.
She smiled sweetly in response.
“That’s fine with me. You can discuss them all you want seeing as they are your responsibility. I’m going to liaise with Gemma and these men. They are perfect candidates for my therapies and I think my time will be better spent with them. It will give me some great experience, if nothing else.” She turned away from him and took up the conversation with Andrew, Charlie, and Chris again.
James fell back in his chair in shock. He couldn’t think of a thing to say. She was quite within her rights to offer the men whatever treatment she felt confident to give them if they were willing to accept it, but being dismissed so easily hurt badly. Was he that
unimportant to her? He scowled across at the three men, all of whom ignored him completely as they chatted comfortably with Crystal.
Gemma suddenly nudged him and lifted her chin towards his barely touched crumble.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
James looked at the bowl of now congealing custard covered pudding before glancing back up at the men opposite. Smiles wreathed their faces. None of them looked to be in any pain at all. He ignored Gemma’s question.
“Do they all have missing legs?” He asked out of the corner of his mouth.
She frowned curiously at him. Most people didn’t ask for specifics of a person’s disability unless information was offered first, but she caught a meaningful look from Geraldine and spoke quietly as James glared at the three men.
“Yes, it’s no secret. They told you about the IED. First trip for all of them and they’re so young too. Far nearer Crystal’s age than our own. Andrew was lucky to come out of the blast alive. Two of the crew died and Andrew lost both his legs up to his thighs. He’s doing remarkably well considering what he’s been through. Charlie and Chris fared slightly better, but still not well. They’re all putting a brave face on it and coping, but only just. They’ve a long way to go yet. Why do you ask?”
James grunted and he stared at Crystal as she laughed, joked and lay her hand on Andrew’s outstretched arm. Something snapped inside his head and his guts threatened to spew bile despite having just eaten a full dinner. Jealousy raged through him though he knew that he was being stupid and selfish. His heart twisted in envy at the ease with which the three men spoke to the beautiful, passionate woman at the table. He pushed back his chair as he remembered Gemma’s question.
“No reason, and no, I don’t want any more crumble. I’ve a sudden headache come on and it has affected my appetite.” He rubbed his temples. “I think I’ll have an early night seeing as I’ll need to be at my best when discussing any financial matters tomorrow.” He stood up and made his excuses to everyone, though he refused to let his eyes meet Crystal’s as she said goodnight.
He marched straight out of the dining room, his shoulder banging on the doorframe as he went. He ignored the jolt and didn’t look back as he made his way into the hallway.
The table fell silent for a moment before the conversation started up again as Geraldine smiled across the table and gave Crystal an exaggerated wink.
Chapter Five
“Why don’t you invest it all in a chocolate mine in Calcutta? Or maybe a sand factory in Saudi Arabia? Or what about a kilt manufacturers in Spain? You know, on the Costa Brava. You should do well with plaid there.” David raised his eyebrows at Joe, while James sat opposite them nodding absently and doodling on a pad of paper.
Joe chuckled and kept his eyes firmly on the mug of tea in front of him. James stopped doodling and shielded his eyes from the morning sunshine as he glanced about the table at his friends. They were sitting outside in the formal garden of the château, a tray of tea and plate of Patrick’s home made all butter biscuits on the table in front of them, while they discussed possible investments for Adam’s fortune. A matter that seemed to have passed James by. Other things had crowded into his mind, most of them involving clear blue eyes and soft, curling hair. He frowned as he realized that he hadn’t been paying attention to anything David had said.
“What? What did you say? I must have missed something.” James looked at his friends in confusion.
Joe laughed aloud this time.
“Yup, about the last half hour’s worth of advice. Have you written down anything useful yet?”
James looked down at his pad.
Chocolate mines? Sand to Arabs? Kilts on the Costa Brava? He groaned as he rolled his eyes, not believing what he was seeing. He tore the sheet from the notebook, screwed it up in his hand, and threw it at Joe’s forehead. Joe headed the wad of paperinto the sugar bowl as James wrote ‘investment ideas’ at the top of his new page.
“I must have written it all down wrong. Can you go over it again?” He underlined the title twice and looked up expectantly at his two friends.
David shook his head and sighed deeply.
“No point, mate. You will probably actually go and do one of them, the state you’re in. Best leave it until you’ve sorted out your most pressing problem.”
James put his pen down and picked up his mug.
“I don’t have a problem and I’m not in any kind of state. I was a little distracted, that’s all, though this kind of money is bound to worry a person.” He ignored the scoffs from his friends and carried on. “Well, what did you do when you inherited from your great aunt? That must have come as a bit of a shock too.” He looked at David.
David finished the last of his tea and leaned in to pour another.
“I suppose it might have done if I’d had a minute to think about it. I was in Afghanistan at the time. Ellen messaged me with the news and I immediately made her a signatory on my account. She and I agreed a lump sum for our cousin, who was as mad as hell that he’d been left out of his grandmother’s will, and then we were blown up, if you recall.” He pointed between himself and James. “I seem to remember that we’d been discussing something about the money right before that kid erupted into a million pieces, taking us along with him. The money didn’t seem to really signify after that, and by the time I was in any state to think about it seriously, Ellen had come up with this idea.” He waved a hand around at the vast walls of limestone that dominated the skyline. The beautiful château stood majestically, slate topped turrets gleaming as the sunshine glimmered through the green forest that surrounded it. “I agreed to it immediately. I mean, what else was I going to do? It was a brilliant idea.” He dunked one of the buttery biscuits.
Joe and James both nodded. James sat back in his chair, placed his hands on the back of his head, and closed his eyes as he lifted his face towards the warmth of the sun.
“It certainly was a brilliant idea.” He took in a long breath and eased himself back in his chair. He had not slept well the night before. His imaginary headache at the dinner table became real very soon after leaving it. The hammering in his skull had worsened throughout the night and even strong painkillers hadn’t helped.
He spent half the night rolling about his bed making the sheets hot and sweaty, and the other half of the night drifting somewhere between wakefulness and sleep. His imagination drove him wild with thoughts of Crystal running about between rows of beds, wearing nothing but a transparent blue negligee, while massaging everyone else’s body but his own. He seemed to remember quite vividly that she had completely ignored him when he had shouted out that it was his turn.
The sun eventually rising over the treetops had been a huge relief from the restless night and he had taken a good long walk through the forest to clear his head. The irresistible pull of the zip-wire had taken his mind off his immediate worries and after a good drenching in the river at the bottom of the ravine, he had called in on Joe, Lucy and their daughter Anna at their house in the valley. Joe had loaned him a set of dry clothes before accompanying James back to the chateau and he now sat with his two friends, drinking tea and dunking biscuits while supposedly mulling over ideas for secure investments.
A rush of footsteps made him open his eyes again but he was disappointed to see Ellen dashing across the terrace towards them. He had hoped that Crystal might have changed her mind about giving the men at the rehabilitation centre a massage, and come out to join them, but it appeared that he was wrong. Ellen stopped beside the table, her face flushed with excitement. She waved a piece of paper about as she spoke.
“Did you know about this?” She demanded of James as she waved the paper some more.
A slow smile slid across his features as he recalled what her letter might be about.
“Crystal and Emily were hoping it would surprise you. You didn’t imagine for one moment that Adam would leave your scheme out of his will, did you?”
Ellen’s eyes suddenly filled with tea
rs.
“It’s such a fabulous gesture, but what about Crystal and Emily. Did they agree to this? However much I’d love to, I can’t take their money.” She placed the letter on the table in front of her brother.
David leaned forwards and took the paper, his eyes widening as he read its contents.
“Shit me! Five million! You’re joking!” Shock registered over his scarred features.
James shook his head and held up his hand as Ellen looked about to protest again.
“Nope, it’s no joke and before you start panicking, Ellen, this money has nothing to do with the portion left for Crystal and Emily. Adam had set up a completely different investment plan for this place. It seems he’s done well with that too. Should keep the wolf from the door for a while.” He chuckled.
While the cost of renovations and setting up the château scheme had taken much of their fortune, Ellen and David were still financially secure. They had no real money worries, but with the upkeep of a building of the size and grandeur of the château, and the speciality services the hotel offered at no charge to their disabled clients, a constant income stream became a necessity. Most of the day to day running of the venture was paid for by exclusive monthly corporate and team building events, but a cushion of the size Adam had left them would mean that they could offer far more to the disabled service men and women and their families.
Ellen’s bright eyes turned to her brother.
“You realize that we can set up the retraining scheme with this kind of money. Imagine how much that would mean to our people.” She referred to the idea they had the previous year but had failed to begin due to the huge start-up costs. “This means we can run specific courses without having to interfere with our usual holiday crowd. We could renovate and extend the pigeonnier and the gamekeeper’s cottage on the other side of the ravine. And there’s that huge old barn.” She spoke excitedly as she recalled several buildings that stood on the vast estate that had never been repaired or utilized.
Scarred Surrender (Scarred Series Book 6) Page 6