“He’s in really bad shape, Rex. I have to call home. I have to tell them.”
“Calm down first and then make the call,” he said as he held me in his arms.
Later, when I was doing a little better, I made the dreaded call. My mom picked up the phone and grew instantly concerned when she heard my voice.
“I have some bad news, Mom,” I said before I lost my nerve.
“What is it, Livvy?” she asked.
Rex squeezed my hand and I took a deep breath. “Greg is in the hospital. He was in an accident and he’s hurt pretty bad.”
“Oh God.”
“The doctor says he suffered multiple fractures.”
“Have you seen him?” she asked.
“The doctor let me see him a while ago for a few minutes.”
“Stay with him, let him know we love him and please keep me updated,” she said.
I could tell she was trying hard to sound strong. “I will, Mom.”
When we hang up, I tried to imagine how she’d break the news to the family and my heart broke for them. I didn’t know how long we stayed in the hospital after that, but later on, somewhere around ten, I remembered I’d forgotten to cancel my classes and called my professors. They seemed understanding after I told them what had happened.
When I joined Rex back in the waiting room, I went and sat beside him and leaned against his shoulder. I kept wondering how the accident had occurred. Had he run into a truck? Were there other casualties? What had really happened? The questions went on and on, making me resent the helplessness of the situation.
“Olivia?” I looked up at the familiar voice and stood up when I saw Mrs. Gallagher.
What was she doing there? How had she known? I turned to Rex and realized he must have been the one who’d called her. I hadn’t gotten around to telling him that she’d ended things between us but I was certain if he’d known, he wouldn’t have called her.
“I heard about what happened,” she said.
Rex got to his feet and walked away, giving us some room to talk in private after gently and reassuringly squeezing my arm.
“How is Greg doing?” she asked.
“I wish I could say he’s doing okay, but to be honest, I don’t know. He’s still unconscious.”
“Rex said he was involved in an accident.”
“Yes, but I haven’t been given much detail to go on.”
She moved closer to me and placed her hand over my shoulder. “Don’t worry. Everything is going to be okay.” For some reason when she said that, I felt like there was some hope.
I took a step closer and wrapped my arms around her. Her arms settled warmly around me and for one consolatory second, I felt safe. After a moment, I pulled away, reminding myself that I wasn’t supposed to do that. “Thanks for being here,” I said.
“I don’t want you to concern yourself with work tomorrow. Stay here with your brother. I’ll take care of everything.”
“Thank you.”
“What’s the name of his doctor?”
“Alex Burgess.” I didn’t know why she wanted to know Greg’s doctor, but I wasn’t going to deprive Greg of the much-needed assistance.
“Alright, I’ll go talk to him, see if there’s anything I can do.”
When she left, Rex came back and placed his arm around my shoulders. We sat back down and I closed my eyes and prayed for my brother. I couldn’t get the image of how he’d looked out of my mind.
“Mrs. Gallagher ended things between us,” I told Rex, in an attempt to take my mind off of Greg.
“What? Why?” he asked.
I rubbed my temple with my forefingers in an attempt to soothe an oncoming migraine. “I told her I was in love with her.” At the words, the pain which had been temporarily pushed aside returned.
“Oh, Livvy.”
I got to my feet and hopelessly tossed my arms aside. “All this is my fault.”
“No, none of this is your fault.”
“Do you know there were moments in there when I truly believed we could be together? Can you believe how naïve my thinking was? I knew. I knew it would end this way. I knew she’d never choose me, but I made myself believe there was a chance,” I said as I paced back and forth.
Rex stood up. “Liv, that is the natural order of falling in love.”
“She felt right for me. She still does. But she’s a married woman with a family.” I laughed painfully. “What was I expecting, right? And then Greg shows up, assumes I’m having an affair with Mr. Gallagher and tries to exploit the situation, and now he’s lying in a hospital bed and the doctors can’t tell whether or not he’s going to make it. I put this whole thing into motion.” I was venting because I was angry and hurt.
He came and stood right in front of me, forcing my gaze to meet his. “Livvy that’s far too great a burden to bear. As far as you and Mrs. Gallagher are concerned, your future with her is yet to be determined.”
“Yet to be determined?” I moved away from him as a fire started to burn in me.
“She came here immediately she found out your brother was in the hospital. That woman in there, that’s not your boss. She’s someone you share something much more significant with. Putting her family first is her responsibility but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t care about you. As for Greg, you can’t take the blame for his accident. Whether or not he’d been exploiting you, we never could have predicted this.”
I exhaled in exasperation and leaned my back against the wall. I was angry with myself. This may not entirely have been my fault, but I had still played a great role in it.
“Livvy?” Amelia’s voice pulled me from my misery. She walked up to me and said, “I’ve spoken to the doctor. Your brother is going to get the best possible care. He’s been moved to a private wing where he’ll be well monitored.”
“I don’t know what to say, Amelia.”
“I wish I could do more.”
“You’ve done enough. I’m sure my family would appreciate it.”
“Did you tell them?” she asked.
“I called my mom earlier. She’s terrified. I wish there was something I could do to ease this whole thing for her.”
She reached for my hand and gently squeezed it in form of comfort. “I’ll do all I can to help.”
I met her soft calm gaze and thought about what Rex had just said. Maybe she truly did care about me. “Thank you for everything.”
“I have to go, but I’ll check in as often as I can.” She took a step closer to me, pecked my forehead then walked away, stopping to momentarily talk to Rex before she left.
“She told me to take care of you,” he said.
Tears fell down my cheeks at the words and he took me back in his arms. We ended up spending the night at the hospital’s waiting room and when morning came, we went to have breakfast at the Hospital’s cafeteria. Since Greg’s doctor wouldn’t let us see him until the official visiting hours, I tried to talk Rex into going home because he still had his own responsibilities.
“Rex, why don’t you go and carry on with your day? You can come by later.”
“And leave you here all by yourself? No,” he said.
Since I didn’t really want him to leave, I didn’t fight him on the matter. Sometime around mid-morning, I went to ask the doctor if there was any change, but he had nothing to report.
I was resting my head back against my chair when I heard my mom’s voice. I thought I had imagined it until I searched the room and found my parents, Sandra and Riley at the entrance of the waiting room.
“Oh, my God.” I ran over to them and hugged them all.
Rex seemed as surprised as I was when he saw them.
“Honey, tell us what happened,” Dad said.
I told them everything I knew and shortly after, I went to call Greg’s doctor to come explain the situation to them. Rex took Riley to the vending machine as I stood by my parents and Sandra.
Dr. Burgess must have seen their distress because he broke h
ospital protocol and allowed us all to go see Greg. He’d been moved to a bigger, better room, thanks to Amelia and even though his condition hadn’t changed, I was hopeful.
“How did you guys get here?” I asked Sandra when we were alone.
“Someone sent by your boss came to get us on a private jet. We thought you arranged it.”
Oh, Amelia. God, what was she doing? Didn’t she know it was things like these that made it so easy for me to be in love with her?
Rex and Riley came to join us a moment later. I picked up the little boy and sat him on my lap. He still remembered me because we’d recently seen each other so he was sweet and friendly towards me. I hoped for his sake, as well as that of Sandra and my parents, Greg would recover.
Greg opened his eyes later on in the evening and after his doctor had checked him, he allowed us to go see him. He seemed happy to see the whole family there and I hoped that would give him the strength he needed to fight for his life.
Opening his eyes felt like a sign that he’d get better. My parents were destroyed to see him in such a broken condition and Sandra was holding back tears because Riley needed to see her strong.
He was too weak to speak, so he didn’t say anything but my parents were fast to reassure him and offer him words of comfort. We gave him a few moments alone with Sandra but after that, no one left his side.
It felt like time stood still for most of it while we were there because there was little progress to report. I tried talking my family into going back to my place for a little bit of rest, but they didn’t want to leave incase something happened, which was understandable because I didn’t want to leave either.
Despite everything that had happened between me and Greg, he was still my brother and I was equally as concerned as my parents.
Sometime around midnight, Riley was sleeping in Sandra’s arms, my parents were sleeping right next to each other and Rex was sleeping by himself. Sleeping in the waiting room seats was uncomfortable, but they didn’t seem to mind.
I was standing by the window looking into the dark starless night. My mind, for once, was blank. All I’d done the whole day was think, so I was tired and I couldn’t sleep.
It had been over twenty-four hours since I’d gotten to that hospital. The helpless situation my family was in made me feel useless. I left the waiting room and snuck out to go see Greg. I wasn’t allowed to see him at such a late hour, but I didn’t care.
I grabbed a seat and sat beside him as my mind traveled back in time. I thought of a time when things between us had been good and started reminding him of childhood stories of when we’d both been young and innocent.
He’d been protective of me while we’d been children. He’d been proud to have a younger sister he could play with and take care of. I didn’t know when things had changed between us, but as children growing up, we’d been close.
“Do you remember the time when that kid, Joe, at school used to pull my pigtails? I came home crying and when you found out you went and told him if he ever touched me again, you’d break his teeth.” I leaned my head over his bed and closed my eyes. I’d cried so much in the last forty-eight hours I didn’t know if I had it in me anymore.
“Liv,” his voice was weak, strained, but I heard him. I got to my feet and looked into his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m sorry for everything.”
Just when I thought I couldn’t cry anymore, tears blurred my vision. “When you get better, I’d like for us to start over,” I said.
He blinked a couple of times then closed his eyes again. With my hope renewed, I leaned over his bed again and fell asleep by his side.
I was woken up by the sound of beeping machines and before I knew what was going on, the room filled with nurses and doctors. One of them escorted me out and I watched in horror as they took him to an operating room.
“Ma’am, you need to go back to the waiting area,” a nurse said.
“Is he going to be okay?” I asked in fear.
“Go be with your family. His doctor is working on him.”
I stood there for some time, waiting, wondering, hoping and praying, then turned and headed back to the waiting area. Everyone had woken up and rushed to me the moment I entered the room.
“Livvy, where were you? What’s going on?” Rex asked.
I looked at my parents and told them what I’d just seen. I didn’t want to worry them, but they deserved to know what was happening to their son. I walked up to Sandra and Riley and wrapped my arms around them.
After waiting for what felt like eternity, the doctor came out, accompanied by the nurse who’d spoken to me earlier. I could tell the worst had happened by the look on their faces, but I waited, still hopeful.
“Greg had massive internal bleeding. We did everything we could, but he didn’t make it. I’m sorry,” he said.
The room fell silent and then my parents and Sandra broke into tears. Rex wrapped his arms around me and it wasn’t long before I started crying too. My dad tried to console us all, but there was nothing he could say at that moment which could ease our pain.
Chapter Forty-Nine
I was tired of crying and hurting. I was tired of the pain and misery. I needed a break from it even if it was just for a few hours. Greg’s body had been released to my family and was being taken back to St. Paul, where the funeral was going to take place.
My family had stayed in my apartment for a couple of days now and were preparing to head back home. They were taking care of the funeral arrangements and Mrs. Gallagher was kind enough to fly us all to St. Paul in her private jet.
The sadness surrounding us all was almost palpable. I wanted to get away from it but unfortunately, I was at the centre of all its madness. To give myself some space, I went to my office, at the Gallagher mansion where I knew I’d be alone.
It was a Tuesday afternoon. I should’ve been working but Mrs. Gallagher had been kind enough to give me as much time as I needed. The problem was, during all that time, I couldn’t think about anything other than what had just happened.
My family was devastated and I resented knowing there was nothing I could do to ease the grieving period for them. I didn’t know how long I sat there, lost in thought, but I was glad when Francis, the Gallagher butler, knocked on the door and a second later, stepped inside.
“Hello Ms. Williams,” he said.
“Hi Francis.”
“There is a young man asking for you downstairs.”
It had to be Rex. He was the only person who knew me well enough to know where I’d go at a time such as this. “I’ll be right down,” I said.
He nodded and walked back out.
I tried to psych myself up, using that little voice in my head to scream continuously. I’m okay. I’m strong. I’ll get through this. My family will find a way to get through this. Just get past these next few days.
When I thought I was strong enough, I got to my feet and headed for the door. I’d only just opened it when Mrs. Gallagher opened hers.
She seemed surprised to see me.
I blankly looked at her, unsure of what to say.
“Olivia, what are you doing here?” she asked.
“I’m sorry, I know this is your home, but I just needed a bit of a break from everything.”
“Oh, sure, that’s fine.”
We stood awkwardly staring at each other for a few seconds and then she said, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
I nodded and stepped back into my office, where she followed me. “Mrs. Gallagher, before you start, I just want to thank you for everything you’ve done for my family. This whole thing would have been extra harder without your involvement or your assistance,” I said.
“Olivia, you don’t have to thank me for that.”
“I do.” I took a deep breath. “You’re my boss. Usual bosses don’t extend these kinds of courtesies to their employees,” I added.
“Livvy,” she said as she stepped closer to me, stopping just the right amount
of distance away. “You know you’re more than that.”
I knew I was. But whatever I was to her, it wasn’t significant enough for her to accept what I felt, and from the turmoil I was going through at that moment, I didn’t want to delude myself. “If you meant it when you said that you want me to stop loving you, I want you to stop with all these gestures. I appreciate them. God knows I do, but the only thing they do is make me love you more. So please, just stop.”
She looked at me for a while then slowly nodded.
“I have to go, Rex is waiting for me.”
“Please wait,” she said when I walked past her.
I stopped and closed my eyes, wishing, praying she wouldn’t say something that would pull me back to her.
“I’m sorry for everything that’s happened.”
I tightened my jaw, trying to hold myself together.
“I’m here for you if you need me,” she said.
I could literally feel my heart constricting in my chest. What did that even mean, she was there for me when I needed her? “I won’t settle for just a piece of your heart, Amelia. I need you, each and every single part of you. But we want different things and I get that. It breaks my heart, but God knows I get it.”
I walked out of the office and after closing the door, I took a deep breath and held my tears back in. I was not going to cry. Not anymore. Not for her. When I was calm enough, I headed downstairs.
I found Rex talking to Adrianna and paused for a second to watch them. If it had been any other time, I would have thought they looked good together, but at that moment, there was just too much going on for me to pay attention.
“Hi Adrianna,” I said as I approached them.
“Hi Olivia,” she said.
Rex walked over to me and said, “It’s time. Everything is ready. We have to go.”
I nodded and headed out the door.
“It was nice meeting you, Adrianna,” Rex said as he followed after me.
When we got out, he led me to where he’d parked my crappy little car, which he’d been using since I’d started working for Amelia. We drove straight to the airstrip, where I found my family waiting and an hour later, we were heading back to St. Paul.
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