‘You mean Mar—he’s being operated on right now?’ Olivia gasped.
‘Yes,’ the girl confirmed huskily. ‘He has a fractured skull.’
‘Dear God …!’ Olivia groaned, pulling herself together as she suddenly realised she couldn’t be helping Sally at all by reacting like this. ‘He’ll be all right,’ she assured her softly. ‘I’ll go and see if I can find out anything new. You sit here and I’ll bring you back a cup of coffee.’
‘You won’t be long?’ Sally clutched on to her hand, evidence of her fears of the last two hours.
Olivia smiled, squeezing the hand she held. ‘No, I won’t be long. And don’t worry, I’m sure your father is going to be just fine.’
Her confidence lasted for as long as it took her to get out of the waiting-room. She knew the complications that could arise from a fractured skull as well as any other trained medical person. Thank God Sally didn’t seem to be as well informed, otherwise she might be in a worse state than she was already.
She easily located the Sister on Emergency in her office, quickly explained who and what she was, and asked for further information on Marcus.
The pretty young Sister gave her a sympathetic look. ‘We’re all very concerned too. He’s the Chief Surgeon here, you know.’
No, she hadn’t known that! ‘Then who is operating …?’
‘Mr Hamilton’s condition was critical when he was brought in,’ the other girl sighed heavily. ‘Mr Hamilton’s own assistant, Simon Brooks, is operating.’ She shook her head. ‘I feel partly responsible for the accident.’
Olivia frowned. ‘You do?’ What did this girl mean to Marcus? She was certainly young and pretty enough for him to find attractive.
‘If I hadn’t called him out for an emergency operation he wouldn’t have been in this part of London at all,’ the Sister explained.
Olivia heaved a mental sigh of relief—although why she should she had no idea. Marcus Hamilton was just an excellent surgeon to her now, nothing more. She didn’t care if he had a dozen women in his life. Now she was starting to sound jealous!
‘I’ll just go along to the theatre and check for you,’ the young Sister told her. ‘I won’t be long.’
‘I’ll be in the waiting-room with Sally—Mr Hamilton’s daughter,’ Olivia explained in case the other woman didn’t know her.
She took the promised coffee back to Sally, heavily sugared, although she saw Sally grimace as she tasted the sweetness but bravely drink it down anyway, knowing that it would be good for her.
The Sister came in about ten minutes later. ‘Mr Hamilton is just coming out of Theatre now,’ she informed them gently.
‘And?’ Olivia prompted, white with anxiety.
‘He’s no longer on the danger list—–’
‘Oh, thank God!’ Sally collapsed into Olivia’s waiting arms.
But Olivia knew the Sister hadn’t finished, could see by the compassion in the deep blue eyes that there was more to come. She tensed herself for that.
‘Mr Brooks removed several fragments of bone that had fractured,’ the other woman continued softly. ‘We have no idea yet what damage may have been done internally.’
‘You mean—you mean brain damage?’ Sally gasped.
‘It’s a possibility—–’
It was what Olivia had been expecting, and she felt Sally sag against her as she fainted.
‘I’m so sorry,’ the Sister helped her to get Sally into a chair, ‘but Mr Brooks is in with another emergency right now, and I don’t believe Miss Hamilton should be under any delusions as to how serious her father’s injuries are.’
‘She had to be told,’ Olivia assured her.
‘Mr Hamilton is being moved to a private room now, there will be a nurse in with him, but I’m sure Mr Brooks will have no objection to both you and Miss Hamilton sitting with him if you want to.’
Looking at Sally, Olivia knew the young girl would want to, and she couldn’t let her do it alone.
‘Mr Brooks will be in to talk to you both as soon as he’s available,’ the Sister told her. ‘In the meantime—–’ she hesitated, ‘Mr Hamilton also had severe lacerations to the face. You understand?’
A shiver ran down Olivia’s spine. Marcus’s beautiful handsome face cut and torn, possibly scarred for life? If he had a life …! God, he must be all right, he must!
‘I’ll prepare her,’ she told the other girl softly as Sally began to regain consciousness, groaning groggily as she did so.
But no one had prepared her! Marcus lay grey against the stark white bedclothes, a heavy bandage about his temple, several deep cuts on his face that had needed stitches, blood congealed along the jagged edges, the skin already looking bruised. There were several stitched cuts on his hands as they lay limply on the counterpane too, as if he had put up his hands to shield his face. Heaven knows what he would have looked like if he hadn’t put up his hands!
Sally wordlessly pulled up a chair to sit at his side, gently touching one of his injured hands so as not to hurt him, her gaze never leaving his still face.
A nurse sat silently at the back of the room, so Olivia sat in the chair opposite Sally’s across the bed, not touching Marcus herself, afraid even of that much contact with him. He hadn’t changed at all in six years, perhaps a little harsher in the face, but other than that he looked the same, the lines grooved beside his nose and mouth smoothed out in his unconscious state. His breathing was shallow and even, hardly breathing at all really.
‘I won’t let him die.’ Sally suddenly broke the silence, speaking with a calm that had Olivia looking at her with sharp concern.
‘Sally—–’
‘I won’t let him be a mental cabbage either,’ the young girl told her fiercely.
Olivia gasped, not having acknowledged such a thing even to herself. That could never happen to Marcus, not with his gift for healing others, a skill that would need every ounce of his old sure intelligence if he were to continue with it.
‘I won’t!’ Sally repeated vehemently.
Olivia wisely remained silent, not wanting to say or do anything that would push the emotional tension Sally was under over the edge, knowing the younger girl was likely to collapse altogether when that happened.
They sat there for what seemed like hours, although Olivia knew that in fact only two hours had passed since they were shown into Marcus’s room. She took advantage of one of the occasions she went out to the machine to get coffee to call the Hayes house and assure them that so far Marcus was holding his own. For once Clara hadn’t seemed so vague, telling her that of course she must stay at the hospital with Sally for as long as she needed her.
When she got back to the room it was to find Sally slumped back in her chair, fast asleep. She didn’t even bother to move the girl into a more comfortable position, not wanting to disturb her, knowing that sleep was the best thing for her right now. She would need all of her strength when Marcus finally woke up.
Dear God, seeing him like this, near enough to touch, took her back once more to that night he had asked her to share his bed.
‘Your mother-in-law,’ she had reminded him protestingly.
‘Sybil isn’t staying at the house. She’ll probably have left by now,’ he told her.
‘But—–’
‘I