Coming Home to the Highlands, page 20
He had bailed on Bella on the night of the ball, and she had been so disappointed she had walked around like a bear with a sore head but still wouldn’t spill the beans. ‘Oh, really? So come on, spill it, Bells!’
Bella shook her head. ‘My lips are well and truly sealed for now. He’s away at the moment anyway. So, I’d rather wait until he returns before we make anything public.’
Olivia’s heart skipped. He’s away? Like Brodie? And Brodie was at the ball with me which means… it can’t be… not him… Surely he would have mentioned something? But then again, she had berated him for supposedly flirting with other women at the ball, so no, Brodie probably wouldn’t have said anything. And it made sense that Bella wouldn’t admit to it, knowing his marital status.
‘I’m just worried about you, Bella. I hope he’s not a married man or anything like that.’
‘Pfft,’ was all that Bella could utter before gathering her notepad and handbag and saying. ‘Better dash. Lots to do!’
Olivia’s heart sank and her mind was filled with a kind of dread that she had only encountered on two occasions in the past. Neither of which had ended well.
She picked up her phone and typed out a text to Brodie.
Hey MacLeod. Where the Dickens are you? I know you took holiday time but we’ve heard nothing from you in days and that’s scary. You have friends here that are worried, you know. And if there is something you need to tell me, something about you and my friend Bella perhaps, you can just tell me, you know. I know I seemed a bit judgy before when we were at the ball, but I’m not really like that. I just want you to be happy. And safe of course. Just message me, okay?
As soon as she had finished typing, she reread her words, sighed heavily and promptly hit the backspace button. She couldn’t possibly send it, could she?
She just knew that this was one occasion where she really and truly hoped that two and two didn’t make four.
Days were passing at a rate of knots but there was still no word from Brodie. One day, when Olivia was wandering through the grounds with Marley, she ended up on Dougie’s doorstep again.
‘Still no word, Lady Olivia. But as I said before, he’ll be fine. I suspect he just needed to clear his head. He has down times when things get tough. But he’s a fighter. Mentally, I mean. Not physically. He’s a good lad, my Brodie. But I know you know that.’
She smiled. ‘I do know that. If you do hear from him, please tell him I’m concerned for him. He can always just message to say he’s okay. It would put my mind at rest.’
‘If I hear from him, I’ll definitely pass on your message.’
‘Thank you. And in the meantime, is there anything I can do for you, Dougie?’
He smiled warmly. ‘You’re just like your mother. Putting everyone else above yourself, even when they don’t deserve it. And no, I think I’ll be fine. But thank you. I appreciate you asking.’
Two days to go to the Christmas Countdown Fayre and Owain had insisted he take Olivia out to calm her nerves. He’d booked a table at Bella Italia restaurant again but that only managed to make her think of Brodie. Of course she ordered the mushroom agnolotti with truffle oil, how could she not?
Once their main courses were finished, Owain chatted away about his latest piece that was taking up the whole of his studio. He had driven them to the restaurant so she couldn’t even blame the wine for his over-exuberance on this particular evening. She heard the words landscape, series, seasons but had drifted off, her mind elsewhere.
‘And the aliens loved posing for me, even though I don’t usually tackle portraits. It was hard to get the right shade of green, too, but I did my best.’
Olivia’s eyes shot towards him. ‘Aliens?’
Owain laughed. ‘So, you were listening to parts of it, at least.’
Olivia shook her head. ‘Gosh, I’m so sorry. I don’t know where I went.’
Owain took her hand across the table. ‘You’re ever so quiet, Olivia. What’s wrong?’
She forced a smile. She hadn’t mentioned Brodie’s disappearance to him at all. Nor her suspicions that he was seeing Bella behind his wife’s back. ‘Oh, nothing. I’m just exhausted. The fayre has taken all of my energy, I think. I tend to get grumpy when I’m tired,’ she lied.
‘Well… I may have something that will cheer you up.’
Olivia straightened, willing his words to be true. ‘Ooh, that sounds good. What is it?’
‘Okay, so you know I said I was going to buy you the best Christmas gift ever?’
She grinned. ‘I do remember that. Very clearly.’
‘Right… so… god, my palms are sweating. Okay… So… I think as you need cheering up and as it’s almost the festive season anyway, I figured I would give you your gift tonight.’ He reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a small package wrapped in gold paper and a red ribbon. ‘I’ve had it on good authority that you’ll like it. Well, my mum and my sister thought so, anyway. And I know it’s probably not what you were expecting, but I saw it and I just knew. I only hope I knew correctly, of course, but I think so. I’m usually a good judge of taste and, of course, yours is impeccable. God, I’m rambling. Okay, so here you go. Just open it.’
He handed her the parcel and she tugged at the ribbon, eager to see what delights lay inside. She opened the wrapping and took out the cardboard box, opened the lid on that, and found something quite unexpected inside.
She gasped and glanced up at Owain. ‘What is this?’ Her heart thumped at her ribs and her mouth dried out rapidly as she pulled out the small velvet box.
Owain’s eyes were fixed on her. ‘Go ahead, open it,’ he whispered.
She swallowed, mixed emotions vying for dominance and her heart almost stopped when she lifted the creaking lid and caught sight of the diamond ring sitting in the little velvet cushion, the facets glinting in the candlelight.
‘Oh, my goodness.’
He reached across and took her hand. ‘Now I know this seems stupidly fast, and insta-love is something only usually found in romance novels but… I know how I feel about you, and I know that being married to my best friend would be the most wonderful thing ever. So… Olivia MacBain, would you do me the honour of being my wife?’
She opened her mouth to speak, but as she did so, her phone rang. She glanced at her bag, unsure what to do. But it was almost 10 p.m., so it was obviously something important.
‘So?’ Owain asked, a wide, hopeful smile still fixed on his face as he slipped the ring onto the ring finger of her left hand. ‘What do you say?’
The phone continued to ring. ‘I— I should maybe get that. It might be important.’
Owain straightened up and smoothed down his tie. ‘Of course. Of course you should.’
Shakily she reached into her bag and pulled out her phone. ‘Hello?’
‘Lady Olivia?’ a familiar voice asked, but it sounded strangled with emotion.
‘Yes, this is she. Who’s calling?’
‘It’s Dougal… Dougie MacLeod.’ He sniffed and his voice cracked.
Olivia’s blood ran cold. ‘Dougie? What is it? What’s wrong?’
‘He’s… he’s in a bad way. He’s… he’s asking for you.’
‘Oh my god, what’s happened? Where is he?’
‘He’s at Raigmore Hospital. He was taken there by ambulance after the campsite owner found him out in the woods at Rosemarkie that surround the site where he’d been camping. He said he was walking his dog and heard another dog howling and whining. It was Wilf. The man called an ambulance and took Wilf to his friend who’s a vet to get Wilf’s chip scanned. The dog’s registered to my address so he turned up here with Wilf and explained what had happened. We got here as soon as we could. Wilf is at home, poor thing.’
‘Which ward is he in? I’ll be right there.’
19
The drive to Raigmore took a matter of minutes but it still felt too long. Nervous energy coursed through Olivia’s veins and her leg bounced as she chewed at the skin around her thumb. Her suspicions that something was very wrong were now confirmed in the worst possible way. What the hell had happened to Brodie?
Owain reached up and took her hand. ‘Hey, calm down. We’re almost there. He’ll be fine. He’s a tough guy, from what I’ve seen.’
He was right, in a way. Brodie was tough on the outside, but it wasn’t his exterior that she was worried about.
She nodded and squeezed Owain’s hand. ‘Thank you so much for this. And I’m so sorry to cut short our evening.’
‘Honestly, it’s fine. I would be exactly the same if one of my friends wound up in hospital.’
He pulled the car into the drop off space outside the hospital. ‘Right. Message me as soon as you know what’s happening. I can come back and pick you up, it’s not a problem.’
‘Thank you again, Owain, but I have no idea how long I’ll be. It’s probably best that I call a taxi.’
He unclipped his seatbelt, reached across and hugged her. ‘Well, the offer stands. You’re a good friend and I know he’ll appreciate you being there.’
She loved that there was no sense of jealousy, no anger that she was abandoning him. But she felt guilty for that very reason. She had run away from a man who had just proposed to her to go to a man who she wanted but couldn’t have. Where was the sense in it? Deep down, she felt she was betraying Owain’s trust in quite an underhanded way.
Once inside the hospital, Olivia made her way to the floor that Dougie had mentioned. Everything was quiet apart from the odd nurse or orderly traversing from one location to another with clipboards or bedpans. The sound of distant footsteps and low chatter were all that she could hear as she made her way to the ward.
After she had been buzzed in, Olivia stood at the nurses’ station, her whole body juddering and her heart pounding so hard she could feel the throbbing in her head. She explained to the nurse why she was there at such a late hour.
‘I’m afraid it’s family only and as it is there already two people in there. Visiting hours were over a while ago and I can’t just let anyone in,’ the petite red-haired nurse told her apologetically. ‘We have rules about these things. I’m so sorry.’
Olivia nodded. ‘Okay, I understand, I do. It’s just that Brodie’s father called me and said he’d been asking for me.’
The nurse’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, are you Lady MacBain?’
Olivia nodded. ‘I am.’
The nurse pointed down the corridor. ‘In that case, he’s in room two. My apologies. He was asking for you and I was told to make an exception when you arrived.’
Olivia smiled, relieved. ‘Thank you so much.’ She inhaled a deep, calming breath and walked towards the room, the heels of her boots clip-clopping loudly on the hard floor, echoing around the otherwise quiet hospital ward. She didn’t like hospitals as it was, but at night, they seemed extra eerie, like some sinister scene in a horror movie, and she shivered involuntarily.
She knocked lightly on the door, and it opened a matter of seconds later.
‘Lady Olivia. Thank you so much for coming,’ Dougie said, holding out his hand. His eyes were bloodshot and his face pale. Olivia pulled him into an embrace. ‘Of course, Dougie, and please, it’s just Olivia.’
Mirren stood and crossed the room too, a crumpled tissue in her hand. ‘Bless you for coming, dearie.’ She hugged her tightly.
Dougie gestured to a chair. ‘Please, come and sit down. I’ll go and get you a coffee.’
‘Thank you, Dougie. I think I could do with one.’
Dougie left the room and Olivia walked over to the bed where Brodie lay hooked up to a heart monitor, the blip-blip thankfully stable. She sat and Mirren followed suit, taking her hand.
‘I bet Dougie’s glad to have you here with him,’ she said to Mirren.
She shook her head. ‘He was in bits, Olivia. Absolutely heartbroken. I couldn’t let him drive here in that state.’
‘Of course not. You did the right thing.’
They fell silent and watched Brodie as he lay there in slumber. His eyes were swollen shut, and he had bandages covering patches on his arms. Another bandage wrapped around his head and his hair was greasy and matted. A splint covered his nose, which was bloody and bruised. His hospital gown was pulled down at the neck and the pads for the monitor were stuck in between bruises on his chest. His chest rose and fell naturally, meaning his breathing pattern was, thankfully, steady. But seeing this tall, muscular man lying there in such a fragile and vulnerable state made her angry and sad simultaneously. How could another human being treat him like this? What possible reason could there be?
‘Do you know what happened to him?’ Olivia asked Mirren.
‘I… I can’t say, sweetheart. Dougie asked… Well, you know, it’s quite sensitive and it’s probably best it comes from Brodie.’ Mirren stood and walked over to the window. She sniffed and dabbed at her eyes. ‘He’s like a son to me and I hate to see him like this.’
The anguish in Mirren’s voice made Olivia’s heart ache, her eyes welled with tears, and she covered her mouth with one hand. ‘Oh, my goodness, Brodie. What on earth happened to you?’ She pulled herself closer to his bedside his bed and took hold of his hand. ‘I wish you’d tell me. I just want to help.’ He looked as though he had been beaten up or run over. She wasn’t sure which, but it was clear that something horrific had happened. And while she was frustrated that Mirren wouldn’t tell her why he had ended up here, she understood too. It wasn’t her story to tell. And there clearly was a story here.
‘Ol-Olivia?’ Brodie croaked. ‘D-don’t cry,’ he whispered as he tried to reach for her.
Her heart tripped over itself. ‘Yes, Brodie, it’s Olivia, I’m here. It’s okay. Just rest.’
‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,’ he whispered as he squeezed her hand.
‘Shhh, don’t try to speak. Just sleep now. I’m not going anywhere.’
Dougie returned a few moments later and handed her a cardboard cup of coffee. ‘It’s not the best, but it’ll do the trick,’ he told her.
‘Dougie, can you tell me what on earth has happened? He looks like he’s been attacked.’
Dougie nodded and his lip trembled. ‘Aye. Broken ribs, broken nose, cuts, a split on his head… He didn’t even try to defend himself. Who’d have thought it?’ Mirren walked over and took his hand.
Olivia glanced between the two older people. ‘Who’d have thought what? Dougie, please tell me what’s going on.’
Dougie shook his head. ‘I cannae. It’s for him to tell you, no me. I’m just ready for it to be over now. It’s been going on too long. He doesnae deserve this.’
Olivia closed her eyes and sighed. ‘Look, why don’t you two go home and get some rest? I’m happy to stay at his bedside. You both look exhausted.’
Dougie wiped his eyes. ‘Aye, I’m exhausted, all right. But I don’t want to leave him. He’s my only son. My only child. I wasnae there for him enough when he left with his mother, so I’ll no abandon him now.’
Mirren rubbed his arm. ‘Olivia’s right, love. You’re not abandoning him. And you can’t help him if you’re ill from tiredness and stress. And poor Wilf will wonder what’s going on. Please, let’s go home. Olivia will call us if anything changes, won’t you, dearie?’
‘Of course I will. I won’t leave him, so if there’s any update, I’ll call right away.’
Dougie scrunched his brow and nodded. ‘Aye… aye, okay. But you must ring me. It doesnae matter what time.’
Olivia reached out and squeezed his arm. ‘I promise.’
Dougie walked over and kissed his son’s head. ‘I’ll be back soon, son. I love you.’ He smoothed the matted hair back from his face. ‘You’re loved, Brodie, do you hear me? This has to stop now.’
He wiped tears from his chin and crossed the room to Olivia. ‘Thank you, Olivia. I know you had your issues in the past, but your friendship means such a lot to him and he thinks a lot of you. I’m grateful for you being here.’
Once Dougie and Mirren were gone, Olivia turned her attention back to Brodie. ‘When you’re ready, you can tell me anything. If I can help you, I will. It doesn’t matter the cost. I hope you know that.’
Olivia was woken by movement on the bed, and she lifted her head, confused for a moment as to where she was. The muscles in her neck were spasming and she reached up to rub a sore spot.
‘Sorry to wake you, Lady Olivia. I just had to come and check his vitals,’ the red-haired nurse from the previous night informed her.
She straightened up and moved her head this way and that. ‘That’s okay. How is he doing?’
‘Oh, he’s doing well. At least, he’s doing as well as can be expected. Everything is functioning as it should be. He’s just going to be sore for a wee while. Lots of healing to do.’
In more ways than just physical, Olivia thought.
Olivia turned to face the nurse where she stood at the foot of the bed, making notes on Brodie’s chart. ‘I don’t suppose you know what happened to him, do you? He’s in such a state.’
The nurse smiled kindly. ‘I’m sorry but I’m not allowed to divulge that. If he chooses to tell you when he wakes, that’s up to him, but I’m not at liberty to discuss it with you. I’m so sorry.’
Olivia nodded. ‘Of course. No worries.’
‘I’m Rowan. If you need anything, just let me know. There’s a coffee machine at the end of the corridor and a snack vending machine beside it. I’m on 6.30 a.m. so if you get worried about anything, just shout… or whisper loudly,’ she said with a smile. ‘In the meantime, why don’t you move to the chair by the window? It’ll be comfier. And you didn’t hear this from me, but there’s an extra blanket in the cupboard.’ She winked and left the room.
Once Olivia was alone with Brodie again, she grabbed the blanket and relocated herself as suggested. She rested her head on the wingback of the chair and drifted off once again.
