An Affair of the Heart (11 page)

“Do you think I
haven’t already thought about all that?” Alex replied angrily.
“Every minute of the day I think about what must have been going on
between them. Where they went, what they did together.”

“Is that why
you’re fighting this case against the hospitals? And that girl? The
one who has Sarah’s heart?”

“I wondered
when you would mention that. Do you think I’m being foolish? Do you
think I should give it up?”

Diana looked
thoughtful, as if she was considering her answer carefully. “It
depends on why you’re doing it, Daddy,” she finally replied. “Is it
because you think they made a mistake, or is it because he’s
fighting against you?”

Alex shook his
head. “I don’t even think I know anymore.”

“Even if you
win, it won’t bring Sarah back.”

“I know. But do
you think I should give it up?”

Diana developed
the same thoughtful look as before, and as before, she didn’t reply
for several seconds. She knew this was the moment, the moment when
she could change everything. She had to get it just right.

“No,” she said
at last. “He doesn’t deserve to win. Fight him, Daddy! Fight him
and beat him! For Sarah!”

When Nurse Kaye
came into Rachel’s room, she found Gavin Smedley and his trolley
already there. “What? Another early visit?” she said as she walked
towards the bed. “You haven’t finished all those books and
magazines already, have you Rachel?”

“I’m quite a
fast reader–” Rachel began to say, when Nurse Kaye suddenly stuck
her hand under the bedclothes and whipped out the rolled up
newspaper Gavin had just brought for her.

Nurse Kaye
looked at Gavin and Rachel one after another, her eyebrows
raised.

“Time I was
going!” Gavin suddenly said, and he began to wheel his trolley
quickly towards the door.

“Yes, I think
it is!” Nurse Kaye replied as she watched him hurrying out of the
room. She waited until he was nearly out before calling after him,
“And I’ll deal with you later!”

“It wasn’t his
fault,” Rachel said quickly as the nurse turned towards her. “I
made him do it! Really, I did! He won’t get into trouble, will
he?”

“No one is
going to get into trouble,” Nurse Kaye said, and she smacked Rachel
lightly on the head with the rolled up newspaper. “Just tell your
mother that you know, that’s all. And don’t read any more of this
rubbish. Talk to your mother instead. She could do with someone to
talk to about it all, and I think that would normally be you. So
tell her, or I will. Okay?”

“Okay,” Rachel
replied. Nurse Kaye gave her the newspaper and headed for the door.
“Wait a minute!” Rachel called to her. “Nurse Kaye–” then a sudden
thought, “what’s your first name?”

“Julia,” Nurse
Kaye said with a smile.

“Julia,” Rachel
repeated, sitting up straighter in her bed. “Okay, Julia. How did
you know? That it was Gavin, I mean. What gave us away?”

Julia Kaye’s
smile broadened. “Everybody knows that Gavin always has a newspaper
in his back pocket,” she said. “He buys it on his way to work every
morning. And because he sticks it in his back pocket, it always
makes a bulge in his jacket. Every morning, when he came to see
you, the bulge was there when he went in, but it was gone when he
came out. It was a dead giveaway really.”

Nurse Kaye went
out and closed the door. Rachel collapsed back in her bed with a
sigh. “Typical!” she announced to the ceiling. And she and Gavin
had thought they were being so clever. They had obviously not
considered Nurse Kaye, super-sleuth.

She sat up in
bed again, sitting cross-legged, making herself comfortable with
the newspaper laid out on the bed in front of her. Now that the
monitor was no longer attached to her chest, she felt much more
mobile. In fact, she had enjoyed getting out of her room yesterday.
Even the physiotherapy was fun. Other people might think she was
daft, but for her, being able to run and walk fast was fun. It was
marvellous! She felt so fit!

Rachel thought
about what Nurse Kaye had said as she looked at the newspaper. The
story was all over the front page. ‘MRI CLAIMS DEAD WOMAN HAD DONOR
CARD,’ the headline said. There were pictures, too. First there
were several pictures of Diana Williams being mobbed at the
airport, followed by one of her father, and that red-haired
solicitor of his. And there was also a picture of Dr Jones with
some other people she didn’t recognise. She read the names. ‘John
Stanley, legal advisor to the MRI, Eric Barrett, the General
Manager, and Dr David Askwith, the doctor who claims to have seen
the donor card.’ He wasn’t dressed like a doctor at all. In fact he
looked very tired and untidy. Rachel couldn’t help herself. She had
to read it all.

When Gina came
in at her usual time, Rachel was still sitting on the bed, reading
the paper. She made no effort to hide it. Instead, she just looked
up with a sheepish expression and shrugged her shoulders.

Gina looked at
the newspaper and then at her daughter, and the tears welled up in
her eyes and she rushed forwards, arms outstretched. Rachel could
not resist. As soon as she saw her mother’s tears, she burst into
tears as well.

“I’m sorry,
Rachel! I didn’t mean to hide it from you!” Gina wailed as they
both embraced on the bed and the newspaper got squashed and
crumpled. “I just thought it was for the best! I didn’t want it to
upset you!”

“I know, Mum! I
know!” Rachel replied just as emotionally. “It’s me that should be
apologising! I found out a couple of days ago, and I didn’t tell
you. I thought you would worry more if you knew that I’d found
out!”

Gina kissed
Rachel and squeezed her tight. “Oh, we are a pair of silly buggers,
aren’t we?” she said. “I’m glad that you know! I hated having to
pretend all the time! But it doesn’t matter now! It will all be
over soon!”

“I know! It
says so in here!” Rachel replied, reaching for the crumpled
newspaper.

“Never mind
that!” Gina said, snatching the paper away from her. “I’ll tell you
what’s going on!”

“But I want to
go!” Rachel insisted.

“Well, you
can’t! And that’s that!” Gina said. “And don’t pout! You’re too
old!”

“It’s not fair!
After all, I’ve got the heart they’re all fighting about! I should
be there!”

“That’s not
this case,” Dr Jones said. “This is your case against the MRI, and
hopefully you’ll lose. Sorry, Gina, but I have no regrets at taking
sides.”

“Think nothing
of it,” Gina said. “According to Robert, we want to lose too. It’s
all so silly and complicated, I can’t wait for all this nonsense to
be finally over and done with.”

Rachel
continued to moan. “My one claim to fame, and all I’ve got to show
for it in the papers is an old university picture –and it made me
look fat and ugly!”

“You’re not
coming! And that’s final!” Gina said, her voice sounding harsh. But
then she smiled at her daughter. “Don’t worry,” she went on
reassuringly. “You won’t miss anything, darling. It’ll all be very
boring in court; I wish I didn’t have to go. You know what
barristers and judges are like. They put those silly wigs on and
immediately start to talk gobbledy-gook!”

Rachel was
still not convinced. “I still feel like I’m missing it all,” she
said, miserably.

Gina hugged and
kissed her. “I promise I’ll come straight back here and tell you
all about what happened,” she said.

“Alright,
then.” Rachel smiled half-heartedly, and then she had a sudden
thought. “Mum, will you bring them both back with you? Mr McCord
and Mr Morgan?”

“Well, I don’t
know if they will have the time,” Gina said, not really sure about
whether she wanted her daughter to meet her solicitor. Gina was
still not quite sure about Robert McCord, or his motives,
herself.

“But they’re
supposed to be my solicitor and barrister!” Rachel protested. “And
I haven’t even met them yet! It’s not fair!”

Gina relented.
“Alright, I’ll ask them both. But it’s not my fault if they’re too
busy. Okay?”

Rachel nodded,
content at last. “Okay!”

“Well, I’m glad
that’s sorted out, then,” Dr Jones said, putting his hand on Gina’s
shoulder. “Come on, Gina. It’s time to go. We don’t want to be late
on the first day, now, do we?”

“I’m not
looking forward to this,” Gina said to Dr Jones. And turning to her
daughter, she said, “And you don’t know how lucky you are! I’m as
nervous as hell!”

“I’ll swap with
you if you like!” Rachel said, rather too hopefully.

“I think we had
better go before we have this conversation all over again!” Dr
Jones said.

Gina kissed and
hugged Rachel one more time before she and Dr Jones left. After
they had said their goodbyes, Rachel took her glasses off and
snuggled down in her bed. She was full of excitement. She was going
to meet him at last! The man that still caused Sarah Williams’s
heart to jump even when it was in the body of another woman.

It was silly
really. If she had spoken about it to anyone they would have moved
her to a psychiatric ward in no seconds flat. But she couldn’t help
it. She had always been a very down to earth sort of person. She
had never believed in ghosts, or anything paranormal. As for
religion, well, she was brought up as a Catholic, but she was not
too sure about all that, either. She hoped that it was true, and
that there was a God. Quite often in her life there had been times
when she thought she was going to find out, one way or the other.
But then she would wake up, and find herself back in the hospital
again. She had never remembered any strange lights or experiences.
Somehow it was a disappointment. But this was different.

For the first
and only time in her life, she was sure of something that she could
not explain rationally. The thought of Robert McCord coming to see
her later that day made her heart beat faster. She couldn’t explain
it, but it was true. She was excited and filled with anticipation
at the prospect of seeing him.

She was sure it
could not be her own feelings. Her heart, Sarah’s heart, had
reacted instantly at the sight of his photograph. For herself, she
hadn’t thought that he was that much more handsome and attractive
than Sarah’s husband, Alex. But his picture had brought no such
reaction. If it was just her own feelings deceiving her, surely she
would have reacted at the sight of Alex’s picture, not a stranger,
who’s name was unfamiliar to her. But somehow, even before she knew
who he was, before she had read that he had worked for Alex
Williams, before she had guessed that he and Sarah must have had an
affair, her heart had definitely reacted. And it still reacted.

All through the
day, waiting for her mother to return with the two men, she felt
like a silly schoolgirl on her first date. The hours dragged on and
on. She saw Gavin Smedley again, still sheepish about being caught.
She asked him what punishment Nurse Kaye had subjected him to, but
he refused to tell her, admitting only that it was diabolical. He
was also no longer allowed to bring his newspaper with him on his
rounds with the trolley.

Later had come
Rachel’s physiotherapy. First she had been manipulated by a nurse
she hadn’t met before. It sounded bad, but it just meant moving her
arms and shoulders about, making sure the muscles in her chest were
still mobile, and healing well after the surgery. She had made her
usual joke about having a zip fitted, but the nurse was not
impressed. After that came the treadmill.

Rachel felt
like she had ran for miles on that treadmill today, with Dr
Cornwall egging her on all the time. He kept making her go faster
and faster, until she was a wet, sweaty mess. She was gasping for
breath when she told him, “I’m going to tell...my mother on
you...You’re trying to kill me!”

“Rubbish!” Dr
Cornwall had replied. “You’re stronger than I am! You could pull a
cart with that heart. You’re as strong as an ox!”

After that,
Nurse Kaye had removed the dressings from the wound on Rachel’s
chest and helped her to have a shower. It was the first time Rachel
had been able to have a proper shower since the operation. Nurse
Kaye didn’t replace the dressings on Rachel’s chest after she
helped her to dry and get dressed. When Rachel asked her about it,
Nurse Kaye told her that Dr Jones had said that from today, she
would no longer need them.

Rachel now got
on well with Julia Kaye. But no matter how hard she had pressed the
nurse, Julia refused to tell Rachel what evil punishment she had
given to Gavin Smedley.

And then it was
lunchtime.

How could it be
just lunchtime?

In the
afternoon, Dr Cornwall had taken her for an electro- cardiograph.
When he looked at the results he kept telling her she was as strong
as an ox, until she told him she was going to hit him with the ECG
machine. He just laughed.

The rest of the
afternoon was driving her crazy. There was nothing to take her mind
off what was going on in court, or who might be coming to see her
later on. The time just dragged and dragged.

Finally, it was
all over. Her mother came into the room followed by Dr Jones and
another man. Rachel recognised him immediately from his photograph
in the newspaper. It was Brian Morgan.

Gina introduced
Brian Morgan to Rachel. There were smiles and hellos. Rachel shook
his hand. He seemed to be a nice young man, very down to earth and
not like her idea of a barrister at all. Then Rachel asked the
question that was tearing at her insides.