The only person she hadn’t wanted to know was Ben and now that he did, other people gossiping didn’t really matter to her.
‘Not walk?’ he mocked.
‘Actually I could, couldn’t I?’ She realised, missing the irony totally, the small B & B where her mum had taken a room was literally just round the corner from the hospital.
The initial idea had been for them to take turns sleeping there, but Lily had found it much less stressful to sleep in a chair by her daughter’s bed.
He looked at her for a moment and shook his head. ‘No, you couldn’t. I will take you, though obviously I will expect petrol money.’
The comment drew a reluctant smile from Lily. It was so much easier to smile now that the crushing weight of fear she hadn’t even been conscious of carrying had been lifted. It was there but no longer oppressive. It wouldn’t be gone until they were home.
‘Thank you.’ She took a sip of the tea and grimaced before calling after him. ‘It’s incredible, isn’t it?’
Framed in the open doorway, he turned. She was sitting there on the bed cross-legged, her face framed by wild curls. Smiling, she looked too young to be a mother. The effort of not crossing the room and pulling her under him on the bed was hard enough to bring beads of sweat to his upper lip.
She was incredible, so sweet and brave. Of course, she was also stubborn enough to drive a man insane, but he imagined most men would consider it a privilege.
‘It is, yes.’
Until he spoke Lily hadn’t been aware that she was holding her breath. As he vanished she released it, conscious of a gnawing sense of anticlimax. Had she imagined the tension in the air, the heavy throb of sexual awareness...?
* * *
Ten minutes later, her blood pressure had been checked and she had been discharged by a junior doctor who, in Ben’s opinion, had a hell of a lot to learn about professional distance. Now they made their way to the main entrance.
Lily read out loud the sign above the space near the main entrance where Ben had parked his long sleek silver car.
‘Reserved for the Chief Administrative Officer.’
‘What can I say? I’m a rebel.’ Torn between irritation and amusement, because she seemed genuinely outraged at the rule infringement, he made a placatory gesture. ‘Trust me, you’re more likely to see a flock of pigs fly past than see an administrator at work on a Saturday.’
Lily had forgotten it was the weekend, slightly alarming, but she wouldn’t let it go without making her point. ‘What would happen if we all went around breaking the rules?’
‘You think a bit of illegal parking is going to trigger the downfall of society?’
She gave a sudden grin. ‘No, but it’s fun winding you up.’
‘You little—!’
Heart pounding, she waited, but before Ben reached her a man in a porter’s uniform appeared, almost hidden behind the enormous elaborate flower arrangement he carried.
‘Miss Gray?’
Lily nodded, then, realising he couldn’t see her, said, ‘Yes?’
‘I’m on the front desk today, thought I saw you leaving.’ A head appeared around the side and she recognised one of the porters who had taken Emmy down to the X-ray department a few times. ‘This arrived for you.’
‘I’ll take that.’ Ben took the package by the handle of the massive wicker basket that the flowers were arranged in. He handed Lily the card without comment.
Lily paused to thank the porter before tearing the envelope open. ‘Who on earth?’ Then she smiled, thinking, Lara.
Her twin had sent a daily text to ask after Emmy but they had not spoken at all. It had been their mother who had broken the news to Lara—the double news.
Watching her, Ben saw the smile and then saw it fall as she said, ‘It’s from your grandfather.’
‘Who did you think it was from?’
Still frowning, she looked up from the card she had read twice now. ‘What...? Oh, I thought it might be from Lara.’
It took him a few seconds to recognise the emotion that fell away when he realised the flowers weren’t from an admirer—jealousy. Aware that Lily was looking expectantly at him, he pushed through the sense of shock and pulled himself together enough to respond. ‘Of course, it would be.’
Ben had said little after he had told his grandfather, but it had gone a lot better than he’d anticipated.
‘He says he’s looking forward to meeting his great-granddaughter...’ An old-fashioned sort of man, the elderly landowner was not the type of person who was relaxed about single parents. ‘And he is happy to welcome me into the family...wow!’ The sentiment was almost as over the top as the flowers.