Jack shrugged. ‘I wasn’t really paying attention. Something about a man and a job.’
‘Well, that’s helpful!’ Oliver shook his head in frustration. ‘You have no interest in your fellow humans.’
‘Well, not like you,’ Jack admitted. ‘That’s why you’re a GP and I’m an A and E doctor. I heal them and ship them out. Frankly, I don’t want to know how they got there and I’m not particularly interested in their lives. You nose around and get involved. You’ve always been the same—thinking that you can solve everyone’s problems. Delusions of grandeur, if you ask me.’
Oliver opened his mouth to retort but at that moment there was a sudden flurry of activity at the back of the church and the organist started to play.
Oliver took a last look at the girl and finally she moved. Her body seemed to tense as the music started and her eyes lifted from the elaborate flower arrangement at the front of the church and locked on his.
Oliver felt something shift inside him.
Suddenly the music faded into the background, along with the sudden buzz of anticipation among the guests. All he was aware of was those huge blue eyes, filled with such naked desperation that he felt his heart twist in sympathy.
It was as if she was begging him to rescue her.
It amazed him that she had the courage to sit there, feeling as bad as she clearly did, and he fought the temptation to stride the wrong way down the aisle, gather her close and keep her safe from whatever it was that was threatening her.
But there was no opportunity.
His sister had already started her walk down the aisle, clutching Tom’s arm.
Oliver turned back to the front, vowing to track Helen down as soon as he could. He just hoped that the girl didn’t faint before the ceremony was over.
She never should have come.
Helen clutched her bag tightly, fighting the sickness and the misery, wishing that she’d made an excuse.
But how could she not have come to her best friend’s wedding?
Bryony was finally marrying the man she’d been in love with for her whole life.
It would have been selfish of her not to be there for her friend’s happiest moment. The fact that it coincided painfully with her most miserable moment shouldn’t signify.
She sat still, reflecting that up until this moment she’d always thought of pain as being something that happened as a result of something physical. She’d nursed patients with broken limbs who’d been in pain, patients with diseases who’d been in pain.
But she was healthy. All the various bits of her body were still attached to each other and functioning perfectly well.
So why did she feel as though she’d been ripped apart?
Her emotions were so dangerously close to the surface that she was afraid that any moment she was going to lose control and allow two weeks of shock and misery to surface in public.
No! She wasn’t going to be that pathetic!
If she fell apart then David would have won, and she was not going to let a man do that to her!
Telling herself that she only had to get through the ceremony and then she could hide away, Helen swallowed hard, pressed her nails into her palms and watched as Bryony floated down the aisle, wearing a slinky cream dress trimmed in soft fur. Behind her came Lizzie, Bryony’s seven-year-old daughter, dressed in pink and carrying a fluffy purple muff.
Helen’s heart twisted painfully and her lips parted in a soft gasp.
It should have been her.
It should have been her walking down the aisle towards a man she loved.
She sat rigid, a lump forming in her throat as she saw Jack turn. His smile was for Bryony alone and everything he felt for her was visible in his eyes as he looked at the woman he loved.
Why did life work out for some people and not for others?
Helen watched, numb, as Jack ignored protocol and scooped an excited Lizzie into his arms, cuddling her close while he exchanged vows with the woman standing at his side.