Everlasting Love

By tacit agreement they didn’t make their friendship obvious at the hospital, being completely cool to each other whenever they happened to meet there. And although several of Olivia’s friends teased her about her mysterious new boy-friend, none of them guessed she was secretly seeing Marcus Hamilton. She wasn’t sure any of them would have believed her if she had told them—she wasn’t sure she believed it herself half the time!

Sally Hamilton had point-blankly refused to meet her, and in the circumstances Olivia couldn’t exactly blame her. She wasn’t even sure herself what part she played in Marcus’s life; she only knew that for the moment he seemed to need her, her quiet presence, her gentle teasing if he should happen to become too grim. And not once did he mention his wife to her, whether through marital bitterness or just uninterest, she didn’t know.

Then one night their relationship changed drastically, Marcus telephoning her urgently to put off their meeting for that evening. ‘My mother-in-law has turned up to see Sally,’ he explained tersely. ‘I can hardly deny her, she is Sally’s grandmother.’

‘Of course,’ Olivia agreed quietly, for the first time realising the consequences of going out with a man who was still married to another woman. ‘I understand,’ she said, not understanding at all. Was Marcus ashamed of his relationship with her, was that why he was so determined no one should know about it?

There was silence at the other end of the telephone for several long minutes as Marcus sensed her confusion. ‘Come and meet Sybil,’ he invited suddenly. ‘Then you’ll see why I was so anxious for you not to do so.’

She did indeed. Sybil Carr was still a beautiful woman despite being in her mid-fifties, her figure slender, her black hair fashionable grey at the peak. She was also bitchy and condescending, treating Olivia as being no older than her granddaughter, the latter having graciously consented to sit down to dinner with Olivia, obviously enjoying her grandmother’s treatment of the woman she didn’t like and had no intention of attempting to like.

It was a strained and uncomfortable evening for Olivia, and Sybil Carr’s friendly word of warning about ‘middle-aged men trying to recapture their youth with a younger woman’ was the worst of it. The two women unexpectedly found themselves alone in the lounge when Marcus went upstairs to say goodnight to Sally, and Sybil Carr took full advantage of the opportunity this gave her to warn Olivia off him.

‘Well?’ Marcus arched dark brows questioningly as he drove her back to the nurses’ home.

‘I shouldn’t have come,’ she confirmed woodenly, still shaken by what Sybil Carr had said to her. ‘Your mother-in-law believes you will eventually go back to your wife.’ The words came out in a rush as she couldn’t hold them in any longer.

He stiffened, his expression remote. ‘I wasn’t the one to leave, she was.’

‘And if she wanted to come back?’

‘She’s never asked to.’

‘But—–’

‘I do not wish to discuss my wife, Olivia,’ he told her harshly. ‘She has no relevance to our relationship. Sybil may believe what she likes, but I don’t expect you to listen to her.’

If only she had more confidence in his feelings for her! And yet Sybil Carr had been so patronising about Marcus’s interest in her, had called it a fantasy for him, every man’s dream of having a young girl infatuated with him. She had also pointed out that Marcus needed someone with more sophistication, that he would soon tire of a child like her. Her last warning had had the most effect on Olivia, telling her that Ruth Hamilton had realised the mistake she made in leaving her husband and daughter, that she was now prepared to come home.

Marcus hadn’t denied wanting his wife back, now, he had merely said she hadn’t asked to come back. There was a vast difference between the two answers.

‘Olivia?’

‘Sorry.’ She came out of her reverie to look at him, finding his gaze levelled on her. ‘Your mother-in-law doesn’t like me.’

His expression lightened as he turned back to the road. ‘She isn’t supposed to, I am.’

‘And do you?’ she asked huskily.

His hand left the steering-wheel to grasp hers. ‘You know I do.’

‘I—You never show me that you do,’ she said hesitantly, needing his reassurance tonight. ‘You’re always so—distant with me.’

He didn’t answer her, taking his hand from hers to stare rigidly ahead. Heavens, what had she done now!

Marcus stopped the car a short distance from the hosptial as he usually did, turning to look at her.

‘Olivia—–’ he seemed to be searching for the right words. ‘If I—I’m afraid that if I once start kissing you I won’t be able to stop! Can you understand that?’ He looked at her appealingly.

Her eyes were wide. ‘No.’

He sighed. ‘I didn’t think you would. Come here.’ He opened his arms to her.

She went into them unquestioningly, gasping at the fierceness with which he claimed her lips, moulding her torso to his, making her aware of the rapid beat of his heart. One hand moved to curve possessively over her breast, locating the taut nipple through the thin material of her blouse, his touch sure and demanding.

‘I want you,’ he groaned into her throat. ‘I want you so, Olivia.’

She was lost in the wonder of his caresses after weeks of starvation, loving the feel of his lips against her skin, her head thrown back as he smoothed the material away from her breasts, capturing one red-tipped nipple between his pleasure-giving lips, his tongue erotic against the hardened nub, and spasms of pleasure coursed through her body. She held his head against her, her fingers fevered in the thickness of his hair, kissing his temple with trembling lips, gasping as his teeth bit gently into her sensitive nipple, causing no pain, only pleasure.

‘Come home with me. Olivia,’ he murmured against her mouth, nibbling gently on the lower lip, drawing it into his own in a message of eroticism. ‘Come home and share my bed,’ he encouraged raggedly.

‘I—–’

‘Olivia? Olivia, telephone!’

Her memories of Marcus were interrupted with a suddenness that left her stunned for several seconds. It had all seemed so vivid, so real, just as if it had happened yesterday and not six years ago.

‘Olivia?’ A brief knock was followed by Natalie actually coming into the bedroom. ‘There’s a telephone call for you.’

Olivia dragged herself back from the past with effort, standing up. ‘Do you know who it is?’ She pushed her hair back from her face.

‘Sally Hamilton,’ Natalie supplied in a puzzled voice. ‘And she sounded very urgent.’

Olivia froze as soon as she heard the name of her caller. What on earth could Sally Hamilton want to talk to her about? The girl had seemed pleased to see her this afternoon, and it had been nice to see what a pleasant young woman she had grown up into. But Olivia didn’t want the meeting to go any further than that, and she intended making that clear to Sally.

She picked up the receiver as it lay beside the telephone in the hallway, conscious of Natalie’s curious looks before she went back to join the family in the lounge. ‘Sally, I—–’

‘Oh, thank God you’re there!’ the girl choked before Olivia could say any more. ‘It’s Daddy, he—he’s been in a serious car accident. He—he has head injuries. Olivia, they aren’t sure if—if he’s going to live!’

CHAPTER TWO

‘OLIVIA! Olivia, are you still there?’

‘I—Yes,’ she answered dully. ‘I—Did you say your father has been injured?’ She spoke so calmly, in such a controlled voice, almost as if this were all a bad dream and Sally hadn’t just told her Marcus had been seriously hurt.

‘He crashed into a truck.’ Sally was crying quietly now. ‘He was called out to an emergency at the hospital, and he—he crashed on his way back.’

‘I see.’ Olivia’s emotions were numb.

‘Will you come to the hospital?’

The suggestion shocked her out of her emotionless voice. Go and see Marcus? She couldn’t do that! ‘No—–’

‘I need you, Olivia,’ Sally sobbed.

‘Your grandmother—–’ she began.

‘Has completely gone to pieces. It isn’t long since Grandfather died, and this accident on top of that … She’s been sedated. I need to be with someone who loves him as much as I do—–’

‘I don’t love your father, Sally,’ Olivia interrupted sharply.

‘But you did once, you admitted as much earlier today. Oh, Olivia, please!’

‘I can’t, Sally. You know I can’t,’ she said in a distressed voice, her hand tight around the receiver.

‘I thought you cared,’ Sally choked accusingly. ‘I really thought you cared!’ The receiver was put down with a loud clatter.

Olivia sank ino the chair next to the telephone, staring sightlessly at the wall opposite. She couldn’t go to the hospital. What would be the point? Marcus would no more want her there than she wanted to see him. But Sally said he might not even live! Marcus dead? No, she couldn’t even begin to accept that.

Sally’s desolation came back to haunt her too. She was such a child still, and her father was all she had. Olivia couldn’t let her go through this alone.

‘Olivia!’ Natalie exclaimed in a shocked voice as she came out of the lounge and saw her pale face, coming down on her haunches in front of her. ‘What is it? What’s wrong?’

She moistened her numbed lips. ‘Sally’s father has—he’s been in an accident,’ she explained dully. ‘She wants me to go to the hospital and sit with her.’

Natalie frowned. ‘I see—I think.’

Delicate colour darkened Olivia’s pale cheeks. ‘I knew Mr Hamilton years ago,’ she explained.

‘I sensed something this afternoon—–’

‘We worked at the same hospital, that’s all,’ Olivia insisted sharply.

Natalie squeezed her hand as if she understood. ‘I’ll tell the family that you’ve had to go and see a friend who’s in hospital,’ she said gently.

‘Thank you,’ she accepted gratefully, going up the stairs to get her car keys.

‘I hope he’s all right,’ Natalie encouraged softly as Olivia came back down the stairs. ‘I’ve met him a couple of times, he’s a nice man.’

Olivia didn’t answer her, not at all sure that she had ever thought Marcus a ‘nice’ man herself. She had been deeply attracted to him, but that hadn’t stopped her knowing of the coldness about him. But even though she hadn’t seen him for six years the thought of him dying still filled her with horror. She had been young, had loved him with an innocence that couldn’t help but be hurt by such a coolly contained man.

She wasn’t familiar with the hospital he had been taken to, and it took her several extra minutes to locate it, several more minutes to ascertain that Mr Hamilton was still in the examination room and that his daughter was in the waiting-room.

Sally was a forlorn figure sitting alone in the corner of the room, but she looked up hopefully as the door opened, bursting into loud relieved sobs as she ran across the room into Olivia’s arms.

‘It’s all right,’ she soothed the girl softly. ‘It’s all right, Sally.’

‘I knew you’d come!’ Sally clung to her. ‘I just knew you wouldn’t let me down!’

Then she had known a lot more than Olivia did! Even as she parked the car outside in the hospital car park she had been having second thoughts as to the sensibility of this visit. There was always the possiblity that Marcus might not remember her—after all, she had meant little in his life, but then again if he did remember her, seeing her again could upset him. And if he was as ill as Sally said he was then that wasn’t going to help him at all. She also had to admit, to herself at least, that not all her concern was for Marcus’s sake; she had no idea how she was going to feel about seeing him again after all this time.

‘Has there been any more news?’ she prompted gently.

Sally shook her head, blowing her nose noisily before wiping her tear-stained cheeks. ‘None. I’ve been sitting here for hours—well, almost two,’ she amended. ‘It just seems longer. And I haven’t seen the doctor since I signed the form for Daddy to go into surgery.’

‘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 want to make love to you, Olivia,’ Marcus had stated calmly. ‘And I think you want it too.’

‘Yes …’ She made no effort to deny the yearning ache he had evoked.

‘Then you’ll come home with me?’ he persisted intensely.

‘No,’ she refused shakily. ‘I—I can’t.’

He sat back with a groan, his head back on the headrest, his eyes closed. ‘I’m too old to play games, Olivia,’ he told her harshly. ‘I warned you that once I started kissing you I wouldn’t want to stop. I can’t go back to our sterile relationship, not now, not when I’ve seen you, touched you.’

She swallowed hard. ‘Are you saying that if I don’t go home with you now you won’t see me again?’

‘I don’t know what I’m saying!’ He ran an agitated hand through his already tousled hair. ‘I can’t think straight right now.’ He took her hand in his, guiding it down his body. ‘Feel how badly I want you,’ he rasped.

‘Oh, Marcus …!’ she began to tremble.

‘Yes,’ he thrust her hand away. ‘And I feel like this most of the time. Up until now, until you asked me to show you how I felt about you, I’ve been in control of the situation. I know how very young you are, how inexperienced, and I’ve kept my distance because of that. But after tonight I can’t do that. Do you understand what I’m saying now?’

‘Yes.’

‘Go in now, Olivia,’ he instructed harshly. ‘We’ll talk again tomorrow.

‘Marcus—–’

‘Yes?’

His abrupt tone chilled her, her agreement to do what he wanted, go where he wanted suddenly not seeming like a good idea after all. ‘Nothing,’ she bit her lip. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘Yes.’ He didn’t even turn as she got out of the car.

Olivia looked down now at the man who lay so still and white in the hospital bed beside her, amazed that he could have caused such havoc in her life. Of course, she had been too young to cope with all that he wanted from her, but that hadn’t stopped her wanting to be all he needed. In the end it had nearly destroyed her.

He began to move restlessly in the bed, to groan in his unconscious state, his lips moving soundlessly as he fought against the covers that confined him.

‘You’re all right, Marcus,’ she told him softly, knowing he was nowhere near regaining consciousness yet, but wanting to reassure him anyway. ‘We’re here, Sally and Olivia.’

‘Olivia,’ he muttered, startling her with the ferocity of his tone. ‘God, Ruth! She means nothing to me. Olivia. No, don’t go, it’s you I love.’ He muttered unintelligibly for several seconds. ‘No, don’t leave me,’ he groaned. ‘Ruth. She means nothing to me. Olivia, nothing. God, I love you, I love you. Please don’t go, not again. Ruth …’ he trailed off into oblivion once more.

The tears were streaming down Olivia’s face by the time he had finished, and she moved away as the nurse came forward to check on him. Even in his unconscious state Marcus still hadn’t forgotten his love for his wife. It had been because of that love that he and Olivia had finally parted.

Instead of the two of them talking the next day as Marcus had said they would, he cancelled their date for that evening. Olivia didn’t even bother to ask him why, she could guess the reason, and knew he was finishing with her as gently as he knew how.

As she was coming off duty the next day she saw Marcus’s car parked outside the main entrance of the hospital, and seated in the passenger seat was a beautiful blonde woman of about thirty, her resemblance to Sally unmistakable. She knew immediately that it was Ruth Hamilton, and as Sybil Carr had predicted, Marcus had taken his wife back into his life.

At that moment he had come out of the hospital, not noticing her as he got in the car beside his wife, giving a smiling response to something his wife said to him as they drove away.

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