Waking with a yelp she clutched her aching head and tried to disperse the memory of her mother during one of her manic phases, which usually ended up with men in white coats taking her away, `to rest` and Bella being taken into care. Her mother’s strange ways had led to her being locked up permanently, in a `clinic`. When she was an adult Bella had visited her regularly but, Daisy, her mother flew into a violent rage every time she saw her until eventually the doctors had told her to stay away for both their sakes.
For some reason she’d never told Gervaise about her mother, simply saying both her parents were dead, her father had never been in contact with her since the day he walked out on them. At least Gervaise hadn’t had any of that to throw at her, and she had pushed the memories into a locked off part of her mind, until now. Was this how her mother’s strange ways had started?
No. She wouldn’t go there. The psychiatrists she’d voluntarily seen as she was growing up had told her that her mother’s condition, probably, wasn’t hereditary and was, probably, caused by a blow to the head her mother had received when pregnant with her.
She had the flu, that’s what it was, and she was very tired, but she knew she hadn’t done all those silly things. Someone had done it to make her think she had, but why?
Chapter 16
The craft fair which was held in an old pannier market once again proved to be very lucrative, this time they had been able to drive inside and unload next to Bella’s tables. They hadn’t been able to set up on the Friday as the market was in use for something else, so they’d arrived very early, emptied the van and while Roman moved it so more stall holders could drive in, Bella had started to lay out her stall.
Crafters she’d met at the previous fair came over to say hello, many looking very festive in Christmas jumpers and santa hats. All the stalls around her were being decorated for the season and she was pleased she’d had the foresight to bring tinsel and strings of LED lights to put round her stall.
When the fair closed at four o’clock Bella was exhausted and so grateful Roman had stayed with her all day. He had seen how pale and shaky she was as he helped her move the tables and display her wares and to his surprise he’d enjoyed the day. He’d turned out to be a natural salesman, flirting with the women or persuading a man that this item or that, would make a superb unusual Christmas gift for their girlfriend, Mum or Grandma.
On returning to the house he had persuaded her to have a hot bath, something to eat and had tucked her up in bed with a hot water bottle and a couple of flu tablets. When they woke up on Sunday morning it was obvious she couldn’t spend the day standing up in a cold damp market hall, so, despite her protests, Roman and Edward had gone off to the craft market leaving Lydia to look after her. She’d managed a cup of tea and half a slice of toast before she fell asleep again, to wake up at one thirty to the smell of chicken soup.
“Try and sit up Bella, I’ll arrange your pillows,” Lydia said placing the tray on a side table.
Struggling to sit up, feeling dizzy and shivery Bella said “I’m sorry to be such a nuisance, don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
Lydia arranged the pillows comfortably, “I’m afraid you’ve got the flu. There’s a bad strain going around at the moment. Evidently it started in Australia.”
“Oh god, I hope you Edward and Roman don’t get it.”
“Hopefully we won’t. Edward and I always have the flu jab. Chemists do it for a small fee if you’re not eligible to get it free. I think Roman has one too.”
“I’d never heard of that, thought you had to be old or disabled to get it.”
Lydia lifted the tray onto her lap “Try and eat a little. Momma’s homemade chicken soup, cures everything.”
Bella lifted a spoonful to her lips “Gosh! That’s lovely.”
“Old Jewish family remedy, not my family but a friends.”
“I didn’t think you were Jewish.”
“No, but I spent some time in Israel, made a lot of friends.”
While Bella ate Lydia told her about the time she’d spent in Israel and neighbouring countries, taking photographs for the British foreign correspondents who wrote for newspapers and magazines.
“It sounds so interesting, don’t you miss it?”
“Mmm, but it’s become so dangerous now. Being a quite well known British woman is dangerous in those parts of the world today. After I lost a close friend I found I couldn’t do it anymore. It wasn’t fair on my family or Edward.”
Bella nodded “Yes I can understand that but what about the friends you made out there?”
“It’s their country,” Lydia shrugged, “I do worry about them but in the same way we wouldn’t abandon out country they won’t turn their backs on theirs. They just live in the hope that peace will come one day.”
Bella had finished the soup, so Lydia handed her a glass of water and a couple of flu tablets and left her to sleep.
* * *
Roman and Edward drove home with an empty van, feeling extremely pleased with themselves.
“I’m knackered,” Edward said, “hadn’t realised what hard work selling is.”
“I know, I thought I was used to manual labour but this is another ball game all together. What with the hoards of people, all the talking, keeping an eye out for light fingered people and the standing all day, I don’t know how Bella does it.”
“You’ve got to admit it’s very satisfying, selling things, and we haven’t made them so Bella must get quite a buzz.”
“I can’t believe you sold that cafe table and chairs for so much,” Roman grinned.
“That was the price on it and I think it was worth it, your lady is extremely talented.”
Roman nodded “I know, which is why I couldn’t ask her to give it up.”
“Why would you even think of asking that?”
“I wouldn’t, but you know, when I asked her to marry me I thought she’d move into The Manor, help with the estate and we’d have a family. Then I saw how much her art means to her so I came up with plan B.”
“I think plan B is much better than plan A. The Manor is too big and expensive to maintain. It’s been crying out for you to do something useful with it for years.”
“I know, this way Bella and I will have a decent sized family home and The Manor will still belong to us.”
As they drove up to the front of the house the door opened and Lydia rushed out. “Thank god you’re home, Bella has taken a turn for the worse.”
Roman ran into the house and up the stairs to find a sweat drenched Bella shivering violently and mumbling that she was cold.
“What happened?” he demanded as he put his hand on her head, which was burning up.
“She seemed a little better at lunchtime, even ate some soup. I checked on her at three and she was sleeping but when I came up at four fifteen she was like this.”
“Can you phone a doctor?” Roman asked.
“Phwoo, we’ll be lucky on a Sunday. Our surgery has a service that covers out of hours but they cover a lot of other practices too.” Lydia said.
“Well please try, I’ll try to cool her down.”
While Lydia ran to the phone Roman and Edward collected cold damp cloths and ice and pulling the covers off Bella started to cool her burning body. In her confusion she cried out and tried to push the cold cloths away, as far as she was concerned she was cold not hot. Edward gently held her flailing arms while Roman continued to cool her.
When Lydia came back into the bedroom carrying the phone Roman looked up “Is someone coming?”
“They want to know what her temperature is, so I’ve brought the digi thermometer, you put it in her ear.”
Roman did as she said and when it bleeped looked at it in shock “It’s one hundred and two!”
Lydia conveyed this reading to the p
erson on the other end of the phone, said “Oh alright,” and turned back to Roman. “They’re sending an ambulance, told me to try and cool her down.”
“How long’s that going to bloody take?” he said angry with worry.
By the time the ambulance arrived forty minutes later he was incandescent with anger, but wisely didn’t take it out on the paramedics, who were only doing their best in the middle of a flu epidemic which had already killed a number of people. They examined Bella, put a cannula into a vein in her arm and put up a saline drip. Her temperature had dropped a degree and they told Roman he’d done exactly the right thing. As they lifted her onto a stretcher he asked “Where are you taking her?”
“Well there are a number of options. Dispatch will be able to direct us to the hospital that isn’t over run with patients.”
“I’d like her to have a private room,” Roman said.
The paramedic pursed his lips “Not many of them on the NHS.”
“No, but there are plenty of places if I’m willing to pay.”
“Tell you what, I’ll talk to dispatch and see if we can take her to St. Thomas’, that’s probably your best bet, if they haven’t got a private room they can transfer her to Guys.”
“Ok, thanks that’s great.”
The paramedics carried Bella downstairs and he turned to Lydia and Edward, “I’ll go with her, and I’ll let you know when we find out what’s wrong.”
“Ok, if there’s anything we can do don’t hesitate to ask,” Edward patted him on the shoulder and Lydia hugged him and said “Don’t worry, she’s tough, she’ll be alright.”
He nodded and bounded down the stairs and out to the ambulance. “They’ve cleared up for St. Thomas’,” the paramedic who was taking her temperature again said.
Roman thanked him and sat down as the ambulance, blue light flashing pulled out of the drive.
* * *
Twelve hours later Bella opened her eyes slowly. She had a terrible headache and her eyes didn’t focus properly. As she groaned and lifted a trembling hand to her head, Roman was quickly by her side saying “You’re alright love, just relax until you’re properly awake.”
While he took her hand in his he pressed the nurse’s call button with the other.
“What happened?” she asked.
“You’ve got pneumonia love, but the worst is over, your temperature is slowly coming down.”
Before she could ask any more a nurse entered, turned off the call button and said “Good, you’re awake, how are you feeling? Got any pain?”
“I’ve got a bad headache and feel so weak,” Bella said through very dry lips. “Can I have a drink?”
“I’ll get you some painkillers, your doctor’s already written you up for some and you can have a little water,” she poured water from a bottle into a glass and held it for her to drink a little. “That’s all for now, don’t want you being sick. I’ll get you some ice when I get the painkillers. I’ll just do your obs first.”
After taking Bella’s temperature and checking her blood pressure she left to get the ice and painkillers.
“Where am I? I can’t remember what happened.”
“You’re at Guys and St. Thomas’. Lydia said you seemed ok at lunch time but when she checked on you later you were burning up but complaining of being cold.”
“Oh yes, I remember the chicken soup, it was lovely, but nothing after that. What time is it?”
“It’s six o’clock on Monday morning, you’ve been out of it for twelve hours.”
“But I thought I’d just got a touch of flu. I know I didn’t feel right on Saturday but I wasn’t ill.”
Roman shook his head “Well you were very ill last night.”
Bella gazed at him, suddenly seeing how tired and dishevelled he was, “I’m sorry,” she said.
He frowned “What for?”
“Being such a pain.”
He sat on the bed and took her hand in his and said, “Bella I love you, you’ll never be a pain to me. I just can’t understand how this developed so quickly. The Doctors say you must have been exposed to severe cold for it to have affected your lungs so fast. Were you cold at the pannier market?”
“No, I was well wrapped up, even had a hat and gloves on and we had that hot air blower near us. To be honest it was so crowded I was more hot and bothered than cold.”
“When I came over the other night you were outside without a coat on.”
“I’d only been outside for five minutes. I chucked a few logs in the basket and was on my way back in when you came.”
The door opened and the nurse returned followed by a tired looking doctor. “Ah, good to see you awake Ms. Carrington. How are you feeling now?” he took her wrist in his hand and felt for her pulse.
“A bit wheezy, I’ve got a headache and my chest feels tight.”
“Ok, let’s listen to your chest,” he unhooked his stethoscope from around his neck and as Bella breathed slowly listened to her chest. “Please lean forward,” he went on as he transferred his stethoscope to her back.
When he’d finished listening and she was leaning back on her pillows he said “It’s still rattling but no worse than yesterday so hopefully the antibiotics have got it on the run. I think we’ll keep you on them intravenously for today then tomorrow, all being well, we’ll switch you on to orally.”
“When can I go home?”
He laughed as he said “What? You don’t like our accommodation?”
“It’s not that, but surely you need the bed for someone who’s really ill?”
He looked at her seriously “Ms. Carrington, you are seriously ill. Even if you were on an NHS ward we’d still be keeping you in. You’re very lucky that your friends stopped your temperature from going any higher by their quick action in cooling you down. As it is you have strep pneumonia and are very lucky that it hasn’t affected your heart or thrown up an abscess on a lung, which would have been life threatening. Tell me, when were you out in the cold for hours last week?”
Bella was trying to take it all in, her head was thumping and she felt sick. As she raised a hand to her head the doctor took the pill pot off the nurse and told her to take them before she replied. Swallowing the tablets with a sip of water she tried to decide whether to tell them about the strange occurrences in her house, with fires put out and doors left open while she slept. Shaking her head she decided against it, what if they thought she was like her mother?
“Apart from five minutes while I collected some logs I haven’t been out in the cold this week.”
“Mmm, well you’re going to have to keep warm and rest for at least a fortnight. Strep pneumonia takes a long time to recover from.”
“I’ll make sure she does as she’s told,” Roman said firmly.
The doctor smiled, nodded and left with the nurse close behind. Bella turned to Roman and said “So this is a private room. How much is it costing? I can’t afford this!”
“Don’t start on about money,” Roman almost growled, “you are more important than anything and I wasn’t going to have you lying on a trolley in A and E for hours.”
Bella bit her lip and blinked to stop the tears. Seeing her so upset over something as trivial as money made him even angrier. “We are supposed to be getting married, everything I have will be yours but if you can’t get over this obsession, the need to prove that you can stand totally alone and need no one, what is the point?”
The tears were flowing copiously now but instead of taking her in his arms Roman gave an exasperated sigh and stalked out of the room. As the door closed behind him she found her voice “No, please don’t leave me,” but he had gone.
A nurse found her sobbing her heart out, checked her temperature and called for a doctor. When he arrived he immediately sedated her and asked the nurse where Roman
was. She told him that he had left shortly before she found Bella crying.
“Mmm,” he said, but then said no more as he went out to the nurses station to find Roman’s number.
After he’d spoken to Roman he returned to Bella’s room to check on her. She was in a deep sleep so he asked the nurse to check on her every ten minutes and left to see his other patients.
* * *
Bella struggled up through the heavy veil in her head, to find a familiar hand holding hers. Opening blurry gritty feeling eyes, the first thing she saw, piled on her bedside locker was a stack of paper money on top of a mound of coins. Frowning she moved her head and Roman’s serious face came into focus.
“You came back!” she muttered through dry lips.
“I’ll always come back.”
“B-b-but what?” her eyes turned back to the pile of money.
“This is what you made at the craft fair, over two thousand pounds, and this,” he waved a piece of paper at her “is the bill for the room, so far. Three hundred and ten pounds. I’m sure the hospital will take cash.”
She closed her eyes, shame washing over her, but as the tears threatened to flow again she brushed them away. “I’m sorry Roman, I’m ashamed of myself. I love you so much but I haven’t trusted you as I should. I let the past ruin our future, it’s all my fault but if you let me try again I promise you I’ll change.”
He lifted her fingers to his lips and said “I don’t want you to change, I fell in love with the capable, feisty Bella and that’s the one I want. But I’m not Gervaise or anyone else who’s let you down. I’m Roman and I love you, I want to be your lover, friend and confidant. In fact I need it, I hadn’t realised until I met you how alone I am too, so let’s join forces and we can take on the world.”
He stood up to kiss her firmly but sweetly on the lips and this time the tears did flow. She angrily brushed them away saying “God, I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I don’t cry.”
The Wishing Well Page 18
