At the end of the night Greg was surrounded by his groupies. Mallory watched in amusement as the cell phones came out one by one and they all took photos of their friends with the minor celebrity. She resolved that she would give him a little space after what had happened with Kate and that she would speak to him over the next couple of days and see how things went.
She waved goodnight as Greg was packing his gear away and she headed for home. She felt a tingle of anticipation about what could potentially be the start of something official if Greg still wanted her. She would have to wait and see.
Monday morning was very cold. She had decided to spend a day in the workshop getting some stock made up for the shop in Leeds and the potential new place she had seen up the road at Easdale. She received a phone call from the estate agent. The young couple who had viewed her property twice had made an offer. Mallory was shocked and didn’t quite know what to say. She had almost forgotten about the house being for sale as nothing had really happened in a while. She asked if she could take some time to think about it which had annoyed the agent. She would need to think; and a lot was riding on speaking to Greg.
She had a very productive day in the workshop and produced some lovely new designs that she knew Josie would be happy with. It felt good to be creating again. She had listened again to the beautiful CD that Greg had made her with heartfelt songs on and mentally made a list of songs she could put on a CD for him. She thought back to her conversation with Edith on the train and wondered if there was a song called ‘I’ve been a silly cow can you forgive me now?’ Maybe I should write one! She laughed to herself.
She knew she had a shift with Greg on Tuesday night. It was November already. She mused, shocked at how quickly the last seven months had passed. She decided she would dress up nicely and invite him round for a nightcap after work. She had planned some of the things she wanted to say, but was concerned it was all sounding a little contrived and so she had decided to say whatever came to her when he was here. She hoped he still felt the same. Kate seemed to think so.
November 2011
On Tuesday night the weather was atrocious. The worst she had experienced since moving here. Bang goes dressing up nice! She thought to herself, feeling rather disappointed. She had showered and heard the rumbling thunder as the water cascaded over her body. She hated storms. When it was time to go to work she wrapped up warm and pulled on her big waterproof jacket. She checked her watch after messing around trying to ensure that her hair would stay dry and realised it was seven already which meant she was late.
She opened the front door just as the lightening lit up the sky as if it was daylight; making her jump almost out of her skin. She pulled the door closed and locked it behind her. There seemed to be an awful lot of people hanging around which was really odd in this weather she thought. She trudged over to the pub, head down against the rain. The pub was heaving when she got inside. But no one seemed to be drinking and there was an eerie hush around the place. It was then that she noticed the two police officers.
Stella pushed through the crowd of people toward her. “Oh Mallory thank goodness! We weren’t sure if you’d gone with him!” She hugged Mallory hard. “Colin banged on your door, but you didn’t answer.”
Mallory was puzzled. “Gone with whom? What’s going on, Stella?” She could feel the panic rising inside her.
“Greg…Didn’t you know?” Mallory felt a strange ringing in her ears and everything began to spin. Stella’s words sounded muffled, but she made out odd words. “Boys in a dinghy…out sailing…got into trouble…Greg went out…little blue…Mallory!” Everything went black.
When Mallory came to and opened her eyes, Stella and Ron were hovering over her. Someone was pressing something to her head. It hurt. Everything echoed. She blinked her eyes open.
“She’s waking up, Ron.” a familiar female voice said.
“Stay still Mallory. Just let’s make sure you’ve no neck injury.” That was not a familiar voice. She glanced in its direction and a man in a bright fluorescent yellow and green coat was looking down at her. He was the one pressing something to her head.
“What happened? What’s…what’s going on?” Mallory tried to sit but she was held down. The room was spinning.
“Don’t move, love, you’ll be fine we just need to stop the bleeding and check you over in case of concussion.” The man said.
Mallory began to panic again, “What? Why? What’s going on?”
“Oh, sweetheart, you blacked out. You hit your head so it’s bleeding a little.”
“Aye but the table’s fine so don’t worry.” Ron chuckled trying to lighten the mood.
“Ron! Not the time or place!” Stella snapped. “Sweetheart, Greg hasn’t been found yet.” Stella informed her.
“Found? What do you mean? Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” She shouted, getting angry.
The Paramedic helped her to a sitting position and checked her eyes with a little torch.
He examined the back of her head. “You won’t need stitches, I’ve dressed the wound you’ll be fine, but you must take it easy, okay?” He demanded as he ensured the gauze was firmly in place, making Mallory wince.
“Yes fine. Thank you…Stella?” She pleaded.
“Mallory, please don’t black out again…There was a terrible incident. The Carrick boys, you know, Tom and James? They were out fishing in their dinghy when the weather turned for the worse. They managed to ring their dad from Tom’s mobile and Greg was with him, fixing their kitchen sink, when they got through. They contacted the coastguard but Greg took Little Blue out to try and reach them. That was two hours ago and the wind has really picked up and now with the storm…The Coastguard is out there now.”
“Oh my God no!” Mallory pushed the paramedic away, clambered to her feet and bolted for the door. She was dizzy but she ran and ran to the marina where Little Blue was usually moored. This can’t be happening, not again. Please no.
Colin came out after her. “Mallory, love, the Coastguard is doing all they can, please come inside. You’ll freeze out here especially with you being in shock.” He put his arm around her shoulder. “You won’t help anybody by getting yourself ill, hen.”
She knew he was right. Her legs were like lead as she walked; propped up by Colin, back to the pub.
An hour later they were told that the boys had been found. A mumble of relief shuddered around the room. There were tears of joy at the news that, although they were in severe shock, they had only suffered minor injuries. There was, however, no report on Greg. They sat in the pub for hours, waiting.
Mallory was horrified when the news came in that parts of Little Blue had been found, but there was still no sign of Greg. Her heart was breaking all over again. She couldn’t bear the thought of Greg being hurt or worse still being found dead. She cried out in physical agony at the terrible thought of losing him; tears relentlessly pouring from her clenched eyes. Ron, Colin, Christine and Stella fussed around her as her body shook uncontrollably and her anguish poured out.
The pub telephone rang at eleven o’clock. Stella ran to answer it. Her colour drained and her hand came up to her mouth as she sobbed. That’s it, he’s gone too. Mallory’s subconscious concluded.
Stella spoke to Colin in low murmurs. They both came over to where Mallory sat. Colin sat beside her and took her hand.
“Mallory, you need to come with me. I need to take you to the hospital in Oban.”
Mallory began to shake her head frantically and recoil in her seat as if gripped by absolute terror. “No! Please no! Please don’t make me be the one to identify his body! Please! I can’t do that again! I can’t do it! Please?” She was almost hysterical, remembering what she had gone through after Sam’s accident. Colin took a firm grip of her shoulders.
“Mallory, stop! Please calm yourself and listen to what I have to say!” His voice was firm, forceful and quite loud. She had never heard him raise his voice before, it grabbed her attention. When
he could see that she had calmed down, he spoke again, softer this time. “Greg was pulled out of the water an hour ago. He is in a critical condition, but he is asking for you. I would like to take you to him.”
Mallory let out a strange, convulsive grunt of relief as what Colin had said sunk in. She threw her arms around him. “Thank you, Colin, Thank you, let’s go. I want to see him.”
Ron and Colin helped Mallory to her feet and toward the door. Colin went ahead to bring the car over to the pub. The rain had slowed and the storm had calmed.
“I have your spare key. I’ll go over and check up on Ruby for you,” Ron reassured her.
“Oh no! Angus!” Mallory was terrified that he had gone out with Greg.
“Don’t worry, hen, he’s at Greg’s. Stella has a key and she’s going over there to bring him to the pub now that the weather is calmer.” Mallory breathed a sigh of relief and turned her concentration to thoughts of Greg as she mentally prepared herself for what she may see.
Colin pulled up in the car and Ron helped Mallory into the passenger seat. Her head was throbbing, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to get to the hospital. Eventually Colin parked the car and they made their way into the hospital to the reception desk. They were pointed to intensive care. Mallory almost ran to get there and Colin followed close behind.
They buzzed on the door and were let in by a nurse. They explained who they were and after initially being told it was family only, Colin had convinced the nurse that Mallory had been asked for by the patient. Reluctantly, and after protest, she let Mallory in alone. She was shown to a side room.
Mallory’s eyes were assaulted by a vision of a bruised and swollen man she hardly recognised. She let out a sob when she saw that he was laid out on the bed surrounded by machines; tubes going in and coming out of him; an oxygen mask over his battered face. It was a truly horrific sight.
She walked slowly over to his bedside. His eyes were barely visible under all the swelling, his head was bandaged and his ribs were strapped up. She sat on the chair at the side of the bed and held his hand.
A nurse walked in to check on the machines that bleeped and flashed myriad numbers and letters.
She smiled at Mallory kindly. “Are you Mallory?” She asked in a soft Scottish accent.
“Yes,” Mallory whispered.
The nurse smiled. “Good, he’s been asking for you repeatedly. He keeps drifting in and out of consciousness so you’ll have to bear with him. He is heavily sedated due to his injuries and the tests we’ve had to do, but talk to him. He can hear you. It’ll help him very much to know that you came.” She patted Mallory’s shoulder and left the room.
“Greg, it’s me, Mallory.” She let out another sob, “I want you to open your eyes for me and talk to me. I need to know you’re okay.” She stroked his hand. He didn’t respond.
“Greg, I want you to know that I’m sorry for how I reacted when you told me about Alice. You said you don’t love her and I should’ve accepted that. It doesn’t matter that you are still married if you don’t love her. It’s just a piece of paper that can be dealt with…You said you love me. I should have just been happy and now I’m scared I’m going to lose you, too. You need to get better, Greg. You need to come home.” Still nothing.
She stroked his hair where it poked out of the top of the bandaging. “It’s strange how it’s taken something like this to kick me up the arse and make me realise exactly how I feel. I was intent on talking things through with you tonight to see if we could get past what happened between us. But when I found out that you had gone missing I thought through everything we’ve been through. The arguments, the kisses, the laughs. And it dawned on me. Nothing else matters.
“The thing that matters most is that I love you, Greg.” Her face was wet with tears. “Greg, can you hear me?” She squeezed his hand. “Greg, I’m in love with you. Please don’t leave me. I’m stupid and I’m stubborn and self-righteous. I judged you and made assumptions about you and I was so, so wrong. You told me exactly how you felt and I threw it back in your face. And now I realise that I love you and don’t want to be without you. It doesn’t matter how soon this has happened. It’s no one’s fault. It doesn’t make it wrong. Please just wake up and tell me you still love me.” She sobbed. She sat just holding his hand for a while staring at his unresponsive face. Then she stared at the rain drizzling down the window mirroring her tears.
After what felt like hours she felt Greg squeeze her hand. She looked up at him. His eyes had opened a little and he squinted at her.
He lifted his free hand and removed the mask from his face. “Hey, Mally.” He smiled, his words slurring as he spoke. “You came.”
She squeezed his hand in return. “Of course I came, Greg.” She laughed through her tears.
“It’s good to see you…Oh, no, please don’t cry. I’m always making you cry,” he croaked.
She kissed his hand. “Oh Greg, no, I’m fine…It’s so good to see you.”
Greg’s eyes widened, filled with dread and fear. “The Carrick boys…Tom and James…are they okay?”
“They’re fine, please don’t worry. Just shocked and a little bruised, that’s all.”
“Oh thank God.” He closed his eyes and puffed out a long breath, relieved at the good news. After a pause in which confusion washed over his face he squeezed her hand. “I had a dream earlier.” He smiled as he watched her. “It was such a good dream…but…I think you woke me from it.” His brow furrowed again as he seemed to be trying to make sense of things.
“Oh, I’m so sorry Greg. I just wanted to hear your voice and see your eyes open again.”
“The dream was strange. You were in it, crying and stroking my hair…and you told me you were in love with me and it made me so happy.” A tear escaped and trailed down his cheek soaking into the bandages on his head as he closed his eyes. “But then I woke up.” His lip quivered and her heart felt like it would rupture. The hand that had pulled his mask off now covered his eyes as his raw emotions broke free. He shuddered and sobbed with a deep, deep sadness.
“Greg, look at me, open your eyes, please,” she begged him fighting back her own tears.
He lifted his hand to halt her. “I’m sorry, I know all that’s gone now, I ruined it after Alice and Kate…I’m so sorry. I blew it. I always mess everything up,” he struggled to form the words as he fought against his sedation.
“Greg, look at me please.” He opened his eyes again as best he could and looked at her. “Greg it wasn’t a dream. I said and did those things. I stroked your hair and squeezed your hand. And...and I told you I’m in love with you and that I never want to be without you again.” Her tears cascaded down her already damp face.
His brow furrowed and his eyes closed briefly. When he opened them again his gaze was intense. “You did? You love me?” His voice wavered as he searched her expression.
“I love you. Greg, I want to be with you, always.” She leaned down and kissed his cut lips gently. “Do you still…want me though Greg?”
His lips curled upward. “Do you really need to ask me that?”
She blew out a long relieved breath. “That’s so good to hear.” She stroked his hair. “Now please get well so we can get you out of here and decide where the heck I’m going to live…seeing as I think I may have sold my house.” She kissed him again.
His hand came up to touch her hair. “Mallory?”
“Yes Greg?”
“I love you. More than anything in this world.”
Somehow, Mallory had managed to convince the nurses to ‘forget’ she was there, she had told Colin to go home. She slept in Greg’s room in a rather hard and unforgiving chair with a single blanket for warmth. She was as uncomfortable as hell, but she didn’t care. In the night she was woken by Greg shouting out.
“NO! No, please! No! Mallory?” Mallory stood and went to his side immediately.
She took his hand, “Shhhh, Greg, shhhhh, it’s okay, I’m here.”
&nbs
p; His eyes snapped open. His breathing was shallow and ragged. “Mallory? You’d gone. You left me. Was it all a dream that you loved me?” He grabbed onto her hand as tightly as he could.
She kissed his furrowed brow. “No, Greg, I’m not going anywhere, I’m here to stay.” He calmed and drifted back off to sleep. He kept his grip on her hand and she had to drag the chair over to his bedside and rest her head on the bed near his hip.
When she awoke it was daylight. Greg was already awake and stroking her hair. When she lifted her head to look at him, the oxygen mask had been removed from his face and he looked a lot brighter. He was still attached to the machines but his whole demeanour was much more alert.
“Hey. How are you feeling?” She asked him softly.
“Much better for seeing you beside me,” he croaked. “I’m still terrified you’ll tell me it was the drugs or that I was dreaming.” He looked at her with pleading eyes.
She reached up and stroked his face. “Well, that’s not going to happen. I’m not going anywhere this time.”
“Do you promise? Because I’m in this for the long-haul, Mallory.”
“I promise. After what we’ve been through since we met I think we can deal with whatever gets thrown at us, don’t you?”
“I hope so…but I’m scared.” Greg squeezed her hand.
“You have nothing to be scared of Greg. When I thought I’d lost you last night I realised that some things are totally insignificant. You and I can work things through together. No more secrets, eh?”
“Well…there’s one more I need to tell you…”
Mallory’s heart sank and she braced herself for what was to come. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. His grave expression was not instilling her with confidence for what he was about to impart.
She opened her eyes and looked directly into his. “I…I…quite like the Bee Gees…” He smiled and Mallory burst out laughing.
She kissed her funny, bruised and sore man gently on his poor swollen lips.
Bridge Over the Atlantic Page 26
