He sat quietly, listening to the electronic beeps on the monitor. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a nurse walking down the corridor. She made her way into Mimi’s room.
“Hi. I’m the duty nurse this evening.”
She was a short, plump woman with black curly hair that looked like it hadn’t been washed in a week. Her patchy dry skin looked taut, but she was friendly enough. She carried out some checks on Mimi, wrote down a few notes, and turned to leave. Austin nodded and turned his attention back to Mimi. He thought back to a couple of months ago, before he got the call about Joel, when life was far simpler.
He almost wished that he had never contacted Mimi. That way she would have never seen him as a gateway to enter his world. It had all started because of her grief over Joel, but now things were far more complicated. Even though he tried to deny it, there was now a “them.” It seemed ironic, that somehow his brother had been the one to steal his first love, and now here he wanted his brother’s forever love.
Chapter 20
Mimi
Mimi eyes fluttered open. For a second, she couldn’t seem to move her body, and it unnerved her. The amount of wires plugged on and around her body alarmed her; the life monitoring machinery around her told her she had suffered from the accident far greater than she thought.
She was alone in the room, and in that moment a wave of dread fell over her. She was so weak and vulnerable. She had a distant look in her eye as she stared out into space. She had always been into signs, and as she lay here in this hospital bed, she saw it as justice that her heart had failed her. She gave it to two brothers and now this was her punishment.
Whatever it was that she felt for Austin, she knew it was born out of her grief and no good could come from it. The truth was, she had never really let Joel go, and Austin was so like his brother and the similarity had allured her into a false feeling. She had confused everything. Austin had seemed to be the cure for her pain, but their relationship needed to end.
Running her hands over her bruised arm, she noticed that her wrist had been rewrapped.
There was a button to call for assistance, so she pressed it. A few moments later, a cheerful nurse with brilliant white teeth came in smiling, almost like she was a friend.
“Ah, you are awake. How are you feeling?”
“What happened to me?” When Mimi spoke, her voice was strained and hoarse because of the tube that had been inserted at the back of her throat.
“I think it’s better that the doctor explains everything. You suffered an aortic rupture. You are very lucky, ma’am. From what I know, people usually don’t come back from this sort of thing.”
Tears pricked Mimi’s eyes. She had no idea what to feel. Her body felt broken. She gently lifted her hand and put it to her chest. She felt the warmth of her skin and the beating of her heart. She was alive.
“Your husband left you a note. He said he will be back later this afternoon,” said the nurse, who she learned was called Kelly, whilst she gently lifted Mimi’s head and puffed out her pillows.
Her husband. Joel came back. She had longed for this moment, but somehow she was so deeply unprepared. Suddenly she wondered if Kelly was confused.
Was it Austin that came to see me?
“My husband, did he leave his name?” Mimi asked. The nurse looked at her like a deer in headlights, her expression almost twisted.
“Don’t you know your husband’s name? I better call the doctor in.”
“No. I know I sound crazy, but my brother-in-law came to see me, at least as far as I can remember. My husband is deployed, so I just wanted to know who you meant. They look so much alike,” she tried to joke.
“Oh, right. Okay, I see. You had me worried there. Let me check. I’ll be back in two ticks.”
Nurse Kelly disappeared out of the room. Mimi rested her eyes for a brief moment. When she opened her eyes, she saw Austin poised in the doorway. It was as if he was waiting for her permission to enter the room.
He crossed the room and pulled his body over the steel safety bed rail. He put his hand on her cheek and held his gaze on her. Without waiting a second longer, he placed his lips on hers. Mimi started to pull her head back, but she did not give into her hesitation as his tongue slid into her mouth. He was gentle and tender, just like the kiss they had shared before the phone call.
Her head was telling her to stop but her heart refused to. She wished she could pull off all the wires and pull him closer to her. She longed to feel the warmth of his skin on hers, to feel the strength of his hands over her body. Suddenly, Joel was pushed to the back of her mind. In this moment, and in hundreds before, she realised that Austin was who she wanted.
They heard footsteps come into the room. Nurse Kelly stood in the doorway.
“I guess I don’t need to tell you.” She gave a polite but suspicious smile and left the room. It was clear she knew Austin was not her husband, but she remained professional and left.
Mimi let her shoulders sink back into the bed. She remembered waking up next to Joel. And yet here she was with his brother, the man she had wondered about, who she pictured to be the bad guy. The two brothers were like Cain and Abel—so similar and yet so different.
In the moments that Austin had his lips on hers, it was easy for Joel to drift out of her mind. Yet the second he pulled away from her, guilt crept in and punched her in the stomach.
“I’m so sorry. This is all my fault,” he whispered. She reached out and touched the stubble on his chin. His eyes were full of regret but alive with passion.
“I know everything I said, Mimi. Even what I said to you yesterday before I left and saying I’ll go away so you and Joel can be together. And I know that is what I should do. Fuck. I can’t believe I am about to say this.” He swallowed hard and turned his back to her.
Mimi studied the broadness of his shoulders. Her fingers clenched as she braced herself for what he was going to say. She wanted him to say it, but she knew it was going to confuse everything. The sting of his words when he sent her away still haunted her. She was at war with her own heart. Part of her wished that she had died because then she wouldn’t have to make this choice.
“Stay with me. Don’t go back to him. Choose me.”
The words were out and they hung in the air. She wanted to shout yes, but she knew she couldn’t.
“Why?”
“Because I’m in love with you, Mimi.”
“This has nothing to do with the feud with Joel?”
He turned to her and she saw how his face had darkened.
“For once in my life, Mimi, this has nothing to do with my brother. I almost lost you. You are so lucky to be alive. I have always done the right thing, but I can’t do it now, not when it means losing you. I want you to stay with me.”
She took a deep breath. “Austin, there is so much. Give me time. I need to see Joel. I need to find out his reasons for not telling me the truth. I thought he was dead, and then I meet you and you tell me the truth and the truth is it was all a lie…my marriage. But the problem is, I still married him and we still…”
“You’re choosing him, aren’t you?”
“He’s my husband.”
He rubbed his fingers on his tired eyes. He knew he took a risk by telling her how he really felt, and he knew the odds were against him, but somewhere in the darkness of the night before, he decided he needed to tell Mimi how he felt. He said nothing as he started to walk out of the room.
“Austin, please don’t leave.” Her voice was desperate.
“What do you want, Mimi?” The longer he stayed in the room with her, the longer he was holding onto false hope.
“I want you to give me time. Please. I need time.”
“For what?”
“To decide if my marriage is worth saving. And to understand my feelings for you.”
“So you admit you have feelings for me?” He hated how pathetic he sounded.
“Yes. Too many,” she whispered.
Relief washed through him. “How many?” he asked.
“Enough for me to question if I should end things with Joel and be with you.”
His heart started to pound, and his head felt like it was going to explode. He was not used to all this emotion and he didn’t know what to do with it.
“I’ll give you as much time as you need. You know where to find me.”
“Austin,” she called once more. She held her hand out to him. He took it and pulled it up to the warmth of his mouth and gently kissed it.
There were no further words between them. He turned to leave her once more but this time he didn’t say goodbye. He gave her a weary smile, an unspoken assurance, she perceived, that he would give her the space and time on her own to decide. After he left the room, she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
Behind her eyelids, the hidden truth emerged. There was only one man she saw.
Chapter 21
Joel
Afghanistan: The Rescue
Standing at the tip of a ditch, Joel was weak and tired but driven by determination to survive. He had made it this far and there was one reason: Mimi.
He could hear the whine of the helicopter engines. It was the sound of freedom.
In the distance, he could hear the steady hammering of a machine gun. He knew he was on borrowed time. The extent of his injuries didn’t seem as bad in that very moment. He had a surge of adrenaline pumping through his body, giving him a life force he had never known.
Over the steep mountains, he could hear the roar of more helicopters—fierce, dark, and ready to fight if necessary. As they drew nearer, the CH-47 engines were deafening. The sand and mud whirled like small tornadoes.
He waved his arms up into the air. In his mind, he feared he would die, but somewhere deep within he knew he would get out of this alive. There were too many times in his life where he had come close, but he knew this cat had nine lives and he sure as hell hadn’t spent them all.
One of the helicopters settled into a hover and started to descend. This was his ticket home. His boys had come to rescue him.
Soon after, all the helicopters landed. Darkness swept over the area. It was almost as if somebody had turned the lights off. A team of medics ran toward him, immediately working on his wounds. They brought out a stretcher and hoisted him up on their shoulders, moving swiftly into the back of the CH-47.
Joel searched for Abdul, but he was nowhere to be seen. His job was done, and Joel knew that he had disappeared into the shadows and he’d never see him again. Through his weary breathing, he mouthed thank you and went in and out of a light slumber.
Once he was safely secured, the roar of the engine came to life again. He knew he was on his way to a hospital to receive treatment and then he would be making his way back to his wife. As he closed his eyes, his thoughts were of nothing but her. When one of the medics pulled open his jacket, the photo of Mimi flew across the floor.
“Looks like she kept you safe, man,” one of the medics said.
“She sure did.”
Joel kissed the photo with tenderness. He couldn’t wait to run his fingers through her long, dark hair and kiss her full, red lips. He would hold her close, make love to her, and never ever let her go again. He imagined seeing her again. His heart swelled inside him.
***
It seemed like hours before he arrived at the hospital. He was immediately treated for severe dehydration and given antibiotics through an intravenous tube.
He was allowed to rest for a while. He knew there would be questions, he knew he would be asked about the raid and any information that would be useful, and he knew he would be asked about the man who kept him alive.
After what seemed like endless tests and treatments, Joel fell asleep. He woke to a gnawing pain in his leg. He winced as he pushed himself up on the pillow. He had never been in so much pain. It felt like he had been beaten to a pulp. There wasn’t a single part of him that didn’t hurt.
All he wanted to do was get back to Mimi. When Captain Mills came to see Joel, he first thanked him for his heroic efforts during the raid. Then he sat beside his bed and began asking about the events before the attack.
“I remember some things, but not everything.” Joel said. He didn’t want to revisit the moment when he had seen his best friend’s life drain from his cheeks.
“Tell us whatever you can. Anything that you think will help us move in on our target.”
He talked, recalling all of the earlier moments from when they were briefed right up until they were attacked. And then there was Abdul, the kind stranger that had saved his life.
“I have no idea what his name is. He didn’t tell me. And I have no idea what he looked like because his face was always covered. I’m sorry I can’t help you there.”
Joel knew his dishonesty could cause him to be court-marshalled if they found out the truth, but it was a chance he was willing to take.
“I guess you want to get home to your wife. We’ve contacted her.”
“You’ve spoken to Mimi?” he said, bolting upright, ignoring the pain shooting through him.
“Actually, we spoke to your brother. Austin, is it?”
“Why?” he asked sharply. The mention of Austin’s name was like poison sitting in his mouth, and he dare not swallow.
“Your wife is with him. I guess they must have been supporting each other during this very difficult time, but I bet they are elated now that you are safe and coming home.”
She’ll know everything!
Fear washed over him. And there, in that very moment, if there was anybody he should have been honest to, it was his wife.
“She’s in Texas,” Joel said.
“That’s right. As we understand it, she’s at the ranch where you grew up. Eastleigh?”
The last time Joel had walked away from the ranch, he had left his mother crying behind him with nothing but a rucksack on his back. And for the last time, he had left his brother behind, he had hoped forever. But forever had come too soon!
***
Mimi
Mimi had only been in the hospital for two days, but she could already tell you how many cracks were in the ceiling, what times the nurses changed shifts, and how many cabinet doors were in her room.
She had no idea, however, what was happening in the world outside the sterile walls.
It was a Friday morning when her parents arrived. She had been pushed back into her room on a wheelchair after the nurse had sponged her body clean. She sensed they were there before the wheels glided around the curve of the corridor.
At first she thought she heard her mother’s sweet voice, high-pitched and as tangy as a lemon. Her father’s signature Brut cologne that he’d been wearing for years hung in the air. When she entered the room, there they were, waiting for her with eyes full of tears and a twisted smile of sadness and relief all in one.
Simon and Kanchana jumped to their feet. The chairs legs scraped loudly against the newly bleached floor.
It was her mother who was the first to break. She was unable to control the tears that fell freely down her face, her small frame rising and falling with every sob as she held her daughter tight. Simon stood a distance behind. He was in shock. It took several moments before he reached his hand out to hers.
When he moved forward, Mimi looked into her father’s eyes. They had once been so bright and blue, but as the years had passed and she had grown, she had never noticed her parents change. Since she saw them every day, they simply looked like her parents, but now she noticed her father’s salt and pepper stubble, the deep hollows under his eyes. Her mother’s hands were no longer slender and smooth. She now had bulging veins, and her fingers had started to twist.
She wondered how she must look to them. Even thinner than when she had stepped into the black cab taking her and Meg in the chill of the early morning mist to Heathrow. It was that very journey that led her to this very moment, a journey to discover truths that had not been told. Her heart was bro
ken not only in the physical sense but in a way that she knew was now changed.
After the storm of the emotional reunion, Mimi settled back into her hospital bed.
Her father made his usual jokes to make light of a difficult situation. It was just his way. Her mother, on the other hand, was dying to extract as much information from her daughter as possible. Mimi had always thought her mother would make a brilliant detective.
Every so often, Mimi would check her phone, waiting for a message, but this time she was unsure of who she wanted the message to be from. She was frustrated with herself for feeling this way. She hadn’t yet decided if she was going to reveal to her parents what she had learned about Joel and Jake. In a way, she thought she needed permission from Austin to do so, although the communication between them had frozen solidly since he had left.
She knew it was her decision to put the distance between them, but with every moment that he was gone, she missed him. She imagined him deep in thought, riding Troy off into the dazzling sunset that felt like a golden sheet over the ranch. He would be sitting at the dinner table with Jake, laughing at his son’s jokes. At night, she could see him sitting in the leather chair working, and she hoped that when he went to bed at night, he would hold his pillow close and wish it was her.
When she had first met him, he had come across as cold and distant. She had never imagined that the hard shell could be broken, but as she peeled away the layers, beyond that moody, hard exterior was a man with a heart so pure and true. Her attraction to him had been instant. He had the same features as Joel—emerald green eyes and a classic, strong jaw line.
As much as they looked alike, Austin was different. It wasn’t something physical—it was in the way his body moved, how his voice was deeper. Then it was the way he held her; it was something not even a thousand words could explain.
In ways, it was like Joel had been a writer, deciding the script of their marriage. By not telling her the truth, it changed how she saw him. If somebody had asked her if her love for him would ever be questioned, she would have sworn blind that nothing would ever cut through the ties that bound them together, until now.
Till Death Us Do Part Page 15
