Page 82 of A Seaside Escape
‘The thing that matters most is thatI 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,sowrong. 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. I know that now. Please just wake up and tell me you still love me.’ She sat holding his hand for a while and staring at his unresponsive face. Then she stared at the rain drizzling down the window mirroring her tears.
She rested her head on the bed beside him and drifted in and out of sleep as her emotional exhaustion kicked in. After what seemed like hours, she felt Greg squeeze her hand and she lifted her head to look 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 and laughed through her tears. ‘Of course I came, Greg.’
‘It’s good to see you… Oh, no, please don’t cry. I’m always making you cry,’ he croaked.
She kissed his hand. ‘No Greg, I’m fine… I’m just relieved. 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? I tried to get to them. I tried but I—’
‘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 as his bottom lip trembled and tears escaped the corners of his swollen eyes. After a pause in which confusion washed over his face, he squeezed her hand. ‘I had a dream earlier.’ He smiled. ‘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 again.’
‘The dream was strange. You… 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.’ His frail voice broke as more tears escaped and trailed down his cheek, soaking into the bandages on his head, and he closed his eyes. ‘But then I woke up.’
As she listened, Mallory’s heart pounded. 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 turned his face towards 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.’ More 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.
She stood and bent over him. ‘I love you. Greg, I want to be with you, always.’ She leaned down and kissed his cut lips gently. ‘But can you forgive me? And do you still want me?’
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.’ 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 managed to convince the nurses to ‘forget’ she was there and after thanking and hugging Colin, she told him 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 and took his hand. ‘Shhh, Greg, shhh, it’s okay, I’m here.’
His eyes fluttered open and he winced. His breathing was shallow and ragged. ‘Mallory? You’d gone. You left 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 but kept his grip on her hand. She dragged the chair over to his bedside and rested her head on the bed near his hip.
