Page 46 of Welcome to the Cornish Country Hospital

‘I won’t.’

‘No, you bloody well won’t!’ Charlie came into the cubicle where Richard had been moved for further monitoring, with Gary by his side. ‘Never mind playing Russian roulette with your blood pressure, you’ve put mine through the roof.’

‘I’m sorry, I really am.’ Richard looked and sounded every bit as contrite as a little boy being told off by his dad.

‘I’ll forgive you if you don’t do it again.’ Charlie’s expression softened as he took Richard’s hand and then looked up at Danni. ‘He is going to be okay, isn’t he?’

‘If he follows doctors’ orders and your advice, he should be fine.’ Danni smiled and Charlie’s face flooded with relief. Here was a man who genuinely cared about others and who couldn’t have been more different from Lucas if he’d tried. It was almost impossible to believe now that she’d been under his spell for so long, when the goodness in someone like Charlie shone so much brighter. But then maybe that was it: there was no such thing assomeone like Charlie. Only him.

‘Before we move you to the clinical decisions unit for further assessment, I just need to see whether any of your details need updating.’ Gary took a step towards Richard. ‘Does your mobile number still end in six eight seven?’

‘It does.’

‘And it says here you’ve chosen not to list any next of kin, is that right?’

‘It isn’t that I chose not to, it’s just that I didn’t have any. At least not until recently.’ Richard turned to look at his son and Charlie nodded.

‘You do now.’

‘Is it okay to put your details? I know it’s not been long, but—’

‘Of course it is, but only if you promise to come and have dinner with me as soon as you’re out of here.’

‘Try stopping me.’ Richard’s smile would have melted the hardest of hearts and the tears filling Danni’s eyes were the good ones this time. ‘Although a certain brilliant young doctor might tell me I’ve got to stick to salad leaves and tap water.’

‘Everything in moderation, as long as it doesn’t interfere with your medication.’ Danni pretended to wag a finger at him. ‘I’ll leave Gary to finish checking your details and I’ll go and check if they’re ready to move you to CDU.’

‘Hold on, Danni.’ Charlie caught up with her just along the corridor from Richard’s cubicle. ‘I wanted to say thank you.’

‘What for?’

‘For looking after Richard and for giving him and me a chance to finally get to know one another.’

‘I didn’t do anything. I think collapsing for a second time finally made him realise what he really wanted.’

‘Yes, but if it hadn’t been for you, I might not have hung around and waited for him to change his mind. I know Connie’s original plan was to go back to Yorkshire as soon as she got out of hospital and I could have gone up there to visit. Waiting for Richard would have felt like setting myself up for rejection, if there hadn’t been someone else I enjoyed spending time with so much.’

‘Brenda will be flattered.’ Danni couldn’t help trying to brush off the compliment, even if a smile kept tugging at the corners of her mouth every time she looked at Charlie.

‘Whilst I do love spending time with Brenda, she comes in just behind spending time with you.’ Charlie shrugged. ‘It’s a close-run thing, but all that slobber of hers means you just about have the edge.’

‘So I’m just about preferable to a basset hound with a drooling problem.’ Danni tapped her chin. ‘I’ll take that.’

‘I’m glad to hear it, because I’d like to make dinner for you tonight as a thank you. But if you want to bring Brenda, she’s more than welcome too. Although, I ought to warn you, this is how love triangles start.’ Charlie laughed, but Danni couldn’t even pretend to find the words funny. ‘Hey, what’s wrong?’

‘Sorry, just thinking about a patient.’ Danni shook her head and tried to shake off the horrible sense of foreboding with it. Lying to Charlie was just one more thing she hated about the situation with Esther and Lucas.

‘Oh God, here I am, blabbing on as usual and you have so much more important stuff to deal with. If you can’t make it to dinner tonight, don’t worry. We can do it another time. If you like, I mean, but we don’t have to do that either.’ Charlie’s affable charm would have been the perfect act if he’d wanted to manipulate someone the way Lucas had, but there wasn’t a shred of doubt in Danni’s mind that everything about Charlie was genuine. And she liked everything about him too.

‘No, I’d love to come, thank you.’ Reaching out, she took hold of his hand, watching as the look of concern on his face transformed into a smile that went all the way to his eyes. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Lucas smile like that. But one thing she knew for certain was that she wanted Esther to have someone who smiled at her that way, whenever they looked at her, and time was running out fast.

25

‘Are you sure you don’t want to take a rain check on tonight?’ Danni didn’t think she could have got up and left, even if she wanted to. Brenda was lying across her feet as she sat on the sofa in Charlie’s holiday cottage, and Maggie had her head on Danni’s knee, staring up at her with those incredible puppy-dog eyes that belied her real age.

‘Of course not. When the doctor in CDU said Richard could come home tonight after all, I offered to go and stay with him at the house, but I think we both decided that might be running before we can walk.’ Charlie poured some wine into her glass. ‘I’ve told him to call if there’s anything worrying him, and I’ll pop in and check on him later. Then, in a couple of days’ time, he should be feeling much better.’

‘And as long as he takes his medication and takes the advice about his lifestyle, he shouldn’t have another incident like that.’ Danni stroked the top of Maggie’s head. ‘I think this one really scared him.’

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