Doris O'Connor (21 page)

“
You must have seen this sort of
injury before in your line of work, Mr. Giovanni. It is difficult
to tell what will happen. Time will tell.”

“
But we’re getting married in three
weeks’ time. Is he going to come down the aisle in his wheelchair?”
Irene whined. “That will completely spoil the pictures. I have this
all planned.”

Kitty exploded next to him.

“
Is that really all you think
about, woman? For pity’s sake, Alex has just been told that he may
never walk again, and you’re worried about your wedding pictures?
You ought to be grateful that he is alive after what he’s been
through. So what if he’s in a wheelchair? At least he’s here, isn’t
he?”

His little siren shook in her outrage, and his
chest felt tighter in response.

“
Well of course, I am glad he’s
here. What a stupid thing to ask me.” Irene’s face contorted in an
ugly grimace. “But excuse me for wanting to make my wedding
special. I’ve been waiting forever, after all, and I’m the one who
has to, well, you know.”

Irene’s voice dwindled away, and she looked
horrified. Alex could just imagine what she was thinking, but
before he could say anything Kitty beat him to it.

She was spitting fire. Alex had to smile at
the expression on the consultant’s face, who threw his hands up in
the air and left the room, mumbling something about “coming back
later, when you all had a chance to talk.”

“
You’re the one who has to do what?
Come on, spit it out, Irene. What is bothering you so much about
Alex being in a wheelchair?”

“
Well, it’s just that—”

“
What? Not what you signed up for?
Well, guess what, Irene? This is real life, and that’s what
happens. So get used to it. You keep telling me he’s yours, so
bloody well act like it.”

His gut clenched at seeing the tears in the
emerald depths of her eyes. “I’m sorry, Alex, I can’t do this
anymore. I’ve got to go. I hope you’ll be very happy
together.”

She fled from the room, before he could
respond, cursing his useless legs from preventing him from going
after her.

“
Well I never. What has got her
knickers all in a twist?” Irene’s dismissal of Kitty made his blood
boil. “Of course it doesn’t matter about the pictures. I’m sorry,
Alex, this is just such a lot to take in. I’ve been so worried
about you, and of course you’ll get well. He will, won’t he,
Stella?”

“
With the love of a good woman,
yes, he will, I’m sure.” His mother surprised him again by taking
his hand and saying, “I’ll go after her and make sure she’s okay.
Do you want me to bring her back?”

Did he want Kitty?
Hell yeah
. Surely
she wouldn’t be this upset, unless she still cared for him? He
nodded. His mother smiled and, walking past an outraged Irene, left
the room.

“
What the hell is going on here,
Alex? Darling? You aren’t cross with me, are you? I didn’t mean
what I said. She just winds me up so much, and she is always in
your face. I mean I know she is Noah’s mother, and we have to put
up with her, but you could be a little more pleased to see me. A
woman could get jealous you know. And we know she can’t be trusted;
remember that.”

Irene moved closer and closer, and Alex
gritted his teeth against the smell of her perfume. How many times
had he asked her to go easy on that?

“
I know I haven’t been here that
much, but you know how I feel about hospitals. They give me the
creeps, and you had the best care of course. There was absolutely
no need for me to be here all the time, draping myself all over
you, like some people. I mean she is so transparent, really. She’s
even getting to Mamma. Just because I’m not demonstrative. You know
I love you, Alex. I always have done. Alex, darling, don’t look
like that. Talk to me. We’ll get through this. We will.”

“
And what if we don’t, Irene? Are
you prepared to look after a cripple for the rest of your life?
There are no guarantees here. I may never walk again.”

He watched Irene’s face drain of color with
grim satisfaction.

“
You have got to get better. I have
been through too much to get you here.”

Alex clenched his fists. She had gone through
too much? What exactly had she gone through? This was all so
horribly familiar.

“
This is all about you again, as
usual, isn’t it?”

“
How dare you, Alex? If you’d seen
sense in the first place and given up on this stupid firefighting
nonsense, you wouldn’t be in this mess, would you? It’s that
Kitty’s fault, filling your head with nonsense. What? Trying to be
a hero for that red-head, it’s ridiculous.”

“
Keep Kitty out of this. This has
nothing to do with her.”

“
Oh but it has everything to do
with her, hasn’t it? As if it wasn’t enough that she got herself
pregnant all those years ago. I got rid of her then, only for her
to pop up again this time. But she is not winning. You hear
me?”

Alex grabbed Irene by the arms, his voice ice
cold, as a horrible suspicion dawned on him.

“
What exactly did you
do?”

Chapter
Twenty-Five

“
Do enlighten us, Irene. What
exactly did you do to get rid of Kitty?”

Stella’s voice was frosty enough to slice the
air. Kitty froze at the scene in front of her. Alex looked
murderous. His white knuckles had an iron grip on Irene’s arms, and
the woman looked stricken. What on earth had they walked in
on?

Stella had tracked her down after she fled
from the room in tears. It had all been too much. How was Alex
going to cope, if he could never walk again? He was always so
active and full of life. And what about his job? He loved being a
fire fighter. After all, he had committed to marrying Irene so that
he could stay in his job. Damn the woman. She so did not deserve
him.
I’ve got to get out of here before I hit the
bitch.

Kitty had had to stop running, blinded by
tears. She had had no idea where she was, when she felt a cool hand
grab her. Stella pulled her into an awkward hug, and once Kitty had
recovered from the shock, she cried her eyes out into Alex’s mum’s
shoulder. The older woman murmured soothingly into her ear in
Italian. Eventually she managed to get herself under control and
put some distance between her and Stella.

“
Will you come back please, Kitty?
Alex will need you.”

“
Stella, I can’t. I just can’t. I
can’t watch Irene play the doting fiancée anymore. He made his
choice; now he has to live with it. I’ve done what you asked of me,
so now please leave me be. You should be happy. Irene was always
your choice, after all.”

She had turned to leave, but Stella had
maneuvered herself in front of her.

“
Kitty, I may be a stubborn fool at
times, but I do want to see my son happy. Please don’t walk out on
him because of me. You and I had our differences, but maybe we can
work them out.”

Kitty looked at Stella. She could not be
hearing right.

“
Kitty, it’s simple. Do you love my
son?”

She nodded, not trusting her voice, amazed at
the relief on Stella’s face. She said something in Italian and
raised her eyes heavenwards as though she was praying.

“
Then come back and fight for him,
Kitty.”

And now this scene. Irene looked like a rabbit
caught in the headlights, and Alex looked ready to murder her.
Never a dull moment in this family, that’s for sure. However,
Kitty’s sense of humor left her completely when Irene’s pleading
voice reached her.

“
Alex, please let me go. You’re
hurting me. I only did it because I love you. I couldn’t let you
go. I can’t!”

Alex let go of Irene, clearly disgusted with
her. The woman stumbled backwards, wrapping her arms around
herself. The fear etched in her features accentuated Alex’s quiet
fury.

“
What. Did. You. Do?” he asked. His
voice was a low, barely controlled growl.

Irene shook her head. “I love you,
Alex!”

“
You wouldn’t know love if it hit
you on the ass, woman! Now for the last time, what did you
do?”

Irene started crying in ugly, wrenching sobs
that shook her slender frame. She inched toward the door. Stella
asked her something in Italian, and Alex’s vicious curse in
response made Kitty jump. Oh, if only she spoke the
language.

Irene responded to Stella in Italian, and the
older woman stumbled and would have fallen over, had Kitty not
grabbed her and helped her to sit down. All color had drained out
of Stella’s face. She shook her head, silent tears falling, whilst
mumbling to herself in Italian.

Irene scrambled for the door, but Kitty was
faster and yanked the woman back by her hair. All the frustrations
of the last few weeks unleashed, and her temper snapped. She had
the most horrible suspicion. If the witch had hurt like Alex like
this and robbed Noah of his dad for the last three years, then
heaven help her.

Irene yanked her hair out of Kitty’s hand, her
face contorted in her own anger.

“
You, this is your fault.
Everything is your fault. Alex and I were fine until he went to
Amsterdam, and he had to meet you, didn’t he? What did you do?
Throw yourself at him in that club?”

Kitty felt a twinge of guilt at that
statement, but Irene’s next words completely obliterated any
compassion she may have been capable of.

“
What else was I to do, when he
came back insisting that our break was permanent? I had to do
something, so I told him I was pregnant. Of course, I wasn’t! I
wouldn’t be that stupid, not like the likes of you!”

Alex and Stella both gasped at that, and Kitty
just looked at the woman. She
really
was something
else.

“
And then you phoned up and left
that message. I couldn’t have that. I knew the minute he found out
that I wasn’t really pregnant, he would go after you, so yeah, I
deleted that message, and you know what? I’m glad I did. Of course
it didn’t work. He left anyway, the minute I had to have that
miscarriage. Yeah, how supportive of him, eh?”

I’m going to kill her!

“
But look at him now, a cripple.
Who would want to marry
that
? You’re welcome to him.
Besides, even if he was capable now, I wouldn’t want to run the
risk of having a
freak
like your son!”

“
What did you call my son?” Kitty’s
blood rushed in her ears, and her hands balled into fists. Stella
shot out of her chair, the air rife with Stella’s and Alex’s
furious Italian curses. But Irene had to get past Kitty to get to
the door. With every ounce of strength she possessed, Kitty punched
the woman straight in the face, the crack of her hand reverberating
round the room. It was with a certain amount of satisfaction that
Kitty saw Irene go down like a sack of potatoes. Irene’s lip split
open, blood going everywhere, even as the pain in her hand brought
tears to Kitty’s own eyes.

Stella pulled her into a hug, whilst turning
to Irene.

“
Get out, before I do something far
worse to you, and
never
come near my family again. Do you
get that?"

Irene picked herself up off the floor and ran
from the room. Stella smiled at Kitty.

“
Welcome to the family, Kitty, and
let me get you some ice for that hand. That was quite a punch. I
hope you didn’t break it!”

Kitty smiled through her tears, and the look
on Alex’s face made her heart soar as he put his hand out. ”Come
here, and let me see what you’ve done to yourself."

Chapter
Twenty
-Six

Alex was released from hospital a week later,
as there was nothing else they could do for him. Stella swung into
action, like only she could, and had her huge house adapted to
include a downstairs bedroom for Alex, complete with his own nurse
and physiotherapist. She also insisted that Kitty and Noah move in,
too.

“
Please, Kitty. I’m knocking about
by myself in that big house, and with you being off work now we can
all spend some time together and get to know each other better. And
I thought you’d want to be close to Alex.” The conspiratorial
whisper reached Kitty’s ears only. Kitty looked across at Alex, who
was practicing his moves in his wheelchair, with Noah on his lap.
Both of them were in fits of giggles, and she fought back tears.
Stella gave her a hug. She was doing that lots lately. “He’ll be
okay. You’ll see. You and Noah are all the inspiration he needs. I
haven’t seen him this happy in a long time.”

Kitty stood in the bedroom Stella had offered
to her whistling to herself. This was one of the guest rooms, yet
it was huge with a big walk-in wardrobe, a king-size bed and great
views over Hampstead Heath. She couldn’t have chosen better
herself. No wonder Stella felt lonely in this huge house. Once upon
a time it must have been filled with lots of laughter, and it
certainly felt like a home. Noah’s room next to hers was charming.
He had shrieked in delight at the huge train track on the floor.
Long ago it had been Alex’s, and Noah had immediately been absorbed
in play, watched over by a doting Stella. Kitty chose to explore
her surroundings. She’d been here before, of course, but her stay
had been relegated to the garden only. Being able to explore freely
round Alex’s childhood home was quite an eye-opener to say the
least.