“I’m glad you did. I’d rather be able to come out ahead of nonsense like this, and it will help if the Palace isn’t taken by surprise. Thank you, Sophie, and please thank Garrett for me, too.” I glanced over my shoulder to where the doctors were emerging from Nicky’s room. “I need to go now, but I’ll keep in touch. Love you, Soph.”
“Love to you, too, Kyra, and love to Nicky, too. Stay strong. Call if you need anything at all.”
Ending the call, I made my way down the corridor, my heartbeat picking up speed as I approached the waiting physicians. The one closest to me caught my eye and smiled.
“Your Royal Highness.” He made a small bow. “We’re pleased to tell you that we believe His Royal Highness is showing signs of recovery. The swelling in the brain that had caused us such concern seems to be abating. The prince is responding to all of the treatment, and we have every reason to expect a good outcome.”
The doctor standing alongside the first one made a noise in the back of her throat. “But please be aware, ma’am, that until the prince awakens and we can run cognitive tests, we cannot offer assurances about whether or not there will be any lasting damage or how complete the eventual recovery might be.” She side-eyed her colleague. “We don’t know about speech and motor function yet.”
A third doctor spoke up. “I concur with both of my associates. The prince is showing signs of recovery, and all results are encouraging. But at the same time, we must remain only cautiously optimistic. We can’t know a prognosis for certain, not yet. I do believe the next few days will reveal more, and I trust it will be good news.”
He winked at me, and I decided that he was my favorite. I wanted the truth, and I didn’t want it sugar-coated, but neither did I need to hear doom and gloom.
The first doctor added, “We’re weaning the prince off the medications that have helped keep him still during this initial treatment, and it’s very likely that we’ll see him begin to show signs of wakefulness soon, perhaps even as soon as later today.”
“Really?” I had never wanted anything more than to see Nicky’s beautiful bright blue eyes, the ones he’d inherited from the Queen, looking back at me.
“Yes, ma’am.” Doctor Number Three beamed. “That being said, perhaps now would be a good time for you to go home and have some sleep, so that you’re feeling rested when the prince regains consciousness.”
“Are you kidding me?” I shook my head in disbelief. “Now that I know he’s on the way to waking up, there is no way in hell that I’m going anywhere.” I grinned. “Besides, after hearing this news, I couldn’t sleep if I wanted to.”
Doctor Number Two sighed. “I didn’t think you would.”
Over the next six hours, I didn’t move an inch from my chair alongside Nicky’s bed. When my energy flagged—and it did, eventually, as the hopeful adrenaline faded from my bloodstream—I would nod off and then jerk awake, terrified that I’d missed something.
Nicky’s parents had heard the news, too, and they came to the hospital in the late morning. The Duchess’s face was lined with worry, along with a glimmer of expectation. I thought ruefully that I’d seen both of them age over the past three days and wondered if people thought the same thing about me.
Alex, Jake and Daisy all arrived at lunchtime, bearing boxes of all my favorite foods from various London restaurants. For the first time since Saturday, I was actually slightly hungry, and I managed to eat enough to satisfy my worried in-laws for the time being.
During the day, I’d noticed that Nicky had been growing more restless. The utter stillness that had so frightened me all along was fading away, as his legs and arms began to twitch and stir. By late afternoon, his eyes were fluttering, and his lips moved in soundless shapes around the ventilator tube that was still helping him to breathe.
The sun was just beginning to grow dim through the hospital windows when Nicky’s eyelids fluttered again—and this time, they stayed open. His forehead wrinkled as his brow drew together in confusion. He glanced around the room, his eyes darting from side to side, until they stopped on me.
I didn’t realize I’d been holding my breath until it came whooshing out in a rush. Licking my lips, I swallowed back all of the fear and stark terror that had been lurking in my heart up until this moment.
“Nicky.” I touched the side of his face, rough with whiskers. “Nicky, sweetheart, can you hear me?” My unspoken plea wasdo you know who I am?
That beautiful blue gaze remained fastened on my face, and I saw my favorite expression there—the one that was the beginning of his smile, the slight crinkle of the corners of his eyes before happiness took over his entire face. It was the exact sight I’d been wishing to see.
He tried to speak, but the ventilator tube prevented it. My mother-in-law, the Duchess, who’d been sitting down on the other side of the bed, jumped to her feet.
“I’ll get the doctor.”
At the foot of the bed, the Duke watched silently, his hands gripped together painfully. Alex and Daisy stood close together, and all of us were staring at the one occupant of the room who couldn’t say a word yet.
Nicky’s eyes wandered over us again, taking in the way we all stood in a frozen tableau, and then he did the most amazing, wonderful thing ever.
He rolled his eyes at us.
There was no mistaking what he was thinking. This was no involuntary response or reflex that could be misinterpreted; this was my husband, my wonderful, gorgeous, loving andalivehusband being a smartass.
And I couldn’t have wanted anything else in the entire world.
Two doctors followed swiftly in my mother-in-law’s wake, and as we all stood huddled, watching from the other side of the room, they did a few quick tests which apparently had the results they’d hoped. One turned to us, smiling broadly.
“Your Royal Highnesses, we’re going to extubate the prince now. Might we ask you to step from the room while we do so?”
I recognized that question as another one of those that could not be answered negatively. We traipsed into the hallway as a nurse stepped in with a tray and drew the curtain around Nicky’s bed.
