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The nurse stayed by Ellie’s side for a moment, but then the ringing of the phone at the nurses’ station had her moving swiftly away, only a concerned look over her shoulder a sign that she had wished to remain.
Ellie couldn’t speak. Words seemed clogged in her throat. A moment later, Xavier’s father joined the mother. They were so handsome; a perfect, intimidating pair.
“You were looking at our son just now,” the mother said, a tight smile on her face. “Do you know him?”
Ellie began to shake all over, her face unknowingly haunted, her eyes huge.
The parents shared a look. “You do know him, don’t you?”
His mother’s lips were a grim line in her face, and though she hadn’t seen Xavier look worried or cross at all over the weekend, she imagined he might look exactly like this if he were.
“Yes.” Ellie whispered. She took a step backwards, panic rising inside of her. They knew – they understood what Xavier meant to her. No words were necessary to confirm their suspicions.
“You saw the woman we are with,” the father spoke now, taking a step towards Ellie, but his look was one of sympathy. Urgency, too, but sorrow for Ellie and how she must be feeling.
“Arabella and Xavier have known one another a long time,” the father continued, without waiting for Ellie’s answer. She wasn’t sure she could speak, anyway.
“Their wedding was to take place next month.”
Was? Ellie’s heart speeded up.
“But his injuries might not make that possible,” the mother interjected, the words raspy, loaded with a pain Ellie understood.
“Nonetheless, when he wakes, he will want to marry her. There is no doubt in my mind about that.”
Ellie sucked in a breath as the reality of what she was being told perforated the fog in her mind. He was engaged to another woman. His body was possessed by another, his mind, his heart. All of him.
“But he … said he loves me,” she said with a shake of her head, realizing how ridiculous that sounded. “Or that he could love me.” It was all a blur. She swept her eyes shut, trying to recall all the little promises they’d made one another. Some spoken, some implied, all meaningful.
The elegant Spanish couple shared a glance, and Xavier’s mother’s expression bore a look of intense pain.
“He loves Arabella,” the father insisted, with no concept of how those words tore through her.
“He said…”
“Whatever he said was a lie. It’s not unusual for a man to have doubts before his wedding – and the wedding is only weeks away now.”
Ellie’s stomach churned. So what? She’d been a last little bit of fun?
“I can’t believe this,” she said with a shake of her head.
“Arabella is devastated with her worry. She has cried all night with concern for Xavier. The last thing she needs is to find out he’s been in London, messing around with…”
Ellie held a hand up, unable to let him complete that sentence. It would burn her if he did. There was no description of what they’d been to one another that wouldn’t mortally wound her.
“I’m sorry our son has hurt you,” the father continued, softening his tone. “But we’re going to have to ask you to leave now. This is a family matter.”
A silent sob wracked Ellie’s chest. A family matter. The line was there and Ellie would never breach it.
“And I must insist that you don’t contact my son again.”
Ellie’s eyes flashed with fire as she instinctively rejected that idea. Never speak to Xavier again? Never touch him? No. She couldn’t agree to that.
“He loves Arabella,” the father took over, perhaps sensing her opposition. “And she loves him. No good can come to anyone with you interfering.”
“I beg your pardon,” Ellie finally found her voice. “I would never interfere in a marriage.” Her cheeks were whiter than paper. “I had no idea your son was engaged. Believe me, had he told me of… Arabella’s existence in his life, I wouldn’t have looked twice at him.” How it hurt to say the other woman’s name!
The parents exchanged a look, and it was heavy with a crucible of emotions. Sorrow, recrimination and guilt.
