AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She just had to be brave.
And find Gabriel.
The corridor was empty. Gabriel glanced at his watch. Probably some shift was changing, or maybe the hospital was always quieter after lunch. It was lucky he had only bought one coffee otherwise it would be cold by now. But the sandwiches and cold drinks should be good for a while.
His stomach clenched—not with hunger, but with an anxiety that seemed to be hotwired into all five senses. He could feel it vibrating through his body, taste it in his mouth, hear it in the jerkiness of his heartbeat. Watching Dove push through those doors, he had wanted to follow her, to shield her with his body against what lay on the other side, and it had taken every ounce of his willpower not to go with her.
Only he’d known that it wasn’t right for him to be there. He wasn’t family. He was an outsider...a stranger.
There was a sudden unbearable ache in his chest. If he hadn’t let the past get in the way it might have been so different. But itwasdifferent now, he thought, remembering how he and Dove had talked, and how she could be quiet and listen too.
He felt a beat of hope, and let it take shape into something light and elliptical, like a piece of surf-smoothed volcanic rock from the beach at Pico. And he could be different. He could do that for her. He could forget about the acquisition. Write that letter to Fenella. Send it or not send it and get on with his life.With Dove.
The doors swung open and he felt his body loosen and tense at the same time as Dove stepped out of the waiting room, and then he was on his feet and pulling her against him, breathing in the light, clean scent of her as if it was pure oxygen.
They stayed like that for as long as he could justify it, and then he let her go. ‘How’s Alistair?’
‘Tired and a bit shaken. It wasn’t a stroke—he has sepsis. But they think they’ve caught it in time.’ She smiled weakly. ‘He’s loving having all the nurses fussing all over him.’
His hand tightened around hers. ‘Thank goodness.’
There was a luminous quality to her skin that seemed to light up the dingy corridor. She looked young and alive, almost eager.
‘You care about him too?’
‘Of course.’ He spoke automatically, but it was true. He did care about Alistair. But why did that matter to Dove? ‘So what happens now?’ he asked.
‘They said that he’s got to stay in hospital for a couple of weeks, but everyone is really pleased with the progress he’s made.’
She was watching him, waiting...
‘But that’s not all?’ he said slowly.
There was a silence, and then she shook her head. ‘My mum has just told me something. About Alistair.’
She met his gaze, and suddenly, looking down into her soft grey eyes, he knew what she was going to say.
‘He’s your father.’
His hands tightened around her waist as she stared up at him dazedly. ‘How did you know that?’
‘I didn’t. But you have his eyes,’ he said simply.
She blinked, then nodded. ‘They love each other. They always have. And one night they gave in to their feelings. And...’
‘And they still love each other?’
She nodded as he finished her sentence. ‘They both feel as though they’ve waited so long to be together.’
There was another silence. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked finally.
She nodded. ‘It’s a lot to take in, but it makes sense of so much. And it feels right. It feels good. I feel like we can be a family.’
He could hear the hope in her voice, and he knew that she was remembering that photo of his family, picturing something once so out of reach, now there for the taking.
‘There are other things too... They can wait, though. Everything else can wait. You see, there’s something I have to tell you. Something I need to tell you. Something I realised when my mum was talking about love and obstacles and having to fight to get back to where you want to be.’
Her eyes were so open and soft it almost blinded him.
