Forbidden Surrender (19 page)

Marie was moving about restlessly when she entered the room, wide awake. ‘Is the doctor coming?’ she groaned.

‘Yes.’ Sara soothed her brow as she had the night she had stayed with her. ‘And when he arrives I want you to agree to have this operation.’

‘No!’ Marie shuddered. ‘Never! I don’t want to be a vegetable in a wheelchair, unloved and unable to love.’

Sara held her tightly to her. ‘You must know Dominic will always love you, no matter what happens.’

Marie looked up at her with wild frightened eyes. ‘No man could love me if I were like that.’

‘Dominic would,’ Sara said with certainty.

‘No. No, he wouldn’t. He would hate me—–’

‘You know that isn’t true. Marie, you’re my sister, a part of myself,’ she gripped her arms tightly. ‘Wouldn’t you rather die fighting?’

‘I don’t want to die at all!’

‘I know that, darling, I know. But we all have to die some time. I know which way I would prefer.’

Marie shook her head. ‘You’re different from me.’

She knew that, Dominic had just told her so, and there was no question about which one of them he preferred. And if it were humanly possible she was going to bring Marie through this for him.

‘I may be different from you, Marie,’ she said with determination. ‘But if I had someone in love with me, someone who wanted to marry me, to be with me for ever and ever, then I’d want to fight this thing.’

Marie’s eyes were huge. ‘You would?’

‘Of course.’ Sara’s voice became less heated as she realised Marie was actually listening to her now. ‘You can’t just sit back and let life deal you a blow like this. You have to have this operation, for yourself, for Dad, and most of all for Dominic.’

‘And for you too?’

‘Yes, for me too.’ Sara blinked back the tears, wishing she could stop being so emotional. She couldn’t be helping the situation.

Marie was calming. ‘You would stay with me all the time?’

‘As much as they would let me,’ Sara agreed eagerly.

Marie bit her lip. ‘I’m not sure …’

‘Just think of the future, Marie.’

‘The future?’ she sighed. ‘There hasn’t been one to think of lately.’

‘Well, think of it now. Think of being with the man you love for all time, of having his children.’

‘Oh yes,’ Marie gave a dreamy smile, ‘I would like that, Sara.’

‘Then take the one chance you’ve got. Please!’ she added pleadingly as Marie still seemed to hesitate. ‘Children, Marie,’ she repeated, although the thought of Marie being the mother of Dominic’s children caused her actual physical pain. ‘Children who look just like their father,’ she said softly, achingly.

Marie drew a ragged breath. ‘I—I’ll do it,’ she said after long troubled minutes.

Sara swallowed hard. ‘You—you will?’

‘Yes,’ her sister nodded.

‘You won’t change your mind?’

Marie licked her dry lips. ‘No.’

Sara hugged and kissed her, both of them laughing and crying at the same time, Marie’s headache apparently forgotten.

A knock sounded on the door before Dominic entered the room. ‘The doctor’s here, Marie,’ he frowned as they both beamed at him. ‘What’s happened?’

Sara stood up. ‘I’ll leave you two alone.’ She moved to the door, unintentionally brushing past Dominic as she went out, her breath catching in her throat at the warm vitality of him. ‘I—er—I’ll send the doctor up in a minute.’ She hastily closed the door and fled down the stairs.

When Dominic came down a few minutes later he was somewhat dazed. ‘How did you do it?’ he asked Sara softly.

She didn’t even pretend to misunderstand him. ‘I pointed out what a lovely future she had as your wife,’ she looked down, biting her bottom lip, ‘as the mother of your children.’

‘And that caused this change of heart?’

Her head went back. ‘Yes.’

‘Well, of course it would,’ her father said excitedly. ‘We should have thought of it before, Dominic, should have talked about the future instead of the present. God, I don’t care how it came about, I’m just glad she’s agreed at last.’ His arm went about Sara’s shoulders. ‘I don’t know how to thank you.’

‘I don’t want or need thanks. I just hope that Mr Forrester can operate now, before Marie has time to have second thoughts.’

Dominic frowned. Do you think she might?’

She swallowed hard. ‘Not if I keep reminding her of her future as your wife.’

‘Sara—’

‘I think I can hear Mr Forrester,’ she interrupted
brightly, turning towards the door, swallowing down the raw emotion she felt at Dominic’s husky exclamation. Why couldn’t he leave her alone now? Couldn’t he see how the thought of him and Marie as husband and wife was breaking her up.

Simon Forrester looked very pleased when he came into the room. ‘If I could just use your telephone, Michael? I want to get Marie to hospital as soon as possible.’

‘You’re going to do it now?’ Sara’s father asked. ‘Today?’

The doctor nodded. ‘I don’t think we have any time to lose.’

After that things moved very fast. The hospital room was arranged, the ambulance sent for. Sara herself went in the ambulance with her sister, Dominic and her father following behind in Dominic’s car.

‘She’s already sedated,’ the doctor warned Sara as she joined Marie in the ambulance. ‘So don’t expect a great deal of conversation from her,’ he smiled, patting her hand comfortingly.

For the first part of the journey Marie seemed to be asleep, but Sara sat and held her hand anyway, sure that her sister could feel her presence beside her, could even draw on some of her strength to help her get through this.

It felt weird to be travelling through London in an ambulance, the siren wailing to warn the other traffic of the seriousness of the patient inside.

‘Sara? Sara!’ Marie opened bleary eyes; their journey was almost over.

‘I’m here,’ Sara reassured her, bending forward into Marie’s vision.

‘Tell him I love him, Sara. No matter what happens I want you to tell him I love him.’

‘He already knows,’ Sara said huskily

‘No,’ Marie shook her head, her voice slurred from the sedation. ‘No, he doesn’t know. Tell—tell Danny I love him.’

‘Danny?’ Sara repeated sharply, frowning heavily. ‘Surely you mean Dominic? Marie, it’s Dominic you love, Dominic you’re going to marry.’

‘Tell—tell Danny I love him,’ Marie repeated, dozing back into a drugged sleep.

Sara frowned. Tell
Danny
she loved him?

I
T
was a long night, not least because of Sara’s utter confusion about Marie’s emotions. Had she really meant for her to tell Danny, Dominic’s brother, that she loved him? It didn’t seem very likely. Marie had probably been confused by the sedative, had gone back into the past, to last summer when she and Danny were dating. Consequently, Sara didn’t make that call to Danny, sure that there had been some sort of mistake.

Dominic looked ghastly, pacing the waiting-room they had been shown into like a caged lion. There were lines of tension beside his mouth, a greyness beneath his tan, and the last thing he needed to be told right now was that Marie had talked of another man before falling asleep.

The operation seemed to have been going on for hours, and the strain of it all was beginning to tell on their father. He looked haggard, dark shadows beneath his eyes, a weary droop to his shoulders.

‘How the hell much longer are they going to be?’ Dominic muttered, but received no answer as he continued to talk to himself in that low angry tone.

Sara stood up. ‘Would either of you like a cup of coffee?’

Her father gave a wry smile. ‘I think it’s starting to run out of my ears already.’

‘Oh.’ She sat down again.

‘I’ll have one,’ Dominic requested huskily.

She stood up again. ‘Black?’

‘Please,’ he nodded.

He didn’t really want the coffee, he knew it and so did she, but Dominic had sensed her need to do something, to feel useful at a time when they were all
powerless to do what they really wanted to do, and that was to save Marie.

She was out in the corridor, putting money into the coffee machine, when Danny walked into the hospital, a plaster across the bridge of his nose.

‘How is she?’ he immediately demanded to know. ‘How’s Marie?’

‘We don’t know yet,’ Sara shrugged. ‘She’s still in theatre.’

He drew a ragged breath. ‘I came as soon as I found out. Do you have any idea how long they’ll be?’

‘None,’ she told him gently, aware that if her father and Dominic looked ill, Danny looked ten times worse.

‘Where’s Dominic?’ he scowled.

‘With my father.’

Danny sighed, gingerly touching his nose. ‘Do you think he would mind if I waited with them?’

‘I’m sure he wouldn’t,’ she assured him warmly. ‘I doubt he even remembers your fight, Danny.’

‘Probably not,’ he acknowledged heavily.

‘Come on!’ She took hold of his arm.

Her father gave Danny an absentminded nod as he recognised him, while Dominic scowled heavily when he saw his brother, evidence that he hadn’t forgotten their last meeting at all.

‘Your coffee.’ She left Danny to cross the room to Dominic, holding out the plastic cup to him.

‘Thanks.’ His expression was brooding as he took it. ‘What’s he doing here?’ His eyes were narrowed on his brother.

She put her hand on his arm. ‘He heard about Marie,’ she explained softly. ‘He’s concerned, Dominic.’

‘Yes,’ he sighed. ‘Yes, I suppose he is.’

‘Go and talk to him,’ she encouraged.

‘Mm, I suppose I should apologise for breaking his nose.’

Her eyes widened. ‘It really is broken?’

Dominic nodded. ‘So my mother informed me. She
wasn’t very happy about the situation. Danny and I used to argue when we were younger, but not lately.’

‘It was my fault, I’m sorry,’ Sara sighed. ‘I should have explained what had happened, but I was just so shocked.’

‘Of course you were.’ He squeezed her hand. ‘I just—I jumped to conclusions.’

‘As you have about Eddie too,’ she put in softly.

Dominic frowned, his eyes narrowed as he looked at her searchingly. ‘Is that the truth?’

She met his gaze unflinchingly. ‘Yes.’

‘Thank you for that,’ he again squeezed her hand. ‘I’d better go and reassure Danny that I don’t intend turning violent on him again. He looks as if he could do with some reassuring about something.’

‘It’s Marie. He—Danny—’

‘I know,’ Dominic cut in harshly. ‘I’m well aware of my brother’s feelings towards Marie. He loves her, he’s always loved her.’

Sara’s eyes widened. ‘Knowing that you still asked Marie to marry you, even though you must have realised how hurt your brother would be?’

‘Danny’s feelings were considered—’

‘And discarded,’ she scorned, turning away. ‘As mine were. Go and talk to Danny by all means, although whether or not he wants to speak to you is another matter entirely.’

‘Sara—’

She shook off his hand. ‘Just go, Dominic,’ she told him vehemently.

‘I’ll go, for now. But we’ll talk again, Sara. There are some things I have to tell you.’

Her head went back. ‘There’s nothing I want to hear from you. Please go and talk to Danny, I have to go to my father.’ She walked away before he could make any further move to stop her.

Her father looked even worse now, and Sara made him sit down, holding his hand tightly as the door
opened and Simon Forrester came in, still in his gown from operating.

The surgeon looked very tired. ‘Surgically I’ve done everything I could,’ he told them. ‘Now we’ll just have to wait and see.’

They took it in turns to sit with Marie through the night and most of the next day, and her father and Dominic were both with her when she woke up.

Sara had been sent home to rest, but she knew by her father’s face when he arrived home that Marie had come through the operation with no harm to herself. She instantly started to cry, the strain of the last few days finally taking over.

‘Hey!’ her father chided, his relief obvious. ‘You’re supposed to be happy, not burst into tears!’

‘I am happy,’ she wailed. ‘Is she really all right, Dad? Is it really all over?’ She blinked back further tears.

‘Really.’ He crushed her to him. ‘She asked for you.’

‘Then I’ll go to her. I—’

‘Calm down, Sara!’ he laughed, looking younger now that the tension was finally over. ‘She’s resting now, you can see her later.’

That first meeting with her sister was an emotional one, and during the next few weeks they became closer than ever, Sara spending most of her time at the hospital—when Dominic wasn’t there. Dominic she avoided at all costs.

The bandage was finally removed from Marie’s head, revealing that it would be a long time before the two of them were again confused with each other. Marie’s hair was now a blonde downy thatch only half an inch long. But she was alive and out of danger, and that was the important thing.

‘I feel ridiculous!’ She put up a selfconscious hand to her hair.

Sara smiled. ‘You look beautiful.’

‘That’s what Dominic said,’ Marie told her ruefully.

Sara’s smile became brittle. ‘Well, he should know.’

Dominic was the one to drive Marie home when the time came for her discharge, his arm about her waist to support her into the house. At the first sight of him in several weeks all Sara’s love towards him came bounding back, her lashes instantly lowering over her revealing eyes.

It was agony to watch his solicitous concern for Marie, so she made her escape as quickly as she could, using a visit to Eddie as her reason for excusing herself.

‘Sounds serious,’ Marie teased. ‘Doesn’t it, Dominic?’

‘I don’t know.’ His gaze was intent on Sara. ‘Is it?’

She daren’t look at him, daren’t risk giving herself away. ‘I don’t know that myself yet,’ she said lightly, knowing that she was lying. Eddie and she were friends, and that was all they would ever be. ‘I’ll let you know if it is.’

‘Before the wedding, I hope,’ Dominic said tautly.

‘We mustn’t tease her,’ Marie laughed.

Sara made good her escape, wondering how Marie had ever gained the impression that Dominic was teasing. He had been deadly serious, his expression grim.

When she arrived home later that evening Marie called her into her bedroom, patting the side of the bed for her to sit down beside her.

Sara did so. ‘Shouldn’t you be asleep?’

‘Yes,’ Marie grinned. ‘But I wanted to talk to you. How’s Eddie? I like Eddie.’

‘He’s well,’ Sara replied guardedly.

Her sister laughed. ‘I really was only teasing earlier about you and Eddie being serious.’

‘I hope so,’ she grimaced. ‘Eddie is in no more of a hurry to get married than I am.’

‘Dominic is.’

Sara looked up sharply. ‘Dominic is what?’

Marie sighed. ‘In a hurry to get married.’

Sara licked her suddenly dry lips. ‘Is he?’ she said brightly. ‘Well, you’ve been engaged for some time, and now that you’re well I suppose—’

‘He doesn’t want to marry me, Sara,’ Marie interrupted.

‘Don’t be silly!’ Sara’s smile seemed to be fixed on her lips, a bright meaningless smile. ‘Of course he wants to marry you—’

‘No,’ Marie insisted softly. ‘And I don’t want to marry him. You remember what I said to you the night of my operation?’

‘A-about loving Danny?’ It hadn’t been mentioned since!

‘Yes,’ she nodded. ‘Well, I do. I always have.’

Sara gasped. ‘But—but Dominic!’ This didn’t seem to be making sense at all.

Marie sighed. ‘It’s a little complicated.’

‘A little?’ Sara scorned. ‘I can’t make any sense of it!’

‘You will, I’ll explain it to you. You see, Danny and I argued last summer, I can’t even remember why now. Anyway, Dominic took me out for a while to try and cheer me up. Then I fell down the stairs,’ she sighed. ‘Danny came rushing round to see how I was, but—well, even then I think I must have sensed there was more wrong with me than they first realised, and I turned Danny away. But he kept coming back, and then when I found out about my injury I knew I had to stop him.’

She swallowed hard. ‘With Dominic?’

Marie nodded. ‘But it was with Dominic’s consent. We never intended getting married, I just couldn’t agree to marry Danny knowing I was going to die. So Dominic and I became engaged, and Danny finally left me alone. You do see, don’t you, Sara? Danny would be hurt less that way?’

‘Maybe. But I think he should have been given the choice.’

‘No,’ Marie shook her head. ‘He would only have been noble, insisted on marrying me anyway.’

Sara frowned, trying her best to understand. ‘Where did Dominic stand in all this?’

Marie smiled. ‘Dominic is the best friend I ever had.’

‘Friend? But you haven’t been behaving as if you were just
friends
.’

‘All acting,’ her sister grinned. ‘Enjoyable acting, I’ll admit, but acting just the same. Then tonight he started discussing weddings for real.’ She frowned. ‘I couldn’t understand it.’

‘He loves you—’

‘No, he doesn’t,’ Marie laughed at the thought of it.

‘But—’

‘He really doesn’t love me, Sara, he just thought
I
wanted to marry
him.
’

‘He did?’

‘Yes, and that was your fault. Yes, it was,’ Marie insisted as Sara went to protest. ‘You told Dominic it was the thought of being his wife and having his children that had encouraged me to face the operation. What you said to me was that I had to think of being with the man I loved for ever and ever. And I did that—I thought of Danny.’

‘Danny?’
Sara gasped.

‘Yes,’ her sister smiled happily. ‘I’m going to marry Danny. And you love Dominic, don’t you?’

‘I—’

‘Don’t you?’ Marie quirked an eyebrow.

Sara licked her lips. ‘Yes.’

Marie nodded. ‘I told him you did.’

‘You did
what
?’

‘Don’t look so annoyed,’ Marie smiled. ‘He didn’t believe me.’

‘Thank God for that! Don’t you realise—’

‘He loves you too, Sara.’

She paled. ‘He—he what?’

‘He loves you,’ Marie repeated happily. ‘I had my suspicions, the way you kept avoiding each other and everything, but tonight I knew for sure.’

‘H—how did you know?’

‘He told me,’ Marie announced calmly.

Sara was beginning to wonder if she were hallucinating. Marie had only got engaged to Dominic so that Danny wouldn’t get hurt, the man she really loved, and Dominic had aided her in this plan. And now Marie was going to marry Danny after all, and Dominic had admitted to Marie that he loved her, Sara. None of it sounded very plausible, and yet Marie seemed very confident.

‘See?’ Marie held up her bare left hand. ‘No engagement ring. Danny is going to buy me one tomorrow.’

‘Oh, he does know about this, then?’ Sara mocked dazedly.

‘Silly!’ her sister giggled. ‘Of course he knows about it, although he was furious with Dominic and I when he found out what I had done.’

‘I’m surprised he understood it!’

Marie eyed her teasingly. ‘Don’t you want to know more about Dominic loving you?’

Sara blushed and stood up to turn away. ‘I don’t believe he does. Oh, I know he’s attracted to me, but only because I look like you. I think you’re wrong about him not loving you, Marie. He must be very upset about your marrying his brother.’

‘Not at all. He went and got Danny himself once I’d explained the misunderstanding to him.’

She shrugged. ‘Just a cover up to his real feelings—’

‘What does it take to convince you?’ Marie said impatiently. ‘The man loves you, he wants to marry you.’

‘M—Marry me?’

‘That got your attention, hmm?’ her sister teased. ‘Of course Dominic wants to marry you, but he says you don’t want him.’

‘But he knows I do—I mean—well—’ Sara blushed scarlet. ‘I do,’ she said lamely.

Marie’s eyes twinkled mischievously. ‘I won’t ask how he knows. The thing is he doesn’t,’ she sobered. ‘He says you despise him.’

She had only said that in the heat of the moment, surely he realised that. But it seemed not. She was almost afraid to believe what Marie was telling her, and yet her sister seemed so confident.

‘I’ve never seen him like this before,’ Marie continued at her silence. ‘Dominic’s always been like an older brother to me, always confident and in command—that’s why I turned to him for help. But he’s-as uncertain as a schoolboy about you. I’m not sure I like to see him like that.’

‘So you intend putting him out of his misery?’ Sara was beginning to hope, to believe what Marie was telling her. Could Dominic have really meant it that night he had told her he loved her? Oh, God, she hoped so!