Flowers for My Love (20 page)

‘My brother and my husband,’ she cried in distress. ‘Are they

...?’

Sister said kindly, ‘Please go in to see your sister. I’ll come for you in a few moments.’

With a last agonising look at her father-in-law who nodded his head reassuringly, Davina went into the small ward.

Cheryl lay looking very pale but none the worse for her unpleasant experience.

She gave a wan smile. ‘Sorry to spoil your honeymoon, Davina,’ she said huskily. ‘I got off lightly, thanks to Nick.’

‘But how did it happen? Juleen and Jocelyn took you home, didn’t they?’

Davina sank down on the chair beside the bed and looked helplessly at her sister.

Cheryl said, ‘Yes, they did. Darren wasn’t really drunk. He was acting grown up as usual. He walked into the flat and sat in the lounge while I made coffee. I left him drinking it and went to bed. He must have lighted a cigarette and then fallen asleep. His arm was along the arm of the chair and the cigarette smouldered, hence the fumes.’

‘And Darren and Nick?’ Davina held her breath as her green eyes searched Cheryl’s face in anguish. ‘How are they?’

Cheryl shook her head. ‘I don’t know. They won’t tell me.’

Suddenly her face crumpled and she began to cry quietly. ‘I blame myself for leaving Darren in the lounge instead of insisting on him going to bed.’

‘You’re not to say that,’ Davina said, choking back her own tears and giving Cheryl her handkerchief. ‘Here, blow your nose and tell me what Nick did.’

Cheryl blew her nose and dried her eyes. ‘I don’t know. I woke up in hospital after he’d carried me out of the flat. I remember dazedly seeing his smoke-blackened face when I was lifted into the ambulance, that’s all.’

Davina bit hard on her trembling lip. Her voice shook.

‘Darren would get the worst of it, because ... because he was sitting in the smouldering chair.’

She was fighting back the tears when the door opened and Sister said quietly, ‘Will you come with me, Mrs. Tabor?’

Gallantly, Davina squeezed Cheryl’s hand, then rose on her trembling legs to force them forward. The next moment she was stepping from the ward into someone’s arms. They closed warmly around her and all she could do was to cling and go on clinging.

‘Oh, Nick!’ she cried through her tears. ‘It’s heaven to see you again. Are you all right? Let me look at you.’

His arms slackened as she lifted her head with a look of horror at his grimy face and hair. His teeth were very white as he grinned reassuringly.

‘I’m fine,’ he said. ‘You aren’t getting rid of me that easily.’

Tears of thankfulness welled in her eyes, and a spasm of pain contracted her face.

‘And Darren?’ she asked in a scared whisper.

‘Darren is going to be fine. He has a strong constitution that’s going to carry him through.’

Her legs went weak under her and Nick was holding her close. He felt the fragrance of her hair against his face, the salt of her happy tears on his lips as he held her slim suppleness against him.

At last the world had righted around her. There was a lot to be explained, but for the moment Davina was ecstatically happy in the knowledge that her loved ones were safe and recovering. Nothing else was more important than that.

At last she said, ‘I want to see Darren.’

‘So you shall, but right now we’re going to join Dad in Sister’s office for a cup of tea.’

Later they went in together to see Darren who was looking very pale and ill. They were allowed only two minutes.

Davina leaned over to kiss him and he said in a low voice,

‘I’m sorry to cause you this trouble. It’s cured me of smoking anyway. I’m told I owe my life to my brother-in-law.’

His eyes sought Nick’s, who replied soberly, ‘You owe your life to Davina. She was putting your happiness before her own—that was why I arrived at the flat at the crucial moment.

I was going to have a heart-to-heart talk with you. However, you must rest. That’s the most important thing.’

Darren put out his hand to Davina, who kissed it, knowing that everything was going to be fine.

Darren and Cheryl were staying in the hospital overnight.

John Tabor left for his appointment with his other son; Jocelyn and Davina went with Nick to the flat. The chair Darren, had sat in was a total wreck, but most of the damage had been done by smoke and the water from the firemen’s hose.

By the time they left Davina was as grimy as Nick. As he drove back to his parents’ home, Nick said, ‘I think the most sensible thing to do is to make a clean break now with the shop and flat, my sweet. Cheryl and Darren can regard our home as theirs until we get them fixed up.’

She looked at him blankly. ‘But what will Cheryl do?’

‘Cheryl will fix herself up. She’s wanted to take up nursing for a long time but didn’t know how to tell you.’

‘But what about Rex?’

‘Rex is going around with a redhead at the moment. Cheryl never really loved him. You must know that, darling.’

‘She did hint about it, but I understood her to be unsure of herself and her true feelings for Rex.’

Suddenly she was shining up at him and catching hold of his arm excitedly. There was laughter and relief in her voice. ‘It might be the answer. Don’t you see? Cheryl could be in the same hospital that Darren will eventually work in too after he qualifies. She could give him the incentive to do it.’

‘You could be right.’

They arrived at the house to find that Nina had gone out.

Her car was missing from the garage.

Nick said, ‘What about us getting cleaned up and having a cold lunch! We’ll forage it from the fridge. We could have it in our room since we’re alone.’

Half an hour later, with Nick changed into slacks and silk shirt and Davina in a very pretty housecoat, they were bringing up food from the kitchen. Their room was filled with the delicious aroma of coffee as they ate cold chicken with green salad followed by cheese and crackers.

Davina looked at Nick, loving the newly washed fair hair drying into its usual tight curls, the well-cut mouth curving upwards at the corners endearingly, and the grey eyes mocking her sudden shyness. There was sheer bliss in the thought that this was only the first of many meals they would be sharing together as man and wife.

‘Penny for your thoughts,’ he offered lazily, refilling their coffee cups.

The words tumbled out. ‘I was thinking what a waste it is for you to have such a head of delicious fair curls when they might have graced the head of some plain girl.’

His eyes twinkled wickedly. ‘Maybe I can share them with our future daughters. I’m sure they’ll be delighted to have such a gift from their dad. What do you think?’

Davina was beyond words. Her face was scarlet, but he only laughed.

‘By the way, I think you should rest this afternoon,’ he added.

‘You’ve had enough excitement for one day.’

‘What about you? Incidentally, you never said whether you passed out this morning during your gallant rescue.’ Her green eyes misted. Her lips trembled. ‘Thank you, darling, for saving my brother and sister. I love you very much, and I wish you would rest as well.’

‘The idea had occurred to me,’ he answered, smiling.

Nick went to close the curtains before giving her the warmth of his familiar grey gaze. Davina felt her heart leap in response and wondered however she could have been cold with him.

She rose to her feet and stood there feeling extremely foolish.

‘I’m dreadfully sorry about last night,’ she began.

He moved a provocative brow. ‘How am I supposed to react to that? Slap your wrist and say that it mustn’t happen again?’

He surveyed her between narrowed lids. ‘Come here,’ he commanded.

Davina did not move. ‘Stop teasing me,’ she cried.

‘I m not teasing you,’ Nick said calmly, and put out his arms.

She came to within arm’s length of him to gaze at him with troubled eyes.

The words tumbled out. ‘I’ve been such an idiot,’ she admitted, near to tears.

‘Aren’t we all when we’re in love, so stop making an issue of it. We’ve a lot of time to make up for.

He took her into his arms and tenderly framed her face with his strong hands. He watched the frank enchantment of her face when she lifted her green eyes to his, and their gaze held fused by an aching need.

Davina heard his breath rasp in his throat and a slow smile lifted the corners of his mouth to twinkle devilishly in his grey eyes.

Audaciously, he said, ‘I take it that you have no objections to sharing a bed this afternoon, Mrs. Tabor?’

‘Absolutely none at all,’ she breathed, trying to comprehend the utter joy washing over her so deliciously.

‘Thanks.’ The uneven timbre of his voice belied the laconic reply. ‘We’re all alone in the house.’

Slowly he unfastened the top buttons of her housecoat to push it down, caressing the outline of her shapeliness as he did so. His eyes darkened into an aching need and his arms tightened around her.

‘No one to intrude upon our privacy,’ he murmured, kissing her eyes and soft cheeks before moving down to her mouth.

This time there was no stiffening against him. Before the housecoat had fallen around her feet Davina had her arms tightly around his neck.

Every anguish, every pang, every doubt was purged away as joy so great that it became almost a pain held her heart in its grip.

The kiss went on and on until Davina pushed back enough to regain her lost breath.

Nick laughed unsteadily and kissed her hair. ‘Was I too rough? I’m sorry.’

Her voice was low, almost incoherent. ‘I liked it. Never stop loving me, Nick.’

Her lips moved against his firm brown throat as he bent to scoop her up into his arms.

‘Do you realise, Mr. Tabor, that it’s after six o’clock and time to dress for dinner.’

Davina leaned over the recumbent figure of her husband stretched out contentedly beside her and kissed his nose.

He sighed and pulled her down to his lips. ‘Don’t nag, woman. I hate nagging women.’

‘And I hate masterful, arrogant men ...’

‘With blond hair?’ His eyes twinkled with amusement. ‘Well, you’re stuck with one.’

She gurgled and kissed his throat. ‘You heard me that day in the shop, didn’t you, singing the praises of dark men? It was a kind of defence against you. You frightened me a little.’

‘Nonsense. You were afraid of coming alive. Now you have I mean to keep you that way.’

‘For ever,’ she said dreamily.

‘For ever,’ he answered against her lips, and Davina knew that she would never want it any other way.