Red is for Rubies by Linda Mitchelmore

Author:Linda Mitchelmore [Mitchelmore, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, genre fiction, Family Saga, Romance, contemporary, Sagas
Publisher: Choc Lit
Published: 2018-01-25T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

‘For me?’ Lydie asked, holding out her hand.

Jonty placed the lozenge-shaped piece of ceramic gently against Lydie’s palm, as though it was an egg shell and might break.

‘For you. In lieu of rubies,’ Jonty said.’One day, I’ll buy you the real thing.’

‘One day!’ Lydie laughed, lifting the highly-glazed gift to her lips and kissing it.

Jonty clasped his fingers tightly over the pendant, his nails digging into the palm of his hand. Lydie must have given it away. Or lost it. Sold it maybe. No, never the latter – her father had been a wealthy doctor; there would have been no need to sell things to buy food or clothes or heat for Lydie, ever. It was why he’d never passed muster with Lydie’s father – not good enough, no potential for high earnings. Her father hadn’t liked her previous boyfriend, either, a labourer on the buildings. No, not previous exactly. Jonty had been slowly stealing Lydie away from him whatever his name had been. And he had.

‘Lydie, I’m sorry, so sorry,’ he whispered into the hum of machinery doing its work keeping Grace alive in the room. ‘I let you down. I don’t blame you for giving it away.’

A nurse – a different one to before – came and told him Grace’s condition could be described as stable; she’d had a head scan and as far as they could tell there was no swelling, no fluid dangerously flooding Grace’s brain. But Grace was still far from out of danger. Anything could happen in the next twenty-four hours so she had been sedated.

‘Have you had a break?’

‘None,’ Jonty said. ‘But I do need to make a call. Will it be okay if I leave Grace? If she wakes up and I’m not here, if she’s alone, might that be a bad thing?’

‘No, Grace will be fine. Go and make your call. Get a hot drink, something to eat. Are you stopping? Through the night, I mean.’

‘Yes.’

How could he not? But first he would ring Drew and let him know the latest about Grace. And he’d see how Becca was. Jonty had no doubt that Drew would sort Becca if she got violent again, although he knew that was unlikely. Almost always she regressed into a childlike state after a bout of anger.

The nurse began checking the machines to which Grace was attached, and Jonty leaned over and kissed Grace’s forehead, shivering at how slippery and cold it seemed.

‘Go,’ the nurse said. ‘I’ll not leave Grace alone. Promise.’

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