Wife To A Stranger. Daphne Clair

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СКАЧАТЬ She took the soap the nurse handed her and stepped into the blessed warmth of the shower.

      Afterwards, her wet hair wrapped in a towel, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror over the bathroom basin and was reassured at the familiarity of jade-green eyes fringed by thick, dark lashes, and a slightly long but straight nose in an oval face. Her skin was too pale and her lips bloodless and cracked, but apart from that she looked herself.

      Shivering despite the steamy fug of the bathroom, she wished she felt it.

      Just showering had exhausted her, and she was too listless to read the magazines a nurse found for her, instead staring out the window at a view of low tawny hills and, nearer, the gum tree with its narrow leaves twisting in the yellow sunlight.

      Rolfe returned bearing roses and carnations in sparkling florist’s wrap, and a parcel that he told her was toiletries he’d been advised by the nursing staff to buy for her. He had shaved and changed into jeans and a casual shirt.

      The bouquet filled her arms, and perhaps that was why he didn’t kiss her. His glance was sharply enquiring. ‘How are you feeling?’

      She inhaled the scent of the flowers. ‘The headache’s gone.’

      ‘Good.’ Walking round to take the tan chair between the bed and the window, he sat down and leaned forward, his clasped hands between spread knees, but then shifted back, coolly surveying her. ‘You still look… fragile.’

      She gave him a cautious smile. ‘That’s how I feel. What about you?’

      He arched a black brow at her. ‘Me?’

      ‘You weren’t with me in the train?’

      ‘No.’

      His face looked hollowed about the freshly shaved cheeks, his eyes tired, and he had a taut air of strain, as if he couldn’t relax.

      She said, ‘I suppose I gave you a fright, getting hurt, and then…you’ve been waiting for me to wake up. Since yesterday, they said.’

      He shrugged absently. ‘I’m just glad you did wake. They told me you would, but…’

      ‘So am I,’ she said softly, ‘glad.’ She removed one hand from the flowers and stretched it towards him. ‘Thank you for being with me.’

      Rolfe hesitated before placing his fingers over hers, holding them. His gaze stayed on their linked hands. ‘I couldn’t not come,’ he said.

      ‘Of course. You’re my husband.’

      He looked up then, his eyes scanning her face. She moved to stretch her other hand to him, somehow needing that warm personal contact, and the flowers slipped, rolling down to the side of the bed.

      Rolfe rescued them and stood up, releasing her. ‘I’ll see if I can rustle up a vase or something,’ he promised, and left the room.

      He returned with a big glass vase that he filled with water from the room basin, plunging the bouquet straight into it.

      ‘They’re lovely,’ she said. ‘Thank you.’

      He looked down at her and his hand lifted almost as though he couldn’t help it, his knuckles lightly brushing her cheek as he fingered her hair that had dried to a thick honey-brown bob with lighter streaks, the ends just level with her earlobes. ‘Suits you,’ he murmured.

      She reached up to clasp his hand, but already he had withdrawn it.

      ‘They said after you woke that if there are no obvious problems you may be discharged tomorrow,’ he said. ‘The accident has stretched the hospital’s resources. Do you want me to book us into a hotel for a day or two, or shall we fly straight back to New Zealand?’

      ‘New Zealand?’

      ‘You did say you wanted to come home.’ His voice had turned gravelly. ‘Or have you changed your mind?’

      ‘I haven’t changed my mind.’ The reply was automatic. Her heart thudded uncomfortably. She turned her head, staring out of the window, where darkness was creeping over the hills.

      He said, ‘You do know you’re in Australia, don’t you?’

      ‘Of course I do.’ She looked back at him.

      ‘So where were you staying?’

      She opened her mouth to reply, then paused. Finally she said, ‘You must know that.’

      He was gazing at her curiously. ‘You don’t remember.’

      ‘No.’

      ‘Do you remember anything that’s happened to you in the past two months?’

      ‘No…I don’t.’ She moistened her lips and said huskily, ‘I seem to have forgotten…most of my life.’

      Rolfe stared down at her, his eyes going nearly black. ‘You knew me when you woke.’

      Rolfe. She had known him, known his name. Just as she had known her birth-date without having to think. It had been reassuring, that familiarity. ‘Yes, I recognised you.’

      ‘How much do you remember about…us? About our life together?’

      She looked away, running her tongue across her lips. ‘I knew your face,’ she confessed finally. ‘Your name. That’s all.’

      ‘That’s all?’ Rolfe repeated.

      She said helplessly, ‘I know that must be a shock.’

      He gazed down at her with frowning speculation. ‘And now?’ he enquired. ‘Has anything more come to mind?’

      ‘No.’

      This time there was a lengthy silence, as if he had trouble taking that in. ‘If you don’t remember anything about me,’ he said slowly at last, ‘anything about our marriage, then for all intents and purposes I’m a stranger to you.’

      ‘Yes,’ she agreed, her hands twisting painfully together on the bedcover. ‘Yes, you are. A total stranger.’

       CHAPTER TWO

      ‘WHAT exactly do you remember?’ Rolfe demanded.

      She swallowed. ‘Not much. I remember things when I’m asked directly, or when something reminds me…’

      His mouth compressed and his cheeks grew taut. ‘Do the doctors know this?’

      ‘They say it’s probably temporary. And I feel fine, really…just a bit tired.’

      Rolfe regarded her broodingly. ‘I’ll talk to them.’

      ‘They’ve already examined me thoroughly. I just need to be…home.’ In familiar surroundings where she was safe and loved. Then surely this surreal СКАЧАТЬ