14
It wasanother two hours before Carole’s father was discharged. A road traffic accident had brought new patients to the hospital who required urgent medical help and everyone else had to wait until the emergency admissions were dealt with, which meant a further delay before Frederick’s cast was applied to his broken wrist.
When Frederick and Nina appeared at last in the waiting area, Tom dashed off to collect the car, determined to get them all home as soon as possible.
Tom felt sorry for Carole’s father, who’d looked ashen faced ever since he was knocked to the floor by that idiot, Steven Weaver. Having to wait so long in A&E must surely have taken it out of the older man, who was already dealing with the aches and pains of the hard fall he’d suffered. It was now two-thirty in the morning, and Tom knew how tired he felt after the night’s events, which meant that Frederick must be beyond exhausted.
Once Carole and her parents were settled in the car, Tom followed her directions to where her parents lived in Hamblehurst. Inside the house, Carole hurried around turning on lights and boiling the kettle for tea and offering to makesandwiches. It was Nina who insisted that Carole had done enough already and that she ought to go home.
Carole protested, but with Frederick comfortable in his armchair and sipping from a mug of hot tea and already talking about getting upstairs to bed, and Nina all but shooing her daughter towards the door, Carole soon relented.
They all exchanged goodnights and hugs, and Frederick clasped Tom’s palm in his unencumbered hand from the comfort of his armchair, thanking him again for driving them to and from the hospital. While Carole and her mother hugged again on the doorstep, Tom started the car.
Minutes later, they were turning onto Foxglove Street, which lay still and quiet in the depths of the summer night. Tom braced himself for the challenge of finding a parking space at this hour and was amazed to see a gap just a few doors down from his house.
“This is a lucky find,” Carole said as Tom reversed into the space. “We must have a guardian angel looking out for us and who knows that after the night we’ve had, we don’t want to faff around in search of a parking spot.”
Tom smiled at the whimsical idea as he turned off the engine. “Do you believe in guardian angels?”
“Sure, why not?” Carole smiled and gave a shrug. “Although, if thereareguardian angels out there, it would’ve been nice if they could put in an appearance earlier and stopped my father getting shoved onto the floor in the first place.” She smiled again and gave him an amused look. “Sorry, I’m knackered and talking nonsense.”
“It’s two-thirty in the morning and we’ve just spent the last five hours at Hamblehurst A&E. Talking nonsense is allowed.”
They got out of the car. Tom walked Carole to her door and waited while she searched in her bag for her house keys.
“Do you want to come in for a coffee?” she asked. “The least I can do is offer you a decent hot drink after all you did for us tonight.”
“Thanks, but you’re tired and I think you’ll be collapsing into bed the minute you walk through the door.”
“Probably. But I can still flick the kettle on before I’m out for the count.”
Tom shook his head. “We’ll have coffee and a debrief tomorrow and you can let me know how your dad’s doing.”
“It’s a deal. Listen, thanks again for everything you did tonight, Tom. You went above and beyond.”
“You don’t have to keep thanking me.”
“I owe you big time.”
“No, you don’t. I’m just glad your dad is okay.”
Carole nodded, but then Tom suddenly saw her eyes well up as her hand flew to her mouth to stifle a sob. Alarmed, he reached out to comfort her.
“Hey, what’s the matter?”
She shook her head and wiped furiously at the tears rimming her eyes. “God, I’m so sorry, Tom. I don’t know what’s come over me. It’s just…”
Tom gently took the house key from her and unlocked the door. “Come on, let’s get you inside before someone sees you crying on your doorstep and thinks I’m menacing you and decides to phone the police.”
His words had the desired effect and turned her sobs into hitched laughter as he steered her through the door. Once they were inside the house, Carole turned on a lamp in the living room and snagged a tissue from a box on the coffee table. Wiping her eyes, she threw him an apologetic look.
“Tom, I’m so sorry. I honestly don’t know what came over me. Well, actually Idoknow. It’s just this whole night catching up with me. I know my dad is fine, and I know he has nothingmore serious than a broken wrist and a bump on the head and some nasty bruising to deal with, but…”
She let out a breath and shook her head. “Seeing him crashing to the floor like that, seeing that stupid Stevenknockinghim over and thenfalling on top of him, it just frightened the life out of me. And when I saw the look on Dad’s face and that howl he let out when he tried to move…”
Again, she shook her head, as if she were physically shaking off the terrible memories. Tom moved closer and gently pulled her into a hug, wanting to comfort her. She stepped into his embrace and laid her head on his chest while wiping at her eyes with the tissue.
For a long moment, he held her in his arms, the house silent around them except for Carole’s muffled sniffs.
