How To Save a Marriage in a Million (19 page)

He wanted to make their evening something truly special. He wanted to reaffirm their marriage and suggest they try living together again. He was willing but it all depended on Joanna,
and over the last two weeks she’d done her best to avoid him.

So he decided he’d surprise her in more ways than one and he hoped he’d have the time to put his plans into place.

First he showered and shaved. He changed into freshly cleaned and pressed navy-blue casual trousers and a crisp white shirt with the faintest navy stripe. He pocketed his tie. Even the smartest restaurants rarely insisted on ties these days but he didn’t want to be caught short. As an afterthought he grabbed a jacket but he doubted he’d need it as it was an exceptionally warm evening.

Then he got in his car and drove to the nearby weekend markets, already bustling with early evening trade.

His business in the markets didn’t take long. He chose roses—a dozen long-stemmed, sunshine-yellow buds—from the busy florist. His next port of call was the chocolatier where he selected a simple clear-topped rectangular box of an exquisite, hand-made combination of dark and light confections, tied with a yellow ribbon. Lastly he went to the jeweller to pick up the pendant he’d ordered a fortnight ago.

He smiled as he placed the small box in his pocket and gently laid the rest of his purchases on the back seat of his car. By that time it was a quarter to seven so he decided to while away a pleasant half-hour across the road at the recently restored Premier Hotel. He rarely spent time drinking in pubs but when he did he usually enjoyed the rowdy cheerfulness of the patrons and the interactions of the young people playing out the public mating rituals that seemed to change little over the years.

His sojourn in the popular front bar, including one tall glass of iced mineral water, served its purpose. He was feeling relaxed and primed with pleasant anticipation as he left the hotel, crossed the road and walked down the pavement towards the traffic lights not far from where he’d parked his car.

Before he was able to register the speed of the motorbike accelerating to beat the red light, it braked, swerved onto the footpath, narrowly missing a woman with a pram, waiting to cross, and then bulldozed into a shopfront—right where he stood.

The pain in his side was excruciating; the blow
to his head transformed the scene to slow motion for what must only have been seconds before he blacked out.

* * *

Joanna had mixed feelings about her date with Richard. It was a big night for her and she had psyched herself up to tell him all—first that she was pregnant and, depending on how he reacted to that monumental piece of news, that she still loved him and was seriously prepared to try again. She knew if that happened there would be many hurdles but she felt strong enough to cope this time. Even if they lost the baby…She felt, with Richard’s help, she now had the strength to survive.

She had plenty of time to get ready as she wanted to look her best. After a long, lingering shower, she towelled herself dry and automatically looked down at her belly. If her dates were right she’d be about two months pregnant, the baby growing inside her now fully formed and roughly the size of a broad bean. Approximately the same length as her two-centimetre-long hair.

She smiled and then grabbed her robe, walked through to the bedroom and stared at her face in
the mirror. Grimacing at the pallor of her skin and the faint dark rings under her eyes, she opened her make-up drawer. Twenty minutes later she did a reappraisal and was happy with the result. It was amazing what a difference a soft beige foundation, some blusher and smear of deep crimson lipstick could do. She rarely wore eye make-up but completed the look with a light application of mascara.

Now the dress.

She slipped the shimmery black mini-dress over her head and stretched behind her to do up the zip. Glad of the kilo of weight she’d lost due to her unpredictable appetite, she smoothed the slightly flared skirt and adjusted her full breasts in what now seemed a skimpy and seductive bodice. The V of the neckline was too revealing and the straps too narrow. She hadn’t known she was pregnant when she’d bought the dress and hadn’t expected to be at least a bra size bigger.

But she didn’t have time to change. Instead she fastened a velvet choker around her neck and slipped a black lacy wrap around her shoulders

She glanced at her watch and noted, with alarm, she was running late. But so was Richard. It was
twenty to eight already and he’d said they’d leave at seven-thirty. Not that she minded but it had been a long time since lunch and she was getting hungry.

Strange…

Where on earth was he?

Should she be worried?

No, of course not. He was a grown man, quite capable of looking after himself. But she couldn’t help her concern. She was just deciding whether to be annoyed or apprehensive when the phone rang.

‘That will be Richard,’ she muttered as she padded into the living room in stockinged feet. ‘He’s been caught up with work.’
As inevitably happened to doctors on a public holiday weekend
, she added in her mind as she picked up the phone.

‘Hello.’

There was a pause.

‘Richard?’ she said tentatively.

‘Is that Joanna Raven?’ It was a female voice she didn’t recognise.

‘Yes.’

‘My name’s Sue.’

‘Sue?’ The woman sounded as if Joanna should know who she was but she couldn’t place her.

‘Yes, Sue Tyler, RN in the emergency department of Perth General. I may have spoken to you on the phone. You work in Oncology at Lady Lawler, don’t you?’

She vaguely remembered the woman but wondered why she would be ringing her at home. Maybe it was something to do with the reason Richard had been delayed. There was a strong link between the oncology departments of both hospitals. Childhood cancer survivors grew into adults and at some stage were transferred. Information from and consultation with their paediatric specialists was often important.

‘I’m ringing about Dr Howell.’

Now it made sense. He
had
been caught up in some sort of emergency and he couldn’t get away.

‘What’s happened?’ she said, assuming she’d end up having a sandwich for dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching TV.

‘He’s been involved in an accident—’

‘What? What did you say?’ The implications of what the nurse said suddenly hit home. ‘What happened? What sort of accident? Is he hurt?’

‘He’s only just come in by ambulance and the boss, James Headland, and the team are with him now in the resuscitation room.’

Only the most seriously injured went straight to the resuscitation suite. It meant he was…She didn’t want to imagine how bad he was. She needed to find out for herself.

The nurse was still speaking, though, attempting to answer her questions.

‘He has a fracture of his left femur and a head injury. That’s all I can tell you so far. He was unconscious when he arrived but regained consciousness for a few minutes and was asking for you so that’s why I’m ringing. He insisted he wanted you and nobody else.’

‘Okay, Sue. Thanks, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.’

Joanna slipped on her work shoes, grabbed her keys and ran out the door to her car. Richard had been in a serious accident and he could be dying! My God, she thought. How could this happen? Why did all the good things in her life have to be snatched away from her? What had Richard done—kind, gentle, wonderful Richard—to deserve this?

But she mustn’t jump to conclusions, or imagine the worst, she reminded herself as she resisted the temptation to put the accelerator of her nippy little car to the floor.

He was being resuscitated!

She needed to stay calm and focused.

He had a broken leg and had bumped his head. He was probably being assessed in Resus to determine the extent of his injuries, to make sure he was stable before tests such as X-rays and scans were done to clarify how badly he was hurt. He was in good hands. He had the best doctors and nurses looking after him. He would get through this and she would be there to help him.

Worrying sick about him wasn’t going to change the outcome. She needed to stay calm.

She parked in a drop-off-only bay near the entrance to the emergency department, knowing she would be longer than fifteen minutes but thinking that was the least of her problems at that moment.

She arrived at Reception in the busy casualty department, breathing hard, her heart thumping. Fortunately a message had been left that she could be shown straight in to the treatment areas. The first thing she noticed was that two resuscitation
rooms were occupied and she knew she couldn’t burst in on the important work being done. Then she saw a nurse coming towards her. She was smiling.

‘Hi. You must be Joanna.’

‘That’s right. How’s Richard?’

Joanna curtailed her impatience. She knew what it was like to work in a hospital. Protocols had to be adhered to, rules obeyed. No matter how much she wanted to demand to see Richard, to make sure he was alive, to tell him how much she loved him…

‘He’s okay. He’s stable and is off for X-rays and a CT of his head any minute now.’ The nurse grasped her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

‘Is he awake?’

‘Yes, though drowsy. He’s got an impressive haematoma on his forehead, though.’

Joanna sighed with relief, although she still nursed a ball of tension that felt like a watermelon sitting in her stomach.

‘Can I see him?’

‘I’ll just check with James. But there shouldn’t be any problem with you sitting with him, at least until he goes off for scans.’

‘Thank you,’ she said as she was directed towards a seat.

She chose to stand and the next few minutes felt like an eternity.

* * *

Richard remembered the collision and the pain that had followed but nothing of the ambulance journey or his admission to the emergency department of the Perth General Hospital. When he regained consciousness—he knew he must have been unconscious as it was the only reasonable explanation for his memory lapse—the first thing he was aware of was the noise. It was a cacophony. Like being woken by a full symphony orchestra playing Beethoven’s Fifth out of tune.

He opened his eyes briefly, but immediately closed them against the dazzle of an overhead light with the strength of a searchlight. He had a mask over his face so he decided not to even try to speak. In amongst at least half a dozen beeping sounds he heard an unfamiliar female voice so loud he wanted to cover his ears. But his hands felt bound, his arms heavy and he had a needle-like pain jabbing at his wrist.

What was all the fuss about? It sounded as if he
was on the wrong side of a scenario being played out in a hospital TV soap.

‘He’s awake, James. Opened his eyes,’ the woman shouted.

‘BP stable, one ten over eighty,’ someone else called out.

‘Good, start the second bag of Haemaccel.’

A man, who smelled of coffee and mint, leaned close and again shouted.
Do they think I’m hard of hearing?
Richard wondered.

‘Open your eyes, Richard.’

No please or thank you. An order barked in the voice of an army sergeant.

‘Are you awake? Open your eyes.’

Richard had the feeling the man wasn’t going to go away until he did his bidding, so he opened his eyes and said what he really wanted.

‘Where’s Joanna?’

The man with the coffee-mint breath loomed close. He wore green surgical scrubs and had the air of a man who was used to giving orders and having them obeyed without question. Richard assumed he was a doctor and someone fairly high in the pecking order. His fuddled mind was clearing a little.

‘What did you say?’

‘He said, “Where’s Joanna?”’

At last, a voice soft with compassion. Unlike the others, she saw no need to shout. Someone he could talk to, knowing she would hear what he needed to say.

‘Who is Joanna?’ she said. ‘Is she your wife?’

Someone had turned the light away from his face and he could see the owner of the kind voice. She also wore green scrubs but he couldn’t tell if she was a doctor or a nurse. He squinted at her name badge.

‘Sue?’

‘That’s right. I’m a nurse. You had an accident outside the markets and you’re in the emergency department of the General. Do you remember anything?’

The noise had gradually abated and there were only two people that he could see in the room now. The loud doctor had left him in the care of the quiet nurse but he expected him to be back.

‘Yes.’ He remembered buying roses and chocolates, having a quiet drink at the pub to pass some time. He’d had a date with Joanna and it had all gone wrong.

‘Is Joanna your wife?’

‘Yes,’ he said without hesitation. ‘But we’re separated and she uses her maiden name, Raven. She’s a nurse.’

The effort of speaking only a couple of sentences was taking its toll but he wasn’t going to give up until someone contacted Joanna.

‘I need to see her.’

‘How can we contact her?’

‘Her home number is in my mobile.’

He heard the nurse rummage somewhere below his feet and then he saw she had the standard blue plastic bag containing his possessions.

‘You had your phone with you?’

‘Yes.’

‘Ah. Here it is. Looks like it came off better in the accident than you. Not a scratch on it. Is it okay if I look for her number?’

‘Yes.’

‘And tell her what we know so far.’

‘And…er.’ He was about to tell this person, Sue, to apologise on his behalf. To tell Joanna he was sorry for making such a mess of something that could have been wonderful. The acuteness of his pain and the fuzz around the edges of his
mind were enough to make him realise there was morphine dripping into one of the IV lines in his arm. He also realised the only person who could explain those things to Joanna was him.

‘Tell her I need to see her.’

‘I will.’

Just then the doctor returned and he heard the sound of his voice, now quiet, muttering to Sue but not loud enough for him to hear, and he suddenly felt annoyed. His emotions seemed to be cascading out of control and he knew that some of what came into his head and threatened to come out of his mouth was out of character but he felt he had to tell Dr Coffee-mint there was no need to whisper.