Part 14.
"Aitch darling thank goodness I found you at last, this place is like a damn rabbit warren…Oooh that looks nasty!" Angela exclaimed as she breezed into Harry's hospital room with a bunch of magazines in one arm, and an entire fruit basket in the other.
"I'll live." Harry replied with a weak smile as she gingerly touched her left hand to her bandaged forehead.
"I'm positively certain that you will darling!...and of course the most important thing is that both you and the baby have both survived to tell the tale. You always were the tough nut, even in school, and especially with that hockey stick of yours…..I have fond memories of the opposition quaking in their boots!….You do remember when we were at school together don't you Harry?" Angela asked in concern as she placed the fruit basket on the hospital table which swung over Harry's bed and then carefully stacked the magazines on the nightstand before taking a seat in the vinyl cushioned chair which stood next to the bed.
"Of course!" Harry brightly confirmed before she then somewhat despondently added "It's just a pity that the same can't be said of the last four and a half years."
"Yes, James mentioned as much…Still I'm sure that its only temporary, and to be honest darling you're probably better off not remembering some of it…..particularly the parts relating to that idiot Robert." Angela cheerfully remarked as she knew that her best friends separation was one experience that she could certainly do with forgetting.
"James?...As in James Dempsey? You know him?" Harry queried as she recalled the name of the police officer who had left her hospital room a little under two hours ago.
James Dempsey, the colleague who she could only presume, she had against her better judgement slept with at a works Christmas party when her inebriated state had resulted in a moment or two of temporary insanity. Christ he wasn't even her type…..facial hair had never been her thing, in fact she found the idea of it along with the thought of all of the germs and food debris that it no doubt contained to be utterly repulsive.
"Of course I do darling, everyone knows James, and we're all incredibly jealous." Angela remarked as she began to unwrap the cellophane from the fruit basket and then plucked a few grapes and popped them into her mouth.
"Jealous of what?" Harry asked feeling slightly thrown by her friend's comment.
"Of you being engaged to such a fine example of a testosterone fuelled male, and the fact that he's totally besotted with you…..I wished that Mike would look at me like that." Angela dreamily remarked, causing Harry to conclude that although this James Dempsey maybe besotted with her, that hell would freeze over and Harrod's would offer a penny sale on fur coats before those feelings were ever reciprocated.
"Oh….Who is Mike?" Harry asked in puzzlement, as the last thing which she could recall was Angela being engaged to Jasper Barrington-Hennesey, and she preferred to distract herself with something other than James Dempsey and the knowledge that she was apparently carrying his baby.
"My fiancé…. we're completely in love, however Mike is far more reserved than James…..well at least when we're in public and we're both sober…..Although he can be quite the devil between the sheets." Angela grinned as she held her left hand out to Harry and wiggled her ring figure for closer inspection.
"It's a beautiful ring." Harry confirmed as she admired the baguette cut diamond set in a platinum band which sparkled under the hospital lighting.
"Isn't it just…but then so is yours…speaking of which where is it?" Angela questioned after noticing her friends bare ring finger.
"Oh…..er..I'm not sure." Harry stuttered, as she looked down at her ring finger, and noticed the pale strip of skin where a ring had obviously sat, and the surrounding bruising.
"Maybe James has it…I daresay that one of the nurses or perhaps the ambulance crew removed it because of the bruising….. Your fingers look a little swollen, do they hurt?"
"No, not really….my hand and wrist just feel a little tender, along with my ribs….It's my head that feels the worst….the pain is almost excruciating at times." Harry replied, as she raised her right hand and used her fingers to massage the skin on her brow next to were the bandaging finished.
"Oh I'm sorry 'aitch, and here's me rabbiting on as though there's no tomorrow, when what you could really do with is some peace and quiet…..How unbelievably inconsiderate of me…..I'll go now and give you the chance to get some sleep. I promise to be back first thing tomorrow…..is there anything that you need?" Angela enquired as she gathered up her coat and handbag.
"You don't have to leave Angela, honestly. In fact I'm rather glad of your company…unless that is you have other plans?" Harry enquired as she distractedly picked one of the grapes and ate it.
"Nothing more exciting that preparing dinner, so before I forget let's make a list of the things that you need, as I'm pretty sure that if James is anything like Mike, there is sure to be something that he'll forget…..although he may surprise us. I'm sure that he won't be much longer." Angela reassuringly spoke as she reached into her handbag for a pen, and began making a list of essentials on the back of a rather lengthy Harvey Nicholls receipt.
"Back…..back from where?" Harry asked in confusion, as she had naively thought she had seen the last of James Dempsey.
"From your house. He called earlier and told me what happened, and suggested that I come and keep you company while he went back to the house and picked up some of your things…after all you don't want to spend any more time than absolutely necessary wearing that hideous thing do you?" Angela confirmed as she screwed her face in distaste at the standard issue hospital gown which Harry was currently wearing.
"You…..you gave him a key?" Harry asked in alarm at the thought of the stranger riffling through her personal and intimate possessions.
"No of course not darling, there was no need….after all you do live together." Angela casually responded as she reached for a few more grapes.
"What?!" Harry exclaimed in shock.
"Ever since the two of you finally got together you've been practically inseparable, not to mention the fact that you can't keep your hands of each other!" Angela shamelessly giggled before adding "…no wonder you're pregnant!"
"But…..but we're not even married!" Harry prudishly announced, as she just couldn't get her head around the fact that she was pregnant by and engaged to man that she didn't know, and had therefore assumed that her pregnancy was the result of a one-off moment of drunken madness, and that the only reason why she had gotten engaged was because it was expected.
"Well I hate to have to tell you this Harry, but technically that's not true." Angela tentatively spoke.
"Sorry I don't quite follow? What's not true?" Harry questioned in total bewilderment whilst wondering how much worse the situation could possibly become.
"Your divorce from Robert is yet to be finalised." Angela confirmed, almost cringing as she said the words.
"But…But why? James said that Robert and Susannah had…"
"They did darling….they did….We've all refused to speak to Susannah ever since it happened…Not that they're together any more of course…Susannah finally came to her senses around five months after he'd asked her to move in…or so Vanessa her sister informed me at the time….She must have finally realised what a despicable little insect Robert actually is...Unfortunately the parasite has so far refused to sign the divorce papers unless he receives the house and half of your trust fund, not to mention your father's estate in settlement." Angela informed her friend. Hating to be the bearer a bad news, but also realising that Harry needed to know, just in case Robert became aware of his estranged wife's current predicament and attempted to use her memory loss as a means to wheedle his way back into Harry's favour.
"My…..my father's estate?!" Harry stuttered in panic before continuing and saying what was on her mind "Ple…..please tell me he's not passed away?" Harry pleaded as suddenly a few stray tears made their way down her cheeks and she hastily brushed them away.
"No…..but he was involved in the accident. Freddy was driving, you were on your way to collect James from Heathrow…..the doctors and police think that he probably had a heart attack at the wheel, lost control of the car, and that's the reason why you ended up veering off the round and hitting a tree…" Angela softly spoke as she took Harry's hand in her own.
"Oh God." Harry gasped out in shock "Is he going to be alright? Please tell me that he is?" Harry begged as her mind became filled with even more turmoil.
"James told me that he's doing quite well considering…."
"Considering what?...Oh god, this is all of my fault…..Why was he driving? It just doesn't make sense?" Harry wailed in total confusion, as she knew very well that she always insisted on driving whenever they were in a car together, as her father drove to fast and was easily distracted at times.
"Well I can only presume that Freddy must have insisted because you have been feeling so unwell over the last couple of weeks." Angela reasoned.
"Have I?" Harry asked in surprise as she tried her best to recall the accident but found she couldn't.
"Yes. You've had terrible morning sickness for the last three weeks, far worse than with…..well you know…before…." Angela awkwardly confirmed before continuing "You have been experiencing the occasional dizzy spell as a result of barely keeping anything down, and because of that, and with James having to testify at that trial in America, you've spent the last two weeks at Winfield Hall."
"Oh…..but Freddy is going to recover isn't he?...Is he here, or did they take him to a different hospital?" Harry asked, anxiously glancing around the room for some sign as to the whereabouts of her father, and a clue as which hospital the ambulance crew had admitted her to.
"Yes, Freddy is down on the second floor, and I'm sure that he'll be absolutely fine." Angela reassured her friend as she squeezed her undamaged hand in a comforting gesture.
"Oh God I hope so…I just couldn't bear it if anything were to happen….I should have never let him drive." Harry tearfully spoke before suddenly snapping "Why the hell couldn't that James make his own damn way back from the airport?!"
"He was going to, but you wanted to surprise him." Angela softly spoke.
"Really?" Harry dubiously remarked, as it sounded very unlike anything that she would do, and for that reason she couldn't help but doubt her friend.
"Yes…..You really missed James whilst he was away, and you wanted to tell him about the baby."
"Why?…Couldn't he even bother to telephone whilst he was away?" Harry scornfully remarked as she thought of the unkempt American with distaste, not that she would particularly want him to contact her in any case.
"Of course he did…..James called you every day darling. Neither of you expected him to be in the US for six weeks." Angela advised, hoping to convey just how considerate Dempsey was, and just how much Harry was in love with him.
"Well if that is really the case then why didn't I just tell him when he called…unless of course I thought that he wouldn't want the baby, and that if he found out he wouldn't come back!" Harry challenged, as she just couldn't even comprehend that she and James were in a committed relationship, never mind engaged.
"Darling it was nothing like that. James is a wonderful man, and I think that he'll be absolutely delighted to find out that you're pregnant. You…." Angela began to explain only to be interrupted.
"He didn't seem that delighted two hours ago." Harry objected as she concentrated her thoughts on the initial shock of finding out that she was pregnant, and James Dempsey's astounded reaction, rather than the fact he seemed quite excited with the news when he spoke to her after the nurse had left.
"Well I'm sure that was out of astonishment more than anything…..it's not as though the two of you had planned to get pregnant…And just so that you understand Harry, the only reason why you decided not to tell James about the baby when you first found out, is because you knew how much James would worry about you, and you were afraid that he'd get on the first plane back here, and then end up getting arrested for failing to testify in court….He never wanted to go there in the first place, but he had no choice after getting subpoenaed because Coltrane refused to plead guilty…James really does love you Harry, and you're just as much in love with him….Honestly darling, I've never seen you so happy as I have this last year…..You're perfect for each other, absolutely perfect!"
"That can't be true…he has a beard for Christ's sake! And you know how much I abhor facial hair of any description!" Harry insisted, even though she felt rather shallow for saying so, because surely she couldn't have overlooked that fact even if the man had the best personality on earth? Just the thought of coming into contact with that thatched mass of dark scratchy hair made her feel nauseous, let alone actually kissing it.
"No he doesn't!" Angela insisted.
"Yes he does…I saw it with my very own eyes Angela…in fact I could hardly miss it…..It was…it was growing wild practically all over his face….totally disgusting….He looks like a tramp! There is just no way that I could ever kiss a man like that, never mind do anything else with him!" Harry vowed as she screwed her mouth in disgust at the memory of the American, just as the man himself walked in the door.
"Well thanks babe…..remind me not to ask when I'm next lookin' for a compliment!"
"I wasn't…..who are you?" Harry hesitantly asked as she looked between Angela and the clean-shaven and rather attractive American, and doubted that the man who had entered the room could be James Dempsey…..a relative of his maybe…..they had the same length of hair, and eyes, not to mention the same height, but everything else was different. The man standing before her was clean shaven for one thing, he was also dressed differently and his hair was much, much tidier….Maybe he was James Dempsey's younger and more attractive brother?
"It's me James….surely you ain't forgotten already?" Dempsey asked in concern as he immediately placed Harry's large pink and white gym bag, which contained some of her possessions on the floor and rushed over to the bed.
"But…but James has a beard!" Harry exclaimed in puzzlement, causing Angela to glance over at Dempsey with her own look of unease.
"Nah, I grew that while I was in New York to look a bit less recognisable in case Coltrane still had some of his goons out lookin' for me….but seein' as I'm back, and he's gonna be banged up behind bars for the next twenny years, I got rid of it…..You feelin' any better Princess?" James asked as before Harry had chance to object he swooped in and planted a kiss on the part of her forehead that wasn't covered by a bandage.
"A little…..thank you for asking." Harry replied as she found herself blushing slightly at the sudden contact, and the unexpected quickening of her heartrate.
"Good….You'll be outta here and back home in next ta no-time!" James jovially announced, feeling rather pleased that Harry was no longer backing away from him in sheer fright the moment he came anywhere near.
"Well, I'll be leaving the two of you to it…whatever it maybe!" Angela remarked with the raising of her eyebrows and then a cheeky wink in her friends direction while James turned his back and began to unpack Harry's gym bag.
"Yeah…..see ya Ange….I sure 'ppreciate you droppin' by." Dempsey distractedly replied while concentrating on the task in hand.
"I'll pop back sometime tomorrow morning darling, and in the meantime don't get up to anything too strenuous!" Angela gaily replied, as she suggestively glanced across to James, and then back to Harry with a look of mischief in her eyes, causing Harry to blush in embarrassment at the very thought.
"Goodbye Angela." Harry tightly replied, worried as to what else her friend might hint at.
"Give me a call if there is anything that you need…although I'm sure that James has thought of everything, and has all of your needs in hand!" Angela remarked as her eyes swept appreciatively over James' back before she finally left the room, leaving Harry and James alone.
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I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and I look forward to reading your reviews no matter how small they may be. It's just nice to know that there are people out there who are reading my story and appreciating my efforts. Thanks.