A/N We hope you enjoy this update, with apologies for the wait. Thank you to all followers and reviewers.

Chapter 29

Alan had been woken by the sound of the ambulance sirens and he had joined his wife at the barn door, looking on apprehensively at the drama unfolding before them. He shivered with shock, partly at the sight before him but also, as might be expected, at the memory of Eddie's death and the circumstances surrounding it. Alan breathed an audible sigh of relief as Robbie began to recover consciousness and Celia wordlessly led her ashen-faced husband outside to sit on the wall in the fresh air.

As they were trained to do the crew gave Robbie a thorough check and were amazed that there was no obvious sign of any broken bones. However, the height of the drop and the solid nature of the barn floor made them wary of complacency and it was clear that they intended to take him to hospital for further checks.

'No need, no need,' Robbie objected as he made a half-hearted attempt to sit himself up.

'Every need, Rob, I'm afraid.' The senior Paramedic, who had worked with the policeman previously at road traffic incidents, responded while firmly placing gently restraining hands on the injured man's shoulders. 'Yes, you could decline my advice but you would be rather foolish, to put it mildly. I'm good at my job and I'm as confident as I can be that you're ok but it is not in dispute that you have suffered a loss of consciousness. That alone is a red flag. Add in the distinct possibility that you've sustained a fracture and I don't want to take any chances. Need I say more?'

'He's going. No question.' Gillian snivelled.

Almost as if he had been unaware of her presence, the muscles on Robbie's face seemed to flinch.

'What's up? Pain?' queried the medic.

'No, no pain. Well, no more than you'd expect from lying on a concrete floor. Ok. Hospital it is.'

Robbie was given a neck collar and secured to a board before the Paramedics risked the movement of loading him into the ambulance. He stared thoughtfully at Gillian as the ambulance doors closed behind him.

'I'll follow you to A & E.' she called before running indoors to pick up her bag and the Landover's keys.

A brief conversation decided that Alan and Celia would not go to the hospital. Despite her own shock, Gillian was acutely aware where her father's thoughts and memories would be concentrated. Gillian dared not risk any further stress on his severely damaged heart and assured him that she did not need anyone to accompany her even though she would have preferred not to go alone.

'Don't worry. I'll be fine. I'll phone Raff. If needed I'm sure that he'll meet me at the hospital.' She hugged her father and patted Celia on the arm before jumping into the Landy.

Amazingly, within two hours of reaching the hospital Robbie had been given the all clear. Apart from some splinters in his hands and some severe bruising to his right leg and buttocks, he was none the worse for his escapade.

'You seem to have been lucky,' the consultant confirmed. 'I wish I had more happy outcomes after falls from such a height. No broken pelvis, no spinal fracture. Amazing. But, make no mistake, you are likely to feel rough in the days to come. Bruising has a habit of getting more painful before it gets better. For those reasons, I'd advise you to stay in hospital at least overnight, just for observation.'

'No disrespect, doctor, but that's not happening. I'm as red-blooded as they come and the opportunity to be fussed over by pretty nurses is not to be shunned, but I'll leave that pleasure as something to look forward to in my declining years. There's nothing like your own bed and that's where I'm going to be spending tonight.'

'If you must. But, you have had a concussion so you must be with a responsible adult for the next 48 hours, always. Any sign of blurred vision, nausea, severe head pain then you're to come back straight away. Is that clear?'

'Yes, as crystal. But until we get home I'll have to make do with my wife instead of a responsible adult!' He grinned and the consultant returned his smile but as Robbie turned to look at Gillian his facial expression changed to a look that she knew well. Robbie was not just being flippant; there was an undercurrent to his words and he meant them to sting. At that moment she heard an echo of his brother's biting cynicism. What she was less sure about was the reason behind his barb.

Gillian was subjected to the silent treatment all the way home. Robbie stared absent-mindedly out of the side window and deflected all her attempts to talk. At a prolonged stop on a busy junction, after Gillian put the Landy's gears into neutral, she moved her hand further to the left and rested it on her husband's knee.

'Be alert and re-engage gear or we'll never get across this road.' Robbie barked the words as he flicked her hand away.

Gillian moved her hand to her upper lip, fidgeting nervously as she continued to wonder about Robbie's behaviour which she was sure had nothing to do with concussion. For the remainder of the journey the sound of the tyres rumbling on the road exaggerated the silence between the two self-absorbed occupants.

Meanwhile, at the farm Celia paced while Alan sat with his head in his hands waiting vainly for news. Gillian's mobile was going straight to voicemail and they had given up trying to reach her. Alan had spoken to Raff who had not heard from Gillian after her initial call to advise him of the accident and a call to the hospital had resulted in the expected 'we are not at liberty to provide any information'. They had firmly begun to believe the worst. What they did not expect was to hear the Landy pull up outside the farmhouse and it was with extreme surprise that Celia watched as both doors opened.

'Alan. Look!' she cried and beckoned him to join her at the window. 'I wouldn't have thought it possible!'

Robbie gruffly declined his wife's efforts to assist him and they walked separately up the steps to the front door. Once inside the house and desperate to talk to someone who might engage in conversation, Gillian explained the need for vigilance in the days to come. Despite his best efforts to act heroically, Robbie was beginning to feel sorry for himself and, wanting comfort from someone - anyone but his wife, gratefully accepted Celia's suggestion that he had a hot drink, a little something to eat and put his feet up. The older couple were not to be fooled and they sensed immediately that there was something awry between them.

As Celia put the kettle on to boil she remembered that they were expected at Harrogate the following day. It took her but a few seconds to conclude that the trip would need to be postponed. Robbie would not be up to the journey. She knew that she needed to phone Caroline, which she did once she had done what she needed to do for the injured man.

'Kate. Celia. Can I speak to Caroline?'

'It's your mother. She sounded more than a bit terse. You don't think she's got wind of the baby news, do you?' Kate whispered, even though she'd put the phone on mute.

Caroline's brow furrowed and then relaxed. There was no way that Celia had learned their news. She might be a shrewd but she wasn't that clever. 'No, not a chance. Her telepathy doesn't work from this distance!'

'Mum, hello. I wasn't ex..' she began only for Celia to interject.

'Listen, sorry for the short notice, Caroline but tomorrow will have to be postponed. I hope you haven't gone to too much bother. We'll rearrange it for another day.'

Caroline's face fell. There was a time when she would have put the flags out to hear that she was to have a respite from her mother's company but she had psyched herself up to tell everyone the news and she felt overwhelmed with the disappointment.

'Why, what's wrong? Is Alan ok?'

'Alan's fine but Robbie's had a bad fall and he can't make the journey.'

'Well, can't the rest of you come?'

'I thought I'd raised a compassionate daughter. Caroline, shame on you. I'm sorry if your quiche and coleslaw will go to waste but Robbie can't be left.' She proceeded to explain the situation.

'I still can't see why you and Alan can't come.' I know I, we, wanted everyone here but...' She was cut off once again.

'Robbie can't be left for 48 hours. Alan and I don't want to do the journey there and back in the same day and we'll have to be here on Monday to watch out for him while Gillian is working. I thought it would be better if we re-arranged everything.'

'But I was looking forward to catching up with you.'

'You sound awfully agitated about a cancelled buffet lunch, Caroline. The long and the short of it is that it's the right decision. You, meanwhile, sound like you used to on the odd occasion when you were a naughty teenager and you would try to hide something by directing me elsewhere and hope I didn't notice. Is something awry there too?'

Caroline felt Kate's warning hand on her arm. If she wasn't careful she might just find out the extent of Celia's powers.

'No, you're absolutely right and I'm so sorry. Please tell Robbie that I hope he'll soon be feeling better. We'll speak again tomorrow and we'll re-arrange. Night, mum; night, night.'

'Something's afoot and it's not just my toes.' Celia said to herself as she ended the call.