'For your sake I will hide the real thing.'
He held the letter in his hand. It was the seventh he'd written to her whilst she'd been away. The more he wrote the more he realised how much he missed and wanted her back. He didn't know if she had read any of his other letters as he'd had no reply but at least they'd not been returned unopened. There was still hope.
He didn't know what he was expecting. He kept telling himself he shouldn't expect anything but with each letter his feeling got harder and harder to hide. He had tried at first. The letter he'd sent with Timothy's drawing had been simple. He'd asked how she was, if things were okay at the Sanatorium and hoped she'd make a quick recovery.
Then after that each letter he wrote he told her more. He began to tell her when he began falling for her. How he cared for her deeply. How she'd brought him back to life. How happy seeing her everyday made him
Maybe it was easier for him if she didn't reply. He was able to tell her what he had to without her being able to turn away or stop him until he finished.
He posted the letter and went back to his car. He'd left the engine running as he had quickly dashed to post the letter as it was raining heavily. Tim was asleep on the back seat, he'd spent the day at Cubs and was exhausted.
Patrick rested his head against the back of his seat and watched the wipers clear his windscreen over and over.
All he could see was her.
"Are you sad, Dad?"
He smiled slightly hearing the voice of his son seeing his half asleep face in the rear view mirror.
"How can I be sad when I have you?"
Tim leant forward. "Granny Parker said you used to just sit in the car after Mummy died. Like a sheepdog without his sheep."
Patrick rolled his eyes trying not to feel ill feelings towards the older woman. "Did she."
XxX
"He's either the most boring man in the world or the most exciting." Nurse Peters chuckled slightly handing over another letter from the mysterious doctor, who seemed to have a soft spot for her patient. "I can return them to sender if you wish."
Sister Bernadette shook her head. "It's quite alright. I will read them..."
She sighed doubting it. "I hope they are worth the wait, the poor man has sent you enough of them. How many is it now 7? You wanna hope you get better just to save him his postage."
She gave a small smile knowing that's what the nurse wanted. She found it difficult to be happy in a place...in a life where she felt so lost and alone. The nurse did whatever she could to cheer her up and sometimes it worked, and she was very thankful for it.
"You're looking awfully tired, Sister. I think you should get some rest before anything else."
She was getting better, a few more weeks maybe and she could be discharged. Nurse Peters noted that she never complained. She was quiet at the best of times but she never said when she was in pain or anything. She kept herself to herself. She wondered where that came from? She wondered why the Sister felt she had to struggle along on her own. From the amount of letters and visits she'd had there was clearly many people who thought the world of her. Yes, she was a puzzle was Sister Bernadette.