Until There Was You (10 page)

My eyes open slowly and
everything is blurry but I can see his back as he reaches the door
and I can hardly believe I did it. I want to cheer and shout but my
jaw hurts so much and my throat is like sandpaper.

'Lia.....' I croak, please god
let him hear me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Eighteen

Liam

'Liam.' I hear a soft croak and
I am so sure my mind's playing tricks on me, I turn and look at her
and her eyes are still closed. Wishful thinking, I can't count the
amount of times I have 'heard' her speak. However I usually wake
up, maybe I am that desperate I am hearing her when I am awake.

I turn to leave, My Mother
should know better than to bother me here. I take one last
reassuring look at Lexi and I can hardly believe it when her
beautiful eyes flutter open. They are still purple but the swelling
has gone down considerably, but not completely. They are still the
most beautiful thing I have ever seen right now.

'Lexi.' I gasp in shock,
scramble back to her bed. My legs almost giving out. 'Can you hear
me?' She doesn't answer but nods and the simple action makes her
wince.

'Don't try and move baby, I will
get a nurse.' I rush out the room.

'Nurse!' I yell down the
corridor. 'Nurse!'

'It's Lexi, she's awake.' I
blurt out before she can speak and I run back to Lexi's room. When
I get back her eyes are closed again and my heart sinks. I am sure
she was awake. I know she was.

'Miss Cross?' The nurse says and
Lexi opens her beautiful eyes again.

'Hello there.' The nurse smiles
brightly at her. 'I am Nurse Sonja, it's a pleasure to finally meet
you Alexis. Can you talk?' She asks nicely, I like this nurse. She
is an elderly lady with short curly grey hair, standing about 4
foot tall. She is always so nice and cheerful.

'Drink..' Lexi croaks out and
winces. Be brave baby, I chant over and over again in my head. The
nurse puts a straw to her lips and she drinks the water as fast as
she can earning her a telling off from Nurse Sonja. She checks her
vitals and leaves to page the doctor.

'Hi.' She breaths, her voice
still dry from lack of use.

'Hey you.' I reply smiling
brightly at her. She's awake, she is really awake.

'Lex'

'Liam' We both speak at the same
time and laugh.

'I have waited for too long to
hear your voice babe you go first.'

'I am sorry, I never should of
left like that and I never went back to Mike, he found me somehow.
I tried to run I swear I.....' Her voice fades off as I place my
finger gently on her swollen lips to silence her completely.

'Don't waste your breath on him
babe, I know you didn't go to him and the Police have him now, he
will never get to you again Lexi.' I tell her firmly, needing her
to worry about that bastard ever again.

'Police?' She panics eyes wide.
' Do they know about us? How we met? Did he tell them?'

'No..' She visibly relaxes. 'I
did.' I say honestly, I had to fuck the consequences.

'Why would you do that to
yourself?' I think it was meant to be a shout but it comes out a
loud croaky whisper.

'Because I don't care what
people think anymore, I had to tell them so they knew what he is
like. It was my image or your safety and to me there is no
competition Lexi. Let the papers do their worst, I don't care.' I
explain and she smiles a sad smile.

'I'm sorry I brought all this to
you.' She mumbles and starts crying.

'I'm not!' I demand. 'I Love
You, not one thing will ever change that and I should've told you
this that night. Maybe you wouldn't have left but I was a coward, I
promise if you let me make it up to you, I will never let you down
again.'

She stares at me, eyes wide in
shock and I all I want more than anything is for her to say it
back. The silence continues and my faith dwindles as she remains
still not speaking. This is it, this what rejection feels like. It
hurts.

Liam, I...'

'Lexi don't, don't say it
because I want you to. It's okay really, it is.' I cut her off, I
don't think I could stand a rejection speech.

'Shut up and let me speak, I
haven't had my say in god knows how long I was out....'

'Three and a half weeks.' I
interject and she glares at me and then winces so I shut up.

'I Love You Liam Coltan, I have
done since you saved me and you have never let me down EVER!' She
says and I fall even more in love with her.

It has been six days since Lex
woke up and the change in her is incredible, I for one can't wait
to go home. I have only left a handful of times and been hell on
legs until I returned. My Father has been amazing handling the
business, even my Mother is trying to be helpful even though I am
not quite sure what her motives are yet.

'Good Morning Baby.' I chirp as
I walk into Lexi's room to find her sat eating toast. Her face is
nearly back to normal but her wrists and ribs are still in a bad
way and her hip was cracked and could need pinning but I keep
praying it won't. The scar on her head where they drained the fluid
from her brain looks better, it's a lot less angry looking and she
has started to push her hair over to hide it.

'Good Morning.' She smiles a
beautiful big smile. 'Guess what?' She asks excited.

'What?' I reply caught up in her
mood.

'I walked to the
toilet.......myself!' She beams at me and I can't fight my
frown.

'Lexi do you really think you
should be doing that babe? I mean well done but you could of had a
fall and hurt you hip more.' I say skeptically, feeling bad that I
am raining on her parade but I can't help but worry. Nearly losing
her once was more than enough.

'Jeez Liam, it is only ten
steps. You are making me sound like an old woman.' She complains
and I can't help but laugh at her pout.

'I can't help that I Love You
and don't want you in anymore pain.' I reason but she is no longer
looking at me, her shocked face is aimed at the door.

I follow her gaze and land on a
older woman that has the look of Lexi but not half as pretty. She
is standing in the doorway staring back at us with a sad look.

I stand frozen in my place,
eyeing the two women. Neither of them speak but the tension in the
room, I swear is crackling.

'Can we help you?' I ask when no
one speaks and the silence drags on.

'Mum.' The words fall from
Lexi's lips and I pale.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Nineteen

Lexi

'Mum'

The woman that looks just like
me rushes towards me with tears in her eyes. I stick my hands out
in front of me quickly and hurt my ribs and wrist in the process. I
wince and Liam notices, he turns into my guard dog and I couldn't
be more grateful. What does she want now after all this time?

'That's close enough.' He orders
and she takes a step back.

'Sorry, you must be Liam Coltan,
I have read all about you and your whirlwind romance with my
daughter. Anne Hall pleasure to meet you.' She shamelessly gushes
at him, fluttering her eyelashes, the lot.

'You got married?' I butt in
before he can answer.

'Well yes dear, two years ago. I
would have invited you, it would have been nice to catch up. But I
didn't want to rub it in Mike's face. You can understand that can't
you honey?' She says not an ounce of guilt for abandoning me with
him.

'Why are you here?' Liam
questions when words fail me.

'That's between me and my
daughter, can you give us five minutes please?' She flutters her
eyelashes again, its sickening to watch.

'No, Liam stays.' I demand and
he sits on the bed next to me with his arm rest protectively over
my head, the other hand playing with my fingers.

'You don't trust your own Mum?'
She scoffs.

'You're not my Mother Anne.' I
snarl. I don't care if it hurts her, I am hurting so much more than
she can ever imagine.

'Say what you came to say and
then leave, I will not have you upsetting her.' Liam snaps when
tears fill my eyes.

'I wanted to catch up with my
eldest child and see how you have been doing.' Is she fucking blind
as well as stupid, how does she think I am doing when she is
visiting me in hospital!

None of us speak, I can tell
Liam wants to but he holds his tongue and stares my pathetic excuse
of a Mother. I am trying not to crumble. She came back for me? Can
I really hate her if she came back for me eventually?

'Very well then, you can't press
charges against Mike Alexis, he is sorry and he never meant to do
this to you. He was a mess when I saw him yesterday.' She says with
the most sympathy and remorse I have seen in her yet. And it's for
him.

'You went to see him before your
own daughter?' Liam rages and I stare at my hands trying to control
my feelings, she must really hate me.

'As I was saying Alexis.' She
continues stating my name but glaring at Liam. 'He is a mess and he
only acted the way he did when he was provoked by your boyfriend
here, you abandoning him brought back old feelings of me. He
couldn't lose his little girl as well. So if this is anyone's fault
it is mine, not poor Mike.'

Liam is shaking in anger and he
is going to blow up, I put my hand on his arm and he looks at me. I
shake my head at him, I can handle this. She is my Mother.

'You are right Anne.' I say and
she smiles as Liam stands in outrage but I just hold my hand up to
silence him before he has chance.

'It is all your fault Anne, NOT
mine. However it was me he beat and starved for the last four years
whilst you lived your life. Its was me he tried to sell for sex to
buy his beer with. It was me who he tried to beat to death, and
very nearly succeeded....NOT YOU! It is all your fault, you
couldn't just be a good Wife and Mother. Yet I paid for your fuck
ups every single day since you left and started a new family.' I
spit at her and it feels good to get it off my chest, but it still
hurts to say it all out loud.

'It was me Anne.....not you.' I
whisper, holding back my tears and clinging to Liam for dear life
as she stands there looking hurt.

'How do you think it will look
when you own Mother is on his side in court? When I tell the press
my side, how you really are?' I pale and my breath catches in my
throat. Why would she do this to me?

'You don't want to play this
game with me Mrs Hall.' Liam states his tone as cold as ice. 'I
will have the press reading about how you abandoned a young girl
with an abusive man, run off with your lover to have your love
child. I will drag you and your new family through the dirt. How
about how you never once called to check on your daughter? Or maybe
how the first time you have seen or spoke to her since you walked
out on her leaving a fucking NOTE was to badger her to drop the
charges against the man who abused her and tried to kill her? I
think the Police would like that one too.' He taps his chin in
thought.

'You wouldn't.' She blanches,
fear evident in her eyes.

'Try me.' He dares through
gritted teeth.

'Just think about what I said
Alexis please.' She says as she leaves and I let out a big breath I
didn't realize I was holding in. Wow Liam is amazing, I can't
believe he said all that to her.

'What a piece of work.' He
fumes, pacing at the end of my bed. He looks at me and frowns when
he realizes that I am crying. I wipe my tears away on the sleeve of
my blue fluffy dressing gown that Nate bought me. They have both
been so wonderful. Liam has never really left my side other than
when Nate makes him leave for a shower because he stinks. I can't
help worry about what it is costing him to be here all the time. He
is a very powerful man and powerful men are often very busy men, I
try to bring it up with him but he just hushes me. I get the same
old 'Don't you worry yourself, I have everything under control'
line. We mostly talk about light stuff and each other and as a
couple we are going well.

'Are you okay?' He mumbles
sweetly.

'I will be as long as I have
you.' I smile.

'Well then Nate wants to visit
today.' He adds unamused.

'Brilliant, I need a good
laugh.' I reply excited and he doesn't look happy with my response,
I suspect it has something to do with the Nate thing but I just
don't understand it.

'Well glad he can make you
laugh.' He mutter petulantly with a sulky teenage boy face.

'I don't get you, I really
don't.' I laugh, he looks ridiculous.

'Well don't I make you laugh? I
hate how you and Nate are together.'

'Aww are you jealous?' I tease
and he glares at me confirming my suspicions.

'You are!' I screech. 'I don't
think I am Nate's type.' I add seriously.

'Why would you say that?' He
looks confused.

'Because well.......I'm a
woman.' I explain full of awkward embarrassment.

'Believe me babe, I am aware of
that fact.' He winks at me and I blush.

'Well Nate.......He's
gay......Isn't he?' I whisper my blush deepening.

He doubles over letting out a
roar of laughter that he doesn't seem to be able to stop and I hide
my glowing face behind my hands.

'Hahahaha........you
think........Hahahahaha......Oh God.......You think
Nate's........Hahahaha fucking hell.......I can't breath......'

'Stop laughing at me.' I shout
laughing myself. He doesn't stop as tears stream down his blood red
face and he clutches his stomach.

'Sorry...Haha you think Nate is
hahaha....'

'Nate is what exactly?' Nate's
voice interrupts us. Oh hell this is embarrassing.

'Gay!' He blurts out hysterical
again and I blush and hide my face. He wasn't suppose to tell him,
or find it funny as a matter of fact.