Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,152

her head and then realising that it hurt she opened her mouth and spoke instead.

“No.” her voice was barely a whisper now.

“Cole,” Dr Edwards said, “Pass me that water would you?”

Cole obliged, reaching for a cup that she hadn’t previously noticed sitting on the bedside table.

The doctor put his hand behind her head and lifted it upwards slightly, supporting her whilst he put the cup to her lips and she drank the cool liquid gratefully. Vaughn reached forward as soon as she was done and took the cup out of the doctor’s hand, all the while regarding her with an expression of worry and concern.

“Elise,” Dr Edwards addressed her again, “Can you tell me what day it is today?”

“Yes,” she replied, relieved that her voice sounded much more normal now. “It’s Christmas Day.”

Cole and Vaughn exchanged a look across the bed and then they both glanced at Celeste who had let out a small gasp and was now covering her mouth with her hand. Roger had moved and put his arm around her in a consoling kind of way and Elise was beginning to find this whole situation really strange.

“Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” she said, “Where the hell am I and where is Dale?”

All three of them glanced nervously at each other and then Vaughn turned to Dr Edwards, as if asking for some kind of permission. The doctor nodded at him and Vaughn moved forward again, taking up the position that the doctor had vacated and placed his hand on her shoulder.

“Elise,” he said, “You are at Celeste’s flat. You turned up on the doorstep two days ago and collapsed. You’ve been pretty much out of it ever since. It’s not Christmas Day, baby; it’s the day after Boxing Day.” He paused and glanced at the doctor again as if checking whether or not he should continue. Again the doctor nodded.

“We don’t know where Dale is,” Vaughn continued hesitantly, “although we presume that he is at home. To be perfectly honest, none of us cares much right now where he is.” His voice broke suddenly as emotion began to take over and he looked to Cole an almost pleading expression on his face.

“Cole? Can you..?” he said.

Cole nodded and then tugged lightly on Elise’s right hand to make her look across at him.

“Elise, baby. We don’t know for sure where Dale is because we don’t give a shit. We all hope that he’s rotting in hell somewhere.” Cole swallowed. “It’s not Christmas Day anymore, baby, and we know that you don’t remember but the thing is..... Dale did this to you, baby.

Just before you lost consciousness completely you told Celeste that, although it wouldn’t have taken a genius to work it out anyway. He beat you up baby – hell, he nearly killed you, and now you have to just rest and get better and soon, when you’re ready, you’ll be able to remember and we’ll all be here to help you deal with it.” The last words were said with such emotion and sincerity that Elise felt her eyes begin to fill with tears. She didn’t remember, she didn’t have a clue if what they were saying was true. All she knew was that her best friend and the man that she was in love with were here with her now, and if that’s what they said had happened then she had to believe them.

When he had finished speaking, Cole lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss into her palm and she watched as she saw tears begin to fall silently down his face. She looked across to the other side of the bed where Vaughn was standing and as their eyes met and she felt the familiar pull, she was completely and utterly shocked to realise that he was crying too.

Chapter Thirty-Four

The next few days passed in a blur and Elise remained at Celeste’s flat, recovering. She had not been left alone for five minutes since she had come round and she had got used to the rota that Celeste, Cole and Vaughn had worked out between them, beginning to know when to expect each one of them to come in and sit with her.

The worst part though was when she needed to go into the adjoining bathroom and it happened to be on either Cole or Vaughn’s shift. They both insisted that they come in with her but there were just some things that a girl needed to