The Stand-In Bride

‘You must be properly looked after,’ Maggie said.

She began to talk softly to Isabella, sounding as reassuring as possible, but she couldn’t reach the old woman, who seemed maddened by terror at the mere word ‘hospital’. At last, to her relief, Maggie heard a knock at the outer door. Through a crack she could just see Sebastian admit the paramedics. But Isabella was now in a state of hysteria.

‘No,’ she screamed. ‘No hospital, please, no hospital!’

The next moment, Sebastian appeared. Maggie rose as he came to the side of the bed and took Isabella’s hands between his. ‘Now, stop this,’ he said in a gentle voice. ‘You must go to the hospital. I insist.’

‘They took Antonio there and he died,’ the old woman whispered.

‘That was many years ago. Doctors are better now. You’re not going to die. You’re going to be made well. Now, be sensible, my dear cousin. Do this to please me.’

She had stopped writhing and lay quietly with her hands in his. ‘I’m afraid,’ she whispered.

‘What is there to be afraid of, if I am with you?’ he asked, smiling at her.

‘But you won’t be there.’

‘I shall be with you all the time. Come, now.’

In one swift, strong movement he pulled back the bed-clothes and gathered her up in his arms, making nothing of her considerable weight. Isabella stopped fighting and put her hands trustingly around his neck as he lifted her from the bed and carried her out to where the paramedics had a stretcher. Maggie heaved a sigh of relief that somebody had been able to get through to her.

At last Isabella was settled on the stretcher, and the paramedics hurried away with her. Sebastian prepared to follow the little party, but in the doorway he stopped and looked back. ‘Come!’ he commanded Catalina.

The girl shuddered. ‘I hate those places.’

‘Never mind that. Do as I say. Isabella is our responsibility. She mustn’t be left alone without a woman’s comfort. These will be your duties in the future, and you may as well start now.’

Catalina looked helplessly at Maggie.

‘All right,’ Maggie sighed, recognising the inevitable. ‘I’ll come with you.’ She met Sebastian’s eyes. ‘I can always leave later.’

‘To be sure,’ he said ironically. ‘My bride will magically become strong-minded and responsible, won’t she?’

In the flurry of departure she didn’t need to answer this. Downstairs the paramedics eased Isabella gently inside the waiting ambulance. Sebastian followed, nodding towards a car just behind.

‘Follow us to the Santa Maria Infirmary,’ he said curtly. Maggie’s eyes widened at the name of the most expensive private hospital in London.

‘Of course,’ Catalina said, when they were seated side by side in the back of the chauffeur driven car. ‘Isabella is one of his family. He feels responsible for her.’

‘He must do if he’s gone in the ambulance,’ Maggie mused. ‘Most men would die, rather. But you should have gone, my dear.’

‘I hate sickness,’ Catalina wailed. She saw Maggie looking at her in exasperation and added shrewdly, ‘Besides, Sebastian is the one she wants. He makes her feel safe.’

‘Yes, I noticed.’

Maggie had been unwillingly impressed by the kindness and patience he had shown the old woman, and the way she had clung to him, as though to a rock. However overbearing Sebastian might be, he clearly took his patriarchal duties seriously.

At the Santa Maria Infirmary, doctors were waiting for Isabella. As they prepared to wheel her away she cried out to Sebastian. ‘No, no! You promised not to leave me.’

‘And he won’t,’ Maggie said at once, taking the old woman’s outstretched hand. ‘But he must stay out here a moment to give them your details, and I shall come with you. You and I are friends, aren’t we?’

Isabella gave a weak smile of assent, but her eyes rolled to Sebastian. At once he clasped her other hand.

‘Señora Cortez will be my deputy,’ he said. ‘Trust her as you do me, and it is as if I myself were by your side.’

Isabella gave a sigh and allowed herself to be wheeled into the cubicle. Now her eyes never left Maggie and it was clear she regarded the transfer of trust very seriously.

It took only a brief examination to confirm that Isabella had acute appendicitis, requiring an immediate operation. The word brought her terror rushing back.

‘Why are you so afraid?’ Maggie asked gently.

‘My husband, Antonio, had an operation in a hospital. And he died.’

‘When was that?’

‘Forty years ago.’

‘A lot of people died then who wouldn’t die now. You will recover, and be well again.’

She continued talking in this way, glad to see that the old woman was gradually relaxing. There was a shadow in the doorway and Sebastian looked in. He was smiling in a way that transformed him, and his manner to Isabella was almost teasing.

‘Not long now,’ he said to her. ‘And then all will be well.’

‘And I won’t die? You promise.’

‘You won’t die. Word of a Santiago.’

He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on Isabella’s forehead. Her eyes remained on him as she was wheeled away, until she was out of sight.

‘I must stress the dangers of surgery on a lady of her age and weight,’ the surgeon explained. ‘But there is no choice.’

‘I take full responsibility,’ Sebastian said at once.

The doctor left. Almost to himself, Sebastian murmured, ‘I have given a promise I had no right to give.’

‘But there was nothing else you could do,’ Maggie said. ‘It was her only chance.’

‘True. But if she dies—when she trusted me—?’

‘She would have died if she had not trusted you,’ Maggie insisted. ‘You did the right thing.’

‘Thank you for saying that. I needed to know that someone—’ He stopped and looked at her with surprise, as though he’d only just realised what he was saying, and to whom. His face became reserved again, but he said, ‘I mean—that I must thank you for what you did for her. It was kind. You have the gift.’

He didn’t elaborate and she looked at him with a frown.

‘It is a gift that some have,’ he said quietly. ‘They calm fear and inspire trust.’

‘It seems that you have the gift yourself.’