Lucy Gordon - And the Bride Wore Red

He’d promised love eternal, but what was in his mind now-her or the all-important interview for the job? She was suddenly convinced that he must have forgotten her as soon as they’d parted, drawn back to his ‘real’ life.

She should call him, but what was he doing at this moment? With her mind fuzzy, she couldn’t work out the time difference. He might be talking to somebody vital to his career and resent her interrupting.

She took out her mobile phone and sat staring at it, feeling stupid. After a while she put it away again.

Then it shrilled at her.

‘Where have you been?’ came Lang’s frantic voice. ‘I’ve been waiting and waiting, thinking you’d call me as soon as you had news. When you didn’t, I nearly went crazy. I started checking the flights to see if anything had happened to your plane.’

‘Oh, heavens!’ She wept.

‘Darling, what is it? Is she dead? Tell me.’

‘No, she’s alive and holding on.’

She told him about her journey-her arrival and the moment when Norah had seemed to become aware of her. She hardly knew what she said. She was almost hysterical with relief that he’d reached out to her.

‘So it’s good news,’ Lang said. ‘If she’s survived the first twenty-four hours, then her chances are fine. She’ll be well in no time.’

‘What’s been happening to you?’ she asked.

‘I’m back in Beijing.’

‘Have you done anything about the job?’

‘No, it’s still only dawn here. When the day starts properly I’ll get to work. Then I’m going to get myself a video link so that we can talk face to face.’

‘You can call me on Norah’s. I’m living there for the moment.’

‘Go and get some sleep now. You must be in need of it. I love you.’

‘I love you,’ she said wistfully.

She hung up and tumbled into bed, trying to tell herself that Norah would soon be well; Lang had seemed sure. After all, he was a doctor. But she knew in her heart that he was being too optimistic too soon. If Norah made only a partial recovery they would be faced with huge problems and she guessed that he didn’t want to think about them just yet.

She went to the hospital early next day. Norah was still unconscious, but after an hour she opened her eyes. Her smile as she beheld Olivia was full of happiness.

‘I thought I’d only dreamed that you were here,’ she murmured.

‘No, I’m here, and I’m staying to look after you until you’re all right.’

‘What about Lang?’

‘He’s fine. I’ve talked to him.’

‘What was the marvellous news he was going to tell me?’

‘There’s a big job coming up and he reckons he’s in line for it. He’s very ambitious.’

She went on talking softly until Norah’s eyes drooped again and she drifted into a normal sleep.

‘Is she going to make it?’ Olivia asked the nurse softly.

‘The doctor thinks so. Despite her age, she’s very strong. It’s too soon to be certain, but it’ll probably work out.’

She went home feeling more cheerful than she’d dared to hope. Norah would recover and their plans could go on as before. She must believe that.

The next day Lang hooked up online and she saw his face for the first time since their goodbye. The sight gave her heart a jolt. He was so near, yet so far. She gave him the nurse’s words.

‘What did I tell you?’ he said cheerfully. ‘Biyu will be delighted. She’d actually pencilled in a date for our wedding-the twenty-third of next month. When I explained about the delay, she was very put out. So was Hai. He was practically lining the fish up to be caught.’

Olivia laughed shakily.

‘Tell them I’m sorry to disappoint them, and I’ll be back when I can.’

How hollow those words sounded to her own ears.

‘They’ll be glad to hear that. Wei’s fiancée is writing a new song to sing at the wedding. I’ve got an interview for the job next week, and someone has dropped me a private hint that my chances are good.’

‘Darling, I’m so thrilled for you. It’ll be everything you always wanted.’

‘You know better than that,’ he told her.

‘Yes, I do. It’s just that things look different now that we’re so far apart.’

‘But we aren’t far apart,’ he said at once. ‘In here-’ he tapped his breast ‘-you’re still with me, and you always will be. Nothing has changed.’

When he talked like that it was easy to believe that things would work out well. But when they had disconnected there came the time, which she dreaded. Then the distance became not merely real but the only reality.

Inch by inch she slipped into a routine. In the morning she was a housekeeper, shopping and cleaning. In the afternoon she visited Norah, now out of Intensive Care.

In the evenings she linked up to wait for Lang to appear on-screen. It occurred to her that she was following much the same timetable Norah had followed while waiting for her to call from China. When the connection finally came it marked the beginning of her day. When it was over, she counted the hours until the next one.

With a heavy heart she realised that this was how it must have felt for Norah years ago, waiting for news of her lover overseas, until finally there was nothing left to hope for.

One day Lang didn’t appear at the usual time. When he finally came online he apologised and said he’d been helping out at the hospital.

‘There was an emergency and they called in all hands. I’ve decided to abandon the rest of my vacation and go back to work. It could be useful to be on the spot-just in case.’

‘I think that’s very wise,’ she said cheerfully.

‘It means I don’t know exactly what time I’ll be calling,’ he said.

‘It doesn’t matter. I’ll stay hooked up permanently so that I’m always ready.’

Which was exactly what Norah had done for her, she remembered, and the similarity made her shiver.

On the day of his interview she waited by the computer for hours and knew, as soon as she saw him, that things had gone well.

‘I’m through to the next stage,’ he said triumphantly. ‘I have to meet the whole board next week.’

That meeting too went well, and Lang confided that several board members had spoken in complimentary terms of his work at the hospital over the last three years. He said it without apparent conceit, but she was certain that he knew exactly how good he was.

Then a problem developed. His name was Guo Daiyu, and he was brilliant, Lang told her despondently.

‘He didn’t hear of the job at first, but someone told him recently and he hurried to apply. He has an excellent reputation, and he’s the one person who could take it away from me.’

She comforted him as best she could, but she could see that the thought of losing the prize at the last minute was appalling to him.

It was ironic, she thought as she lay staring into the darkness in the early hours. Lang talked romantically, he spoke of his family’s legend of love, but beneath it he was a fiercely ambitious man who knew the value of practical things.

She still believed in his love, but she also knew that the coming struggle was going to reveal each one of them to the other in a way that might destroy them.

Now she found herself remembering the story of Natalie, the woman he’d loved but had given up because she’d threatened to divert him from his chosen path. That path had included China and his professional ambition, and nothing would be allowed to stand in the way. Nothing. That was the message, clear and simple.

Then something happened. It was stupid, incongruous and even amusing in a faintly hysterical way, and it cast another light on the turn her life was taking.

After some nagging on Olivia’s part, her parents visited Norah in hospital. They giggled a lot, said the right things and left as soon as possible.