Hopelessly Devoted To You - Jill Steeples

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the backs of her hands.

      ‘How did it happen, Ruby?’

      She sighed, a huge swell of emotion filling every pore of her body. She didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to be reminded of those awful events.

      ‘I don’t know. It all happened so quickly. We’d had dinner together. Finn had just left—he was on his way home. He turned to say something to me at the top of the stairs and then I think he must have lost his footing. It was awful. He just fell down the stairs.’

      It was a version of the truth, her version of the truth, but she knew it didn’t come close to explaining to Finn’s parents what had really happened. The guilt she felt threatened to swamp her.

      She couldn’t tell them the truth. Not now. Not here. Not when Finn was fighting for his life in the next-door room. If they knew what really had happened, that Finn’s perilous condition was down to her callous and selfish behaviour, then they might tell her to leave. They’d be perfectly within their rights to. It was nothing less than she deserved, but she didn’t want that to happen.

      Finn needed her. He might have hated her the moment he’d walked out of her flat door, but neither of them could have foreseen the tragic set of circumstances that had been about to unfold. As far as she was concerned, that awful toe-curling, cringe-inducing conversation with Finn had never happened. There was absolutely no need to mention it to Jan and Gerry.

      ‘Gosh, darling. And you saw it all? You poor thing.’ Jan squeezed her even tighter, and Ruby suddenly found the room short of air. Her breath came in short gasps; her body shuddered as the tears she’d been suppressing bubbled to the surface.

      ‘It’s all my fault!’

      ‘What? How can it be your fault, Ruby? I don’t understand.’

      ‘If Finn hadn’t come round tonight then none of this would ever have happened.’ Her words were lost in a torrent of sobs. ‘I am so sorry. I really didn’t want for any of this. I never meant…’

      ‘Of course you didn’t.’ Jan put an arm around Ruby’s shoulders, patting her on the hand in a reassuring manner, putting a halt to Ruby’s faltering explanation.

      ‘None of this is your fault, Ruby. It’s just one of those things. A twist of fate. A freak accident.’

      They both turned to look at Finn’s body on the bed, the plethora of equipment around him a constant beeping reminder that it was the only thing keeping him alive. But for how long? Would Finn ever wake up and be the same man she’d known and adored? She sighed, her gaze travelling out of the small window overlooking the city.

      ‘There’s no point blaming yourself,’ Jan went on. ‘Finn wouldn’t want that. He’ll tell you that just as soon as he’s back with us. You’ll see.’

      Would he? wondered Ruby. She was probably the last person in the world Finn would want to see when he woke up. The expression on his face when he’d turned to look at her just before his fateful fall, a look that was now etched on her mind, suggested that he didn’t want to have anything to do with her ever again.

      ‘I’ll stay with him tonight, if that’s all right? I’d like to be there when he wakes up.’

      ‘Of course. You can stay as long as you like. I expect we’ll be here too.’ Gerry laid his hand on her shoulder. ‘But you heard what the doctor said. I have a suspicion that it could be a little while before Finn comes round. We might want to take turns at Finn’s bedside for a few days at least. Why don’t you get home, Ruby, and try and get some rest? We can phone you if there’s any change in his condition.’

      ‘I don’t want to leave him. What if…?’ Her words trailed away, not wanting to voice the terror of her fears that had been playing over and over in her mind.

      ‘I know you don’t, but honestly there’s nothing you can do here.’ Gerry’s tone was warmly reassuring. She could imagine Finn saying the same thing if he were here in Gerry’s place. What wouldn’t she give to have Finn at her side now, offering his usual, solid presence?

      ‘Look, we’ll stay with him tonight. And we promise, if there’s even the slightest change, we’ll give you a call. Why don’t you come back in the morning and do the day shift? You’ve had a tough couple of hours. You look as though you could do with catching up on your sleep.’ He stroked her cheek tenderly and she felt her eyes fill with tears again.

      Now he mentioned it, Ruby realised how utterly exhausted she felt. She looked down at Finn, her heart filling with sadness. He looked beautiful. If it weren’t for all the tubes and the unfamiliar surroundings, she could just imagine that he was lying in her double bed, sleeping in on one of their lazy weekend mornings. She suppressed a sigh. Whatever happened to Finn now, she knew there’d be no more of those special mornings; her actions tonight had put paid to that, one way or the other.

      ‘You promise you’ll call me?’

      ‘Of course we will.’ Gerry took hold of her hand with one of his, and slipped his other hand into his wife’s palm, gently squeezing their fingers in a show of strength and unity. She knew they must both be experiencing the same sense of fear and desolation that she was feeling. Finn was their only child. The light in their lives. If that light were to go out, Ruby knew there’d only be one person to blame. Even if they could ever find it in their hearts to forgive her, she knew she’d never be able to forgive herself.

      Ruby climbed out of the taxi, paid the driver and stood looking up at her block of flats, contemplating for a moment at how unremarkable the building appeared. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but she hadn’t been prepared for how normal everything looked after what had been an earth-shattering event to Ruby. Why hadn’t the bricks crumbled? Why were the lights still shining inside? How come people were still going about their business as though none of this had ever happened? Ruby’s life had spun on its axis, yet life seemed to be going on as normal for everyone else.

      ‘Ru-bee!’ The shriek came from across the other side of the road and Ruby turned to see Laura waving, running towards her, a big smile on her face. ‘Hi, darling, where have you been? I’ve been knocking on your door for the last ten minutes and you’ve not been picking up your mobile. I was getting worried. Thought you might have bottled out again and disappeared into the sunset with Finn.’ Laura’s sunny expression clouded as soon as she got close to Ruby. ‘Oh, God, you look like death! What’s the matter? What’s happened? Did it not go well?’

      ‘No, Laura. It didn’t go well. It was awful, just awful.’

      Ruby was shaking now, her teeth chattering, her whole body finally giving into the enormity of what had happened.

      ‘Crikey, look at you,’ said Laura, taking her jacket off and placing it round Ruby’s shoulders. ‘You’re shivering. Let’s get you inside and you can tell me all about it.’

      ‘I can imagine how bad it was.’ Laura steered her through the double doors of the apartment block out of the cold. ‘But at least you’ve done it now. It was never going to be easy, but you’ll feel better about it after a good night’s sleep. Honestly, you will.’

      She had no idea, thought Ruby. No idea, whatsoever. At the moment she couldn’t imagine a time when she would ever feel better about it. She wasn’t sure she could even face telling Laura what had happened, having to go over all the gory details for another time. They walked together up the three flights of stairs, with Ruby trying to eradicate on one side the soothing words coming from her worried friend and, on the other side, the images tormenting her mind of Finn’s helpless body tumbling down the stairs. Breathless and heady when she reached her flat, she fumbled with the key in her door, desperate to get inside and away from the unwelcome reminders in the hallway.

      She fell into the flat followed by Laura, who Ruby knew was doing her best not to bombard Ruby with a dozen questions.

      As

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