Phoebe struggled to wake and as she opened her eyes she saw her sister sitting next to her bed, wearing a white mask over her nose and mouth. Celia had tears running down her cheeks and it took a moment for Phoebe to work out why.
‘I collapsed,’ she murmured. Her stomach clenched in fear. ‘I have the flu?’ She felt the pressure of her sister’s hands over hers.
‘You have,’ Celia said, clearing her throat. ‘But you’re going to be fine now.’
Phoebe remembered she had been visiting Archie when everything went black. ‘Archie?’ She hardly dared ask, but needed to know immediately if he was well or not.
‘He’s exactly as you left him four days ago,’ Celia assured her. ‘He’s been panic-stricken since you collapsed, though, and desperate for constant updates about your well-being. He’s going to be enormously relieved to hear you’re on the mend.’
Phoebe took the deepest breath she could manage. ‘You’ve been here nursing me all the time, haven’t you?’ She didn’t know why she was asking the question. Phoebe knew Celia would refuse to leave her unless she had no choice, and would have done exactly the same thing if it was her sister lying in this bed.
‘Of course I have. I couldn’t let anyone else care for you, not when I knew I have so much experience of this damned virus.’
Phoebe tried to swallow and groaned, realising that her throat felt like sandpaper had been used against it. ‘Thirsty.’
Celia poured her half a glass of water and helped her sit up slightly to drink it.
‘Slowly,’ she insisted, removing the glass from Phoebe’s lips when she was tempted to drink too fast and ended up coughing.
‘You always were bossy,’ Phoebe said when she had finished and Celia had wiped her mouth. Then she settled her back against her pillows once more.
‘It’s for your own good.’
Phoebe knew her sister was trying to be amusing and was grateful, but most of all she was relieved to hear that Archie hadn’t caught the virus. With the state of his health, she wasn’t sure he had enough strength to survive, and she couldn’t bear to be without him now that she had found him again.
‘When will I be able to see Archie safely?’
Celia gave her question some thought. ‘Probably in a week or two. It’s up to the doctor. You’re both going to have to be patient.’
‘If it keeps him from catching this, I’ll wait as long as necessary.’
* * *
Two weeks later Phoebe was discharged from the hospital. She couldn’t wait to be reunited with Archie again. She arrived at the door to his ward and saw he was watching out for her, waiting. He caught her eye and they smiled at each other. He had begun to put on a little weight but not as much as he needed. Then again, she suspected he had been fretting about her and unable to eat as much as he should have been. His eyes didn’t appear to be quite as hollow as she remembered but he was still pale.
‘You’re finally here,’ he said, reaching out to take her hand. ‘I’ve been so worried about you, my darling.’
Phoebe leaned forward and kissed him, relishing the pressure of his lips on hers once again. ‘I’m fine now, Archie,’ she soothed. ‘And I don’t care what you say, I’m never leaving you again.’
‘Apart from the necessary.’ He laughed. ‘Louis has booked you a room at the hotel and the doctor said I can be discharged in the next few days.’
‘Hello, there.’
Phoebe heard Louis’s voice and turned to smile at him. ‘Hello. I hope he’s been behaving while I was away.’
Louis frowned and looked at his brother thoughtfully before smiling at her and shaking his head. ‘Not really. But he was fretting about you, so I’ll allow him to misbehave just this once.’ He grinned at Archie. ‘Have you told her yet?’
‘Told me what?’ she asked, intrigued.
Archie raised his eyebrows. ‘Louis and I have been planning something.’
‘You have?’ What had they been up to, she wondered.
Archie nodded, a twinkle in his dark eyes that she was happy to see. He truly was getting better.
‘Tell me.’
‘Louis kindly applied for a special marriage licence for us,’ Archie explained. ‘If you’re still happy to marry me, that is?’
‘You know the answer perfectly well.’ She looked up at Louis. ‘When is it for?’
‘Friday.’
‘This Friday?’ She gazed at Archie in surprise, thrilled to think that in three days’ time she would be his wife. ‘But I have nothing prepared.’
‘Your sister has bought you a dress and some shoes. Louis found me a suit and we’re being married in the hospital chapel by the chaplain as a special favour.’
She gasped. Was this really happening? ‘Special favour to whom?’
‘Me,’ Louis said. ‘We were at college together. I persuaded him that it was the decent thing to do if you were going to travel to Sandsend the following day and live in the same house as Archie.’
‘You did that?’ She caught the happiness in Archie’s face and smiled. ‘Good. I’m glad.’
Archie gave her hand a gentle squeeze. ‘I’m so relieved. I wasn’t sure if you were hoping for a big church wedding.’
Phoebe shook her head. ‘Who would I have invited? Apart from Jocasta and your sister and her husband, but it’s too far for Jocasta and not the best idea for your sister, as we know. I’ll have everyone else who’s most important to me there.’
She heard Louis clear his throat and glanced at him, noticing him struggling with his emotions. ‘Are you all right?’
He took a deep breath. ‘I think all this worry about Archie and then you has exhausted me. I’m not usually this emotional.’
‘I think we’re all struggling a bit,’ Archie said kindly.
‘I certainly am,’ Phoebe agreed.
Louis made an excuse to leave them in peace and Phoebe pulled up a chair and sat down. ‘Why did you really change your mind? I thought you were adamant that we shouldn’t marry, but now you’ve arranged a wedding?’
‘You know me too well.’ Archie smiled. ‘Nearly losing you was like a slap in the face and made me see how ridiculous I was being about my hand.’
‘You have every right to be upset about that.’
He shook his head. ‘Not when it was put into the context of a life without you,’ he argued, raising his bandaged hand and resting it momentarily on her cheek. ‘I love you with all my heart. I don’t care what I do as a job. I know we’ll work this out together somehow. I wanted us to be married as soon as possible so that we could begin our married life in Sandsend, just in time for our first Christmas together.’
Phoebe loved that idea. ‘The perfect Christmas present,’ she said, leaning forward and kissing him.