Her eyes quickly scanned the room and for a moment it was hard to believe she was in a hospital. A large rosewood wardrobe with a matching chest of drawers stood against one wall and heavy velvet curtains in a deep-rose colour hung at the window, which overlooked the sprawling lawns where she could now see patients being pushed about in wheelchairs. There was a small desk and chair in front of the window and on the other side of the room was the only evidence that this was indeed a hospital – a hospital bed. But surely that couldn’t be Giles lying in it? His once thick, dark hair was now completely grey and stood up in untidy tufts across his head and he was so thin that even after staring she couldn’t be at all sure that it really was him. He was truly unrecognisable from the handsome young man she remembered. She approached the bed cautiously, trying hard to stem the tears that were trembling on her lashes.

‘Giles,’ she said softly and suddenly his eyes blinked open and she knew that it was him! No one had eyes as blue as his.

But her pleasure was short-lived for almost instantly he turned his head away and growled, ‘Go away, Livvy … please!’

Chapter Fifty-Six

‘After the trek I’ve had to get here I most certainly will not!’ Livvy answered indignantly and, pulling up a chair, she plonked herself down on it.

For over ten minutes she sat there, obstinately mute until, still with his face turned away from her, he asked resignedly, ‘So just what do you want, Livvy?’

‘I want to see you, of course,’ she snapped. ‘And a right old hike I’ve had to get here, let me tell you, so I’ve no intention of leaving until you speak to me.’

‘But I don’t want you to see me like this. I don’t want anybody to see me,’ he muttered. ‘I’m just a shadow of the man I used to be.’

The tears she was holding back were choking her, but she kept them in check as she said angrily, ‘Don’t be so full of self-pity. It doesn’t suit you. Why, you’re damned lucky compared to most of the poor blighters in here! Some of them have no arms or legs, others are blind or horrifically burned, whereas you will make a full recovery given time.’

Silence hung heavy between them but eventually he slowly turned his head to look at her and the haunted look in his eyes almost broke her heart.

‘You always were an obstreperous little devil,’ he said with the ghost of a smile and suddenly she saw that somewhere in that bag of bones was still the man she loved.

‘Did you get the letters I wrote to you while you were in the prison camp?’ she asked with her chin in the air.

He nodded, his eyes on hers.