Free The year of the virgins by 1906-1998 Catherine Cookson Page A

were tubes in his arms, there was a cradle over his legs.
    Daniel closed his eyes for a moment: his throat was constricted as his mind was yelling, 'His legs! His legs!' He opened his eyes to a sound of a gasp and he looked across the bed at his wife. Her face was screwed up in anguish, the tears dripping from her chin. He heard her moan.
    A nurse whom he hadn't noticed seemed to appear from nowhere and, touching Winifred gently on the arm, said, 'Come. Come, please.'
    Winifred jerked the hand aside, muttering now, T want to stay. I can sit by him.'
    'Doctor says . . .'
    'I'm his mother!' She almost hissed the words into the nurse's face, and the nurse glanced across the bed towards Daniel as if in appeal. In answer to it he moved down by the side of the bed and Winifred stepped quickly away. She made for the door, muttering, T want to see the specialist.'
    Not the doctor, not the surgeon, but the specialist.
    Daniel made a small motion of his head, then asked quietly of the nurse, 'When . . . when do you think he'll come round?'
    To this she answered, T don't know . . . there's no knowing.'
    He now asked, 'Which ward is his wife in? Mrs Coulson?'
    'Oh, I think she's upstairs on the next floor.'

    'Thank you.'
    A few minutes later when he was ushered into a side ward, there, to his surprise, he saw Annette propped up in bed. Her eyes were open and as he neared her he could see that one of her arms was in plaster and that the right side of her face was discoloured, as if she had been punched.
    Her voice was small as she said, 'Dad.'
    'Oh, hinny. Oh my dear, my dear.' He lifted her other hand from the counterpane and stroked it. And now she said, 'Don?' then again, 'Don? Is he very . . . very bad? They . . . they won't . . . tell me.'
    He swallowed some saliva before he lied, saying, 'He'll . . . he'll be all right. I ... I understand his legs were hurt. He's not quite round yet, but he'll be all right. You'll see.'
    The nurse who had followed him into the ward pushed a chair towards him, and he nodded his thanks to her and sat down. Still holding the limp hand, he said, 'Oh, don't, my dear. Don't cry.'
    'We ... we were . . .'
    'Yes, dear?'
    'Esca . . . ping.'
    'Oh, yes, yes, you were escaping. And you will again, dear. You will again. Never you worry.'
    'Why Dad? Oh, why?' The last word, dragged out on a higher note, acted as a signal to the nurse, for she motioned Daniel to his feet, saying to Annette: 'There now. There now. You need to sleep again. I'll bring you a drink and then you'll rest. You'll feel better later.'
    Daniel walked backwards from the bed. Just a few hours ago she had been a bride, a beautiful bride, and now she looked like someone who had inadvertently stepped into a boxing ring and got the worst of it.

    He waited in the corridor until the nurse came out of the ward, then he asked quietly, 'How bad is she, nurse?'
    'Surprisingly, she's got off very lightly. She's bruised all over, naturally, but the only bone broken is in her arm. She's had a miraculous escape, whereas her husband, I understand, is in a pretty bad way. You are . . . her father?'
    'Her father-in-law.'
    'Oh, then he is your son?'
    'Yes, yes, he is my . . .' But he found he couldn't complete the sentence, and when the nurse said, 'It's a tragedy, isn't it? Just married for a matter of hours, and just starting their honeymoon. It's incredible the things that happen.'
    When later he emerged from the toilet his eyes were red but he looked more composed. And it was as he was making his way back to the waiting-room that he almost bumped into the surgeon.
    'Oh, there you are, Mr Coulson. I was wanting a word with you.'
    'Good morning, Mr Richardson. I've just been to see my daughter-in-law.'
    'Oh yes, yes. Now, she's been lucky. It's amazing how lightly she got off. Would you like to come into my office for a moment?'
    They were in the small room now and the surgeon, pointing to a chair, said, 'Sit down a moment.' Then, taking his seat behind a