Against my better judgment, I stayed back and continued to visit Marc at the hospital. Daily I spent an hour with him reading the newspaper to him seated by his bed, holding his hand, watching the mocking light come and go in his dark eyes when he looked at me. He teased me gently as he had done in those first months of our marriage showing me tenderness, which I remembered with grief now.  It was as if the moment we had spent together was embedded in his consciousness and he wanted nothing but to be with me but what an irony soon everything will be over. Once he gets better I will tell Cathy to book my tickets as I was missing Tio. And I am sure he wouldn't want to see me after recovering. But it was strange I thought walking out of the hospital one evening because his moods in the weeks before we went to Seychelles had been dark and brooding and one would have imagined that he would have gone back to the feelings he had then but he seemed to be the man she had first married a passionate and gentle lover. I was happy to be beside him taking care of him. And even if I am reluctant to be with him, I want him to be healthy and safe. I had called Don and as expected he was not happy with my decision. “I did not know that it would go on for so long.” I told him miserably. “The first time they said he was dying and how could I refuse to go then? And then the specialist said he would be in danger if he had a big shock and finding out that we were no longer together could be a shock to him, So what else I could do but play along?” “Carmen you wanted to go on seeing him that is why you went to Milan, you've never got over him have you? And the moment he crawled back into your life, like a fool you let him use you the way he did before." Don stated the facts. “He is very ill Don." I told him honestly. He laughed harshly and said. “Very convenient for him.” “Don he has! he almost died. You did not see him the way I did, when I walked inside the first day he was white and exhausted he could barely move or speak.” I tried to explain it to him. I could hear Don was angry when he said. “He managed to make his deeds clear enough though didn't he? He got you there.” “Don it just for the sake of empathy, I had to visit him.” “Carmen admit it you wanted to go yourself.” Don whispered from the other end. And I know he was disappointed with me. “ Don he's dying, I just want him to be fine. Once he is okay, I will return and answer all your questions. I do care about you and thank you for understanding and thank you for taking care of Tio while I'm away.” He told me to take care of myself and inform him when I will be returning then hung up. I couldn't help myself, but I cried the whole evening after going back to the apartment where we had lived before we separated. it was left just like that untouched, the way I had left it when I moved back to London. I had to stay nearby so that I could visit him regularly and Mathias had suggested it would be convenient for me. As I walked into the apartment I saw that the things which I had arranged around the living room were untouched as if no one had lived in that apartment but looking at how the apartment was gleaming you could say that it was cleaned regularly, I walked into the bedroom we shared and tears started streaming down my cheeks. My legs gave away and I fell down on the carpeted floor and hugged my arms around me and cried my heart out. ************************************ The bandages were removed from Marc’s head when I next visited him. I loved looking at the tiny black curls which covered his head and which had grown long after he was admitted in the hospital. "It seems long hair suits you." I commented. “I feel like a clown.” he said jokingly. He was sitting up against a pile of pillows. He had lost a lot of weight, his striking features were even more fleshless and the beautiful dark eyes were shadowed. “Now for the good news.” he said lightly. “The doctor said that I can leave the hospital soon if I can take a nurse with me.” I could not hide the shock which ran through me . He saw my face change saw the flare of panic as alarm sprang into my green eyes. “What is it?” He asked staring at me. “Don't you want me to go home, Carmen?” I could feel the distance spreading between us again. Soon he would have to be told the truth. Once he came out of the hospital it could not be kept away from him. But not today I thought I was furious with my weakness. If Marc was strong enough to be sent home he was strong enough to hear the truth and my hesitance to tell him was only too revealing. “Of course, I want you to go home.” I said smiling far too brightly. “You must be really bored in this hospital.” “I am sick to death and I'm looking forward to getting out of here.” He said grimly his face tensed, I could sense it. He had asked no questions about the lies which Cathy had told him accepting calmly my story that his father had seen him during the first days of his accident but had been forced to fly to Spain. Marc knew that business come before everything for his father. I wondered if he had ever asked for Bella while he was in the hospital, but Cathy had never mentioned it. It was strange all the same how Marc seems to ignore everything which did not fit in with his belief and that was happening during the first year of our marriage. The doctor said it was subconsciously deliberate but was it merely subconscious? Did he know what he was doing? He was talking now about his plans holding my fingers in one of his hands playing with them watching them. “I thought we could go to Seychelles.” I suddenly sat upright my body freezing. I could see his eyes were probing me. My heart was thudding fiercely my lips dry with tension, he had to be told I could not go to Spain with him it was out of the question, as I had to return home to Tio. “You are very quiet.” Marc said with a question in his voice. “I was thinking it would be too much for you. The journey would exhaust you,” I murmured huskily. I had to reason it out with him tactfully or he wouldn't understand. “Nonsense. I am fine and recovering amazingly fast. “He looked at me and laughter filled his face, a teasing mockery which I remember only too well, and which made me catch my breath and he said. “I believe you are shy Carmen because we've been apart for so long? ” I searched his face quickly trying to find an answer. what did he mean exactly by that? “Have you forgotten while I've been ill, that you are a married woman and my wife?” He said very softly. “ I will soon change that my love, it will be a pleasure to remind you that you belong to me. And you won't be able to stop me.“ Panic made me try to pull my hand away from him as he tightened his hold on my fingers giving me a hard look. And I could only look at him like a sacred kitten. “ I thought these childish little struggles were over.” he said almost lovingly, watching me. “But I see that they're not.” He trapped my hand and turned it over bending it back to kiss the warm skin his mouth traveling up to the wrist and lingering there brushing it sensually again and again. My heart hammered against my chest, as I watched him, hating and loving it as well.” My dark eyes were wide with frantic emotions. He looked up and I hurriedly drop my lashes over my eyes afraid of letting him see what effect he had on me.