One Glance

Chapter 18

"Affliction is a good man's shining time."  Edward Young

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Chapter Eighteen

Luke had not died during the procedure. Doctor Harris had performed a mere miracle in simply keeping him alive. Another in the fact that both of his eyes still remained in his head.

It had been three weeks since he had arrive in London for surgery. He had arrived alone. Annaliese had wanted to come with him, but Luke had insisted that she remain with Isabella.

The procedure had taken place a few days later. Doctor Harris seemed optimistic. He had been able to remove the splinter from his optic nerve without causing any further damage. Luke was still on bedrest, however, with thick bandages covering his eyes.

He had not heard any positive news from Annaliese. Another three weeks and Isabella was still unconscious.

He had not heard anything from Matthew. Another three weeks and Jamie was still missing.

As he lay flat on his back in the familiar hospital bed, Luke prayed.

"I know you and I do not talk very often," he admitted quietly into the darkness of his room. Well, it could have been daytime but he would not have known. "I suppose that is my fault. I was never one for sitting still in church and singing or listening to sermons.

"But my wife is. You know her. Isabella Cassidy. She has been punished too many times, and I need you to look after her." Luke pursed his lips and thought back to how innocent and cheeky Isabella was before they married. How her life had changed. They had married, and he had effectively abandoned her. She had birthed their son, cared for him beautifully, and Luke's homecoming had only brought her pain. "I have failed her.

"My son, my boy," he continued, his words getting caught in his throat as he fought back tears. Luke's hands became fists as he squeezed his bedclothes tightly. "Jamie is the most innocent of us all. His only crime is having me as a father." A loud sob escaped his mouth. Everything was his fault. Everything terrible that had happened had happened because he had brought Mary back to Somerset with him. "I have not been able to look after him in his first three years of life, but I need you to help me this one last time.

"Protect Isabella and Jamie where I cannot. Keep them safe and I shall never fail them again. Please, I am begging you."

The bandage covering Luke's eyes was now horribly damp from his tears. He wondered if any nurses were around to change it for him. He felt anxious at the thought of a nurse being near him. It felt silly; every nurse he had encounter thus far had been wonderful, but the thought of Mary weaselling her way into his life would haunt him for a very long time.

Impatiently, Luke reached back and unfastened the knot that had been tied to fix his bandages in place. He pulled them from his face and cast them aside.

There was now nothing pressing against his eyes. It was strange. Before he had seen nothing. Now he saw blackness. All he had to do was open them. Luke took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

His room was very dark. Or perhaps that was his eyesight, he could not be sure, but it was not the same as before. His room was dark, but he could see the darkness. Luke pushed himself up on the bed and tried to focus his vision on the shapes in front of him.

And there were shapes in front of him.

"I can ... I can see," he whispered. Luke was in utter shock as the shapes before him came into focus. He saw the iron foot of the bed he was laying in. The furniture in his room was very basic, but he could see it all the same. A wooden chair, a wash basin, a table with medical bits and pieces. The night sky through the window told him it was night time.