Chasing Rainbows

Part Thirty Five

                “Mr Coren, you can’t leave...” He’d made it to the doorstep of the hospital when the voice stopped him.

Jacob glanced down at the woman in his arms; she’d stopped crying now, but was still shaking. He couldn’t begin to imagine what she’d been through, and all he wanted was to take her home, away from all this.

Turning to the young nurse who’d spoken to him, he shook his head, “I’m leaving.”

                “But you’re waiting on an x-ray...the doctor wants to see it.”

Emma lifted her head from his chest and looked up at Jacob; she’d been wallowing in both self pity and the overwhelming scent of him since he’d appeared; now as she really looked at him she could see the bruises to his jaw and the pained expression on his face.

                “Jacob? Are you hurt?”

He looked down at her and gave a lopsided smile, “they think I’ve got a couple of broken ribs.”

                “Put me down then!”

She wriggled until he lowered her to the floor, “I can carry you Emma, I want to.”

Emma shook her head, “you need to do whatever they want. What happened?” She took in his appearance then, for the first time, he had a cut on his temple, blood spattered on to his shirt, it had been immaculate and white when he’d left, now it was dirty. His bow tie was gone and his beautiful tux was torn. “Jacob?”

Taking her hand he followed the nurse to the room he’d been allocated earlier, there he climbed onto the bed, pulling Emma beside him, and he was rewarded with a groan as she took the weight off her limbs again.

                “Are you alright?” he stroked the hair from her eyes, taking in her pallid complexion, the anxiety, the worry all still evident on her face. “I can’t...”

He took her hands and she looked up at him, eyes wide, fresh tears gathering there, “I thought you were dead...the man...” Emma almost gagged on the smell that was still so vivid in her nose, burning hair and acrid flesh. “Who was he?”

Jacob sat down next to her, still holding her hands firmly, “I was carjacked. I’d left my parents, basically told them to piss off. I walked into the hotel, and they were there. And suddenly it all made sense. You were SO right, I don’t need them anymore; I have you, both of you. I wanted to come home, apologise to you, make it right.” He touched her cheek in wonder, “but I got held up at gunpoint at a red light. Guy got in, some loser, made me drive out of the city, gun to my head. He made me get out of the car, in the middle of nowhere, I tried to overpower him, but he had a gun. Kicked me a few times,” he stretched his jaw as if to demonstrate that he’d took it on the chin. “I’m waiting to see if I’ve got broken ribs.”

                “You could have been killed...I thought you were...” She gulped, trying to calm herself again. This was all far too much for her.

He took a deep breath then smiled, he was more scared about her, now, than he head when he’d been at the end of the barrel, “so I was stranded miles away with no money, no phone. I had to walk for hours. Finally got to a gas station, the server there called the police. By that time they’d already presumed I was dead.” He shuddered, “I am so sorry.”

                “For what?”

He sighed, “for everything. We were getting on, and then it was hell again. That was all my fault.”

Emma leaned in to him and was rewarded by his arms wrapping around her, his strong chest taking her weight. “I couldn’t cope with losing you. This is so hard.”