An Affair of the Heart by David George Richards

Where they went, what they did together.”
    “Is that why
you’re fighting this case against the hospitals? And that girl? The
one who has Sarah’s heart?”
    “I wondered
when you would mention that. Do you think I’m being foolish? Do you
think I should give it up?”
    Diana looked
thoughtful, as if she was considering her answer carefully. “It
depends on why you’re doing it, Daddy,” she finally replied. “Is it
because you think they made a mistake, or is it because he’s
fighting against you?”
    Alex shook his
head. “I don’t even think I know anymore.”
    “Even if you
win, it won’t bring Sarah back.”
    “I know. But do
you think I should give it up?”
    Diana developed
the same thoughtful look as before, and as before, she didn’t reply
for several seconds. She knew this was the moment, the moment when
she could change everything. She had to get it just right.
    “No,” she said
at last. “He doesn’t deserve to win. Fight him, Daddy! Fight him
and beat him! For Sarah!”
     
     

Chapter
Twenty-Eight
Dead
Giveaway
     
    When Nurse Kaye
came into Rachel’s room, she found Gavin Smedley and his trolley
already there. “What? Another early visit?” she said as she walked
towards the bed. “You haven’t finished all those books and
magazines already, have you Rachel?”
    “I’m quite a
fast reader–” Rachel began to say, when Nurse Kaye suddenly stuck
her hand under the bedclothes and whipped out the rolled up
newspaper Gavin had just brought for her.
    Nurse Kaye
looked at Gavin and Rachel one after another, her eyebrows
raised.
    “Time I was
going!” Gavin suddenly said, and he began to wheel his trolley
quickly towards the door.
    “Yes, I think
it is!” Nurse Kaye replied as she watched him hurrying out of the
room. She waited until he was nearly out before calling after him,
“And I’ll deal with you later!”
    “It wasn’t his
fault,” Rachel said quickly as the nurse turned towards her. “I
made him do it! Really, I did! He won’t get into trouble, will
he?”
    “No one is
going to get into trouble,” Nurse Kaye said, and she smacked Rachel
lightly on the head with the rolled up newspaper. “Just tell your
mother that you know, that’s all. And don’t read any more of this
rubbish. Talk to your mother instead. She could do with someone to
talk to about it all, and I think that would normally be you. So
tell her, or I will. Okay?”
    “Okay,” Rachel
replied. Nurse Kaye gave her the newspaper and headed for the door.
“Wait a minute!” Rachel called to her. “Nurse Kaye–” then a sudden
thought, “what’s your first name?”
    “Julia,” Nurse
Kaye said with a smile.
    “Julia,” Rachel
repeated, sitting up straighter in her bed. “Okay, Julia. How did
you know? That it was Gavin, I mean. What gave us away?”
    Julia Kaye’s
smile broadened. “Everybody knows that Gavin always has a newspaper
in his back pocket,” she said. “He buys it on his way to work every
morning. And because he sticks it in his back pocket, it always
makes a bulge in his jacket. Every morning, when he came to see
you, the bulge was there when he went in, but it was gone when he
came out. It was a dead giveaway really.”
    Nurse Kaye went
out and closed the door. Rachel collapsed back in her bed with a
sigh. “Typical!” she announced to the ceiling. And she and Gavin
had thought they were being so clever. They had obviously not
considered Nurse Kaye, super-sleuth.
    She sat up in
bed again, sitting cross-legged, making herself comfortable with
the newspaper laid out on the bed in front of her. Now that the
monitor was no longer attached to her chest, she felt much more
mobile. In fact, she had enjoyed getting out of her room yesterday.
Even the physiotherapy was fun. Other people might think she was
daft, but for her, being able to run and walk fast was fun. It was
marvellous! She felt so fit!
    Rachel thought
about what Nurse Kaye had said as she looked at the newspaper.