The Wonder Worker by Susan Howatch Read Free Book Online Page A

straight away.
    At last I saw what was required. Clutching her hand tightly I said in my firmest voice: “Of course I forgive you. I forgive you because I love you. It’s all right. Everything’s all right, and you don’t have to worry any more.”
    At once the strength flooded through her. She whispered clearly, so clearly that misunderstanding was impossible: “Best of girls. Such a blessing. How lucky I was.”
    Then as the power of speech was abruptly withdrawn, I sensed her slip away, at peace at last, into the uncharted sea which separated her from death.
    II
    Val
had moved to feel Aunt’s pulse. Wiping my eyes again I said dully: “Is she dead?”
    “No.” She laid Aunt’s hand carefully back on the sheet. “The pulse is rapid but that’s to be expected after all the exertion. There probably won’t be any serious change for a while, but her own doctor should take a look at her.” Unexpectedly she put her arms around me, and in the second before I started crying again I saw Nicholas slump down exhausted on the nearest chair.
    Drawing away from Val I stumbled to the bathroom where I found my make-up was a mess, ravaged beyond repair. I washed it off and to my surprise found that my hand was steady. A great calmness had descended on me. Aloud I said to Aunt: “Bon voyage,” and in my mind’s eye I saw that dark sea stretching to the bright light beyond the rim of the horizon. In the near-death experiences I had read about in the papers, there was always a bright light at the end of the darkness. Aunt had said that was a hallucination caused by lack of oxygen to the brain, but it had long since occurred to me how odd it was that so many people should have such similar hallucinations. I’d thought hallucinations were as diverse as dreams.
    When I returned to Aunt’s bedroom I said: “I’ll be okay now. I’ll sit with her till it’s over.”
    Val said: “It may still take some time. If you want me to call a nurse—”
    “I’d rather wait alone.”
    “But you’ll phone her doctor? I really think—” She broke off as Nicholas put a hand on her arm.
    “Alice is all right,” he said. “Alice can now make the decisions which have to be made.”
    My voice said: “Alice is healed.” I passed the back of my hand over my hot forehead and marvelled that I hadn’t understood before. “I was the patient, wasn’t I?” I said. “You always knew there’d be nothing much you could do for Aunt, but you realised there was a lot you could do for me.”
    Nicholas merely said: “Healing’s an ongoing process. We all need healing all the time, but each healing makes us fitter for the journey.” He stroked Aunt’s hair for the last time and said goodbye to her. Then, clumsy with weariness, he staggered downstairs to the hall.
    III
    Val said gently:
“I know he didn’t cure your aunt but he did help her. Now she can let go and die in peace.”
    “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply there was no healing there too. Of course it was a miracle that she managed to speak—”
    “Oh, that wasn’t a miracle. It was an unusual thing to happen and makes me wonder if the loss of speech was due more to the shock of the last stroke than to brain damage, but I’ve seen other patients speak in unlikely circumstances if the motivation is strong. No, the real miracle—and Nick hates that word!—was that you and she were able to complete the unfinished business.”
    “Val!” shouted Nicholas from the hall.
    “I must go.” She pressed her card into my hand. “Call me if you change your mind about the nurse—or if you simply want to talk.”
    I thanked her and led the way downstairs. I couldn’t find the words to thank Nicholas but I clasped his hand tightly in gratitude.
    All he said was: “We’ll talk later,” and within seconds he was gone.
    IV
    I sat by
Aunt’s bed as the night ebbed and Big Ben marked the quarter-hours. I was still thinking of Nicholas. Apart from Aunt, who in the beginning at