Chapter 24 - 24

"So today you are going home. What a pity" the nurse teased Isabella. "We are going to miss seeing that handsome husband of yours." She added with a mischievous smile.

Isabella gave her a brief smile. She had grown so used to her hospital bedroom these last two weeks. Felt so safe there that she felt reluctant to leave.

She even got used to the nurses gawking at her very handsome husband. It filled her with immense pride and joy that he only had eyes for her.

Everyone had been so kind to her; so protective of her. So ready to reassure her that she was very brave and very very lucky to have survived such a terrible accident.

Her worst injury had been the blood she had lost where the metal had pierced her flesh, but even the scar from that would fade in time, the doctor had assured her jovially.

Her back had been badly bruised. So badly that she had been black and blue, but by some miracle no permanent damage had been done apart from a few fractures of some of her bones, which are thankfully on the way to healing after extensive surgeries.

The scratches that had covered her face had also totally healed, and now the doctor had decided that she was well enough to leave.

To go home…

Home to Benjamin and Sapphire.

And at least something good had come out of the accident.

When the police had caught up with Lillian at the airport, she had been so terrified that she had willingly agreed to sign a document renouncing any claim on Sapphire.

The woman was immediately arrested and sent to the prison. The final verdict on the case will be given by next week.

Thankfully, the woman's still alive son, did nothing to save his mother from imprisonment.

And Gabriel did everything in his power to make sure that the woman will be locked away for the rest of her life.

Benjamin had told Isabella how much he regretted not simply handing Lillian the money she had demanded, while repeatedly apologising for having put her life in danger.

But, as Isabella had told him, in her opinion all that would have done would have been to convince Lillian that she could continue to blackmail him whenever she chose. And then Sapphire would never have been safe.

****

"Ready, love?"

Isabella nodded with a smile as she watched Benjamin picked her bag up off her bed and hand it over to Khanna, who was waiting by her hospital bedroom.

She was sitting on a wheel chair, not strong enough to walk on her own. She needs extensive physiotherapy to be able to walk properly like before.

But she is okay, as long as her Benjamin is with her.

He has been there, for every single second of the last two weeks. Showering her with love and care, which was by far the best medication that helped speeding up her recovery.

At her own insistence, Isabella was holding little Sapphire. As soon as she was a little better, Isabella had begged to bring Sapphire to her.

She did not want Sapphire to feel that she had lost a mother again.

The two sets of parents had come visiting everyday. Her mother had tried to make Benjamin let her stay the night. But Benjamin was adamant. He would not leave the hospital for anything.

The only time he would leave her bedside would be to go see her doctor.

Isabella had been dreading the drive back to the Lockwood Mansion, but, to her surprise, instead of driving her himself Benjamin got into the back of the car with her after he had strapped Sapphire into her front baby seat, leaving Khanna to drive.

"It’s all right, Isabella" he told her quietly, as though he had guessed how she was feeling. "You’ll be perfectly safe."

***

Benjamin wheeled Isabella into their bedroom after dinner that night.

His heart still pounded remembering the panic filled hours he had endured, not knowing what is happening with his wife.

Then there was Sapphire, who loved and needed Isabella as much.

In the first hours of Isabella’s accident, during her surgery, when Sapphire had been of necessity separated from her, she had cried unceasingly, and been inconsolable, until in desperation Benjamin had aksed her to be brought to the hospital.

The moment he had placed Sapphire on the bed with Isabella, much against the hospital protocols, she had calmed down.

And he had wanted to do the same thing. Get on bed with his girls and hug them to calm his erratic heart beats down.

Just like Sapphire, he too wanted the reassurance of having his Isabella close to him..

He can't imagine what he would have done, if something had happened to her.

He would have died right along with her.

"Benjamin?" Benjamin snapped out of his thoughts when he heard her call out.

"Yes, love" he said, pasting a smile on his face to mask the horrors he had felt for the last two weeks.

"Something wrong?" Isabella asked

"You are with me. What could go wrong?" Benjamin asked with a smile

"I had you worried, didn't I?" Isabella asked

Benjamin took a deep breath and kneeled in front of her. He took her hands in his and brought it to his lips.

"I had died every second there, not knowing what is happening with you. I couldn't bear to lose you Isabella. You are my life" Benjamin said as tears pooled at the corner of his eyes, remembering the pain and worry he had endured.

"I'm sorry" Isabella said

"No no. I'm sorry. It's my fault. I brought this into your life. If not for me, you would have been safe" Benjamin said

"And I would have never known the kind of happiness I found with you" Isabella said, wiping the tears running down his cheeks.

"You brought Sapphire into my life. You brought a set of in laws who loves me like a daughter. Above all, you brought yourself into my life and made me the happiest woman in the world" Isabella said

Benjamin couldn't find the voice to answer that. He was too overwhelmed.

So he acted.

He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers, pouring all his love into it.

"Forever mine" he pulled away slightly and whispered against her lips.

A/n

Hope you guys enjoyed this short story.

An epilogue will follow soon.

Please leave a review if time permits.

Love

SFwrites.