Faith Read Free Page A

him, I need to see Ed, need to know he’s okay. But a breathy whimper behind me reminds me of my immediate responsibilities and I turn to look properly at Caroline for the first time.
    My heart sinks. The unnatural angle of her legs is all the evidence I need of multiple fractures. Her head is still encased in my crash helmet and I know better than to attempt to remove it. Her breathing is laboured, her eyes barely open. I kneel beside her, desperate in my helplessness. By instinct I reach for her hand. I pull off the glove, dismayed at how cold her fingers are.
    “Hold on, help is on the way. You’ll be fine. Just hold on. We’re here, and an ambulance is coming.” I mutter the platitudes, all the while knowing we’re well off the beaten track. An ambulance is indeed on the way but it might be twenty minutes or more before we hear the wail of sirens.
    “I’m sorry.” Caroline’s lips move, but I can hardly make out her words.
    I take her hand, lean in close. “Shh, don’t try to talk. Save your strength. You’re going to be fine.” I hope. Oh, God, I hope.
    “I didn’t mean… I never wanted to hurt you.”
    “It’s okay, I’m fine. You haven’t hurt me.”
    “Your h…” Her eyelids droop, as though it’s all really too much effort.
    “I’ll get a new helmet. It’s all fine. Really.”
    Her words make no sense, just delirious ramblings, more ominous almost than the twisted limbs and blood trickling from her nose. I squeeze her hand again as I survey the scene, seeking out Ewan. When I glance back at her, Caroline is drifting in and out of consciousness. Her attempts to talk to me are over.
    I twist my neck, straining to see something, anything of my husband. I call out to Ewan. “How is he? Have you found him?”
    No reply. I stand, just as another car rounds the bend, narrowly avoiding Ewan’s abandoned Nissan. The second car stops; a middle-aged couple get out.
    “Are you alright, love? Has there been an accident?” The man is already on his way over to me. “Mary, pass me my bag.”
    Moments later the couple are bending over Caroline, the man’s fingers testing for pulses, heartbeat, breathing. He seems to know what he’s about, and my confidence soars when the bag he called for yields a stethoscope. Then a syringe. A doctor. We have a doctor on the scene now. It’s going to be alright.
    I leave Caroline in their care and stagger across to where I saw Ewan leap into the ditch. As I get closer I see the flattened grass where the bike has slithered off the road. Thank God, at least Ed had a softer landing. Perhaps…
    Ewan comes into view, scrambling back up onto the road. He doesn’t see me at first. He stands, leans forward, his hands on his knees as he steadies himself. Only then does he straighten and spot me. His expression tells me all I need to know. The awful reality of what has happened. Even so, I ask, hoping I’m wrong, that I’ve somehow misinterpreted that bleak expression.
    “Ed? Is he… I need to see if he’s okay.”
    Ewan shakes his head. “I’m sorry.”
    I still don’t take it in. I try to step around him, past him to reach my husband. Ewan’s arm is around my waist, preventing me from hurling myself down the ditch.
    “It’s too late. He’s gone. I’m sorry.”
    “Gone? No, I don’t understand. He just came off the bike. He’s always doing it. He’ll be fine.”
    “I’m sorry, Faith.”
    I start to struggle, wriggling in his arms, desperate to be free. “Let go of me. I need to see him. Ed will need me.” I’m punching Ewan’s chest, as though pounding him for the dreadful news he’s brought me. He makes no attempt to stop the blows, absorbing them until at last I give in, exhausted.
    “You should see him, I know that. Come on.” He releases me, but holds out his hand. I take it, allow him to guide me off the road and down the short bank, past the tangled, bent wreck of the Yamaha to where Ed’s body is lying a few feet beyond. His neck is