In The Darkest Hour

Part One - Chapter Twenty-Four: My Living Hell

Gerard closed his eyes, it had been a week since the truth had come out, a week since he had learnt that Isla had tried to end her life and a week since he had starting hanging around the hospital awaiting some sort of news.

It had been made clear to Gerard that he wasn’t allowed near Isla’s hospital room, her parents blamed him for everything that had happened and he didn’t argue with them.

The only thing that didn’t make any sense to Gerard was the emails that had been thrown at him from someone called R; he was disgusted that whoever this person was had been sending things like this to Isla.

Tracy often glared at him from a distance whenever she saw him and Gerard wished that there was something that he could do to make all of this right; he had even offered to pay for the best medical care in the world but his offer had been shut down.

Leaning back in his uncomfortable hospital chair, Gerard didn’t have it in him to spend time with his family; the holidays were in full swing and apart from Christmas Day, he had been waiting to hear some news.

“Gerard,” Kathleen whispered approaching her boyfriend, she hated to see him like this and she had been doing a lot of thinking in the past week; no one could deny that Gerard was very clearly in love with Isla.

Kathleen doubted that Gerard would cope if the brunette didn’t make it and she truly feared for him; her own guilt was eating her alive and she wanted to get out of Barcelona before it became too much.

The entire truth was out to the press now and Gerard had done his part in clearing Isla’s name, it didn’t help much but it was the least that he could do after a making such a mess of things.

Kathleen sat down next to Gerard, she doubted that he realised how hard things would be if Isla woke up; she doubted that Isla would forgive and forget after what had happened.

“I’m going back to Rosario,” Kathleen said looking down at her hands, she hated that all of this had happened and she couldn’t stay in Barcelona; she needed to move on and she hoped that everything would be okay.

Gerard blinked looking over at her, he hadn’t seen this coming and he guessed that he should have; he had barely said two words to her since the truth had come out.

Kathleen had sobbed out her admission of guilt to him only hours later about her threat to Isla, she felt that it was her fault that the brunette had tried to take her life.

It was the only thing that made Gerard sure that she wasn’t this R person, R had been sending Isla messages for months even before Gerard had gotten together with Kathleen; it made him fear who this R could be.

“I’m so sorry Geri… I can’t stay here, the guilt is crushing me,” Kathleen whispered feeling tears fill her eyes, she knew that nothing she could say would make this right and she was going to get out before things got worse.

Gerard nodded his head, he wasn’t surprised and he hoped that Kathleen would be happy and find someone to spend the rest of her life with; losing Isabel had been hard for him but to lose Isla nearly eleven months later would devastate him.

One had been killed by a doctor who was finally facing the consequences for her actions while the other was lying in a hospital bed fighting for her life because he had been an idiot to believe the hospital’s smear campaign.

“I guess this is it then,” Gerard muttered not looking at Kathleen, he wasn’t going to try and convince her to stay; it wasn’t fair to ask her to play second best to Isla.

Kathleen nodded her head, tears filled her blue eyes at the mess that she was going to leave behind.

“I hope that she forgives you,” Kathleen murmured gently, she doubted that it was going to be simple and it was clear that things would take time however the only person to blame was Sharon for causing this mess.

Everyone was at fault for what had happened to Isla and there were people that would feel guilty for the rest of their lives for what they had done.

Gerard shook his head, he highly doubted that he would ever get to speak to Isla again; her parents had made it very clear that they wanted nothing to do with him and he had been banned from her hospital room.

“Gerard… it will be okay,” Kathleen said trying to reassure Gerard, the media were having a field day with this and were still posting stories about Isla even if Gerard tried to stop them.

Kathleen could only hope that she was right, there was no idea what would happen when Isla woke up; she had been through a horrible couple of months and had tried to end her life because she had hit rock bottom.

Gerard didn’t say anything, he had no idea what Isla’s condition was but he was praying to every God that he could think of that she was okay; he would do anything to have her wake up and be okay.

Kathleen gave Gerard’s hand a squeeze before she got to her feet and looked at Gerard with a sad smile; she still had some packing to do and a flight to catch.

Gerard closed his eyes, he didn’t watch Kathleen leave knowing that it was for the best; he was never going to look at another woman and he prayed that he would have a chance to prove himself to Isla.

It was going to be a lot of work and Gerard was willing to do it, he wished that he could take back everything that had been done and what he had said.

***

Montserrat took a deep breath, her eyes easily spotting her six foot three son as he slept cramped up in a hospital chair; she slowly walked over to him knowing that he would want to hear this.

“Gerard,” Montserrat murmured gently shaking him awake, she knew he wanted some news and there was only so much that she could tell him; she didn’t blame Isla’s parents for wanting to keep him away.

Gerard blinked confused and looked at his mother, he hoped it wasn’t more bad news or to remind him that Isabel’s family would arrive tomorrow for their visit with Milan.

They had been horrified with how everything had worked out and Gerard feared that they could be coming to take Milan away from him; he hadn’t been the best father and he wanted to do better.

“It’s Isla… she’s starting to wake up,” Montserrat whispered gently, she had no idea what Isla was like but the doctor was pleased to see her waking up.

Tracy and Theodore had only shared the news because of everything Montserrat had done for Isla; they were so grateful to what she had done even if it was too late.

Gerard blinked sitting up, his heart pounded in his chest and he moved to get to his feet; he wanted to be there when she woke up, he needed to apologise and beg for forgiveness.

“Gerard… they still won’t let you see her,” Montserrat reminded stopping him before he could start towards Isla’s hospital room, she doubted that there was anything that they could do to fix the opinion that Tracy and Theodore had of her son.

Gerard stared at her, he felt himself crumble inside at the news that he couldn’t see her now that she was waking up; tears built up in his eyes wanting nothing more than to be there.

“She’ll be okay Geri…” Montserrat said but the words felt hollow to even her, she had no idea what state Isla was in nor what would be done when it was time to release her.

There was a very large chance that Tracy would never let Gerard see her daughter again after what happened.