Yesterday - Now Complete

Part 12

December 1967.

Annie collected her luggage then set off through customs. It wasn't long before she saw her parent's waving. She ran to them and hugged them hard. She missed them whilst in New York and was glad to be able to spend a few weeks with them before the London run of the play opened in late December.

By mid January Annie was the centre of press attention once more. This time, not for her acting skills, but when her engagement to her leading man and boyfriend Anthony Randles was announced. Paul stared at the reports in the press and on the TV in shock. Engaged! She was going to marry him! Have his children! He was pleased she was happy, he really was, but deep down inside, he was bereft!

February 1967 brought some of the worst weather that Britain  had seen in a long time. Heavy snowfall made everyday life difficult and the roads treacherous! Annie and Anthony had been spending the weekend with her parents in Oxford and were driving back late on the Sunday evening. It had started to snow again but the roads were thankfully quiet. Almost home, they were driving along a road. Coming towards them on the other side of the road was a double decker bus. Suddenly it skidded on a bad patch of road. Annie could see the driver frantically try to regain control of his vehicle but it wasn't possible. She began to scream as she realised they were going to be hit. There was a crunch...and everything went black.

"She's waking up. Her eyes moved!"

"Thank god!"

Annie's eyes fluttered open as she struggled to focus on the faces in front of her. She squinted, everything seemed so bright, and she closed her eyes again and slept. Several hours later she opened her eyes again, this time the lights were dimmed so they stayed open. She had no idea where she was. Her whole body ached and felt incredibly heavy.

"Annie?"

She slowly turned her head slightly to the direction of the voice calling her name. 

"Mum?"

"Hello sweetheart. Your dad's here too. We're staying with you."

"Mum, where am I?" Annie was disorientated.

"You're in hospital love." her mother patter her hand gently, "You've been hurt but you'll get better the doctors have said."

"Hospital? Why? What happened?"

"Don't you remember?"

"No." she began to cry. "Mum, why am I here? What's wrong with me?"

"You were in the car Annie love." This time it was her father's voice she heard and his face she could see. "There was a crash. You've been hurt but you'll recover."

Annie looked at her parents then slowly her eyes began to close and she slept once more.

A few days later Annie was no longer concussed and more awake. She ached still, made worse by being completely bed ridden with two broken legs and both wrists broken and all four limbs in heavy plaster casts. She was waiting for her parents to arrive. 

"You're looking so much brighter today love." remarked her mother when she arrived. "How are you feeling?"

"Mum, how's Tony? Was he badly hurt?"

"Tony's in a different part of the hospital love. I'd need to ask the doctor."

 Then, to Annie's surprise, she rushed from the room. She returned a few minutes later with her doctor.

"Good morning Annie." He greeted her quietly. "How are you today?"

Annie ignored his question. "Do you know how Tony is? Have you been dealing with him too?"

The doctor sat on the edge of her bed.

"Annie my dear," he began softly, "I have some difficult news for you."

"NO!" said Annie panic stricken, not wanting to hear the words confirming what she already knew"NO! NO! NO!"

"Annie love, let the doctor explain." her mother urged.

"Tony's dead isn't he?" she asked suddenly. She looked from her mother to the doctor. "WELL?" she screamed, "JUST TELL ME!"

"I am sorry Annie. Anthony Randles suffered fatal crushing injuries when the bus collided with your car. He wouldn't have known anything Annie. Anthony died instantly. I am so sorry."

Annie began to scream hysterically. The doctor, greatly concerned for her still fragile condition, immediately administered a sedative. Within a few minutes she stopped screaming and allowed the drug to take away her pain and let her sink into oblivion.

"FATAL CRASH KILLS STAR!"

Paul stared in horror at the newspaper. Next to the headlines stating that a famous actor had been killed in a road collision, was a picture of Annie and Anthony. He read quickly, learning of the events that fateful night and of Annie's injuries. He imagined her heartbreak over the news that her new fiance was now dead and his heart went out to her. She had seemed so happy and so much in love. Life was cruel he decided, no one deserved things like that to happen to them, especially someone as kind and caring as Annie.

Annie lay in her hospital bed, numb with shock and heartbreak. She still found it hard to believe that Tony was dead...and all because she had been determined to go to see her parents despite the terrible weather. She blamed herself. After all, they wouldn't have been on the road had she not insisted on travelling!

The doctors were concerned about her. Apart from the broken bones, she had suffered internal injuries in the crash, specifically to her kidneys. Regular tests showed that they were healing just incredibly slowly. Her doctor was examining her test results when he saw something new that stopped him in his tracks. He doubted if Annie herself knew she she hadn't mentioned anything about it at all. 

He braced himself and went to see her.

"Hello Annie." he said as he came into the room. "How are you feeling?"

Annie shrugged. "OK I guess."

"How's the pain?"

"Easing."

"Good." He sat on the side of her bed, exactly as he had when he had told her about Tony. It immediately gave Annie a sense of forboding.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

"Annie, we've been running some tests as you know."

She nodded.

"Everything has come back clear showing your kidney's are healing."

"But?"

The doctor gave her a gentle smile. "The test have revealed something else too."

"What?"

"It seems Annie, that you're pregnant."

Annie stared at him in horror. "NO!" she whispered, "I can't be!"

The doctor nodded slowly. "You are very definitely pregnant Annie. I take it you had no idea?"

She shook her head. "No." She began to cry. "Poor Tony...he wanted to be a dad so much! Now he'll never know! What am I going to do without him?!"