Chapter 42 The Operation
Clara was struck dumb, and her face turned deathly pale. The next moment, she rushed out of the house like crazy.
“Clara!” Horace ran after her and grabbed her wrist. “What the hell happened, Clara?” He forced her to turn around but was shocked to find her face wet with tears.
Clara screamed hysterically, “Let go of me! My mom needs surgery! I have to go to the hospital!”
There was a glint of surprise in Horace’s eyes, but he didn’t listen to Clara but imprisoned her in his arms instead, bellowing, “Calm yourself down! Clara! It will be too late even if you set off now. I’ll tell Isaac to arrange the thing first.”
“No, you don’t…” Once Horace suggested helping her, she refused involuntarily. But she couldn’t finish her words since she spotted the anger in Horace’s eyes.
Horace began furiously, “Clara, why are you so stubborn? Do you want your mother to recover or not?” But when he saw Clara’s pale face and the distrustfulness in her eyes, he softened. “Clara, I’m your husband. I beg you to trust me and let me help you in this urgent moment.”
Magically, Horace’s words stopped her hysteria, and Clara stopped to look at him blankly. She didn’t expect that proud Horace would say something like this and even beg her to trust him.
With Clara finally calming down, Horace called Isaac. “Hello, Isaac, go to the hospital and arrange the operation for Clara’s mom, and pay off all the charges if needed.” When he was talking to Isaac, Horace kept his eyes on Clara, but this time, she didn’t refuse his help and only stood there with her head drooped, as if in regret.
After the call, Horace held Clara’s hand, and said gently, “Let’s go to the hospital.” Then he led Clara out of the room. But when they reached the door, Clara suddenly remembered something, and she said hastily, “Horace, your wheelchair…”
Alastair had told Clara that Horace pretended to be disabled because of the threat from his big brother. So, if others saw Horace could walk normally, it would probably get him into trouble.
Horace stopped at Clara’s words and looked at Clara with amusement, saying, “What? Are you afraid that others would find out I’m not disabled?”
Clara nodded and went to get the wheelchair, saying, “Come on. I’ll push the wheelchair.”
Horace obeyed and sat in the wheelchair. While Clara pushed him out, Horace felt his anger disappeared without reason. In fact, it made him feel much better to know Clara was worried about him.
Once they went into the car, the driver drove directly to the hospital as quickly as possible.
Though the hospital was not far from home, every second seemed to Clara a year, which rendered her restless. But suddenly, she felt something warm covered her hand. It was Horace who covered her hand with his. His hand warmed her cold hand up and also reassured her, dispersing the agitations in her heart.
The car finally arrived at the hospital and once it stopped, Clara charged out anxiously, even forgetting to help Horace off the car. She ran all the way to the operating room, where Isaac was waiting outside and at the sight of Clara, he greeted, “Mrs. Kirkland.”
At the very moment, a nurse came out of the operating room and Clara came to the nurse and asked, “Excuse me, nurse, how about the operation?”Nôvel(D)rama.Org's content.
The nurse answered shortly, “We don’t have much time to prepare for the operation so it’ll be of greater risk. Please wait till the operation is over.” Then, the nurse left hastily, leaving Clara so shocked that she sat on the ground numbly.
Clara had known that only by operation could her mother recover, but her mom had always been in bad health and the risk of the operation was high. Therefore, she had always been hesitant and tell the doctor to treat her mom with medicine and don’t do the operation until her mom became better.
However, the illness suddenly exacerbated and the operation had to be done, which meant the risk would be even higher. Lost in her terrible thoughts, Clara crouched on the ground, shivering, and she kept praying in her heart, “God, please…don’t take my mom away. I can’t do without her!”
“Clara, I think I have told you don’t sit on the floor. It’s too cold.” There was a low and hoarse voice. Though Clara was still lost in her worries, she was lifted up by Horace, and when she finally realized what happened, she had been sitting on his lap.
“Horace…” Clara said surprisingly. Her face was ghastly white, her hands and legs were as cold as ice, and her face was smeared with tears. Looking at her really pained Horace, but what he could do was wiped off her tears and comforted her softly, “Don’t worry. I am here with you.”
Though his words were simple, they warmed Clara’s heart magically and she gradually calmed herself down. She then felt extremely tired, and this time she didn’t reject him, but crouched in his arms and stared at the red light of the operating room, which meant the operation was still going on. While Horace could feel Clara’s soft body leaning on him and he could even smell the fragrance from her. His heart, which had been cold and hard for decades, suddenly softened at the moment.
After a long wait, the light of the operating room finally changed from red to green. Clara jumped at the sight and rushed to the door of the operating room at once. Then came the doctors and nurses, with tiredness written all over their faces.
“Doctor, excuse me…how about my mom…” Clara nearly stuttered.
The doctor looked at Clara and said smilingly, “Miss Selman, everything is fine. The operation is very successful and your mother will probably regain consciousness tomorrow.”
Her mom could regain consciousness? Clara felt all the stress and agitation faded away at the good news. She was supposed to thank the doctor but found her legs so limp that she was going to fall. But the next minute, she fell not on the cold, hard floor but on a broad warm chest. It was Horace who rolled the wheelchair over and held her steadily.
There was a dim smile even on Horace’s cold face. He put his hand on Clara’s head and ruffled her hair, saying, “Thank god.”
Though his voice was low, what he said drove Clara into tears. Overwhelmed by joyfulness, she reached out her arms and held around Horace’s neck, crying happily, “Yeah, thank God…I just… thank God.”