An Affair of the Heart by David George Richards

the
court case,” Gavin replied, holding up another book for her to see.
“Danielle Steel?”
    Rachel waved it
aside. “Never mind that,” she said. “What court case? What are you
talking about?”
    “Don’t you
know?” Gavin asked. He seemed surprised and began to look slightly
worried. “Oh, maybe I shouldn’t have said anything, then.”
    “Well, you
have! So now you had better tell me everything, or you’ll be
wearing that trolley, not pushing it!”
    Gavin thought
for a moment before quickly going to the door and glancing about.
Coming back to Rachel, he reached under his coat for the rolled up
newspaper he always kept jammed into his back pocket. He quickly
hid it under the bedclothes and then grabbed his trolley and began
to pull it back out the door. “I’ll pick it up at lunch time. But
if anybody finds it, you didn’t get it from me, okay?” were his
parting words.
    Rachel waited
until the door was closed before fishing out the newspaper. She
unrolled it, and the headline caused her heart to miss a beat.
    ‘MAN SEEKS
RETURN OF DEAD WIFE’S HEART,’ it said. There were two pictures
underneath. Just faces. One was of a beautiful woman with a radiant
smile. ‘Sarah Williams,’ it said underneath. It looked like a
portrait photo. The other picture was of a thin faced, unshaven,
dark haired man. His hand was outstretched towards the camera,
causing the photo to be a bit lopsided, and not very clear. What
was clear in the photograph were the man’s eyes. They looked very
sad. ‘Alex Williams,’ it said underneath the picture. Further down
was another, smaller, headline. ‘Woman Facing Second Op.’ She saw
her name, and that of Dr Jones. Her heart began to beat faster as
she read the whole of the front page. She had just turned to page
three where the story continued, when the door began to open, and
she quickly stuffed the newspaper under the sheets.
    Nurse Kaye came
into the room. She smiled at Rachel and went to check the monitor
at the side of her bed. “Your heart’s beating rather fast,” she
said. “Are you feeling alright?”
    “Yes,” Rachel
replied in a shaky voice. She could feel her heart beating like
mad, and knew that Nurse Kaye could see how fast it was beating on
the monitor. She wanted desperately to calm it down. She forced
herself to relax, to not give herself away.
    “Are you sure
you’re alright?” Nurse Kaye asked her again. She looked concerned.
“It’s just that your heart rate went up such a lot so quickly, I
wondered if something had upset you.”
    Rachel
swallowed. “No, I’m fine,” she said more firmly. “I hadn’t noticed
the time, that’s all, and I wondered where my mother had got
to.”
    Nurse Kaye
looked at her watch. “Yes, she is a bit late. But don’t worry. I’m
sure she’ll be along in a minute.”
    “Anyway, what
else could upset me, sitting here all on my own?” Rachel dared to
ask.
    Nurse Kaye
paused. “Nothing, as far as I know,” she replied, slowly.
    Rachel was
growing calmer. Her heartbeat was almost back to normal again. She
felt back in control. “Well then,” she said. “I’ll just have to
wait here worrying about my mother until she finally decides to
turn up.”
    Nurse Kaye
plumped up Rachel’s pillow, and tidied her bed. For a moment,
Rachel thought the nurse would find the newspaper and her heart
beat began to increase again. But this time Nurse Kaye didn’t
notice as she quickly finished fussing with the bed, and headed
towards the door.
    “I’ll see where
your mother’s got to,” she said, with a smile as she left.
    Rachel took a
deep breath. She made sure that she was completely calm before
retrieving the crumpled newspaper. Slowly, carefully, keeping
herself calm all the time, she read the whole story. Then she read
it again.
    Finally, Rachel
turned back to the front page and stared intently at the picture of
Sarah Williams. There she was at last. The woman whose heart she
now had. Instinctively, her hand