THEY’D STAYED ON at the clinic in Germany for two months, working for nothing so that other doctors could be recruited and paid. Hugo bade the little flat goodbye with more regret than he’d ever left anywhere before. It held the best memories of his life.
But there was more to come. Nell was a quiet force to be reckoned with, planning a wedding and a reception that didn’t follow any royal protocol that Hugo had ever heard of. The idea was received with hardly a murmur from his father, and warm approval from his mother.
Everything went off without a hitch. Nell’s father and his had become friends over a shared interest in gardening, and Hugo’s mother had finally managed to persuade Nell’s mother that her outfit was perfect for the occasion. They were married in the presence of close family and friends in a small private ceremony. Nell
looked more beautiful than he could ever have imagined, wearing a knee-length fitted dress in cream silk, her only concession to royal splendour being a small diamond tiara, which held a shoulder-length veil in place.
There was nothing but love. When he recited his vows, and she said hers. When he slipped the ring onto her finger. But the moment that made Hugo proudest was the one when his new bride took his arm and he walked into the children’s cardiac unit at the hospital. She sat with each of the children, letting them hold her bouquet and even taking off the tiara so that the little girls could try it on.
Then there was cake in the children’s playroom, which for some reason that Hugo couldn’t fathom had candles on it. It turned out that one of the children had a birthday today, and Nell duly helped her to blow out the candles, to cheers and clapping from the parents. The nurses supervised the cutting and distribution of the cake, while Nell managed to retrieve the tiara, finding a handkerchief to wipe the sticky finger marks off it.
‘Oh, dear.’ She held it up to the light, twisting it back and forth. ‘It’s got icing on it.’
‘Probably the best use it’s ever been put to.’ Hugo grinned, sitting down next to her on one of the plastic chairs that lined the ward. ‘I dare say my mother will know the best way to clean it.’
‘I can’t give it back to your mother like this. She’s already been so good about delaying the start of the reception so that we could come here first.’
‘I thought it was rather a good idea. Gives everyone a chance to put their feet up and loosen their ties.’
‘Like you’ve loosened yours?’ Nell gave him a mischievous look. ‘What will people say?’
‘They’ll say I’ve married the most beautiful woman in the world. The most dedicated doctor and...’ Hugo brushed a crushed petal from her dress ‘...the best person I know.’
‘And I’ve married the most handsome prince in the world. Actually, I should widen the scope a bit. The most handsome doctor in the world.’
‘I like that a lot better.’ Hugo kissed her hand, and heard a camera shutter click. He turned and smiled, his arm around his new wife. A picture for the hospital scrapbook.
‘I’m so proud of you, Hugo. Last week, a man told me how much your speech about having a pacemaker had meant to his wife. She said that if it was good enough for you, then it was good enough for her.’
‘And I’m proud of you, too. Your project is going to make a big difference to a lot of people.’
He and Nell had decided that they would work together, but each concentrate on different special projects. Nell had already formed a partnership between the hospital in Montarino and the London hospital where she’d worked, to create a joint initiative to promote research and care for elderly patients with heart disease.
‘I hope so. It’s early days yet.’
‘We have plenty of time. All our lives.’
Nell smiled at him. ‘I’m so happy, Hugo. You’re my one true love.’
‘And you are mine.’ Hugo kissed his wife, and a cheer went up around the room.
‘Do it again!’ a child’s voice piped up from somewhere, and everyone laughed.
There was nothing else he could do but kiss Nell again.
* * * * *