Chapter 32 Chapter thirty two
AANYA
St. Thomas's Hospital was chaos. We arrived to find Giulia already there, pacing in the A&E waiting area. She looked exhausted and terrified.
"Any news?" Dev asked.
"They are still running tests. Something about her blood pressure being dangerously low. They will not tell me more because I am not next of kin." She looked at me, seemed to register my presence for the first time. "You came."
"Of course."
"You did not have to. This is family business."
"She is with me," Dev said firmly. "If I am here, she is here."
Giulia studied us both, then nodded. "All right. But Mum might not be happy about meeting your girlfriend for the first time in a hospital bed."
"Mum does not get a vote right now."
We sat in uncomfortable plastic chairs, waiting for news. Dev was tense beside me, leg bouncing nervously. I took his hand, and he squeezed hard enough that it almost hurt.
"She has been working too much," he said quietly. "I told her to cut back on the evening shifts. She would not listen."
"This is not your fault."
"She works multiple jobs to cover rent because I am in school instead of working full-time. If I had a real job instead of a PhD stipend, she would not have to work herself sick."
"Dev, you cannot blame yourself for this."
"Watch me."
Marco arrived twenty minutes later, still in his school uniform, looking scared. He sat on Dev's other side, and the three of them formed a small fortress of worry.
Another thirty minutes passed before a doctor appeared.
"Family of Francesca Marchetti?"
We all stood.
"I am her son," Dev said. "This is my sister and brother. What is happening?"
"Your mother suffered a severe hypotensive episode. Her blood pressure dropped dangerously low, which caused her to lose consciousness. We have stabilized her, but we are concerned about the underlying cause. When was the last time she saw a GP?"
The three of them exchanged guilty looks.
"Maybe six months ago?" Giulia said. "She does not like doctors."
"Has she been experiencing any symptoms? Fatigue, dizziness, shortness of breath?"
"She is always tired," Marco said. "But she works three jobs. We thought that was why."
The doctor's expression was carefully neutral. "We would like to keep her overnight for observation and run additional tests in the morning. Her blood work shows some concerning markers that we want to investigate further. You can see her now, but please keep the visit brief. She needs rest."
"Is she going to be all right?" Dev asked.
"We will know more after the tests tomorrow. Try not to worry too much tonight."
The doctor left. Dev looked at his siblings.
"I will see her first. Then you two. Five minutes each. We do not overwhelm her."
He walked toward the ward, shoulders tense. I stayed with Giulia and Marco, feeling like an intruder in their family crisis.
"You are really together?" Giulia asked. "You and Dev?"
"Yes. As of this morning."
"Fast work."
"We have had a complicated few days."
"That is an understatement." She studied me. "Are you going to hurt him?"
"I hope not."
"That is not a reassuring answer."
"It is an honest one. I do not know what I am doing. I have never been in a relationship. I have never had to navigate normal life. I am learning as I go. But I care about him. And I am not going anywhere."
"Famous people say that. Then they leave when things get hard."
"I gave up everything to tell the truth about Crown Estate. I am being sued for two million pounds. My family cut me off. I am living on a friend's sofa making twenty-two thousand pounds a year. Things are already hard. I am still here."
Giulia's expression softened slightly. "Fair point. All right. You can stay. But if you hurt him, I will make your life significantly more difficult than it already is."
"I would expect nothing less."
Dev emerged fifteen minutes later, looking shaken.
"She wants to see you," he said to Giulia. "Then Marco. Then..." He looked at me. "She wants to meet you."
"Me?"
"She saw the news. About us. She has questions."
"Dev, I should not meet your mother for the first time when she is in a hospital bed."
"I know. But she is insisting. Apparently she wants to assess whether you are good enough for me before she allows herself to have a serious health crisis."
Despite the tension, I almost smiled. "That sounds like something a mother would do."
Giulia and Marco went in. When they came out, Marco looked like he had been crying. Giulia put her arm around him.
"Your turn," she said to me. "Try not to let her intimidate you. She is good at that."
I walked into the ward, found the curtained area marked with Francesca's name, and stepped inside.
She was small in the hospital bed, hooked up to monitors and an IV. But her eyes were sharp and assessing when she looked at me.
"So you are the princess who broke my son's heart and then put it back together in the same week."
"I am Aanya. And I did not mean to break anything."
"Sit. I cannot have a proper conversation with you looming over me like that."
I sat in the chair beside the bed. Up close, I could see the exhaustion in her face, the way her hands trembled slightly. This was a woman who had worked herself past the point of breaking.
"Dev says you are together now," Francesca said.
"Yes."
"Since when?"
"This morning."
"Fast."
"Everyone keeps saying that."
"Because it is true. My son does not do fast. He is careful. Methodical. He plans everything. And then you come along and suddenly he is sitting outside in the rain all night waiting for you and kissing you in lawyers' offices and bringing you to meet his sick mother on the first day of your relationship. You have disrupted his entire life."
"I am sorry."
"I did not say that was a bad thing." She studied me. "He needs disruption. He has spent too long being responsible. Taking care of everyone. Sacrificing everything for his research and his family and his father's memory. He needs someone who reminds him to actually live instead of just survive."
"I am not sure I am qualified for that. I am still learning how to survive myself."
"Then you will learn together. That is better anyway." She shifted in the bed, wincing slightly. "I saw what you did. At that forum. Destroying your life to tell the truth. That took courage."
"Or foolishness."
"Often the same thing. But you are still here. You did not run when it got hard. That matters."
"I care about him. Very much. More than probably makes sense after ten days."
"Ten days can be enough when they are the right ten days. I knew I would marry Lorenzo after three days. Everyone said we were insane. Maybe we were. But we had twenty good years before Crown Estate took him from me. I do not regret a single one of those days, even knowing how it ended."
Her eyes filled with tears. I reached for the tissue box on the bedside table, handed it to her.
"Dev is like his father," she continued. "Good man. Too good sometimes. He will sacrifice himself for people he loves. He will work himself sick. He will carry everyone's problems and forget to take care of himself. Someone needs to remind him that he matters too. That his needs matter. That he is allowed to be happy."
"I will try."
"Do not try. Do. He loves you. I can see it. He will not say it yet because he is scared you will leave. But he loves you. So you love him back. Properly. Not carefully. Not with one foot out the door in case it gets too hard. You love him like he deserves to be loved. Can you do that?"
I thought about this morning in Sarah's office. About the way Dev had looked at me like I was something precious. About how he had said he was falling for me and made it sound like the most natural thing in the world.
"Yes," I said. "I can do that."
"Good. Then you have my blessing. Now go tell my son to stop blaming himself for this. I fainted because I forgot to eat lunch and I have been working sixteen-hour days. Not because he is in school. I will kill him myself if he quits his PhD over this."
"I will tell him."
"And Aanya? Welcome to the family. We are complicated and poor and too involved in each other's lives. But we show up. We fight for each other. And we do not abandon people when things get difficult. If you are with Dev, you are with all of us. Understand?"
"I understand."
I left the curtained area, found Dev pacing in the corridor.
"Well?" he asked.
"Your mother is terrifying and wonderful. She gave me her blessing and told me to tell you to stop blaming yourself."
"I am not blaming myself."
"You are absolutely blaming yourself. She said she will kill you if you quit your PhD over this."
"I am not quitting my PhD."
"Good. Because I did not give up everything to be with someone who sacrifices his dreams unnecessarily." I took his hand. "She is going to be fine, Dev. They are running tests. She needs to rest. But she is going to be fine."
"You do not know that."
"No. But I believe it. And so should you."
He pulled me into his arms, held me tight. I could feel the tension in his body, the fear he was trying not to show.
"Thank you for coming with me," he said into my hair. "You did not have to."
"Yes, I did. Because this is what people do when they care about someone. They show up. Even when it is inconvenient or uncomfortable or scary. They show up."
He kissed the top of my head. "I am falling for you very fast."
"I know. Your mother told me."
"She did?"
"She said you love me but you are too scared to say it yet. She also said I need to love you back properly. Not carefully. Not with one foot out the door. Do you think I can do that?"
He pulled back enough to look at me. "Can you?"
"I am already doing it."