The Kiss by Danielle Steel Page A

saturated with her blood. They still had no idea who either of them were, and by the time they got them both into an ambulance, the victims from the bus had all been removed. One of the paramedics had Bill's wallet in his hand by then, and they'd been able to identify him, but they still had no idea who Isabelle was.
    “She's wearing a wedding band,” one of the paramedics offered as the ambulance careened toward St. Thomas' Hospital, “must be his wife.” He radioed back to the police officers on the scene to keep an eye out for a handbag in the car, just in case.
    Neither of them had regained consciousness duringthe entire process of being lifted out of the car, and they were both in deep comas when they were carried into the trauma unit, and were immediately attended to by separate teams. It was rapidly determined that both were in need of surgery, he for a spinal cord injury and a fractured neck, and she for a head injury, extensive internal injuries, and the severed artery to which they'd applied the tourniquet. They had to operate immediately or risk losing the arm.
    “Jesus, that's an ugly one, isn't it?” one of the nurses whispered about the accident as they were wheeled into separate surgeries. “I haven't seen damage like that in a long time.”
    “I can't believe they're still alive,” the other nurse commented as she scrubbed up. She had been assigned to Isabelle, who had just been assessed as the least likely to survive. They were worried about her head injury, but the greatest damage she had sustained had been to her liver, lungs, and heart, all of which had virtually been crushed.
    Within moments, both were lying on operating tables in separate surgeries, with anesthesiologists working on them and bright lights shining overhead, as the members of the surgical team listened to the assessment from the trauma teams. It was difficult to decide which of the limousine's passengers was in the worse shape. They were both classified as extremely critical, and as the surgeries began, both patients' vital signs began to deteriorate at almost exactly the same rate.
    As they began operating on Bill to set the many vertebrae that had been broken in his spinal column, hecould feel himself sitting up, and within seconds, he found himself walking along a brightly lit path. He was aware of sounds all around him, and far ahead in the distance, there was a bright shining light. And he was surprised, when he looked around, to find Isabelle, sitting on a rock just ahead of him on the path.
    “Are you okay?” She looked strange to him when he glanced at her, as though she had fallen asleep for a while. But she stood up, and waited for him to join her on the path.
    “I'm fine,” she said, but she didn't look at him. As he had been at first, she was mesmerized by the bright light. “What is that?”
    “I don't know,” he said, he was feeling confused, and he was aware of having looked for her, and not being able to find her for a brief time. “Where were you?”
    “I was here, waiting for you. You were gone for a long time.” Her voice was very soft, and she looked very pale, but she seemed strangely calm.
    “I was right here. I didn't go anywhere,” he explained, but she didn't seem to be listening to him, and she seemed anxious to move on toward the light.
    “Are you coming?” She turned to look at him, and he could feel himself hurry to catch up. But she was moving too quickly for him, and he wanted to ask her to slow down.
    “Why are you running like that?” he asked, and she just shook her head, and walked steadily on toward the bright light.
    “I want you to come with me,” she said, and then reached back toward him with her hand. He took it,and he could sense her next to him, but he couldn't feel her hand. He could see that she was holding his, but he couldn't feel anything. All he knew was that he was desperately tired. He wanted to lie down and go to sleep somewhere, but he didn't want to lose her