Forever Scarred Read Online Free PDF Page B

as though a silent message was sent between them. She gave a small sigh and turned to David.
    “Will you go down and check he has t aken his meds and is wearing his mask later? I know he’s been told he can leave it off more often, but the scarring will be helped and the swelling will go down quicker the longer he wears it.”
    David nodded at his sister.
    “I’ ll drive down later if he doesn’t come back up.” He looked up at Lucy and began to explain. “Joe had his nose remade about six weeks ago and he had a new skin graft over one of his cheeks. Something had gone wrong with the previous one. His body suddenly began rejecting the grafted skin for some reason. We’re hoping that this one will take better and last longer. He’s still on a lot of antibiotics and he is meant to wear a pressure mask to reduce the scars but they’re damned uncomfortable and we all know from experience that it’s tempting to leave it off.” He looked back to his sister. “I have to go down there anyway. He still has my spare set of legs and I want them back.”
    Lucy nearly choked on the tiny piece of trout that she had managed to put in her mouth.
    “Your spare legs?” She stammered out and then flushed deeply as she realized how shocked she sounded.
    But David just laughed.
    “It’s my own fault. I keep getting them wet. I should wear waders but sometimes the urge just gets to me and I just have to tweak that zip wire a bit and have a go. I always end up in the river and the water isn’t good for the joints in my legs.” He leaned down and tapped at a place below the level of the table. A dull thunk rang around the room. “False legs.” He clarified and smiled at Lucy.
    Lucy managed to swallow the trout. She wasn’t sure what she was more shocked about. The fact that David had two false legs and she hadn’t even noticed or the thought of a zip wire that ended up in the river. She decided to find out more about the zip wire as that was her biggest concern.
    “ This zip wire? Is it part of our course?” There was a tremble in her voice that she couldn’t disguise but David didn’t seem to notice. He laughed again.
    “Yes, it’s fantastic fun. Runs right from the top of the ridge down into the ravine. I can get it that taught it’s almost on free fall. Saved Ellen’s life when Patrick used it in a slight emergency we once had.” David gave a grateful nod to Patrick. He raised his glass a fraction at the memory of an incident that they would probably all rather forget and then took a sip of the wine that Geraldine had poured.
    Lucy grabbed up her glass and took a big slurp too. She decided that she would question Ellen about having her life saved at a later date. The zip wire itself sounded far more terrifying.
    “Top of the ridge? What ridge? Is it very high?” Her hand shook as she replaced her glass on the table. She took a couple of calming breaths before she took another forkful of the trout.
    Patrick lifted his chin.
    “It’s not so much that the ridge is high, but that the ravine is very deep. There are steps down the side but it takes an age and they are uncomfortably steep in places. Ellen had the idea of a zip wire for the kids when she first bought this place but I have to confess that it’s mostly the adults that use it. And Joe uses it in the team building stuff of course. You will love it when you’re flying through the air at breakneck speed with only a handbrake and the water to stop you. There’s a small cable car too, but no one ever uses that and we certainly wouldn’t use it on corporate weekends.”
    Lucy’s fork clattered to her plate . She had turned an odd shade of green.
    “I don’t do heights very well.” Her voice was a taught whisper. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to take part in that sort of team building stuff. Maybe Joe can work something out so I can use the steps.”
    Ellen laughed lightly.
    “You’ll be lucky. That’s the whole point of these type s of