On Wednesday morning, Callie tentatively knocked on the door of Room 15. Frank had told her that Joe was going to be discharged that afternoon, largely on account of him continually complaining about being there. Callie had visited Joe with Vanessa and with Frank present, but she really wanted to pay him a visit on her own.

‘Come in if you’re good-looking!’ she heard Joe call out in response to her knocking. Rolling her eyes, Callie opened the door and stuck her head in through the doorway. Joe was sitting up in bed with the TV remote, obviously channel surfing to try and find something decent to watch. He grinned when he saw her.

‘Is it okay if I pay you a visit?’ she asked sweetly, with just a hint of the old sarcasm.

‘Yeah, come on in,’ drawled Joe cheekily. ‘You pass the test.’

Callie entered the room, closing the door behind her. Sitting beside the bed, she marveled at how well Joe looked. The sparkle in his eyes had returned and his skin had lost its sickly pallor. She had to admit he had a remarkable capacity to bounce back after physical injury.

‘You’re looking well,’ she told him, placing her bag on her lap.

‘Thanks. I’ll be even better when I get home this afternoon,’ he told her. Joe was a little curious as to why Callie was paying him a personal visit, but he didn’t mind. They’d survived a dangerous situation together and it had appeared to have improved their rapport out of sight. Joe let Callie chat away about such fascinating topics as daytime television and the weather before he raised his hand and shut his eyes. Callie stopped talking immediately. She wondered if he was in pain, but then he opened his eyes again and dropped his hand.

‘Why don’t you just come out and say what you came here to say,’ Joe encouraged her. ‘I couldn’t bear it if Frank or Vanessa suddenly turned up and cut you off in the middle of a really important speech! It’d be like one of those awful soap operas I’ve been watching.’

Callie took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She did have something important to say to Joe, but she wanted to say it just right. She didn’t want there to be any more misunderstandings. Her relationship with Frank was far too important to her for there to be friction between her and his younger brother.

‘First of all,’ Callie began, blushing slightly, ‘I wanted to say thank you for the beautiful daffodils.’

‘Seemed only fair,’ replied Joe. ‘The lollipops were a great gift, although one of the nurses reckons the red food colour is what’s made me so restless!’

Callie smiled and then grew serious again.

‘I know we talked about a lot of things while we were in the forest, Joe. And I want you to know that I wasn’t just saying things to you because we were under stress.’ She clasped her hands together on top of her bag and looked fleetingly into Joe’s eyes before fixing her gaze onto the edge of the bed.

‘This is really difficult, but I really have to say this,’ she continued. ‘For many months I really was unforgivably jealous of the emotional energy Frank invests in you. I envied the closeness you share. I really didn’t think you deserved that much of Frank’s attention. I decided that you were self-absorbed. I didn’t really take the time to know you as anything more than Frank’s brother. While we were on our own in that forest, I saw the real you. You risked your life to drag me out of that water, and then you were prepared to sacrifice yourself to save Frank and Vanessa! You also said things to me that made me realize that I’ve misjudged you terribly and I’ve been awfully selfish.’

Callie paused for a moment to wipe a tear away that had escaped from the corner of her eye. Joe seized the opportunity to respond.

‘Callie, all of us are selfish in one way or another. I admit that I really didn’t want to share Frank with anyone for a long time after Iola. I needed him too much. I was so rapt up with my own guilt and grief. I really didn’t care much what anyone else outside the family felt. It’s little wonder you got annoyed. I would have, if I had been you.’

He reached over and placed his hand on her arm.

‘And as for what happened in the forest, awful as it was, I learnt a lot about you that I didn’t appreciate before. You’ve got guts Callie Shaw! Vanessa says you got her and Frank out of that cabin and back to the campsite with all the efficiency of a SAS operator!’

Callie gave a small laugh and wiped another tear from her cheek. Joe reached out further and took her hand in his.

‘I’ll tell you a secret, Cal,’ he said, his voice soft and confidential. She looked across into his eyes. ‘Frank is the most important person in the world to me, but anyone my brother truly loves receives unconditional love from me too. So it really doesn’t matter what you’ve said to me, or how many times you’ve rolled your eyes behind my back, I’ve loved you anyway.’

Joe brought Callie’s hand to his lips and softly kissed it. Her resolve to stay in control shattered, Callie hugged Joe as fiercely as she dared to, given his condition. Callie and Joe both reflected that as unfortunate as their recent misadventure had been on many levels, it had brought with it an important opportunity for improved understanding.