Page 79 of Shattered Hope
I gave him a faint smile, still feeling self-conscious around him. “I’m quite well, actually… just a bit tired of being here,” I admitted.
He leaned over and kissed me gently on the lips. “I’ll talk to the doctor to see if I can take you home. Susan is back, so she would be more than willing to take care of you,” he explained.
I was mortified. “Oh… she shouldn’t have… her daughter…”
He took a seat next to the bed and picked my hands. “Her daughter is fine and she will only be a few hours in the house, to make sure everything is done properly,” I opened my mouth to protest, but he didn’t give me a chance. “I didn’t call her. She saw the news on TV and rushed to the house. She wants to help, and I didn’t see the harm.”
“She’s so excited with her grandchild…” I muttered.
“I know, and she will be there with her daughter when the time comes. The doctors said it would take a couple more weeks, and her son-in-law took some time off from work to be there for his wife, so Susan was starting to feel like a third wheel,” he explained with a smile.
“I see…”
“She’s already looking for someone to replace her,” he added, and his words startled me.
I guess I should have been waiting for them since I had left the job, but somehow, I had thought things would go back to the way they were before this whole ordeal happened.
Obviously, I had been fooling myself.
I cleared my throat as I pushed away a lock of hair. “The news? This was on the news?” I focused on that specific point of what he had just told me, desperate to change the subject before I made a fool of myself.
“Yes… national news, actually. Hudson’s lawyer did his best to keep it a secret, but my presence at the courthouse stirred things up, and the news reporters quickly found out the whole story,” he explained, not hiding his scorn for Daniel.
“I’m so sorry I dragged you into this,” I muttered, as heat colored my face, feeling ashamed, even though I knew I had no reason to feel so.
“You didn’t drag me into anything. I’ll do everything in my power to keep that bastard in prison for the rest of his life,” he assured me. A gentle knock at the door interrupted them. “That must be the food I ordered. I told the nurses I would bring your meals along with mine.”
I frowned. “You didn’t have to…”
“No… but I wanted to. Hospital food is terrible. The nutritionist gave me a list of the food you can eat, and I sent it to my favorite restaurant,” he explained, smiling, as he received the food from the delivery guy.
I shook my head, slightly amused with his extravagance.
“Thank you,” I accepted, as he laid out all the food on the rolling tray, the delicious scents making my mouth water.
He had spoiled me in the few weeks I’d lived with him. I had gone with just bread and cheese for more meals than I could count.
The doctor visited me a few minutes after lunch, and Jayden asked him when I could go home.
“If everything stays the same, she could go home tomorrow, but she shouldn’t be alone for long periods,” the doctor warned him. “Pulling out the stitches or displacing her ribs, could put her in danger.”
“She would never be alone,” he assured the doctor.
“Then, I see no harm,” he replied, with a stiff smirk on his face, as he checked nervously the tablet he was holding in his hands. “Mr. Wells, I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to step out for a few minutes. I need to discuss a few things with my patient.”
The man’s words startled me, and I remembered the blood the nurses had taken from me that morning. I was terrified, and I sure as hell didn’t want Jayden listening to whatever the doctor had to tell me.
“Is that really necessary?” he asked, frowning.
“I’m afraid so,” the doctor insisted, looking at me.
“I’ll be fine, Jayden, it’s just protocol… nothing else,” I assured him, but my eyes never left the doctor’s face.
Jayden finally nodded and left the room.
The doctor waited until the door closed behind him before he looked directly at me.
“I wasn’t sure you would want to share this news with Mr. Wells…” he said, in a stern tone. “Considering all that happened, I felt it was better this way.”
