Page 31 of Her Professor

“She’s groggy but is responsive,” he answered at her father’s nod. “We stitched up the cut on her forehead and ran a CT. Everything looks good but we’d like to keep her here overnight to make sure she’s okay.”

“Can we see her?” her mom asked relaxing into her husband.

“Two visitors at a time right now, she’s not making a lot of sense at the moment, and she needs her rest.”

“Why don’t we let Devon have a few minutes with her and then while she’s moving upstairs he can have his hand looked at?” her father suggested and Devon felt like kissing the man, not something that was normal even for him.

“Five minutes,” the doctor said as he left him at the door to the small bay.

Devon hurried to her side and grinned hearing the words she was mumbling. He took her hand in his, kissing it and she opened her eyes. “Maddy, baby, you scared the hell out of me.”

“Dev…” she whispered around the pain in her head. “You listened…”

“Always baby,” he assured her as he dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “You were worrying the docs out here talking about apricots though.”

She blushed and he ran his hand down her cheek, but it didn’t feel right. She took it and turned it over studying it intently before a tear slipped down her cheek.

“Maddy, baby, don’t cry. You know how much I hate it when you cry.”

She tried to blink them back, but she couldn’t stop it and let them fall as he eased onto the bed and held her tightly, gently cradling her head in his hand.

“Shh, it’s okay baby, you’re okay…”

He held her until the curtain moved and her parents came in with the doctor.

Madison glanced up and then back at Devon in wonder and he gently kissed her forehead, the side that wasn’t bandaged as he stood up.

“Devon why don’t we go have that hand looked at and give Madison and her mom some time?” her dad said but Devon didn’t want to go, let her out of his sight for a single moment.

“Go Dev, I’m okay,” she told him as he leaned over and wiped away her tears then kissed her very lightly on the lips.

“I love you baby,” he whispered against her hair as he reluctantly let her go again.

Her father watched the doctor probe his hand and then ordered some x-rays. After they came back with a fracture and had casted his hand, he raised an eyebrow towards him. “So, you love my little girl huh?”

“You heard that…”

“I did and this is the time when the typical fatherly line is, hurt her and I’ll kill you, but seeing as how your hand is broken because you just beat the hell out of some creep who hurt her, I’d say that’s not likely to happen.”

“I should have beat the crap out of him the first time he tried to hurt her, but all Maddy wanted was to get away from him.”

“When he went out to campus to see her that first year?”

“Pastor John told you, didn’t he?”

“He did, though why you or Madison didn’t I don’t understand,” he said as they rode the elevator up together towards Madison’s room.

“She didn’t want it becoming an issue with Tony’s dad and you. He grabbed her that day and I came by. I should have made sure he was gone when Maddy went to the bathroom tonight…”

“Devon you can’t blame yourself. None of us thought Tony would attempt something like this. What’s important is that you stopped him from hurting her any further.”

“A lot of good that does when she’s lying in a hospital bed. I promised her he wouldn’t hurt her.”

“You can’t control what happens when a third person’s involved Devon. Look, I’ll admit last night I wanted to throw you out and tell you to never come near my little girl again but that was before I knew how much you care about her. Yes, there’s a slight worry in the back of my mind still that you’re going to hurt her because you are older, but I trust that you’ll let her down gently when the time comes.”

“Sir…that’s not going to happen,” Devon stated, turning towards him. “I love Maddy. I love everything about her, and I don’t want to lose her, not now, not ever.”

“What are you saying Devon?” Alexander inquired.

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