Chapter 36
That voice again, rough, gravelly, with that deepmand which sent a flurry of activity around her.
The hairs on her arms rose in response to the air discement around her. Maybe she was in heaven,
and she was floating? She flinched as something cool touched her forehead, and tried to turn away, but
that just made her head thump even more.
“Hush, little dove, lie still. Let the nurse take care of you. You’ll feel better soon.”
That sounded like Logan, but that made even less sense. If it was him, he didn’t sound like himself at
all, all choked up and just, well odd, as though he cared, and she knew he didn’t. Not in the way she
cared about him, not in the way she needed him to. Tears rose behind her closed eyelids, as she
drifted back off to sleep. Every time she struggled back to consciousness that crushing weight on her
chest got heavier, as she recalled what led up to her being here, in this hospital bed. She finally
realized that’s where she was, hooked up to machines and with oxygen tracks under her nose. Hospital
made so much more sense than dying. If only she could remember why she was here. She’d been ill,
she remembered that. Rhia’s virus, the visit by the social worker. Logan’s fury at hearing his brother
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had to all intents and purposes abandoned Rhia, and his utter bafflement when she’d said he loved
Rhia.
Hannah woke up with a start, silent tears running down her face. That horrible weight on her chest had
gone, atst, but her heart was breaking in two.
With a clear mind came the realization what she had to do. To stay in this marriage, when Logan would
never return her love, it hurt too damn much. Rhia was getting too attached to her as it was. That
moment she called her Mummy…
Priceless and yet so painful, because she could never be her mummy. She would have to end this
charade. Oh, as far as the courts were concerned, they would stay married. There was no way she
would jeopardize his chances of gaining full custody of Rhia, but she couldn’t and wouldn’t live with him
anymore. More useless tears spilled out of her eyes, and she made an ineffective swipe at them with
her hand. Hard to do with the cann stuck in the back of it. She followed the line leading out of it and
forgot to breathe a moment. There slumped in a chair sat Logan. Head at an awkward angle he was
fast asleep, and he looked…
Wow, he looked awful. Was that the suit he’d worn the day of the home visit? Why was he still in that,
however many dayster? It had to have been days, because he sported an almost full beard on his
jaw. Deep purple smudges marred his usually evenplexion, and … she sniffed. There was a
definite not so pleasant odor in the room. She struggled to sit up, to see him better when a cool hand
on her shoulder stopped her.
“Easy there, now, let me help you.” The whispered words came from a Health Care Assistant, Lucy,
ording to her nametag. The young redhead smiled at her, grabbed the button to work her bed, and
Hannah slowly rose in a more upright position. The shift in position made the room spin, and she
closed her eyes until the dizziness passed.
“There, is that better? I’ll check with the nurse to see if we can get rid of these.” She touched the tracks
under Hannah’s nose and smiled. “The drip will have to stay in for a while until you’re strong enough.”
She nced across at still sleeping Logan.
“You had that man of yours worried. He hasn’t left your side since you were brought in, and at times I
thought he’d get himself thrown out. He’s got a bit of a temper, hasn’t he?” She winked at her, and
Hannah croaked a weak confirmation.
“Here, slow sips, lubricate those vocal cords. You’ve been out of it for days now.” She held up a cup
with a straw, and Hannah managed a few sucks. Lukewarm water had never tasted so good.
“Days?” she asked. “But I can’t have been. I had a cough and sore throat, that’s all. This doesn’t make
sense.”
Lucy sobered, picked up her medical chart at the end of her bed, and ticked something off.
“Well, it might have started off like that, but it developed into pneumonia, and that brought on sepsis.
Had your husband not brought you in when he did, it could have been really nasty. As it was, it took a
rather aggressive cocktail of drugs to get the sepsis under control, but you’ve been on the mend for the
refused to leave, and you know I’m really d you’re awake, ‘cause he’s starting to smell a bit ripe, if
you catch my drift.”
She grinned at her, and clipped the notes back to Hannah’s bed.
“A nurse will be in to assess you properly soon.”
With that she left to let Hannah digest this information overload. At least she now knew why she felt as
weak a kitten who’d been run over by a truck and lost eight of her nine lives in the process. It didn’t
exin Logan’s continued presence though.
His foot slipped, and Logan jerked awake.
“Fuck, what … you’re awake?” He shot to his feet as though he’d been fired from a cannonball, but that
wasn’t what made her heart turn over in her chest. It was the tears in his eyes, and the careful way he
grasped hold of her hand, raised it up to his lips and pressed a lingering kiss to it that did her in. His
beard felt rough against her skin, and tickled at the same time. Apletely inappropriate giggle rose
from her chest. Okay, so it sounded more like the squeaky wheel of the janitor’s bucket, currently
passing by outside her open door, but Hannah was d she could produce that much of a sound.
Logan lifted his head and regarded her through narrowed eyes.
“And she giggles. Giggles.” He growled low in his throat, and Hanna
h’s heart missed a few beats, especially as he didn’t look angry. His eyes softened as he looked down
on her, and then he perched his butt on the side of her bed, dipped his head and kissed her. It was a
mere brush of his lips over hers, gentle, yet oh so tender, as he breathed words she never thought she
would hear him say.