She didn’t want to comment on the irony of the fact that now both of their fathers were in hospital.What a pair they were.But he said it for her in the end, when she suggested he try and get some sleep on one of the chairs in his father’s room—they were both exhausted, and he at least might get some rest—but he refused.
“You were there for me when I was distraught about my papa.I want to be here for you.”She looked at him properly for the first time since she’d found her father lying on the floor.He stared back, dark eyes challenging, mouth quirked to one side.She traced his high cheekbones, watched that truant lock of hair fall over his eyes.She could smile and tell him he was being sweet, but that wouldn’t be the whole truth.Because she could see behind his provocative gaze that he wanted to be here for her, to support her.It was an interesting revelation, because not many people in her life had actually been there for her.
Without asking, he stepped in and pulled her into his embrace.And she accepted it wholeheartedly, sank into his arms and let out a deep sigh, releasing some of the tension from tonight’s events.After their intimate moments in the cabin today, there was a bond between them now.An ease and effortlessness that hadn’t been there before.And now she felt safe in his arms too.Which again was a first for her.She was the one who was supposed to make other people feel safe.And earlier today she had done exactly that, kept him safe from the sniper.Perhaps tonight it was her turn to receive instead of always giving.
“Thank you,” she said into his neck, accepting his sacrifice with grace.She seemed to be saying that a lot to him this evening.They stayed together for many, many moments, standing in the middle of the room, clasping each other, she drawing calm and resilience from him, him lending her his strength.There was nothing sexual about this embrace, and she was glad he hadn’t tried to kiss her, because this was better; it was exactly what she needed.
A nurse bustled by the open doorway, the sound of her shoes squeaking on the linoleum finally breaking them apart.They separated, and she glanced up into his handsome face.He brought his hand up to wipe away a tear with his thumb.She hadn’t even realized she’d been crying.
“Does your little sister know what’s going on?”he asked gently.
“Yes.”Aurora tried not to sigh with exasperation as she stepped away from him.Astrid had been concerned of course when she’d called to tell her, but not concerned enough to leave her job and come up and see her father.In some ways, Aurora didn’t blame her.But in other ways she resented the fact that she was left to deal with their father’s problems on her own.And that resentment had boiled over, and she’d finally said some things she regretted.But perhaps they were things Astrid needed to hear, because in the end conscience had got the better of her.
“Astrid is catching the train up tomorrow.She should be here by late afternoon,” she told Jiro.It was a good thing that Astrid was coming; it was time she saw how bad their father was getting.Until now, Aurora had been protecting her younger sister from the worst, but that was just delaying the inevitable.Their father was going to need more care than Aurora could give sooner or later.And she didn’t know what she was going to do when that time came.
The doctor came into the waiting room, and they both turned to her expectantly—this was the same doctor Aurora had spoken to when they’d first admitted her father, Doctor Hessel.She was tall and extremely skinny, with sharp features, and short dark hair.“He’s in recovery.You can come and see him now,” she said brusquely.“He suffered a broken hip, a fractured wrist, and head trauma leading to a severe concussion.”
Aurora clasped her hand to her mouth.That sounded awful.But then she quickly remembered who she was and where she was.She might not be in her police uniform, but in this small town where most people would know who she was, she was expected to act a particular way.Steeling herself, she squared her shoulders and nodded.
“At the moment, the head trauma is the most serious injury.We will need him to wake up before we can truly assess any impairments.”
Shit.Aurora wanted to sag against Jiro, to have him hold her like he had just been doing.But she managed to keep herself steady.As if reading her mind, Jiro’s hand stole into hers, and he squeezed her fingers, offering her support.It was enough to get her tongue moving again.“My father is tough, Dr.Hessel; he will pull through,” she replied stoically, meaning every word.He was a tough old bugger, hard to kill, and she had every faith that he’d recover, even if it was just to be the bane of her life again.
“Good,” the doctor said.“You can follow me.But he has to stay here.”She pointed at Jiro.“Immediate family only.”
Aurora shot him an apologetic look, but he waved her out of the room.“I’ll wait.You take as long as you need.”Her heart melted at those words; he was going to wait for her, and that might be the only thing that kept her going.She would’ve preferred to have him by her side as her rock, but she straightened her spine and followed the doctor down the long corridor.She could do this.
Hessel led her into a room, and she saw her father for the first time.Karl was lying in a hospital bed, surrounded by beeping machines and tubing.He was completely still, his face pale, but strangely peaceful, as if he were just sleeping.What should she do?A good daughter would go up and take his hand.But she seemed to be frozen to the spot.This man was just so… incompatible with the Karl she knew.
“Once he regains consciousness, we will be able to assess him better.”The doctor broke the awkward silence, going up and taking the patient chart from the end of the bed.“There was no bleeding on the brain that we could see, just a slight contusion, which bodes well for his recovery.When he does wake up, it will be his broken hip that will become the big problem, however.Recuperation and rehabilitation from a broken hip can take many months, and he will probably have to stay in hospital for a long time.In a man of his age, this might not be such a problem, but I understand that your father suffers from Parkinson’s disease.”
Aurora nodded in reply, unable to tear her gaze away from her father in the hospital bed.
“This will add many complications to his recovery.He may never actually fully recover, and may even be completely wheelchair-bound.He will need lots of care.”The doctor left her last words hanging in the air, as if she wanted to say more, and Aurora wondered what exactly she meant by that.Was she saying that Aurora wasn’t capable of that kind of full-on care?She glanced over at Hessel, but found no discernible emotion on her face.
It almost felt like this doctor was blaming her for her father’s fall.Part of her wanted to protest that this was all her father’s doing—he was attempting to do something he clearly wasn’t capable of, and he wasn’t supposed to be up in her room anyway.But the larger part accepted the guilt, because if she had been home on time, this wouldn’t have happened.
“Okay,” Aurora replied, knowing her voice had lost that convincing air of authority.She wasn’t going to get into it with the doctor tonight.So she forced herself to walk over to the bed and lay her hand on her father’s arm.It was warm.
“I’ll leave you with him for a while then,” Hessel said after a few moments of silence.“A nurse will be in soon to check on him.”This doctor’s bedside manner left a lot to be desired, Aurora decided.But then she put that thought out of her head; she had much bigger things to think about now.
Karl was going to need a lot of care.Was she going to have to quit her job?It didn’t seem fair, but how was she supposed to look after him as well as he needed and continue her demanding work?The job required her to be out at all different times of the day and night, and also some overtime.Would she have to get a normal nine-to-five job so that she could be there for him?
She stared down at her father, a jumble of mixed emotions rumbling around in her head.Regret, resentment, pity, worry, devotion, and finally acceptance.Acceptance of the fact that there was nothing she could do to change what’d happened.She would just have to accept whatever came next and deal with it day by day.She was usually Mrs.Fix-it.She liked being a problem solver.She’d also been called a bit of a perfectionist by more than one of her colleagues recently.She didn’t like that term, but admitted that she liked things done a certain way, and they had to be done properly.Deep down, she knew the one aspect of her life that she was failing at was her father, because he wouldn’t be corralled into a model parent.She now realized she would never be able to fix her father; he would never be the man she wanted him to be, and he would never fit into one of her perfect little boxes.Certainly not now.So if he wasn’t going to change, then perhaps she would need to.Was it time to let go of her pedantic tendencies, and learn how to just let things be?
The door opened, and a rosy-cheeked nurse walked in carrying a tray of medicines.“Oh, hello,” she said brightly.“I’m Nurse Rossi.You must be Mr.Karlsson’s daughter.”The woman spoke good Swedish but with a thick Italian accent.“You can stay if you like, I’m just going to check his vitals and top up his pain medication.”
“Thank you.”Aurora took the seat in the corner so she would stay out of the nurse’s way, then watched without really focusing as the nurse flittered around her father’s bed.The act of sitting down finally made her realize how totally fatigued she was.Tiredness crashed over her like a wave, and she had to rub her hand across her eyes just to keep them open.It’d been a big day.A huge day.And her father ending up in the hospital was the icing on the cake.She rested her head in her hands, giving in to the lethargy for just a moment.It was after two a.m., and she desperately needed sleep.
“There’s nothing else you can do tonight, Constable Karlsson,” the nurse said, surprising Aurora—how did she know she was a cop?The nurse gave her a sympathetic look as she returned her father’s patient chart to its spot at the end of the bed.“He will be under sedation for the rest of the night.You should go home and get some rest.We’ll call you when he wakes up.”She said it in such a friendly way that Aurora couldn’t take offense at being told to go away.
“Yes, I guess you’re right,” Aurora conceded.She would go and find a Jiro, and offer him the spare bedroom for what was left of the night.It was the least she could do.She was so tired she almost stumbled down the hallway, and it took her a while to find the waiting room again.But Jiro was still there, curled up and using his jacket as a pillow, trying to sleep in one of the uncomfortable chairs.She went and laid a hand on his shoulder.
“Come on, let’s go to bed.”Then she smiled to herself.That’d come out as more of an invitation than she’d meant, but he was still groggy and so hopefully hadn’t heard.
“How’s your dad?”he asked, unfolding his legs and rubbing bleary eyes.
“Sedated and as comfortable as they can make him.Pretty much the same as your papa,” she added with a wry grin.Both of them walked like zombies to where her car was parked and almost fell into it.
