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Hudson’s head jerked toward them with wide eyes. “Upside down! What?”
The ride creaked as the carts rolled forward. Hudson’s face went white, and Hannah giggled. She reached her hand over, taking Hudson’s.
“It’s okay. I’ll hold your hand.”
The ride moved forward, and it gained speed quickly. Nora and Hannah laughed as they started up, slowly creeping to the top of the first steep incline. After a pause at the very top, they plummeted toward the ground. They swirled and whirled around, and they were flying upside down at one point.
Hannah screamed with happiness, and Nora peeked over, seeing Hudson with a smirk of entertainment.
After the ride ended, they rolled to the bumper cars. Hudson and Hannah sat together. Hudson steered as Hannah pointed out which car to hit. They marched toward the super slides next. She and Hannah went up, and she held Hannah on her lap as they slid down. Hudson waited at the bottom, snapping a photo.
They went on the spinning tea cups, the tilt-a-whirl, and the swings that soared above the crowds. Hudson even let Hannah get her face painted with rainbows and a unicorn.
Near lunchtime, they ordered hot dogs, and Nora noted the nervousness Hudson had before was gone. He was enjoying himself almost as much as Hannah was.
She was happy that everything was going smoothly. Hannah was having a good time, and that had been her one big concern.
After they finished eating, they headed to the petting zoo. Hannah leaned over, petting each animal that she could reach. She giggled as she fed them.
“Hudson, did you see? He ate out of my hand.” Hannah smiled as a baby goat licked her fingers.
Hudson smiled at Hannah. “I did," he said as he leaned over, petting the mother goat.
They kept moving along, seeing donkeys, cows, and chickens. They stopped and watched the pigs and moved along to the mini horses. Hannah tried convincing Hudson to buy a horse. She'd been trying to convince her parents for a couple of years.
"Why do you want a horse?" he asked as they exited the barn.
She shrugged and looked at him. "Because all my friends have one."
"Hardly a reason," he said, laughing at her. She smirked, watching Hannah smile back at Hudson.
The sun was sinking as they left for the car. Hudson helped Hannah into the back as Nora put the wheelchair into the trunk.
“So, did you have a fun time?” she asked as they both got into the front. She looked into the back seat, finding Hannah already asleep. It had been a long day for her. The past week had been a lot of hard work, and Nora was happy the girl had a day away from it.
“I did. Thank you for helping to make this possible.” Hudson smiled at her, and her heart skipped a beat. It had been doing so all day, and she quickly tried to shake it off. She couldn’t be ogling her boss.
She was just feeling this way because of how far Hudson had come. When she first arrived, he had no idea how to take care of Hannah, and now he was learning. That's all it was.
That's what she was telling herself.
SIX
HUDSON
Once they returned home, Nora helped Hannah bathe and get ready for bed. Meanwhile, Hudson went to his study and got on the phone with his beta, Logan.
“Things are not adding up here,” Logan said. “All the clues are pointing elsewhere.”
Hudson agreed but didn’t want his thoughts on the accident to influence others.
He dove right into the topic. No time for niceties. He leaned over the desk and focused on the legal pad under his hand, which held a pen. He mindlessly inked arrows onto the pad, one after another. Their target was a rough-drawn dart board with a question mark where the bull’s eye should be.
“Logan, can you get the enforcers and elders assembled tonight at our forest lair?”
“Yeah, sure. I can put out a call. What level? A regular meeting or an emergency level four?”
Normally, Logan never asked such questions, but his beta heard the urgency in his voice.
