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“A vacation?” the girl asked excitedly. “Can Nora come too?”
Hudson chuckled. “Of course, Nora can come too. I wouldn’t dream of making the trip without her.”
And it was true. He couldn’t deny or feign how much of his heart the nurse had stolen. Every time he was around her, he felt like he was reunited with a part of himself he didn’t know was gone.
As much as he hoped for Hannah’s recovery, of course, a small part of him never wanted Nora to leave their lives. She belonged, not just because Hannah needed her. He hated to admit it, but a part of him felt like he needed her, too.
“All right,” came the voice of the woman in question. “It’s time for you to go to bed, Hannah. Why don’t you say goodnight to Hudson and then get a book for us to read?”
“Okay. Goodnight, Hudson!” she called out.
His heart soared. “Goodnight, little one.”
There was the sound of shuffling.
“Are you still there, Nora?” he asked.
“I am. What is it?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to hear about her progress.”
“She’s doing really well. Hannah’s a very strong little girl,” Nora said, pride evident in her voice. “At her last doctor’s appointment, he sounded optimistic about her improvement.”
“How far is she walking?” Hannah had progressed to taking some steps on her own, though she still needed the wheelchair to get around.
“She can stay up for about thirty seconds now and always with help. Still, that’s better than she was doing. However, I can tell that she gets frustrated by not being able to do a lot. I keep reminding her just how big a deal it is that she’s able to leave the wheelchair and start walking at all.”
Hudson frowned. He hated the thought that Hannah was not able to see how far she’d come since the crash. He made a mental note to remind her how good she was doing next time.
“And what about you?” he asked. “How are you doing?”
“Well, I’ve been able to make a decent amount of progress with her. Mostly just doing
some small exercises and the massages…”
Hudson laughed. “While I’m glad to hear that, I meant, how areyoudoing? You know, personally.”
“Oh. Well, I suppose I’m doing very well, actually.” Surprise colored her tone. “I spend most of my days working or playing with Hannah, which has been really great. Getting to have one-on-one time with her is helpful. I think we’ve really connected.”
His heart warmed at that. Hannah deserved to have someone she could bond with. He hoped she would come to feel the same way about him someday.
“And what about you?”
“Me?” Hudson asked, taken out of his thoughts.
He heard her laugh a little. “Yes, you. How areyoudoing? Personally.”
Hudson didn’t answer for a moment. There was one word that came to mind immediately to describe how he felt.
Lonely.
It had been a long time since he’d truly felt lonely. Or maybe it was more that it had been a long time since he had recognized that’s what he was.
He’d gotten so used to being alone. He had been shipped from family member to family member as a child. He had been isolated by his great-uncle. Lonely just felt like … normalcy after a while.
Even being the alpha of his clan could be lonely. It wasn’t as though his clan avoided him or distrusted him. It was simply the fact that hewasthe alpha. And out of respect or fear or simple tradition, they tended to let him be. He was on a plane all by himself, and it was nice to be respected. But it was lonely.
It wasn’t until Hannah and then Nora had come to live with him that he’d begun to see it. And now he felt like he could never live without them.
