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Nora got up and gingerly padded down the many halls, turning left and right as the mansion maze unfolded. The home opened up into a grand space at the end of one hall. By the furnishings, Nora knew it was Hudson’s home office. The place was more like an immense old-world library than a mere office with rolling ladders reaching up to shelf after shelf of leather-bound books.
The well-appointed room smelled of firewood, furniture polish, leather, and, oddly, lavender perfume, Old Spice men’s aftershave, and the residual scent of pipe tobacco. Yet Nora knew the latter three had nothing to do with Hudson.
She let her fingers run across a shelf of gold-embossed books. The lavender, Old Spice, and tobacco scents came from the books themselves.Maybe these are his parent’s books. Maybe he kept the literary relics around to be close to the people he barely had a chance to know.Something about the act endeared her all the more to Hudson. It was as if he clung to the past, to the essence of his family, as a guide to walk alone into the future.
All across the log walls hung black and white photos of people and times past and artwork and paintings depicting the mighty polar bear in all its glory. She found it curious, her mind going back to Hannah’s talk about polar bears before bed. What was with the interest in the animal?
The nurse was about to take her leave when she spotted an intricately carved box on Hudson’s desk. She sat down in his chair and looked it over. It appeared like one of those ancient puzzle boxes where you had to move the slats of wood in just the right order to get the box to open.
Nora flashed a playful smile and started feeling her way around the fine grain wood, pushing here, tugging there, until she heard a click. She looked to the side of the box. A piece of lower trim stuck out, and when she carefully pulled it, the box top popped open.
Nora chuckled. “Yay. Did it.”
Inside, on a bed of royal blue velvet, lay a flawless crystal figurine in the shape of a polar bear.
Nora laughed again. “Figures. I wonder where he got it?”
Was it a gift? Did it come from someone special?She surely didn’t know. But by its prominence on the desk and its obvious value, it had to have great meaning for the construction tycoon.
Nora dared not touch the crystal, fearing to leave prints. Instead, she carefully closed the lid, pushed back the lower wood trim, and placed the box back where she found it.
A part of her felt shame for even snooping as she had done, but seeing the priceless ornament and his private world in the man’s den made her want to know more about the mystery man, who, at this point, was far from a mere client. And Nora felt the desire even if she dared not voice it.
The nurse looked in on Hannah one more time. The child lay sound asleep, cuddling her polar bear. Nora made her way down the hall and into her bedroom, where sleep wouldn’t be far behind.
As she changed into her pajamas, a winter wind picked up and buffeted against the window panes.A squall? Maybe.Colorado, in the dead of winter, could have vicious storms.
Nora dove under the goose-down duvet and pulled the covers up to her neck. She wasn’t cold. The log mansion was the warmest home she had ever been in. It was more doubt and worry that chilled her bones. Neither was linked to Hannah’s recovery, for she was doing so well. Nora figured the little girl would be steady on crutches before they knew it.
Nora’s romantic notions lay at Hudson’s feet. Her thoughts and actions of late were absolutely wrong, professionally, and, more importantly, personally. Nora had never fallen for a client before. The thought had never entered her mind. She was a caregiver, and she did her job extremely well.
But coming to know Hudson and Hannah as she did, her professional wall simply crumbled. Her heart lay exposed, and she had no idea how to cement it back in.
What am I doing here if I’m crossing a line? And fantasies about belonging to this family are ridiculous. I don’t belong to such an affluent family, and I doubt Hudson sees me as anything more than one of his staff. I can’t measure up to this man even if I tried.
Nora punched her down pillow so hard it gave off audible puffs. She feared one more punch, and she’d be covered in feathers.
The nurse lay back and let her gaze wander over to the expansive window where the snow kept falling, now in sideswiping gusts. Howls came down the fireplace flue, and limbs from the frozen oaks outside scratched their skeletal fingers along the mighty cabin logs.
With her lips hidden under the duvet, she whispered. “I wish Hudson were here. I feel safer when he is. This house, although majestic, is so empty and cold without him.”
She turned over and saw the pillow beside her untouched. She ran her hand across its cool, smooth texture and wished the down was dented and warmed by another. An, oh, so handsome bed partner who was currently so very far away.
FOURTEEN
HUDSON
Hudson finally returned from his latest business trip, tired and mentally worn. Secretly, he hoped he’d open the door and find not only Hannah to greet him but Nora, too.
Sadly, the foyer was empty, but he could hear Hannah’s physiotherapists hard at work putting the little girl through her daily exercise regimen.
“Okay, now, Hannah. You keep up this speed, and you will be walking all on your own soon,” a disembodied voice said. He could hear the sound of them packing up their items, and he knew the session was over.
“Yippee!”
Hudson heard his little girl’s voice and beamed. “Hannah? Where’s Hannah?” Hudson called out.
“Hudson!” Within seconds, her wheelchair rolled into the expansive entrance.
