Learning to Be Little Again(57)

“Why don’t you take a little nap, sweetie?” I suggested, pulling the blanket up underneath her chin.

“I don’t wanna.” She yawned again.

“You may not want to, but your body thinks you should. You can take just a half an hour nap.” I tried to compromise with her, knowing that once she fell asleep, she would probably be out for hours.

“No.”

“Juliana, I would have no problem turning you down on my knee and spanking that bottom of yours until it glows right now, but I won’t since you were just in a car accident.”

The instant smile on her face told me she thought she was about to win this argument. Oh, how wrong my baby girl was.

“However, if you keep this disobedience up, I’ll remember it and the second that you’re better, I’ll redden that bottom of yours,” I said, giving her a look that said I meant business as her smile disappeared.

“I would listen to him, Juliana. He even scares me when his palm gets twitchy,” Mark joked.

“Fine. Promise you’ll be here when I wake up?”

“I promise. Now close your eyes and go to dreamland.”

“Okay.” She yawned again, and within three minutes her breathing evened out.

Mark gestured for me to follow him out into the hall. Placing a kiss on Juliana’s head, I followed him outside.

“Do you want me to go to your house and pick up a change of clothes for the both of you and some other stuff? That way you don’t have to leave her,” he suggested.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I don’t mind. If it was my girl in there, I wouldn’t want to leave her side for a second.”

“Okay, thanks. I owe you one,” I said, giving him my keys.

“It’s no problem. I’m sure you’d do the same for me if the roles were reversed.”

I nodded. We hugged each other and then he left to go pick up those items as I walked back into Juliana’s room.

I sat down in the chair and just stared at her. I had almost lost her today. My worst fears almost came to life. I didn’t know what I would have done if that had happened. All I knew right now was that I was going to do everything in my power to protect her.





Chapter Twenty-Four





“Alright, Juliana, you are set to go home,” Dr. Grey said to me as he signed my discharge papers.

I sighed, so happy that I could go home and be in my own space again. “Thank you so much, Dr. Grey.”

“I’ll see you in a couple of weeks when it’s time to take those casts off. Take good care of her, Robert,” Dr. Grey said, giving Robert’s shoulder a light pat as he left the room.

Earlier Robert had helped me dress and had given me my purse with my teddy bear tucked inside. I was all ready to go. Except I had to wait for someone to escort me out of the hospital in a wheelchair. Stupid hospital policies.

Carefully, I swung my legs over the side of the bed. Robert was by my side in an instant. “Be careful, sweetie. You shouldn’t be moving around by yourself.”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry. I only broke a couple of bones,” I chuckled, but stopped when I saw the look on his face. He looked almost angry. I was about to ask him why when a nurse came with a wheelchair.

“Ready to go, Juliana?”

“Yes.”

Before the nurse could help me out of bed, Robert had me in his arms and placed me down in the wheelchair.

“Thank you, sir. That makes my job much easier.” The nurse chuckled and together we left the room.



* * *



When we got to Robert’s house, he once again carried me upstairs and surprisingly into my little girl’s room. I thought he would have brought me into his bedroom, where I normally slept.

“What are we doing in here?” I asked, as he laid me down on something soft on top of the dresser that hadn’t been there before.

“I’m taking care of my baby girl, silly,” he said, and then plopped a pacifier from out of nowhere into my mouth.

What the heck is going on? I never used pacifiers. I was going to spit it out to ask him if he had lost his mind, but he put his finger to the pacifier and said, “If you spit that out, young lady, I will send you to bed early. Don’t worry about anything. Daddy is here to take care of you.”

He removed his finger and for the time being, I didn’t spit out the pacifier. I closed my eyes, trying to suck on it, while I heard him move around. I still felt very sore from the accident, but as long as I didn’t move too quickly, I was fine.

I didn’t understand what had happened to Robert though. He had been fine before I fell asleep to take a nap in the hospital yesterday. But when I had woken up, he had been almost a little… possessive and angry. It started to scare me because it reminded me slightly of how Boyle had treated me, like I was his possession.