“What are you smiling about?” he asks, lifting his arms to let me tuck the sheets in.
“Nothing.” I reach over and finally press the call button for the nurse.
“You’re going to love this, aren’t you?”
I pause midplump of his pillow and break out into a smile when I catch his disgruntled face. He’s a big, powerful man, who has been reduced to a weak, injured soul. This will be hard for him. “I have the power.”
“Don’t get used to it,” he says with a grunt, just as the door swings open and the nurse hurries in.
“Oh! Oh my!” She’s by his bed and checking the machinery in a second, faffing around and feeling for his pulse. “Welcome back, Jesse,” she says, but he just grunts some more and looks up to the ceiling. “Feeling groggy?”
“Shit,” he confirms. “When can I go home?”
My eyes roll, and the nurse laughs. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Eyes, please.” She gets the pen light from her pocket and waits for my grouchy Lord to drop his greens for her, and when he does, she falters slightly before resuming medical duties. “Your wife has told me all about these eyes,” she muses, flicking the pen from one to the other. “They really are quite something.”
I smile proudly and raise on my tiptoes to look over her bending body, finding him grinning from ear to ear. “Is that all she told you about, nurse?” he asks cheekily.
The jolly woman cocks a warning eyebrow. “No, she’s told me about that roguish grin, too. Bed bath?”
He recoils on a grimace, and I laugh. “No, I’ll shower.”
“No can do, young man. Not until the doctor checks you over and we remove your catheter.” She is putting him firmly in his place.
His horror increases, and the nurse lifts his catheter frame to demonstrate the obstacle. The mortification all over his handsome, hairy face is really quite a picture. “For fuck’s sake,” he mutters, dropping his head back to the pillow and closing his eyes to hide from his embarrassment.
“I’ll call the doctor.” She chuckles as she leaves the room and I’m once again alone with my poor, dependant husband.
“Get me out of here, baby,” he begs.
“No way, Ward.” I pour him some water and stick a straw in the plastic cup, then put it to his dry lips. “Drink.”
“Is it bottled?” he asks, eyeing up the jug on the side.
“I doubt it. Stop being a water snob and drink.”
He takes a few sips. “Don’t let that nurse give me a bed bath.”
“Why not?” I ask, placing the cup on the unit next to the bed. “It’s her job, Jesse, and she’s been doing it very well for the past two weeks.”
“Two weeks?” he blurts. “I’ve been out for two weeks?”
“Yes, but it felt more like two hundred years.” I rest my backside on the edge of the bed and take his hand, twirling his wedding band thoughtfully. “Don’t ever complain to me about having a long day again.”
“Okay,” he agrees. “She hasn’t really been sponging me down, has she?”
I smile. “No, I have.”
I’m stunned when his eyes sparkle and he pouts playfully. How can he even think about that? “So while I was naked and unconscious, you were…fondling me?”
“No, I was washing you.”
“And you didn’t have a sneaky touch?”
“Of course.” I brace my hands on either side of his head and float my face over his smug one. “I needed to lift your limp dick to get to your saggy balls.” I’m not able to prevent my grin, especially when his eyes widen before narrowing fiercely. This is a man who prides himself on his body and sexual capabilities. I shouldn’t tease him like this.
“I’m in hell,” he mutters. “Fucking hell on earth. Get me a doctor. I’m going home.”
“You’re going nowhere.” I kiss him chastely and leave him brooding and muttering on the bed while I nip to the loo. It’s the first time in weeks, probably my whole life, that I’ve carried out the mundane chore with a huge smile on my face. My heart is beating strongly in my chest. I might even be giving our babies a headache.
When I reenter his room, the doctor is examining Jesse. I stand quietly to the side while listening to the questions and one word answers that are exchanged between the two men. I make mental notes and watch carefully as the Doctor redresses the wound and removes the drains. He seems happy with the healing and delighted with Jesse’s alertness. The doctor isn’t so keen to remove Jesse’s catheter, though, and not even a five-minute heated exchange of words between them convinces him.