Aaron looked at Prita as if to confirm this was true. She nodded. ‘He got too hot and thirsty, so we’ve put him in a cold bath and he has to drink some juice and water and I’m going to help him out by hooking him up to the saline drip here.’
‘Is that bad?’ Aaron asked in a quavering voice.
‘I don’t need the drip,’ Flynn said, his eyes firmly on Aaron. She knew what he was thinking, but she didn’t need an act of stupid bravado stopping him from getting better as quickly as he could.
Keeping her voice calm and firm, she said, ‘Who’s the doctor here?’
‘You are,’ Aaron said.
‘And what’s the rules about following doctor’s orders?’
‘You have to do what they say if you want to get better quick.’
‘That’s right.’ She smiled and touched his shoulder. ‘Just like you’re doing with that shoulder, right?’
‘Right.’ He turned to his dad. ‘You have to have the drip, Dad, if Doctor Prita says so.’
Flynn’s lips twitched—a good sign the cool of the bath and the fluids they’d got into him were working. ‘Okay.’
‘Good, glad there’s no arguing.’
‘Mummy hates arguing,’ Carter piped up. ‘And she’s always right.’
Prita smiled at her son. ‘Thanks, Carter.’ She wasn’t always right—in fact, she’d so often been wrong lately—but it was lovely to hear his belief in her. She turned back to Aaron. ‘You can give your dad a hug if you like.’
‘I won’t hurt him?’
‘You could never hurt me, A-man.’ Flynn pulled Aaron to him, cradling his head against his damp chest. Prita’s eyes prickled. Carter sidled up to her and put his head on her shoulder.
‘Okay, Mummy?’
‘Okay, sweetheart.’
‘Can I help?’
The different colours in his eyes shone intensely in the muted light of the bathroom, but there were no shadows there. No fear. Just concern and the wish to be of use. Heart swelling, she rubbed her nose against his before giving him a kiss on his cheek. ‘You and Tilly and Grumpy could go and make sure Flynn’s bed is ready for him. He’s going to need to lie down for a while. And he’ll also need a jug of water and a glass and a big bowl of ice as well. Can you take care of that with the others for me?’
‘I can do that.’ Carter’s chest stuck out as he stood away from her. He went over and took Tilly by the hand. ‘Come on, Tills. We’ve got a job to do.’
‘I’ll help them,’ Barb said, her eyes moist, before she followed Diarmuid and the kids out the door.
Prita turned back to the bath. Aaron had his head on his dad’s chest, staring at her. ‘He’s still hot.’
‘Yes, he is. But you can help me deal with that, okay?’
‘Okay.’
As she set up the drip, Aaron helped his dad sip his juice and put ice in the water that Reid and Nat brought in, and Flynn, given no other choice, had to lie back and take their help and act like he liked it for his son’s sake.
She’d never been so impressed with another human being as she was in that moment with Flynn Findlay.
Chapter 27
Prita only left Flynn long enough to shower and change clothes and grab something to eat after they’d moved him to his room and he’d fallen peacefully asleep. She hadn’t wanted to leave him for that long, but she stank of the bushfire and didn’t want him waking to the smell and falling into his fears again. Also, it wouldn’t help him if she didn’t eat or drink. But once she was done, and had seen Carter settled into bed in the room they’d been given, her papa taking the bed that had been hers when she’d come back from the hospital, she returned to Flynn and didn’t leave him. People came and went, offering to take over from her, but she refused. She sat by his bedside, keeping him cool and hydrated, stroking his brow, holding his hand, kissing the roughness of his knuckles as he slept, not caring if anyone was in the room to see her do it and watched him sleep.
Exhaustion did finally creep up on her because she woke with a start, the room completely dark. Someone had come in and pulled the thick curtains across the windows and turned off the light and placed a blanket over her in the chair she was sitting in.
She stood up, rubbing her eyes and yawned. She was thirsty and her mouth tasted horrible. She turned on the bedside light and poured herself some water, gulping it down, then returned to the chair beside the bed to watch Flynn as he slept. He looked so peaceful in sleep. Like he didn’t have a care in the world. She couldn’t help bending over and kissing his forehead, his lips, stroking his hair back from his face, breathing in the scent of him.
She’d almost given up on him. On everything. She’d been such a fool.
She’d said to him that he was living in the past and letting fear rule his life, and the irony was, that was exactly what she’d been doing. She’d wanted what her mother and father had, but at the same time had feared it. Feared being rejected. Feared loss. That fear had made her deny being loved by her mother’s family, of belonging to them, holding herself apart because of beliefs she’d only just discovered were not true. She’d got that wrong and she’d got this wrong too.
Love wasn’t something to fear. It didn’t hold you down. It was something to embrace. Something to strive for. Something that opened you up and set you free.
She wanted Flynn. Wanted his love. She’d thought she could walk away and leave him and it would be for the
