Jona suddenly looked ten times smaller in his bed and Lora felt sorry for him. She took his hand again and leaned to kiss him on the cheek, but Jona turned his face, capturing her lips with his. His hand grabbed her chin and his tongue invaded her mouth hungrily. She gasped and pulled back, knowing it wasn't appropriate behaviour for a hospital, especially when they had an audience. Her face was burning and her eyes fell to the floor with mortification, but Jona, seemingly forgetting his anxiety about the surgery, turned and looked challengingly into young Isaac's eyes.

Lora felt a stab of anger at his pettiness. He felt threatened just as he always did around younger men. That was all it took for the Alpha in him to come out in full force and mark her.

A carer joined them and helped an embarrassed Isaac wheel Jona out with the bed. Lora walked beside them until they reached the great double doors. They shut behind them with a heart-thumping thud and she said a quick prayer for him before walking up the corridor to the nurses' station. Cara was sitting there on her own, drowning in paperwork. Lora cleared her throat and her friend looked up.

"Hey, hon! Sorry, I didn't get a chance to talk to you yet. I already got three admissions this morning. It's just me and the new kid today. Did they take him down? Jonathan?"

Lora nodded slowly. "Do you know how long he'll be? I'm thinking of going to my mother's for a while. The kids were still sleeping when I drove them over this morning and I want to make sure they're okay."

"Yeah, sure, go! It will be a couple of hours. Shaw isn't even in yet. Probably having a lie-in," she winked. But her face turned serious instantly as her large eyes settled somewhere over Lora's shoulder.

Lora turned and found none other than Dr Owen Shaw himself standing behind her with his blazing green eyes narrowed and his lips pursed.

"Good morning, Cara," he growled as his eyes sparkled with a hint of humour. Then he winked at Lora playfully and disappeared into his office.

Cara scowled slightly before whispering, "Seriously though. Wouldn't you jump his bones if you could?"

#

Lora opened the front door and immediately two pairs of footsteps came racing towards her. Aiden and Siena hugged her legs, almost causing her to fall over.

"Good morning to you too, my monkeys." She heard voices coming from the kitchen down the narrow hallway. "Who's grandma talking to?"

Aiden lifted his big blue eyes, so much like his father's, towards her. "Marion is here."

"Yes! She got us bonbons!" Siena squealed in delight as she jumped up and down and stuck out her tongue. It was deep blue in colour.

"Good grief, Siena, how many did you have?" Lora exclaimed, setting her coat on the pink-flowered sofa.

Siena stood still, a guilty look consuming her tiny face.

"How many did she have, Aiden?"

The boy crossed his arms over his chest and gave Siena a look that suggested he'd already warned her about what would happen but he stayed silent, not wanting to betray his little sister. At times like this, Lora hated how mature her son was for his age. She huffed and made her way into the kitchen where Carmen and Marion sat at the table drinking tea.

"Good morning, Lora. How are you?" Marion asked in a friendly voice. "And how is Jonathan?"

Lora smiled back at the round-faced woman. Marion had been a close friend of the family ever since she could remember. "He's in theatre. God willing, he will be better in a few days."

"We'll keep him in our prayers. If you need anything just let me know," she said standing up to leave. "Thanks for the tea, Carmen."

"Anytime dear," Lora's mother mumbled before standing up and busying herself at the kitchen sink. Lora turned back to check on Aiden and Siena who were happily chasing each other in the yard.

"Coffee?" Carmen offered as soon as she stepped back into the kitchen. Lora noticed how she was carefully avoiding her eyes.

"No, thanks," Lora answered as she arranged the chairs neatly around the round kitchen table. "Were the kids okay this morning?"

"Of course," Carmen nonchalantly replied as though it was the most obvious thing on earth. "Can you call them? See if they want some hot chocolate?"

"I think we should let Siena burn out all the sugar from her bonbon rush, don't you?"

The clatter of cutlery falling into the sink made Lora cringe. She peered at the short, stout woman with a kind face. She had aged. Her mother had aged and she barely noticed. "There it is. I'm sorry I let her have so many," Carmen exclaimed, scrubbing the dishes frantically but Lora cut her off lifting an empty packet from the table.

"She ate the whole pack, Ma!"

Carmen turned to face her, her features oozing disapproval at her daughter's rising voice. "She didn't have the whole pack, she had five. Aiden, Marion and I ate the rest."

"It's still too many!"

"She's just a child, Lora. Children love sweets."

"She's diabetic! All that sugar can literally kill her!"

This hit Carmen hard. All her anger ebbed away and was instantly replaced by horror. Lora regretted her words immediately. She knew how much Carmen loved her grandchildren. She doted on them like they were the axis upon which her world revolved.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I just don't want Siena to think it's okay to have a ton of sweets every day because it's not. Look, she's fine. She's running around she'll burn it off. Just be a bit more strict with her next time, okay?"

Carmen looked down at her hands for a few moments, still wet and soapy from washing the dishes, and then she broke down crying. Lora's eyes widened in shock as she went to her and put her arms around her mother's shoulders, trying to comfort her.

"Janet and Wayne lost the baby," Carmen bawled into her chest.

Lora's heart sank. Her brother and his wife had been trying to have a baby for two years now. This was their second miscarriage.

"Jesus, help us!" she muttered as she hugged her mother tighter.

#

Jona was transferred back to his room fifteen minutes after Lora arrived. She raised her eyes to the Heavens and thanked the Lord for bringing her husband back to her alive. He was still sedated from the anaesthesia. She could tell he wasn't in pain, but he could barely move with all the tubes going in and out of his body. Isaac told her he needed to stay on his back for at least six hours.

Jona's eyelids fluttered. If he heard, he didn't argue. He reached out his hand searchingly and Lora took it. He didn't let go when Isaac left the room and Lora, suddenly feeling drained, rested her head on the side of the bed and dozed off.

She was startled awake by the sound of Dr Shaw striding into the room in his green scrubs and lab coat. She watched as he made his way towards her and Lora found herself admitting that Cara was right.

There was something about the man that made him fatally attractive. He wasn't tall or well-built, but his arms looked strong, his posture straight but laid back at the same time. His soft, light brown curls contrasted beautifully with his green eyes and olive skin. There was an air of confidence and humility about him that made him seem approachable and intimidating all at once and the way his lips twisted upwards at the corners was almost vulgar in a weirdly desirable way.

"Mrs Scicluna?"

Lora snapped out of her daze and realised that Dr Shaw was right in front of her. She inwardly chastised herself for her reprehensible thoughts about a man who was not her husband.

"Yes?" she answered, clearing her throat in the process. She almost expected him to roll his eyes at her, but he gave her an uneven smirk instead. Her face flushed bright red as she noticed a single dimple on his left cheek.

"Has Jonathan woken up yet?" he repeated.

"No. He's sleeping. He seems peaceful."

His brows furrowed and he scratched his chin, just like he did yesterday. Nervous habit, Lora thought as she realised he had no stubble today. Then her eyes wandered to his hands. He had good, strong hands, with large palms, and long, capable, slightly calloused fingers, capped by short, clean nails. Trimmed, not bitten like hers. Veins wound their way smoothly beneath his skin as he flexed his fist.

"We gave him quite a bit of anaesthesia," he explained, his low voice full of understanding. "It wasn't an easy surgery but we weren't expecting it to be."

"I know," Lora gulped, looking up into his warm eyes. "His spine is a mess. The accident did a lot of damage..."

Her voice trailed off and Dr Shaw nodded slowly before turning to the parameters on the monitor. He checked the drain again and scowled at the fluid which had increased substantially since he came up from theatre.

"Do I need to keep an eye on it?"

She saw his lips curl slightly again and this time it was accompanied by a small chuckle which made her heart skip a beat and her brain beat her heart for being so silly.

"Cara told me you were a nurse here a few years ago. I'm expecting him to bleed a bit more than usual, but you don't have to worry." He paused, giving Lora a calculating look. She felt there was something else he wanted to say but then he looked away from her. "I'll see him again tomorrow," he announced finally and left the room in two long strides.

Lora crossed her arms over her chest, running her hands up and down her arms to soothe the goose bumps that suddenly textured her skin. She scanned the room uneasily and her eyes fell on the blue, tall cabinet by the window, right where it was seven months ago. They darted over to the blue armchair sitting by the bed, which stood in the centre of the room, under the bedhead unit, right where it was designed to be. She walked over to the bedside cupboard on the other side of the bed and glared at the over-bed table neatly stowed away by the bathroom door. Then she took in the cold, white walls, void of colour and full to the brim with haunting stories. Stories that belonged to her and only her. It would not be the same this time. She rolled up her sleeves and got to work.