Chapter Sixteen – Hank

“Poor Lauren.” Emily turned away from them and wiped her eyes.

Elise and Hank had stopped at the hotel on the way home, preferring to tell Emily the news in person rather than over the phone. “The doctors are doing everything they can,” Elise told Emily, placing her hands on her shoulders. “Here, have a hug, it always makes things better.”

Emily’s tough exterior crumbled. “She’s always so happy. Since I took on more responsibility, she’s had my back, always willing to help out.”

“And she’ll be back, I’m sure, it’s too soon to know anything yet.” Elise rubbed Emily’s back, while Hank stood next to them, feeling pretty damn useless. His life away from the music industry had been about helping others. But this was out of his hands, and it didn’t sit well with him. Maybe because this had hit him so hard. Lauren was a young woman with a great future ahead of her.

“We have to think positive thoughts.” Emily nodded. “I can do that.”

“We all can.” Elise looked done in, the dimmed lights of the hotel lobby made the dark shadows under her eyes looked like bruises. His protective side kicked in.

“We should go, Elise. You have to get up for work in the morning.” He reached out for her, needing the reassurance of touching her. “At least Thor is with her.”

“Wait, Thor and Lauren are mates?” Emily asked, pulling away from Elise. She dashed the tears from her eyes and sniffed loudly. “So that’s what’s been up with those two.”

“Yes. They had a couple of issues, but they’re okay now.” Elise nodded and clenched her jaw as she tried not to cry. “Hank is right, we should go.”

“Let me know if you hear anything else.” Emily ran a finger underneath her eyes and straightened her jacket. With a shake of her head, she looked calm and professional. Unless you looked too closely. Although prone to putting on a hard exterior, Emily had a warmth and a softness Hank adored.

“We will.” Hank took Elise’s hand and led her out of the hotel lobby. “Come on, bed for you.”

She leaned against him. “I hope this isn’t our fault.” Her breath shuddered through her body as she fought to control her emotions. Tired and overwrought, it would be easy to give in to guilt.

“It’s not, and I’m sure, whatever the test results show, that Lauren will pull through.” He opened the truck door and helped her inside. “We’ll be there for them, every step of the way,” he reassured her.

“We will.” Elise buckled her seatbelt and leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes as Hank ran around to the driver’s side and got in. Elise wasn’t the only one who needed sleep.

“It has to turn out okay, I wrote a song for Thor. I want to see him on stage at the music festival.” He started the engine; the headlights illuminated their way as they retraced their steps back to Bear Creek.

They reached her house and fell into bed, wrapped up in each other’s arms. Only when Elise’s breathing told him she was asleep did he close his eyes. Sleep came quick, filled with images of Elise fading into nothing as he tried to hold onto her hands.

“Hank. Hank, it’s morning.” Elise shook him awake, and he opened his eyes, taking a moment to focus. Relief that she was still there, that he hadn’t let her slip away, flooded him.

“You’re dressed.” He kissed her sweet mouth and sat up. She looked better this morning, although tiredness still haunted her.

“I am.” The corners of her mouth twitched as she tried to smile, but tears filled her eyes and she pulled away from him. “I made coffee. It’s on the nightstand.” She reached for her jacket, which was draped over the wicker chair in the corner of the room. “I wanted to be early, so I could see Lauren and Thor before I start work.” Elise shrugged on her jacket and picked up her shoes, slipping them on her feet as she walked toward the door.

“Any news?” Hank got out of bed, ensnaring Elise in his arms before she could escape him. She ducked her head, avoiding his eyes as she swallowed down her tears. “Hey, come on.”

“I’ll be okay.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned against his chest. “And no. No news.”

“Do you want me to come with you to the hospital?” Hank ran soothing hands over her back, then squeezed her tight in his strong arms, arms that were useless against sickness and disease.

With a shake of her head, Elise pulled back. “Life goes on. You should go to work as usual, the hotel is already short-staffed with Lauren not there. I’ll let you know as soon as I have news.”

He let her go. She was strong, and she was right. They had to carry on.

Dressing quickly, he gulped down his coffee, then went downstairs. There was nothing he could do except wait, so he might as well make use of his time and write a new song. The music festival had to go ahead, and he’d pick up the slack, and make sure it raised a lot of money for the hospital. An image of Thor and Lauren’s parents, distraught as they waited for news about the woman they all loved, would spur him on. The more funds the hospital had, the more people they could help.

Hank drove to his house in the hills, grateful for the fresh morning air. Last night’s storm had broken the heat wave, he hoped it hadn’t been responsible for breaking Lauren. Knowing Elise, she would never forgive herself if their trip to the mountains was to blame. And then there was Thor. Since he was the sole reason they were in the mountains, he would spend his life beating himself up about it. If Lauren…

“She’s not gonna die,” he ground out as he parked his truck in front of the house and mounted the porch. He paused, looking in the direction of the trees, to the spot where he’d first seen Elise. “She’s not gonna die.”

With that, he went inside, made a pot of coffee, ate some cereal, and then grabbed his guitar. Drawing on the emotions coursing through him, he focused on his music and wrote out a song in a frantic flurry of scribbles and crossed out words. It was as if the song came to him from a deeper level of consciousness. When it was done, he got up and headed for the shower.

“This is good.” The unmistakable voice of his father met him as he came back downstairs, rubbing his hair with a towel.

“What the hell are you doing in my house?” Hank spat at his father, who held up a sheet of paper, filled with the notes and lyrics of his new song.

“I knocked, there was no answer.” His father’s voice creaked, as if he were a door hung on old hinges. The years hadn’t been kind. But then he wasn’t a kind man.

“So you just came in?” Hank accused as he crossed the room and took the pages from his father’s hands.

“I thought you might be avoiding me.” He gave Hank a resigned smile as he relinquished the pages. “Like you have been for the past thirty years.”

“Wait, you don’t get to just walk into my house and start this conversation.” Hank waved his hand at his father dismissively.

“One of us had to.” His father smiled weakly. “I thought it should be me. And it would have happened a lot sooner, but I could never find you.”

“And do you know the reason for that?” Hank grabbed the remainder of the handwritten fragments of song off the table and shuffled them together. He was nineteen again, facing off with his father. The years hadn’t changed either one of them.

No, that wasn’t true. Hank was a man in charge of his own destiny. This was his life and no one, least of all his father, was ever going to have power over him again.

Except our mate, his bear reminded him fiercely.

Duh, Hank spat back.

“You hated me.” His dad shrugged his thin shoulders. “You thought I betrayed the memory of your mom.”

“Betrayed her memory? Is that what you think?” Hank dragged a hand through his hair as he tried to keep ahold of his temper. “I’m not doing this. Get out!”

“Hank, please.” His father slumped forward as if defeated. “I want to clear the air between us. It’s what your mom would have wanted.”

“Don’t.” Hank pointed to the door. “Get out, or I’ll call the police.”

We could pick him up and throw him out, his bear snarled.

He’s an old man, Hank reminded him, trying to calm down as anger and pain flooded his veins.

His father swayed on unsteady feet. “I’ll go.” He turned around and left the house, and Hank let out a sharp breath. It was as if the house he loved and the new song he’d written were tainted by the man he loathed.

“Knock, knock.” A woman stood in the doorway. She was about the same age as Hank, and vaguely familiar. “I’m your wicked stepmother.” She smiled nervously. “Can we talk?”

Hank huffed out a breath. “Isn’t today full of surprises.”

She stood in the doorway, as she had that night when she’d come to Hank and told him what kind of man his father was. Only today, she fiddled nervously with her purse, and couldn’t meet his eyes for more than a second. It was as if looking too long at her stepson might turn her to stone. “I want to apologize.”

“For my dad? He’s got you doing his dirty work?” Hank stared right at her.

She took a step forward, crossing the threshold and entering his house. “No. For what I said.” Her jaw clenched, and her eyes misted up as she focused her attention on the exposed oak beams.

“What you said?” Hank cast his mind back to the only time he’d spoken to… Dammit, he didn’t even know her name.

She dabbed her eye. “I’ve lived with the guilt of what happened for thirty years. Lewis forgave me, and I’ve spent every day trying to be a good person in the hope I might redeem myself.”

“I’m not following.” Was she genuine, or was this a setup? If she was putting on an act, she belonged on Broadway.

“I was having an affair with your father. Rumors were spread, and Lewis didn’t want you to get hurt. He knew how much you missed your mom.” She looked away as she paused, her hands clasped together as she composed herself enough to continue. “Lewis ended our relationship.” She nodded, the pain in her expression raw.

“And you came and told me he was sleeping with my fans. Taking advantage of them. Isn’t that what you said?” He took a step backward, turned on his heel and circling the room as he tried to integrate these new facts into his opinion of his father.

“I did. But I lied. I was young. And he broke my heart. I knew we belonged together. Not in the same way mates do.” She shook her head. “I knew going into the relationship that I would never be your mother. He explained all that stuff to me. But I also knew he loved me and needed me.”

Hank put his hands on his hips and stared out of the window. “My life has been lived on a lie.”

She didn’t answer, her quiet sobs filled the room as he fought to comprehend what would drive a person to do what she did.

Love, his bear replied. The same love that made Lauren push Thor away. The same love Elise had for her dead twin. Fated mates were not the only ones to experience deep, passionate, sometimes self-destructive love.

“I know it was unforgivable. And I know I have no right to ask. But will you see Lewis, make peace with him? And our son, he longs to meet his older brother. You don’t have to see me…”

“I’d like you to leave.” He didn’t have to ask twice, she didn’t beg or plead, she simply turned around and left his house.