Lily
I wished Harrison would have plonked me in one of the wheelchairs which had been stacked like supermarket trolleys by the front doors of the hospital. Why he had insisted that I came along was beyond me. He ran through the corridors at a speed I was struggling to keep up with. My back hurt and my legs felt like jelly, but I gritted my teeth and chased after him.
Clearly, the news he had received hadn’t been good. For one, we were at a hospital, so that was bad enough in itself, but the way his face had paled when he’d taken the call meant it was concerning someone significant to him. I prayed it wasn’t a wife. Although I wasn’t entirely sure why that would be an issue.
Entering a ward, he hurried over to the receptionist. “Phillipa Cole?”
Cole? Jesus, he was fucking married!
“Room four. Down the corridor and on the left.”
Harrison nodded, grabbed my hand, and took off again. I could barely breathe when he flung open the door and hurried inside.
“Tammy,” he greeted sourly. His usual surly self was not exclusive to me then.
A tall woman stood from where she sat beside the bed. Sweeping her long blonde hair out of her face, she rushed over to Harrison and fell into his arms. Her heart-wrenching sobs swallowed the rhythmic beeps from the array of machines in the room.
“How is she?”
I felt awkward and took a step back when they both turned to look at the little girl laid on the bed, her tiny frame shrouded in a thin white sheet.
“They think it’s meningitis. Not again, Harry! Not again.”
My mind raced with many thoughts as I watched husband and wife cower to the horror that faced them.
From what I could tell, the girl looked to be around nine and was as blonde as Tammy. A mass of yellow tresses cascaded over a crisp white pillow. Her lips looked extra pink against the backdrop of pale skin and her long thick eyelashes framed eyes that were peacefully closed.
Harrison dropped into the chair and took his daughter’s hand. Although his mouth moved, he didn’t speak to her. Instead, he opened her hand and drew tiny little symbols over her palm as he spoke silently to himself.
“Hi.”
I blinked when Tammy smiled softly at me. I could tell she sensed my feeling of awkwardness when she held out her hand. “I’m Tammy. You must be Lily, Harrison’s told me a lot about you.”
“He has?” I mumbled stupidly, my gaze flicking to Harrison who was still completely absorbed in his daughter.
Tammy grimaced. “I know he’s never supposed to tell anyone about who he works with, but I’m always so excited by his job that I bully him until he gives in and tells me. Philly and I play a game whenever Harry gets a new client.” She smiled sadly. “Philly always wins and guesses it. It’s like she has this sixth sense when it comes to her dad.” Swallowing heavily, her face paled and swells of tears filled her eyes when she looked back at her daughter. “She was so excited when she found out Harry was protecting you. She’s a huge Quantum Rock fan, and she begged him to let her meet you.” She shook her head quickly as if she’d said something inappropriate. “Although we know Harry couldn’t ever do that. That would be so rude.”
Pain and worry poured from her in suffocating waves, and my heart broke for her. Nothing but desolation and hopelessness reflected from her eyes, and the way her shoulders sagged with exhaustion and her legs trembled had me leading her over to the bed and settling her down on it.
Harrison, as if noticing me for the first time, looked up and groaned when he saw my hand in Tammy’s as she held onto me like I could make it all better for her. “Shit, I’m so sorry. Lily, this is Tammy, my ex-wife.”
I didn’t understand why I was so relieved by the word ‘ex’. Harrison’s private life had nothing to do with me. Yet, after spending nearly a month with him, even the new things I learned from him, and about him, still surprised me. He was such a solitary man, his thoughts and feelings very private. Then again, we all had secrets. Hell, I had a shit ton of them.
The door opened and when a doctor walked in I offered to step outside, but Harrison wouldn’t have any of it.
“You stay where I can see you, Lily,” he ordered sternly, his eyes fixed on me in warning. I was sure he thought I would do a runner. Like that would be wise with a crazy motherfucker after me. And, besides, I couldn’t bloody run for toffee.
Tammy attempted to hide the amusement from her face and rolled her eyes at me, apparently well versed with Harrison’s barked commands.
“We have ruled out meningitis,” the doctor announced.
The relief that spilt from not only Harrison and Tammy’s long exhalations but also their postures physically lightened the stifling air in the room.
“So, what’s wrong with her?” Harrison barked.
The doctor, seemingly ignorant to Harrison’s lack of tact, shook his head slowly. “All indications are leading to a virus.”
“Isn’t that what you doctors always say for ‘We have no bloody idea’?”
“Harry!” Tammy chastised with a scowl before she turned back to the doctor and sighed. “So, she’s going to be okay?”
“Even if it doesn’t look like it right now, Phillipa is responding well to treatment. Her temperature is now at a good steady level. Learning from the regular observations, her body appears to be handling the infection much better than when she was brought in.”
“Thank fuck!” Tammy said, blowing out a long breath when the doctor vacated the room.
“Go freshen up and get some food in you,” Harrison told her. “We’ll stay for a while.”
“That’s okay, you’re working, Harry.”
“Tammy, just for once, do as you’re told.”
She sighed and shook her head at me. “You wouldn’t think we’ve been divorced for five years.”
She scurried away when Harrison bit his lip and scowled.
“I just thought it was me that made you such a grumpy bugger. Now I know it’s just the way you are!” I snorted.
Turning the scowl on me, he cocked his head. “I just thought it was me that made you so damn irritating. But, alas, I fear you’re the same with everyone,” he countered with that bloody annoying smirk of his.
“Fuck you,” I mumbled light-heartedly as I slid onto the bottom of Philly’s bed. “How old is she?”
“Eight.”
He planted himself back in the chair beside her, and the soft smile that lifted his lips when he looked at his daughter brought a smile of my own.
“She’s very pretty. Clearly, she takes after her mum.”
He scoffed.
“But, I take it she has your strength, so she’ll be just fine.”
He shook his head but didn’t turn his gaze from Philly. “Nah. I’m not strong. She gets that from her mother too.”
“How long were you married for?” I felt intrusive, but I genuinely wanted to know this side of Harrison, a part I would never have imagined could exist.
“Three years. Philly was the creation of a drunken night. I’ve known Tammy all my life. We were childhood friends. One night she came to mine with a bottle of whisky, upset over the dickhead boyfriend of hers that had taken off for the millionth time. God only knows what happened that night, but we woke up the next morning on the floor, naked. Next thing, Tammy was pregnant.”
His openness stunned me for a moment and I sat staring at him.
Evidently, he took my silence as scepticism because he added. “And yes, she’s mine. We had a DNA test done to make sure Philly wasn’t the dickhead’s.”
I shook my head quickly. “No, I wasn’t thinking that. I’m just a little shocked how you stepped up and married her.”
The way his eyebrows lifted told me my runaway mouth had once again spat word vomit everywhere, and I cringed. “I didn’t mean that like it sounded either. Just that, umm…”
I shrugged and shut up.
“You know nothing about me, Lily. Just because we spend every damn minute of the day together doesn’t mean I should allow you in my fucking life!”
I reared back, wounded by his spitefulness. I had no idea where it had come from, but the way Harrison also glared at me told me he had meant every word.
His meanness shouldn’t have upset me. I shouldn’t have cared what he thought of me, but I couldn’t help it.
Nodding sadly, I bit my lip to stop myself from crying. “I’m sorry I’m taking up so much of your time. I’ll forward the remainder of your pay. You know, the extortionate amount of money you get for ‘spending every damn minute of the day’ with me!”
“Lily!” he warned when I opened the door. “You know I can’t leave Philly! Don’t you fucking dare!”
I slipped out of the room and into the hustle of the busy hospital.
And I went home.