Natalie shifted her hand from Shane’s forehead. Her beautiful face shone with worry.
He’s really burning up. It’s obvious that he had been sick for a while now. Did no one around him notice it?
Natalie sighed and went to the kitchen to get some ice. She wrapped them up in a towel and placed them on Shane’s forehead to try to lower his temperature.
She hoped that it would ease his suffering a little.
There was nothing else she could do after that. All that was left to do was to wait for the doctor to show up.
Soon, the doctor arrived. He gave Shane a shot and attached the latter to a bag of saline before prescribing a lot of medicine.
Even looking from the side got Natalie to feel nervous. “Doctor, is he okay?” asked Natalie after seeing how the man on the bed was no longer frowning as much.
The doctor put his things away and informed, “Yes, he’ll be fine. His fever should go down by the time the saline finished dripping into his system. Let him rest well for now. It seems that his physical state is weakened, and it is likely he has slept little lately. Coupled that with the chilly weather, it was only natural that he developed a fever.”
He didn’t rest well?
Natalie’s eyes shone with realization.
So I am not the only one who hasn’t had a chance to rest well. He has been tired, too. But I guess that makes sense. Who would sleep well after everything that had happened?
“Got it. Thank you,” said Natalie as she forced a smile on her face. She walked the doctor out after that.
Then, she returned to the bedroom.
Her kids were taking off their shoes and were climbing onto the beds.
Seeing that got Natalie to put a finger on her lips and whispered to her kids, “Be good. Don’t bother Mr. Shane. He is sick and needs to rest.”
“Okay, we won’t make any noise. We just want to see how he’s doing,” replied Sharon as she sat obediently beside Shane. She was staring at Shane’s face when she answered her mother.
Natalie grinned and replied, “Okay, then come back out soon. Don’t disturb him. I’ll go finish cleaning the dishes now.”
“Okay,” replied the kids, who nodded simultaneously.
Natalie went to the kitchen after that.
It was nine at night when she was finally done with the dishes.
It was the kids’ bedtime, but they hadn’t left the bedroom yet, so Natalie went in to get them to shower and sleep.
To her surprise, the first thing she saw when she opened the door was her kids sleeping soundly lying beside Shane.
Natalie’s heart melted when she saw that, but that was soon replaced with sorrow.
She couldn’t believe that her kids weren’t Shane’s.
She sighed slightly, but she didn’t wake the kids up. Instead, she let them sleep there.
Shane will definitely sleep until tomorrow morning, and the kids are sound asleep, so they won’t disturb him, anyway.
After coming to that conclusion, Natalie closed the door gently and left the room. She went to sleep in the kids’ room that night.
When Shane woke up the next morning, he saw a cute, chubby face right in front of him.
It was Sharon.
Seeing that he was awake, Sharon jumped out of bed happily and ran out of the room. As she did so, she called out, “Mr. Shane is up, Mommy!”
The words “Mr. Shane” extinguished the warmth in Shane’s eyes and what replaced it was fear.
First Connor, and now Sharon is calling me Mr. Shane, too.
I-I really broke their hearts.
Shane swallowed hard. At that moment, his emotions were down in the dumps.
“You’re up?” said Natalie all of a sudden.
Shane sat up and turned to her.
Natalie had a cup of water in her hand, and the kids were with her.
“Are you still having a headache?” asked Natalie as she handed him the cup of water.
Shane shook his head after accepting the water. His voice was coarse when he answered, “It only hurts a little.”
“Drink up,” reminded Natalie.
Shane hummed in acknowledgment and drank some water.
It was warm and a little salty.
Shane stared at Natalie curiously.
She answered, “It’s only natural that your body will be dehydrated after the whole ordeal. I put some salt in there to replenish your nutrients.”
Shane nodded and said, “Thank you.”
“It’s nothing,” replied Natalie before retrieving the cup. “I’ve already called Mr. Campbell earlier this morning. He’ll be here to pick you up later. Go freshen up and have some breakfast. You’re supposed to take your medication after eating.”
