CHAPTER 27
“I s she okay?” Hollis asked.
“You’re supposed to be asleep,” Raleigh said, walking back into the guest room Hollis had made her own, closing the door behind her.
“I usually leave the door open a crack in case she yells for me,” Hollis said.
“She just needed me to change the bedpan,” Raleigh explained.
“You should’ve gotten me for that. The nurse suggested a bedpan would be easier for her than having to get out and back into bed whenever she needed to go to the bathroom.”
“Hollis, it’s fine,” Raleigh replied, sliding under the blanket and opening her arm so that Hollis could move into her and rest her head against Raleigh’s chest. “Your mom is sweet. She told me to make sure you get to sleep a night through because she’s worried about you.”
“She’s worried about me ?”
“Babe, you’ve been taking care of her and working non-stop since you got here. She knows that.”
“She’s my mom. It’s my job,” Hollis said.
“She’s lucky to have you,” Raleigh replied, kissing the top of Hollis’s head. “Oh, she also mentioned that this is an old house with good, solid walls.”
Hollis looked up at her, confused.
“She also winked,” Raleigh added, smiling.
“Oh, my God… She thinks we’re in here having sex?”
“I told her we would just be sleeping tonight; that we could both use it.”
“My mother is trying to get me laid.”
Raleigh laughed and pointed out, “You didn’t tell her about us. ”
“No, I hadn’t told her yet ,” Hollis said, resting her head on her hand and propping her elbow up to look at Raleigh now.
“Why not? Should I be worried? Or am I just being paranoid because I don’t really know how to do this dating thing anymore?”
Hollis cupped Raleigh’s cheek then and replied, “You shouldn’t be worried. And you’re not being paranoid. I told her we’d gone on a date and that it hadn’t gone well but that I hadn’t been ready to talk about it. She’s pretty good at respecting my boundaries and privacy. I know she wants to ask more, but I’m an adult in my mid-thirties, so I think she feels like she needs to give me space, too. I hadn’t gotten around to telling her that we’d connected the other night and were now dating.”
“Connected, huh?” Raleigh smirked.
“Shut up,” Hollis said, laughing softly. “She had her appointment, and the doctor wanted to check her into the hospital for more tests, but she refused. I thought having the nurses here would help because they could administer–”
“Hey, it’s okay,” Raleigh said as Hollis continued to ramble off every worry she had these days. “Babe, it’s okay. I’m not upset with you for not telling her. I was teasing. Now, I think you could use a full eight hours tonight, so let’s get some sleep. I’ll be on Mom duty tonight, okay? If she needs something, I’ll get it. You stay asleep.”
“I can’t guarantee that will happen.”
“Can you at least try for me?” Raleigh asked.
“Yes. But as tired as I am, it’s just hard. I’m used to waking up now, so it just happens.”
“Can I help you get to sleep, at least?”
“How do you plan on doing that?”
“Same way I did the other night,” Raleigh said, lifting an eyebrow. “It worked so well the first time.”
“My mom is in the other room,” Hollis reminded, her cheeks flushing adorably.
“A quick one, then,” Raleigh replied. “Remember the first one? It was fast, and you just relaxed after that.”
“I remember all of it,” Hollis said as Raleigh climbed on top of her. “And we can just fall asleep. I don’t expect sex just because you’re staying over, Miss Leonard.” Hollis wrapped her arms around Raleigh’s neck.
“But I’m happy to offer my services to exceed your expectations, Miss Richardson,” she replied, leaning down and kissing Hollis slowly, just like they’d done in the kitchen before they’d gotten caught. “I love kissing you.”
“I love it, too,” Hollis replied right before Raleigh’s hand slipped into her shorts and underwear.
“And I love touching you,” Raleigh added, closing her eyes and pressing her forehead to Hollis’s.
“God…” Hollis let out softly. “I didn’t even know I needed this until you did.”
Raleigh stroked slowly as Hollis closed her eyes and opened her mouth. When her breathing grew faster, though, Raleigh took the hint and sped up her touches.
“Will you come for me?” she asked.
Hollis nodded, and Raleigh moved her fingers even faster. Hollis came then. She wasn’t loud in bed, that much Raleigh already knew. Raleigh, for her part, had never been as loud as she’d been the last time they’d been together. Her sore throat the next morning had been a welcomed surprise. As she watched Hollis come and then come down, though, she knew she liked the fact that Hollis was a quiet lover. There was something very peaceful in it for Raleigh about watching Hollis’s orgasms. Hollis was releasing everything in her body, and Raleigh got to be the one to help her do that.
“You’re so beautiful, babe,” she said, pressing a kiss to Hollis’s nose and then cheek. “So beautiful.”
“I want to touch–”
“Not tonight, okay? Sleep, Hollis.”
“But you–”
Raleigh kissed her and smiled down as she took in the now-tensionless face beneath her.
“I love what we just did. That’s all I need tonight, okay? ”
“Okay,” Hollis said softly.
◆◆◆
The lawyer had come and gone, and Raleigh had held Hollis’s hand through the very tough conversation while he’d done the best he could to help Hollis understand all of her mother’s wishes. Olivia had given pretty explicit details to the attorney way in advance, so she’d slept through the whole meeting, as Hollis hadn’t wanted to wake her. Raleigh had been the one to check on her once during the night and then to get her breakfast ready in the morning because both she and Olivia had wanted Hollis to sleep in. When Hollis had finally woken up around ten, she’d looked so cute in her mussed hair, sleepy expression, and wrinkled sleep clothes that Raleigh had kissed her right there, in Olivia’s bedroom, because she couldn’t not. Hollis’s mother had teased them, of course, but then they’d all sat together and talked for a bit until Olivia had fallen asleep and the lawyer had arrived.
After that, Hollis had gone into her room to change and get some work done on her laptop, and Raleigh had decided to make the living room her office for the day and had made hourly checks on Olivia, who had been in and out of it often.
“Hey. You’re up. Can I get you anything?” Raleigh asked, walking into Olivia’s room.
“No, I’m all right. I hate that the medicine makes me sleep this much,” Olivia replied, coughing a little as she tried to sit up.
“Let me help. And I’ll get you some water,” Raleigh said, helping Olivia sit up and holding the cup with a straw in it to her lips so she could take a sip.
“How is she?”
“Hollis? She’s fine. She’s in her room, working.”
“I don’t mean right now, Raleigh. I mean, how is she?”
“Oh,” Raleigh said. “I can get her for you. Maybe you two should–”
“I’m asking you . Hollis will only lie to me. ”
“No, she won’t. She–”
“She will because she thinks it’s her job to protect me , when it’s always been my job to protect her . And I failed her once. I don’t want to fail her again.”
“You didn’t fail her,” Raleigh replied, sitting on the side of the bed carefully, avoiding touching Olivia. “ He took her.”
“Other than our love for Hollis, there is one thing you and I both have in common, so I know you know how this feels, Raleigh.”
Raleigh picked up on the word ‘love’ used by Olivia in reference to her feelings for Hollis but decided it wasn’t the time to correct her. Things were still new between her and Hollis. They’d only just gotten together. Love was definitely possible, but it would come later. It was something for later, right?
“I lost Eden, too,” she said, choosing to focus on that part of Olivia’s statement instead.
“Someone took her from you. Are you really telling me you’ve never thought that you failed to protect your daughter?”
“Of course, I feel that way. But your situation is different. I actually failed Eden. You didn’t. You planned to pick Hollis up from school as usual, and her father drove off with her. I went to a park. One second, she was there, and the next, she was gone.”
“You can’t watch them every minute of the day, can you?” Olivia asked.
“No,” Raleigh said, shaking her head. “Even when we were at home, I’d swear she was sitting on the floor next to me, playing with her toys, and she’d be in another room, terrifying me with her silence. I always prepared to walk into a tornado or colors all over my walls from her crayons, but she’d just be coloring quietly or looking through a picture book, talking softly to herself.”
“She sounds like a good little girl,” Olivia said with a smile.
“She is,” Raleigh replied, trying to hold back the tears .
“If there’s anyone you can let those out in front of, it’s me.”
Raleigh wiped her cheek when one fell and said, “And Hollis.”
“She’s a good woman, isn’t she?”
“She’s the best,” Raleigh replied. “She’s been so good to me. And even when I tried to push her away, she let me back in, when she didn’t have to.”
“I won’t ask you to take care of her for me when I’m gone,” Olivia said and then paused for a moment as if to gather herself. “I know things are still new with you two, and I don’t want to put that pressure on either of you, but I want my daughter to be happy, Raleigh. He took her and made her so lonely. He kept her from having friends and participating in things that kids should get to participate in. She’s been all alone, and just when she finds me, I won’t be around long enough to make sure she’s okay.”
“She’s okay,” Raleigh said. “She’s okay, I promise. I’ll take care of her. You don’t have to worry.”
“She won’t stop putting me first, but she needs to be put first, too.”
“I know,” Raleigh replied, putting a hand on top of Olivia’s. “She’s amazing.”
“She likes you.”
“I know,” Raleigh repeated. “She’s the one who asked me out.”
“She did? Oh, that’s great,” Olivia said with a wide smile.
Raleigh looked at her, confused, and said, “Yeah. You knew that, though.”
“I did? Did she tell me? The medicine makes me so tired sometimes. If she tells me something after I take it, sometimes, I forget.”
Raleigh nodded and said, “Right. Yeah, we’re together now.”
“But she just asked you out,” Olivia noted. “You’re together?”
Raleigh squeezed her hand gently instead of response and said, “Let me get you another sip of water, okay?”
“Sure, sweetie.”
Raleigh tucked Olivia back into bed, waited for her to fall asleep, which didn’t take long, and then walked to the guest room to check on Hollis. Seeing her leaning back against the pillows, with her eyes closed and the computer open in her lap, only made Raleigh want her that much more. No, she wasn’t ready to say the words yet, but Olivia had been right: she was in love. And while that was scary and overwhelming, she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Raleigh walked to the bed and closed the computer, putting it on the table next to Hollis instead and kissing her on the forehead. It was close to the end of the day anyway. Hollis could work more later, if she needed. Raleigh would go cook them dinner and let her sleep.