Recovery

Recovery - Ch 5

Recovery - Ch 5

The light tapping on the door woke Rick and he looked over to see it slowly easing open then Laura's head appeared. He glanced quickly down to make sure Lesley was still asleep before motioning Laura forward.

"Dad," Laura whispered when she moved closer, "is Mom okay?" Laura looked at Lesley and saw the bruise on her cheek that had turned black and blue; instinctively she raised her hand to touch it but stopped and reached for Rick's hand instead.

Rick saw the direction of Laura's gaze and looked down himself to see the mark on Lesley's cheek. Again, the rage at what Travis had done to her coursed through him but he forced himself to stay relaxed so that the sudden tensing of his body wouldn't wake her. He gave Laura's hand a gentle squeeze, "she will be honey. I'll make sure of it."

Laura smiled at Rick's words and took a closer look at her parents lying next to each other on the bed, Lesley sleeping peacefully in Rick's arms, her head nestled into the hollow of his shoulder, her hand resting on his chest, and she smiled wider, "you love her a lot don't you?" she asked before she could stop herself.

Rick gave Laura a smile in return, "more than I ever thought possible."

Laura nodded and squeezed Rick's hand, "is there anything I can do?"

Rick thought for a second and then nodded, "can you turn the dressing table lamp on low? So that if Lesley wakes up, she's not afraid because it's dark in here?" he asked in a whisper.

Laura moved to the light but grabbed a scarf on the way; she turned the light on then laid the scarf over the top of so that the corner of the room was filled with the muted glow. 'Just enough light to bring comfort but not so much light that it was glaring,' she thought as she backed away.

"Tell Mom that I'll come by in the morning," Laura leaned down to kiss Rick's cheek, "love you Dad.... tell Mom that I love her too, okay?"

Laura left as quietly as she'd come and Rick looked down again at Lesley, still asleep in his arms. He couldn't help his mouth turning up into a gentle smile as he gazed at her and marveled again at the wonder of holding her in his arms; just as he'd done earlier. They had come so far from the hurt that he'd caused her and the distrust that Lesley had felt for him that Rick prayed that what had happened to her wouldn't make her pull away from him. It hadn't so far, but that didn't mean it wouldn't as Lesley worked through the trauma of the assault and came back to herself. In that moment, Rick made a silent vow to not rush her, to not push her in any way into anything physical between them - it was just as he had said to Gail, 'if she's not ready, then I'm not ready." But....... Rick couldn't help but wonder ...'would she?' He moved his hand down her arm and very gently laid it on the small of Lesley's back with just the tiniest bit of pressure to see if she'd move closer to him the way she used to do when they were married. Rick's small smile spread into a goofy grin when Lesley reacted exactly as he'd hoped, a slight arch of her back, a slow slide closer to him so that she was flush at his side, a small sigh as she burrowed her head into his shoulder and moved her hand over to rest on his heart.

As the flood of absolute love for the woman he held in arms, the woman who captured his heart, flowed through him, Rick made another silent vow to her, 'more than anything else, I'm your friend. And I will be your friend above all else through your recovery, every other aspect of our relationship is on hold until you're ready.' Satisfied, and with the goofy grin still in place, Rick wrapped his arm around her, rested his chin on the top of her head and fell back to sleep.

A couple of hours later, Lesley stretched, slowly opened her eyes, and gasped in surprise when she realized that Rick was lying next to her. She lifted her head to see Rick smiling gently down at her, "you're still here," she blurted out before she could stop herself.