Commitment

Part 44

"Regan, have you been to the hospital?" Sam said softly as he remembered Gray's face. Seeing Regan's face he remembered Gray's injuries. His face was a mess when they found him unconscious and his cheek was fractured. "Your cheek is very swollen."

Regan nodded. "Yes. I did. Sam, I am ok." This is exactly what she had tried to avoid. She could see Sam's concern, his anxiety, his distress. Regan said, "Xrays showed it was fine. Honestly, Sam, I am fine. No damage."

Loretta said with uneasy, "The side of your face..." only for Regan to interrupt her statement.

"Don't worry about the bruising, Loretta." Regan looked at Loretta and then at Sam. "It will be gone within a fortnight. It will disappear in due course."

"Yes, but it looks ...."

"It is just a shiner, Loretta." Regan interrupted again. "We checked at the hospital. The bones around my eyes are intact. My left eye's muscles were just fine. Just bruising. A normal shiner!"

Obviously Regan's statements were not easing their concern as Sam continued with the same concern, "But the side of your face is really bruised. The swelling beneath your eye...."

"I know." Regan interrupted seeing Sam's concern in his eyes. Clearly her first idea, to hid away until she could use makeup to mask the bruise, was the best. Now, she was having to deal with their worries and their palpable anxiety, when all she wanted was to eat and go to bed.

"The side of your face looks painful." Sam sighed as he recognised that his anxiety was taking over when he knew he should his focus on Regan's wants, not his.

"I know. Not sure how, but I guess, because I turned my head, his fist caught my cheek and jaw. It could be worse!" She put the ice down and reached for her chopsticks. Hopeful if they saw her eating, they might believe she was ok.

"How?" Gray grunted and again reached for the ice package. He picked it up.

"His fist could have connected with my nose!" Regan said with a rueful smile. Her eye tracked Gray as he got to his feet. Now what, she wondered when he came and sat beside her. Not exactly sitting beside her, more like he had enveloped her. One leg was stretched out behind her chair and his other leg was parallel to the side of her chair.

"What are you doing?" Regan reared back when he reached forward towards her.

He held up the wrapped ice, "I am going to hold this to your cheek because you seem keen to avoid applying it to your face!" He kept moving forward, while she continued to inch backwards while she remained on the chair.

"I am not avoided the ice-compression." Regan glared. Which was a feat, given she only had one eye to convey that defiance.

He snorted. "Any excuse and you put it down." He inched his chair closer.

"I can't eat and hold that to my cheek." Regan grumbled, when he hemmed her chair between the table, his chair and his feet.

"Fine." Gray narrowed his eyes. "You eat. And I will hold the ice to your cheek." He braced his forearm around the back of her chair and used his other hand to hold the wrapped ice to her cheek.

Loretta and Sam shared a look. Sam gestured using his head nodding towards the door.

Loretta shrugged and her eyes asked Sam a question. Sam nodded firmly and used his head to gesture again at the door.

"What? Are you kidding?" Regan protested, as she watched Gray's actions. "I can hold the ice to my cheek without your help, thank you very much!"

"Stop grumbling! Just eat!" Gray muttered and kept his hand, holding the ice package, on her face. She attempted to move away. "Regan! You are being stubborn! Just eat!" He groused. If she leaned any further she would fall off her chair. "You are about hurt yourself!"