Wounded Hearts

Chapter Eighteen

Ronan jerked awake suddenly and looked around. He realized he was alone in the hospital waiting room and rubbed his face with his hands. He looked down at the watch on his wrist and realized he'd only been asleep about twenty minutes.

He stood up and stretched his arms above his head. He was about to go up to Helen and tell her to take her rules and shove them up her backside when Bruce came running into the waiting room.

"She's awake! She's awake and she's calling for you!" he gasped in between breaths. Ronan took off running. He didn't wait on the elevators but took the stairs instead and within sixty seconds he was bursting into room 205.

He felt like his heart was going to burst with joy when he saw Laura's green eyes wide open and looking at him. He swore they brightened when she saw him and he went quickly to the bed, falling to his knees beside it and taking her hand in his.

"Hi, my angel." he said pressing his lips against her hand. It was like a dream come true… An answered prayer. She had come back. 'Thank you God for giving her back to me.' He thought silently.

"Ronan, I'm sorry." she said. Ronan shook his head and laid a gentle hand on her bruised cheek.

"Hush honey. You don't have anything to be sorry about." he replied.

"I pushed you away." she replied. Ronan didn't pay any attention to either Helen or Lance who were watching them. He had eyes only for Laura.

"I backed off too easy. I feel like I should warn you now that you won't get rid of me that easy again. I'm here to stay, love, whether you like it or not." he said as a tear slipped down his cheek. Laura raised her hand and wiped the tear away.

"I don't want you anywhere else except beside me Ronan. I love you."

"I love you too." Ronan replied kissing her forehead. "More than you know. I want to marry you, Laura. I want to be your husband and I want to spend the rest of my life loving you and taking care of you." Laura couldn't believe her ears. There was not a doubt in her mind that this man sitting in front of her was devoted only to her. Her mother had told her that he had laid in her bed for hours and refused to leave her side until her mother had finally pulled rank just to make him go eat. And her conversation with Amelia had left little room for doubt that she approved of Laura being Penelope's step mom.

"Of course I'll marry you." Laura replied. "But can we wait until the bruises heal so I look okay in my pictures?"

"Whatever you want angel. But just so you know, I think you are beautiful no matter what." Ronan said covering her cheek with one large calloused hand.

"I knew it." Helen said with a tear filled laugh from the chair in the corner. "From the first time they kissed in my living room I just knew they were made for each other." Bruce clapped happily, having made it up to the room in time to hear Laura say yes.

"This is fantastic." he said.

"Do you think I can get in there and have a look at her?" Lance asked Ronan. Ronan looked up and smiled happily.

"Of course." he said stepping back away from the bed. Lance couldn't believe the change in the man. He seemed to be ten years younger, his shoulders had lost their sad slump and his grey eyes were full of more happiness than Lance thought one person could feel. It made him happy that Ronan was finally getting a happy ending.

Lance took his time checking Laura's eyes and vitals. He asked her a bunch of questions about the day and the current events and she was able to answer all of them fairly easily. Finally when he was done he turned to the room.

"She is going to be just fine. I'd like her to stay one more night for observation but she should be able to go home tomorrow." Laura's eyes lit up at those words. The next sound to fill the room was the growling of her stomach.

"Can she eat?" Ronan asked. Lance sighed.

"Soft foods first. Jello?" Laura made a face. "Applesauce?" Bigger face. "Yogurt?"

"What flavor?" she asked quickly.

"We have chocolate and vanilla."

"She doesn't like chocolate or vanilla. She likes blueberry." Ronan said before Laura could respond. She glared up at him but kept her mouth shut. His overprotective nature was just one of the things she secretly loved about him. Though she would never tell him that because she didn't want to encourage him.

"We don't have blueberry." Lance replied. Ronan shrugged.

"I'll go get you some." He said down to Laura. Lance made his escape while he could.

"I don't want you to leave." Laura whined. Ronan laughed and kissed her forehead.

"It'll only take me a few minutes." he promised. "You take care of her while I'm gone." he added to Helen and Bruce. Helen laughed.

"Yes sir. I was her mother long before you showed up." she said good naturedly. Ronan grinned sheepishly and then left the room.

Abigail and Penelope showed up several minutes later.

"I called them." Bruce said in answer to Laura's questioning look.

"Laura, are you okay?" Penelope asked running over to the bed. Laura smiled.

"I'm just fine." she promised. "Did you go to school today?"

"Nope, my cousin Jack said I played hooky. Hooky is fun! I'm gonna try to get daddy to let me play it more often." she said.

"I don't think your daddy will let you." Laura said. Penelope shook her head sending her braided pig tails whipping around her face.

"No probly not." she replied. She crawled up into the bed and sat next to Laura. "I'm sorry I made daddy mad at you." Penelope said sadly as she chewed on her finger and looked down at the blankets.

"That wasn't your fault baby girl. Sometimes grown ups fight but it's never your fault." Laura promised.

"Do you want to hear a song that Jack taught me?" Penelope asked. Laura looked up at Abigail questioningly.

"It's clean, I promise." she said with a laugh. Laura laughed as well and nodded.

"Why don't you teach it to all of us Penny." Laura said and Penny was happy to do just that.

Ronan was just in time to hear Laura, Helen, Bruce, Abigail and Penelope all finish up singing a song. He slid the shopping bag onto his arm and clapped his hands.

"That sounded wonderful." he said.

"Daddy!" Penelope said jumping off the bed and running to him. He wrapped her tight in a hug and then scooped her up in his arm. He carried her over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it.

"Sweetpea, I want to talk to you about something." he said.

"What?" Penelope asked as she pulled some of the yogurt out of the bag. Ronan opened a cup for both Penelope and Laura and handed each of them a plastic spoon.

"What do you think about daddy and Laura getting married?" he asked ignoring the gasp from Abigail who was clearly hearing about it for the first time.

"Would that make her like my new mommy?" Penelope asked as she stuck a bite of yogurt in her mouth.

"I would never try to replace your mommy." Laura said quickly. "But I could be like a mommy to you and we could be friends." she added. Penelope seemed to think hard about this for several long minutes and then she shrugged.

"Okay." she said simply. "She makes really good chocolate chip cookies." she added and this earned a laugh from everyone in the room.