midwife » michael gray. [completed]

CHAPTER TWELVE.

  → CHAPTER TWELVE; ACCEPTING.

After their long, and overdue, kiss, Michael and Hannah had made their way back to the religious foundation. It was gone midnight and after the other girls at the convent had suffered from long, punishing shifts, Hannah had believed that none of them would be awake to see the kiss that her and Michael shared on the convent steps. A light was on in the upstairs bedroom, which Hannah had noticed, but she simply thought that Betty had fell asleep with the light on like she did most nights when she was awfully exhausted. However, when Hannah opened the door to the convent, the sound of footsteps running across the long hallway upstairs made her heart stop. Too happy from the night that she had lived, Hannah put the thoughts to the back of her head and thought nothing of it until the next morning when all four of the midwives were stood at the end of Hannah's bed.

"Well, someone had a busy night last night," Jodie started, her voice soft and full of worry, as if Hannah had done something terrible that she wasn't able to get herself out of.

Hannah sat up in the bed and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand before she spotted the white dress on the floor that had a red wine stain on it. "What are you on about?" she asked, her voice sleepy and her head thrashing from the amount of wine she had poured down her throat in a desperate attempt to stop the nerves.

"Someone also had a night full of lying from the looks of things," Alexandra said, overlooking Hannah's question. Realisation hit Hannah as she grasped onto the fact that all of the girls had found out about her date with Michael. Still, Hannah raised one eyebrow and pretended to act stupid about the situation in hopes that she could get herself out of the mess. "So, how was your date with Michael Gray?"

"I don't know what you are on about," Hannah answered before taking a sip of the hot beverage that one of the girls had brought up for her, despite them probably being furious with her for going against orders. "Am I off today?"

Sophie nodded as she sat down on the bed next to Hannah, her eyes briefly glancing at the screwed-up dress on the carpet. "Don't lie to us, please. We already know the truth," she said, which finally made Hannah sigh and acknowledge defeat. She couldn't worm her way out of this one, the girls had seen her kiss Michael so all she could do was accept the fact that she had been caught out and face the penalties.

"It was nice, really nice," Hannah said as her hand gripped the tea cup harder. She tilted her head to the side and smiled more to herself than anyone else. "He took me to this lovely Italian restaurant on the outskirts of Birmingham. He tried to pay for everything, but I demanded that I paid half and then, you know, we kissed."

"Yes, we saw," Alexandra said, a wide smirk coming onto her face. "I'm quite angry with you. Mostly because you lied to me and I don't like that but the two of you did look quite cute outside."

A girly giggle left Hannah's left as she bit the bottom of her lip. "He's offered to donate money to the convent which will hopefully allow us to get out of this financial situation. I know that the Sister's probably won't accept it, no matter how badly we need it, but it's the thought that counts and I think it was rather sweet of him."

Hannah thought she was being silly for a second, but she swore that a smile broke its way onto all the girls faces, the lot of them appreciating Michael's generous gesture. It was as if they were finally accepting that Hannah was a grown woman, even if she was one of the youngest midwives in Small Heath. She could understand where they were coming from: they were overly protective and just wanted the best for Hannah.

"Is another date in order then?" Alexandra asked with a giggle, unexpectedly enthusiastic about her best friend dating a Shelby. Hannah had dreaded this moment for days, only for it to turn out completely fine.