Colonel Seeders' Mail Order Bride, Hank

17 Michelle

She woke up, warm and more rested than she had ever been in the last seven years. She stretched her arms up into the air and then paused. She was sitting upright. Leaning against... someone. A big someone. The rumbling chest of someone.

Slowly, she turned her head to the side and then tilted her head up. Hank sat grinning at her.

"Sleep well?" he asked.

Her face heated up and she bit her, lip, but she nodded. She did in deed sleep well. Much better than...

She gasped and looked out the window, no longer covered by the metal sheets. "Did you sit up the whole night?"

She looked around, but only found Hawk's blanket over her outstretched legs.

"He's busy making breakfast. He wanted to let you rest. And... to answer your question, no, I had an hour of sleep. We had some company last night. I wanted to go have a look at the damage they did, but I couldn't move. I also didn't want to wake you. You looked so peaceful."

She would surely explode soon if her face grew any hotter. She slowly sat up and then sucked air through her teeth as pins and needles spread through her leg.

"I had been worried that you would be stiff after laying so still the whole night. Lay down. I'll take care of it for you."

This new Hank, confused her. Up until the previous day, before they got to the house, he seemed distant. Was he giving her a chance to prove that she did not plan on leaving them, or would this new Hank disappear as soon as he found out what she did?

She had no time to think on it when her brain shut down as soon as he started massaging her feet. His big warm hands wrapped around her size four foot and then his thumbs pressed right against a very sensitive spot that she could never get to. She flopped back and moaned loudly as he worked the tension out of her feet and then he was over her, trapping her against the mattress with his body.

"If you keep doing that, I will not be able to stop myself from taking you right here. I made a promise to wait until you are ready, so do not make me break that promise."

In her mind, she saw Robert pinning her to the desk, so she squeezed her eyes shut and fisted the blanket below her.

"Dad! Move! Now!" Hawk shouted.

His wait disappeared so quickly, that she could not tell if it had been her imagination or if it really happened.

She rolled to her side and then Hawk knelt next to her holding her hand. "He didn't mean to make you remember. Please don't go away."

She squeezed his hand and gave a sad smile. "I'm not going anywhere. I just need a second. I just... I don't know why I thought of him. It's not like your Dad looks anything like him."

She looked down at his hand and a grin spread over her face. "You can open your hand?"

"It happened yesterday. Something popped and it really hurt, but now my hand is working like it's supposed to. Well, most of it. I can't spread my fingers, but I found a different way to use a spoon and I cut up some meat as well. The other one..." He raised the clenched hand for her to see. "It won't open. I had a look at it and it's different to the right one. The bones don't stop at the top. Uh, what's the word for... Knuckles! I don't have knuckles on my left hand."

Michelle sat up, gave Hank a shy smile and then turned her attention to Hawk. The bones in his hand appear to have grown straight through from the wrist to where the second join in his fingers should be. Unfortunately, unlike the other hand, his fingers, though they were apart, were fused into a fist.