Never the Same

Chapter 34

It's the soft child's voice that arouses me from my sleep later that day. It's faint but I can hear it loud and clear. I can also feel small hands pressing into the bottom of the bed and the blanket being pulled soon after before they're pulled away and a man's voice tells them off.

"Darling, you can't do that. You need to be careful and try not to pull at anything."

"Sorry, daddy. I just wanted to sit on the bed."

"I know but you can't. Not yet." He falls silent for a moment. "Come and sit with me the now until she wakes up."

"When will mummy wake up?"

"I don't know, sweetheart. She went through a lot so we need to let her rest as much as possible."

"I hope she gets better soon, daddy."

"I know she will. She's strong like you and I are."

"You're thinking very highly of yourself right now," I mutter. I open my eyes at gaze at Luca who smiles softly at me. "I can hear the two of you, you know. I even heard the two of you come in."

He helps Louisa take her jacket off and sits it on the window sill. "Did we wake you?"

"No, but you sure aren't discreet when you enter a room. I can tell when you walk into a room."

"Not in a creepy way, I hope."

"If it was, I would have run for the hills long before now." I sit up further in the bed. "I didn't realise I had fallen asleep. I wasn't expecting anyone in until later, though."

"I was going to wait until tomorrow to bring Louisa in but she couldn't wait any longer." He hugs Louisa tightly and she squirms in his hold with laughter. "Couldn't you not?" He kisses her cheek then lets her go. "She's been persistent with wanting to come and see you."

I smile and hold a hand out to Louisa. She takes my hand and carefully climbs onto the bed and sits down in front of me. "She's just like her dad, then. He's a persistent guy, too."

"Only with things I want," he defends with a wink.

"Sure you are." I roll my eyes and look at Louisa. "And how are you?"

"Good," she responds with a tight nod.

"Just good?"

She looks at Luca who shrugs at her before looking back at me. She looks like she's desperate to say something to me but doesn't know how to go about saying it.

"Am I missing something here?" I look between the two of them before settling my eyes on Louisa. "What's going on? Your dad's bought something big again, hasn't he? Louisa, you can tell me."

"Hey, all I bought was a new car to replace the one that was written off in the car accident." He states.

"Daddy also got me a new teddy bear to replace the other one," Louisa finally blurts out with a big smile.

My mouth falls open as I pretend to be in shock at Louisa getting a new teddy bear. I had a feeling he'd buy her a new one because she'd most likely have flashbacks with the other one if she kept it. "Did he?"

"That's because the police took the other one," he says. He picks up a beige checked bag, clearly Burberry, and pulls out a white teddy bear that has a red ribbon around its neck that's tied into a bow. He hands it over to Louisa who smiles brightly as she accepts it and hugs it tightly. "So an upgrade on the previous one was needed."

"It's so soft!" Louisa gushes. "A lot better than my old one."

"I also treated her to a little something else." He taps his neck and points to Louisa. "A little something that was specially made for her so she can match her mummy."