Page 99 of Faith
chapternineteen
She had been home from the hospital for less than two hours when Jensen came into her room with a smile on his face.
“What are you up to now?”
His smile dimmed a little. “What the bloody hell does that mean?”
“Well, you spring your brother and your mother on me. Thank goodness they had something to do today. Do you know how many times I have heard them tell me what a great catch you are?”
“Well, I am a great catch.”
“No, you are not.”
He opened his mouth to argue with her, but the doorbell rang. Then she heard voices—one robust and the other faint but unmistakable.
She felt tears burn the backs of her eyes.
“You brought my parents over?”
“Of course I did. They were adamant about coming, and I couldn’t let them fly commercial,” he said with such Wulf disdain she laughed, but it ended on a sob.
“I thought you would be happy.”
She blinked and was, once again, horrified as tears slipped down her cheeks.
“I am. I’m sorry.”
The noise grew as she listened to her parents coming up the stairs with Marta.
Jensen went to the door to greet them. “Mr. and Mrs. McCann. I trust your trip over was comfortable?”
“Sure was,” her father boomed out. Nicola’s father had always been loud, but he had started getting worse as the years went by. She didn’t care. It was music to her ears. And he was the first one to step through the doorway.
“Nicola,” her mother said as she followed him. Jensen stepped out of the way and her mother gasped.
“What happened to your face?” her father asked.
She glared at Jensen. “You told me it was getting better.”
“It is.” He looked at her parents. “It was much worse yesterday.”
Her mother rushed to the side of her bed and her father to the other. “Oh, my baby, what did he do to you?”
“You should see the other guy,” Jensen said, which earned him a glare from her mother. “Sorry, but she did beat Alfie up.”
“That’s because I taught her how to defend herself,” her father said. He smiled, but she could see tears shimmering in his eyes. It almost broke her then and there. A lump rose in her throat. She’d never witnessed her father get choked up, let alone cry.
“I’m going to check with Marta about some coffee and snacks and leave you all alone,” Jensen said.
“Jensen,” she called out before he could run away. “Thank you for bringing my parents over.”
“You are most welcome,” he said before slipping out of the room and closing the door behind him.
“I was so surprised when he called us and said we just had to be here. We were already booking a flight, but it’s hard to buy at the last minute,” her mother said.
“And very expensive,” her father commented.
Her mother waved that away as she sat on the bed next to Nicola. “Either way, we are here, but we got here a lot faster than if we had to fly commercial. And I’m sure much more comfortably.”