Chapter 39- CARETAKER

Avena!
Avena!

He had called out to her as he sat on the floor with her limp body, realizing that there was no way that Aurora would wake. Taking her into his arms, Leonardo placed her in the backseat of his car and drove home to the Romano mansion.

On his way to his home, Leonardo dialed the family doctor's number, inwardly hoping that the doctor would be there before he arrived with Aurora. His hands wrapped tightly around his steering wheel, shivering as he stepped onto the accelerator. Looking at his rearview, Aurora did not move or look as though she was getting better.

'Aurora you stubborn woman, look what you have done to yourself now" he spoke under his breath, wondering just how fast he could push his car to drive. He continued driving towards the mansion, just as he arrived, the huge black gates opened wide and he drove through.

Luckily, for him, their family doctor had arrived before he had. Leonardo stood at the corner of the room, with his fingers in his mouth, biting his nails out of sheer fear. His mother on the other hand, sat on the bed holding
Aurora's hand in hers as fear gripped her face. His father on the other hand was different, he simply stood staring down as Aurora and his face, looking as though he was furious with Aurora.

He had always known that his father was a heartless man but seeing the way he looked at Aurora made Leonardo furious. Placing his hand into his pocket he walked over to his father, while walking to his father he kept his eyes on his sleeping wife.

'When is your wife waking up?" his father asked him, his tone of voice indicating that he was unbothered about his wife's wellbeing. Leonardo clenched his jaw as he looked at his father, balling his hand in a fist as tried to restrain himself.

'I think that you should leave" he whispered to his father, looking his old man in the eyes as though he were about to kill him. Leonardo's father looked back at him as if he was enjoying riling Leonardo.

'Am I not allowed to worry about my daughter in-law?" he asked and his words stank of sarcasm.

'I ask you one last time to leave this room, I know you very well father and you cannot care about someone else even if your life depended on it"

'Okay, I will leave" Leonardo asked as his father's smile brightened and just as quickly as he came he left the room.

'Leonardo!"

'Yes!" he answered, rushing towards the doctor to see if there was any improvement but she was just as pale as asleep as she was earlier, she was still the same. The doctor turned to look at him and all Leonardo could see was disappointment in his face.

'For now, all we can do is wait. Your wife has a very high fever and it is best that we allow her to rest. Hopefully she will be okay by tomorrow"

Listening to what the doctor had said broke his heart, the events of that very night replayed in his head and every time he envisioned Aurora walking away, his heart gripped tightly.

'Yes doctor" he answered painfully.

'I can't seem to understand how your wife had gotten this sick, tell me the truth Leonardo" the family doctor told Leonardo. Dr. Lorenzo had been a friend of the family for as long as Leonardo could remember and he could not gather the courage to lie to the older man.

'Well signor—"

'My daughter in-law, Avena likes spending her time outside. I guess she did not realize that she was spending too much time in the cold" Signora Carina answered, cutting of her son in the process. Leonardo shut his mouth; his mother had chosen to handle the situation.

'Okay, I will be here tomorrow to check up on your wife. Have a good night" Leonardo shook the Doctor's hand and walked him out the door, only to come back to his mother whispering something inside Aurora's ear.

'Why did you lie to the doctor?" he asked his mother angrily, she moved her face from Aurora's ear, got off the bed and walked towards Leonardo. Her face tired as she had not slept since he had brought Aurora home.

'We can't tell strangers our private matters" she answered plainly as though she was a robot, answering questions based on her programming. Her answer shocked him, Leonardo had expected such an answer from his father but not his mother.

'Mother, might I remind you that doctor Lorenzo is an old family friend"

'Family friend or not, he is not family. I will not have my son labeled as a criminal… not again" she told him. Her eyes tearing up but she quickly looked away but it was too late, Leonardo had understood what it was that she meant.

Even after so many years, his mistakes had come back to haunt and torment him.

'It was a mistake" he told his mother. All these years, he had tried to make-up for it but the more he explained the bigger the hole he had dug for himself.

'Let's just not talk about it. See you tomorrow son" signora Carina told her son before exiting the room. If there was a time where Leonardo had felt guiltier, this was certainly the time.

He turned his attention to Aurora who slept on his bed. She was paler than before, prompting Leonardo to walk towards her bed and holding onto her hand.

'If you can hear me, I want you to know that I am deeply sorry and as soon as you wake up from this sleep I will make it up to you" he told her, raising her hand to his lips and kissing it.

**
Her body was in the most pain that it had ever been in and the more she tried lifting her head up, the more pain she felt. Her head hurt and so did her throat, every time she tried to talk. Opening her eyes, she realized that she was in her room with almost no recognition of what had happened the previous night.

Turning her head, she looked at the couch where Leonardo always slept and her heart ached when she had not seen him there and her mind quickly telling her that he must still be mad at her.

She tried feeling her way out of her bed only for her to hit something on her bed, turning her head she saw who it was and her heart skipped.

Leonardo was in her bed, sleeping as though he was a baby but the bags under his eyes were a clear indication that he had a hard night. Aurora smiled at herself, realizing that this was the very first time that Leonardo and her had spent the night in the very same bed.

Making up her mind to slowly get out of bed as to not disturb him, she used her hands to propel herself forwards, underestimating how weak she truly was, Aurora fell back onto the bed.

Leonardo awoke from his sleep panicked, his eyes landing on Aurora whose eyes were shut as and her facial expression indicating that she was in deed hurt. A jolt of energy ran through him as he jumped out of the bed to help Aurora.

'Stay in bed, do not move" Leonardo ordered Aurora as he lifted her head up and carefully placed it onto the pillow. Aurora sat on her bed in silence, watching Leonardo fixing her pillow and making sure that she was carefully tucked in. The entire time whilst he worked around her bed, Aurora could not help but notice that he was too close to her.

So close that she could smell the natural smells of his body, filling her nose and having her imagine all the vile things that's he could do to his body. As though sensing that she was looking right up at him, Leonardo stopped, turned his head to face Aurora and just then their lips brushed on each other.

Instinct kicked in, both moved back from each other as there was an electric pull as their lisp touched.

'I am so sorry" they both said in unison, Leonardo turned to look away from her as embarrassment filled him as well as Aurora.

'I am sorry, I should not have gotten so close to you" he apologized to her. Something about his apology had left a bad taste in his mouth, feeling as though he should have owned up to what he had just done.

Why are you ashamed of kissing your wife? He asked himself mentally when in truth he knew why he felt and behaved the way he did.

Aurora tried speaking, only to cough profusely so much that her chest began to pain. Acting out of fear, Leonardo rushed towards her, pushing her head towards him and using his other free hands to rub her back.

Even when her cough subsided, Leonardo continued caressing her back as though to say that he was there and he would take care of her. It had been years since anyone had held her this close; she could almost feel that he was concerned about her.

Please do not let go of me, please. Aurora inwardly begged him, as though Leonardo had read her mind, he wrapped both his hands around her and landed his chin lightly on top of her head.

'You will be okay, I will take care of you until you get better" he whispered to her and Aurora could feel the concern laced in his voice. She smiled, in his chest but just as quick as she smiled the smile faded.

You would take care of me until I get better but what about after that? She mentally asked herself, the question itself saddened her. At the end of the day Leonardo did not love her, he was simply taking care of her as he would anyone.

**

Three days later

'Leonardo can you please stop it!" she smiled as she yelled at him, for the past three days, Leonardo had made it his job to spoon feed her and care for her health. He had made sure that she had her medication at the right time, warmed her bath and now he was feeding her.

Holding onto the bowl of soup in his hand, eyebrow raised, Aurora knew that once again she might lose this fight.

'Avena Romano I will feed you this food" he told her sternly.

'I can feed myself, I am not as sick as I was earlier" she moaned but her moaning had done nothing to change his mind. She watched as Leonardo carefully sat on their bed, dipping the spoon into the bowl of soup and then bringing it into her mouth.

'Now open up" he playfully told her and Aurora did just that. Leonardo watched as Aurora swallowed her food as he hungrily looked at his wife. Never had eating looked as sexy as she made it but he quickly snapped out of it.

The more he took care of her the more he noticed things that he would ever have noticed before, like the way she played with her curly hair from whenever she was bored or the way she licked her lips after she was done swallowing the soup.