My Wife, My Rules – 26. chapter

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Aiden sat in the chair beside the bed. He had not moved for hours. The fire in the hearth was dying. Warmth turned into cold, but he did not notice. His fingers were clenched, elbows braced on his knees, his forehead bowed over his hands. He did not sleep. He would not allow himself to. From time to time, he looked at her.

Tess lay on her side, covered to the shoulders. She slept. But restlessly. Her breathing was shallow, her skin slick with sweat. Sometimes she shivered. Other times she exhaled something between a word and a sob. He hated it. Not the fever. Not her fragility. His own helplessness.

Several times he reached out to place his palm against her forehead. She burned. Then he simply sat again, watching her linger in sleep, as if her body were fighting a battle she did not even know she was in.

When the silence in the room broke apart into separate sounds, the faint crack in the wall, the whisper of wind against the shutter, he knew dawn was near.

Only then did something begin to change. Tess’s breathing lengthened. Slowed. Settled. Calmer. The tension left her brow. She stopped moving in those unconscious movements. Aiden leaned in again and placed his hand against her skin. It was cooler. Not cold. Just less burning. He stayed like that, his hand resting at her temple, for a long while. Then he withdrew it. And for the first time all night, he closed his eyes.

He did not fall asleep. He simply shut them for a moment. Like someone finally allowing himself to take a full breath.

When she woke, it was already day. Light filtered through the curtains softly, gently, without insistence. Tess did not wake suddenly. She simply opened her eyes. Aiden was still in the chair, though now he leaned back. He did not look as if he had slept. Only loosened, briefly. When he noticed she was awake, he stood, came to her, and checked her forehead, her neck, her wrist.

“You’re better,” he said at last.

Tess nodded.

“There’s nothing wrong with me now,” she murmured.

“That’s your judgment,” he replied calmly. “You’re staying in bed.”

She frowned.

“I’m all right,” she protested.

“You’re staying in bed,” he declared.

“And if I decide to protest?” she challenged lightly.

“You’ll get another day on top,” he said.

Tess rolled her eyes, but said nothing more.

Aiden set a tray with food on her knees. Warm broth. Bread. A few pieces of apple.

Tess began to eat in silence. The soup was lukewarm, but satisfying. More importantly, she was no longer a patient. She felt it in her bones. Breathing came easier. Her skin was no longer sticky. Her hands were no longer heavy.

Aiden sat in the chair beside the bed, leafing through some book, though everything in his posture betrayed that he watched her every movement. Tess inhaled quietly and slid the blanket aside. Not fully. Just to her hips. Aiden did not lift his head.

“Go on,” he said dryly. “And you’ll have lunch in bed tomorrow too.”

Tess froze. One brow lifted, but she said nothing. She lay back again. Slowly. Even as defiance lingered in her eyes. Aiden turned the page.

“A wise decision,” he said without emotion.

Tess settled beneath the blanket again, folding her hands under her head. She did not take her eyes off Aiden. For a while, she simply watched him turn pages, calm, composed, almost provocatively unshakable.

Then she snorted.

“Your tyranny is irritating,” she remarked.

Aiden did not pause. He did not look up.

“Unlike your stubbornness,” he replied dryly, “this actually works.”

Tess narrowed her eyes.

“Maybe if you gave me space to decide, you wouldn’t have to control me like this.”

“Maybe if your decisions didn’t endanger your own life, I wouldn’t have to take them from you.”

His confidence irritated her. She turned toward the wall, annoyed.

“Sometimes you could at least pretend to be discussing things.”

Aiden turned another page, unhurried.

“Not with a patient. And certainly not with my wife, who can look me in the eye and lie that she’s fine while barely breathing.”

Tess closed her eyes. Aiden did not move. The conversation was over. And he ruled it.

It took Aiden another full day before he allowed Tess to rise, even under supervision. And several more before the world slowly returned to its ordinary rhythm.