Conscience (The Bellator Saga Book 2) by Cecilia London

pretty. I thought he could take care of you while you were here.”
    Caroline tucked the hippo under her sling then put her arm back around Sophie. She loved hippopotamuses. They were her favorite animals at the zoo. “I think he’ll do a great job. Thank you, sweetheart.” She turned to her older daughter. “You didn’t get me anything, Mo?”
    “My undying love isn’t enough?”
    “Didn’t I send you to camp so you could learn good values? Where did you learn to be so obnoxious?”
    Sophie laughed. “She gets it from you, mommy.”
    Caroline heard a rustling on the couch. “Uh oh,” she said. “We woke up Jack.”
    Marguerite winced. “Is that okay?”
    “I’m sure it’s fine.”
    “He was really great yesterday,” she said.
    “Good. I’m glad he was there for you when you needed him.”
    “He gives good hugs,” Sophie said. “I think he likes you.”
    Marguerite chuckled. “I think he more than likes her, Soph.”
    Caroline gave Marguerite a hard look. “Quiet, Mo. We’ll talk about that later.”
    Her eldest daughter didn’t bother hiding her smirk. “I’m just glad you took my advice.”
    Caroline leaned back into her pillow. She wanted to throw in a comment about having a bratty eleven year old, but was pleased that the girls didn’t seem to be upset by her relationship with Jack. In fact, they seemed more than happy about it. She wasn’t about to take that for granted. Jack sat up on the couch and yawned. His hair was a mess and his shirt was untucked. “Nice of you to join us,” she said.
    He stumbled over to the chair by the bed and sat down. “Morning.”
    “You should go home and get some rest later today,” Caroline told him.
    He rubbed his eyes and patted Sophie and Marguerite on the leg. “You two do okay last night?”
    Marguerite smiled. “It could have been worse.” She hopped off the bed to give him a quick hug. “Thank you for staying with mom.”
    Sophie was playing with her mother’s fingers again, careful not to touch the IV. “Thank you, Jack,” she said softly.
    “Anytime.” He ruffled Sophie’s hair. “Where are Christine and Tom?”
    Caroline wasn’t sure that Christine wanted to see Jack this early in the morning, but if she was going to have visitors, she may as well have them all stuffed in her room at once. “Getting a much needed cup of coffee. Want to go find them for me?”
    “Sure.” He leaned over to kiss Caroline on the cheek. “I’ll be back.”
    Marguerite sat back on the bed once Jack left. “Kissy kissy, huh?”
    Caroline rolled her eyes. “I should be giving you a hard time for being so mean to me but I’m happy you seem to like him.”
    “I do like him,” said Marguerite.
    “I do too.” Sophie let go of her mother’s hand and started absently tugging on Caroline’s hair, one of her favorite pastimes. She never pulled hard enough to hurt. “He’s nice.”
    “Good.” Caroline leaned closer to Sophie so she wouldn’t have to stretch so far. “So, tell me all about camp.”
    *              *              *              *              *
    Caroline snuggled contentedly in her bed at home. Not the hospital. She was quite happy indeed to be back in her own room surrounded by her own things. The only drawback was the pain. Morphine was wonderful, but she didn’t tolerate oral narcotic medications well. Now that said morphine was easing its way out of her system, she ached a little more than she thought she would. Maybe the extra strength ibuprofen would kick in and she’d feel better. 
    Jack surprised her with a bath after she was discharged. Caroline probably would have enjoyed it a little more if her arm wasn’t in a giant cast, but Jack got a kick out of it. Christine made a snide comment warning them to keep their hands off each other, but that was pretty hard to do when you were bathing someone.
    They did their best to behave responsibly. Jack only kissed her a few