Page 111 of Love Is: Two Bodies One Soul

The door opened, and Lexie flew to him. ‘Owen! Oh my God, I was so worried.’

Weak as a kitten, he struggled out of her grip. ‘I’m all right, it’s just a bug.’

‘You don’t sound it. Your voice is croaky.’

‘It’s the bug.’

Lexie threw herself at him again, and Owen shakily stroked her hair. ‘I’ll be fine in a day or so. It’s just some weird virus that’s going around. Probably the same thing Emi’s got.’

‘How is she?’ Lexie asked.

‘Apparently much better. Millie phoned the hospital.’

‘And we’re visiting later,’ Sally interrupted from the doorway.

‘I already said,’ Owen began as he tried to lift himself to the sitting position. ‘I would prefer Emi met her grandfather for the first time with me there, and only after I’ve had time to explain how or even why she has suddenly gained an extra grandfather.’

‘And we’ve already agreed that he should wait until Emi is no longer infectious before he meets her.’ Sally entered the room and handed over the cup of tea she’d been carrying to Lexie. ‘Which is also why I sent Henry off to the Docklands flat tonight. He was not supposed to come in to see you, Owen. I’d told him to wait in the car, but you men are so stubborn! I told him we couldn’t risk him catching the virus. Not in his condition, not with so little time, but he wanted to see you so much.’

‘I know,’ Owen said, shifting in the bed from more than physical discomfort. ‘I know Henry wants to make peace with me, wants a relationship with me and Emi … but Sally, I can’t do it. I cannot create love where there is none.’

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