Web Fic
Chapter 264
Chapter 264
“Mrs. Chadwick, why are you napping here?” Marina asked with concem, noticing an unnatural flush on her cheeks. She reached out to touch her forehead.
It was burning up!
“Mrs. Chadwick, wake up,” Marina urged, supporting the groggy Gwendolyn. “Let me get you to bed,”
As they made their way through the hallway. Howard emerged from the study, a frown creasing his forehead. “What’s the matter?”
“Mrs. Chadwick has a fever”
“Let me take her.” Howard took Gwendolyn into his arms with ease, feeling the searing heat from her body.
He laid his wife on their king–sized bed and called the family doctor to come
mediately.
Gwendolyn was buming up, her lips cracked and dry, her breath hot and weak, She opened her eyes with difficulty and called out in a hoarse whisper, “Mr. Chadwick.”
After working a shift that had stretched into the wee hours of the moming, she just wanted to rest t and succumbed to sleep on the
couch
Once asleep, she lost consciousness.
“Have some water.” Howard brought a glass to her parched lips,
Gwendolyn obediently sipped, then complained softly, “It’s bitter.”
Marina fetched a thermometer and took Gwendolyn’s temperature
“Wow, 102.5 degrees,” she said with a worried grimace. Tm not sure what medicine to give her”
Gwendolyn coughed twice, speaking with difficulty, “Just some fever reducer. It’s probably just the flu going around at the hospital. No big deal.” She had been so busy with work these days that she hadn’t taken proper precautions
With the change of seasons, such ailments were common in the summer.
cup of water
She instructed Marina to fetch a specific fever reducer from the medicine cabinet, swallowing it with a gulp
“I just need some sleep,” she said without self–pity.
Manna looked on with concern, her heart aching.
Then, she turned to Howard and suggested, “Mr. Chadwick, perhaps you should rest in the guest room. I can look after Mrs. Chadwick
The flu could be contagious, after all.
“NO,
I’ll stay
here w
with her. Marina, could you make some chicken broth with salad? Something to whether appetite.”
Howard had always been good at remembering her favorites.
After taking her medicine, Gwendolyn drifted in and out of consciousness, eventually falling into a deep sleep. She could hear faint whispers near her ear, the sound of the door opening and closing.
She was caught between dreaming and waking.
Her forehead and palms were on fire, yet her legs felt cold. She curled up under the covers as if covered by snow. She was lying warm back, feeling the lean body of a young man carrying her.
He had a scent about him, so comforting.
“Ah…” She closed her eyes tight, wanting to call out to him, but got trapped in a nightmare. Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!
The scene shifted, becoming more bizarre and surreal.
In her dream, all her loved ones had perished, leaving her alone in a vast and desolate world.
“Grandma…” Tears stained Gwendolyn’s face as she sobbed, unable to awaken.
“Gwendolyn…” Howard’s hand gently patted her cheek “Gwendolyn, come on, wake up
He sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes soft and soothing. It’s just a dream. You’ll be fine once you wake up.”
Her eyelashes, damp with tears, fluttered open, and she looked at him blankly.
Suddenly, she sat up and clung to him, burying herself in his embrace and weeping bitterly.
Howard stroked her back gently and rhythmically.
on a
Through her sobs, Gwendolyn gasped for air, her hand over her heart as if it ached. “Mr. Chadwick, I dreamt that Grandma died. I don’t have anyone left.”