Chapter Twenty-Nine
Gretel was in a mood that Zander had never seen before. Skittish, almost edgy, nervous. When he picked up one of her palms to check, he found it sweaty and worse than that, injured. “Sweetheart, this is going to get infected. Look at how it’s swelling.”
“It’s fine.” She snatched her hand away from him. “It’s just a splinter.”
“You’re not getting gangrene from a splinter on my watch.” He made her sit down under a bright light while he extracted the last remains of the splinter. When he finished, he was shocked by the tears shining on her face, because she hadn’t made a single sound while he was working.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked, gently brushing the moisture from her cheek.
She shook her head, but he didn’t quite believe her. So he lifted her in his arms and carrie
