Free Guilty as Sin by Tami Hoag

as Paul tried once more to turn Josh toward him. The boy surged against Hannah, pushing her backward.
     
    "Paul, don't try to touch him!" she snapped. "Can't you see you're only making it worse?"
     
    "But I haven't done anything!" Paul stepped back from the bed just the same. "He's my son, for God's sake! I want to see him!"
     
    "No!" Josh's shout was muffled against his mother's body. "No! No! No!"
     
    "Hush, sweetheart," Hannah murmured against the top of his head. Panic rose inside her.
     
    "What's going on in here?" Dr. Ulrich demanded as he strode in from the hall.
     
    "I wish I knew," Paul muttered.
     
    "What did you do that upset him?"
     
    "Nothing! He's my son!"
     
    Ulrich raised a hand. "Just calm down, Paul. I'm not accusing you of anything," he said quietly, turning his back to Josh and Hannah, working his way between them and Paul. "But I think it would be a good idea if you go now and come back in the morning, after Josh has had some time to rest and get his bearings."
     
    "You're throwing me out?" Paul yelled, incredulous. "I don't believe this! After everything I've done to try to get my son back. After everything I've gone through—"
     
    "This isn't about you, Paul," Ulrich said, his voice low. "I'm sure this is upsetting to you, but you know we have to put Josh first. We have to realize it's going to take some time to sort out what happened to him and how he feels about it. Let's you and I go down to the cafeteria and have a talk."
     
    Paul knew a brush-off when he heard one. Ulrich was slowly backing him toward the door, away from Josh and Hannah. Shutting him out. Wasn't that the story of his life? Everything went to Hannah—the glory, the pity . . . their son.
     
    "Jesus, Hannah," he said, "you could help a little here."
     
    "What am I supposed to do?" She looked at him as if he were a stranger, someone to be wary of, someone to keep at bay. Anger burned inside him.
     
    "Some support would be nice!"
     
    "No! No!" Josh mumbled, kicking at the covers.
     
    Dr. Ulrich took another step. "Come on, Paul. Why don't you go down to the cafeteria and get a cup of coffee? I'll join you in a few minutes and fill you in on the examination."
     
    "He doesn't have any reason to be afraid of me!"
     
    "Paul, for God's sake, please," Hannah pleaded.
     
    "Fine," he muttered. "Hell of a homecoming."
     
     
     
    Tom McCoy watched from down the hall as Paul Kirkwood stormed into and out of his son's hospital room. His training dictated he try to intervene and smooth things over between family members. His training didn't apply anymore. Not here. Not between Hannah and Paul.
     
    He had tried. Paul resented his attempts, considered it interference rather than help. In the process, Tom's feelings toward Paul had become something less than Christian. It was difficult for him to find understanding in his heart for a man who had married a jewel and treated her like dirt. Paul Kirkwood had so much and was so blind to it—two beautiful children, a comfortable home, a stable career. Hannah.
     
    Therein lay the heart of the problem. Hannah.
     
    Glad for the shadows in the hall, Tom leaned back against the wall and stared up at heaven. He couldn't see it, of course. There was too much in the way—physically and metaphorically.
     
    Hannah had turned to him, the one person she thought she could trust absolutely—her priest. And her priest had committed a cardinal sin. He couldn't for the life of him admit that what he had done was wrong. He hadn't broken any vows. He had kept silent. Locked tight in his heart was the fact that he had fallen in love with Hannah Garrison.
     
    "I could use a little help here, Lord," he murmured. But as he looked up, all he could see was a faint brown stain in the ceiling where a water pipe had once sprung a leak.
     
    With a weary sigh he walked down the hall to Josh's room and cracked the door open a few inches. A lamp on the far side of the bed washed the room in soft topaz. Josh