midwife » michael gray. [completed]

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO.

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Hannah breathed a sigh of relief as submerged herself in the hot water. She had been stuck in the cell for too long, cold water for showers and to wipe away the blood after one of the guards had punched her for crying. Most women looked at the Shelby lifestyle and imagined glamour, but they had no idea at all, they never saw behind the scenes and how much misery was caused. She almost felt sorry for some of the girls that swooned over Tommy and the others.

Hannah had no plan of action now. She was completely lost with nowhere to go. Michael was her future, her countryside home with children and dogs had gone within the space of half an hour. Until she had properly spoken to the nuns, Hannah's fate was unknown. It was those two that held the power now, they had a tough choice to make, probably one of the hardest. They both knew that Hannah was a fantastic midwife with amazing medical knowledge due to her hard work, but she had allowed her personal life to get involved with her work and that was where they drew the line. Hannah had missed countless days of work because she had been to focused on Michael and Hannah knew that it was going to catch up with her one day.

"Hannah?" A knock on the door made Hannah jump slightly, fortunately it was only Betty. "The nuns want to see you as soon as possible."

Hannah called out that she wouldn't be long. She just needed a few more minutes to relax and forget about the outside world.

When she finally got out of the bath and dressed into some clothes that Alexandra had kindly left in the bathroom for her, Hannah made her way out of the bathroom and down the hallway towards Sister Margaret's office. She had been here far too many times getting told off for her bad behaviour.

"Come in," Sister Margaret shouted. She sounded exhausted and it was all Hannah's fault.

"Hello," Hannah mumbled as she sat down on the chair in front of the desk. Sister Maria was facing towards the window, not looking at Hannah in case she did something that God would disprove off.

"Hannah, let's just cut straight to it. These last few weeks have taken a great toll on everyone, us three more than anyone. It hasn't been easy, and we understand that you have been through a rough time which we are sorry about - " Sister Margaret was cut off by a scoff from Sister Maria. " - however, that does not mean that we are going to be soft on you. You are suspended from midwifery duties until at least after Christmas. We all need time to get over this ordeal and even though you have been acquitted, it doesn't mean that you have got away with everything."

"I understand."

"You will be allowed to stay here and do volunteering work at the hospital to keep you busy, but you will not be on the payroll, so you'll have to try and find a job somewhere else. Once we have completed our investigation and we are certain that you not been involved in the murder of Father Hughes - "

"I didn't kill him!" Hannah exclaimed, shocked that they could even think such a thing. "I never knew anything about Father Hughes murder."

"We are not stupid," Sister Maria said, finally speaking up. "We fought to get you out of prison because we did not want to see you be hanged and we didn't want our reputation to be ruined anymore but it doesn't mean that we believe you. I've had my suspicions for a while, I knew that there was something going on with you, but I put it to the back of my mind." Sister Maria turned around and pointed at Hannah with the angriest look on her face. "You have taken us all for fools and you are continuing to do so. We all know that you had some involvement, even if it wasn't direct, and it will all come out eventually. Be grateful that we are even letting you keep your bed."

"I am grateful, extremely. However, I will not be accused of murdering Father Hughes, but I will not remain silent either."

"And what does that mean?" Sister Margaret asked.