loved their life together. He wouldn’t trade it for anything. Their rural clinic was all he needed. “You are. Our kids are.”
He had three. Violet. Gavin. Aurora. They were back in Jennings with his mom and Roni’s. Sandra had moved from Dallas after Aurora had been born and opened a new business.
“I know,” she said with a smile. They were standing outside the private terminal, the stars all around them, but nothing was as bright as his wife’s smile. “But this is family. Rob is going to be there. I’m glad you get to spend some time with him. It’s been months since you saw him, and they have a baby now. He’s going to need you.”
He hadn’t even had a chance to meet his niece. Life had been so busy, and the distance had taken its toll. He couldn’t help but be excited to see his brothers. Talking on the phone wasn’t the same. “I hope I remember how to do this.”
He wished he’d kept up his training at the shooting range, but he rather thought when the time came he wouldn’t have trouble shooting Levi Green. He would never forget how to do that.
The plane had come to a stop and the door came open, then Jax was standing on the stairs.
“Tucker! My brother! Let’s get going. We’ve got beer, and Theo brought board games. Hey, Roni!”
He had to laugh because his brothers never changed. When they got together they were all dumb kids enjoying each other’s company.
Roni waved to Jax. “Don’t let him drink too much beer. I want him back in the same physically fit condition I sent him off in.” She turned to him and went up on her toes to kiss him. “Be safe. I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He held her close. “I’ll be home soon.”
He prayed he could keep that promise.
Chapter Nine
Kim stepped out into the sunlight with a sigh and immediately caught sight of her uncle sitting on the patio sipping his midmorning tea.
“Good morning, dear girl. How are our patients?” Her uncle gave her a wave and gestured for her to join him.
It had been a rough couple of days. “Better, thanks to you. I think Roman could probably have gone to school today, but I would feel better if he had more rest.”
She moved down the steps and crossed to join her uncle. She set her bag down and took a seat as her uncle poured her a coffee.
“It was just a little bug,” he said, handing her the delicate cup. “I told you it would pass. I don’t expect that you will get it. You have what we physicians like to call Mommy immunity.”
She was glad for it because apparently Ezra didn’t have it. He’d been every bit as sick as Roman. She’d been pushing fluids and bringing down fevers for days. “Well, I’m happy for it. I talked to one of the teachers at the school and it’s going around. She said half the class is out with it. It’s almost certainly where Ezra picked it up, too.”
“He’s a baby.” Uncle Francis passed her the milk and sugar tray. “He needs to build up more fortitude. Are you going into the store?”
“Only if you don’t mind.” Her uncle had many things to do in a day, and he’d put a lot of them off so he could help her. “I need to go through the shipment we got in, and I promised Ezra earlier this week that I would go through some of the security feed.”
“I’m staying home for the rest of the week. I can certainly look in on our patients,” her uncle assured her. “I’ve got some research I would like to do. Is my book in the shipment?”
At least she had something to offer him. “I hope so. Anna told me we got some mail from Germany. If it’s here, I’ll bring it back for you.”
“Why does Ezra want you to go through the tapes? Are you having problems at the shop?”
She shook her head and picked up one of the croissants on the breakfast tray. She filled a small plate with cheese and fruit. “Someone asked about me a few days back. Not by name. I think it’s nothing more than a tourist looking for a date. Ezra’s being overly cautious, so I had Anna save the files from earlier in the week.”
Her uncle had gone all kinds of serious. “Kimberly, you can’t take these things lightly.”
“I’m not. I meant to go