Healing Hearts (New Hope Falls #6) - Kimberly Rae Jordan Page 0,109

country are still far better than what many people in the rest of the world have to live in.”

Sophia didn’t know how to reply to that, so she just continued to eat small bites of food, for once hoping that Bryson would take his time waking up. For some reason, she needed to hear Ryker’s story. Maybe it was because she hoped it would give her the courage to share her own.

“Already, I’d felt a bit haunted by what I’d seen there, but I still enjoyed being able to help the children in the camp. Despite the difference in situations, they were just like the kids here. Some were outgoing. Some were mischievous. Some shy.” Ryker looked up as a smile crossed his face. “I’d taken a ton of candy to give out, and no matter their personality, they would grin with so much happiness when I gave them some.”

Sophia returned his smile, unable to keep his momentary joy from pulling that response from her. “Candy and happy kids seem to go hand in hand.”

“So true,” Ryker agreed.

She thought he’d dive right back into his story, but he focused on his food for a few minutes, so she did the same. There was still no movement from Bryson, but she glanced over at him anyway, just to be sure he hadn’t woken without them noticing.

“During our last week there, we were determined to do as much as we could. In order to do that, a few of us had gathered to discuss treatments for some patients who were overlapping in our specialties.”

He fell quiet again, his fork coming to rest on the side of the plate as his gaze shifted to the window, though Sophia wasn’t sure that he was actually seeing what lay beyond the glass. She had the overwhelming urge to hold his hand or even wrap her arms around him like she did to Bryson when he was upset.

“In the blink of an eye, everything changed,” he murmured. “There had always been a bit of a chaos in the camp, but the bombs took it to a whole new level.”

Bombs? Her heart began to pound at what might still be to come in the story. Obviously, he hadn’t been killed, but she doubted that was true of everyone who had been there.

“We stepped out of the half-collapsed tent where we’d been meeting into unbelievable destruction. Devastation.” He blew out a breath. “And death. So much death.”

Sophia clutched her fork but didn’t bother to eat anything, knowing her stomach would revolt. Ryker’s expression was sober, but it held an edge of despair that she’d never seen on him before.

“I tried my best to help those who were so badly injured. But the shock of seeing those who were beyond my help…the children I’d given candy to…made it difficult for me to function. We worked long into the night, searching for survivors and treating them. All the while worried that more bombs were coming.”

Sophia wasn’t sure that she would have been able to keep going under those conditions, and she admired him for pushing on.

“By the time the sun came up the next morning, we were faced with the real devastation. Among those killed were a doctor and two nurses who’d gone over with Lydia and me. It took a few days to get everything sorted out, but in the end, over half the inhabitants of the camp had been killed. Whole families were wiped out. There were children left without parents and parents without children. I’d never seen anything so awful in my life.”

The horror he felt was easy to read on his face, and Sophia realized that despite the time that had passed, the attack was still very real and vivid for him.

“By the time I got back to Seattle, I was a wreck. I could hardly sleep because of the nightmares. But even when I was awake, I still couldn’t block out the memories. I thought that as time passed, I’d move beyond it. But I couldn’t. I came here for a shift, just to see if I could handle the patients, but I couldn’t. I just…couldn’t.”

Now there was sadness on his face, and Sophia wished she had the words to say to erase that from him.

“The experience in the camp left me feeling helpless and hopeless. I had tried so hard to help the children there, but for far too many, it wasn’t enough. I just couldn’t get past the feeling that I’d fail more