Healing Hearts (New Hope Falls #6) - Kimberly Rae Jordan Page 0,12
smiled as she helped him into them, then put the other pair back in the drawer.
“Why don’t you go pick out a book?” Sophia said as they left the room.
While he sat down to look through his stack of books, she made sure all the doors and windows were locked and the curtains were drawn.
“Do you want a snack while I read to you?” she asked as she returned to where he sat.
“Yes, please. Bananas and peanut butter?”
“Sure.” Sophia knew from the doctor who had checked him over in Texas that he was underweight, so she fed him whenever he was willing to eat.
At the table in the kitchen, Bryson laid out the three books he’d been carrying. Since discovering books, he always requested more than one story, even if she told him to pick just one. And as with most things, she found it impossible to deny him.
Standing at the counter, Sophia sliced a banana in circles, then arranged the slices on a plate before adding a dab of peanut butter on top of each one.
“Is that man coming again tomorrow?” Bryson asked as she set the plate on the table in front of him.
She looked down into his serious, wide-eyed expression. “Yes, baby. He’ll be back to pick up Vivianne every day.”
He frowned at that, his brows drawing low over his eyes.
“Vivianne is safe with him,” she said as she went to the fridge to pour a small glass of milk. “He wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. Michael wouldn’t let Ryker pick her up if he didn’t trust him.”
Sophia understood why Bryson was wary of the man. He’d been that way initially with Michael, too, though it seemed to be worse with Ryker. Likely that was because he had formed an attachment with the baby now that had brought out his protective instinct.
She’d been leery of referring to Michael as Vivianne’s father at first because Bryson’s experiences with his own father hadn’t been good. She hadn’t wanted to attach that relationship to Michael and Vivianne because then Bryson really wouldn’t have let go of his wariness. Thankfully, Michael had explained his situation to her, so referring to him as Vivi’s uncle wasn’t a lie.
As she picked up the first book, Bryson shifted his attention to his banana and peanut butter, slowly eating one piece at a time and sipping at his milk as she read. By the time she finished the book, he was done with his snack.
“Let’s brush your teeth, and then we can read the other stories.”
They didn’t even bother to go into his bedroom when they were done in the bathroom. He hadn’t spent a night there yet, and she had no idea when he would.
Instead, she’d put a single bed she’d found for him in her room, sandwiching it between the double bed where she slept and the wall. It was slightly lower than her bed, so it didn’t feel like he was sleeping with her, but she was close enough if he needed her. She hoped that that would make it easier for him transition to sleeping in his own room at some point.
She wasn’t pressuring him to do that just yet though. It was too soon to take that step when they were both trying to adjust to the enormous changes that had already taken place in their lives.
After reading him the remaining two stories, she gave him the books to look at, knowing he’d fall asleep more quickly than if she forced him to try to sleep right away. She laid on the side of her bed closest to him and read a book of her own, waiting until he’d fallen asleep before getting back up.
Usually, once he was asleep, he stayed that way, barring any bad dreams. Thankfully those were coming less frequently the longer they were back in New Hope.
In the quiet, she cleaned up the kitchen, then straightened up the rest of the house. It wasn’t something she needed to do every night since the two of them really didn’t make that big of a mess, but she did it anyway since she didn’t have anything else to do. Plus, old habits were hard to break.
As she worked, she puzzled over how to help Bryson with his reaction to Ryker. She wished she could afford professional counselling to help him work through that issue and the others he struggled with, but that was beyond her financial capability at the moment.