Healing Hearts (New Hope Falls #6) - Kimberly Rae Jordan Page 0,62

couldn’t imagine any situation where he would have done yard work for a patient and their mother whom he had met in his office.

“I’m happy that you were able to connect with Bryson,” Donna said. “I’m sure that you helped put his mom’s heart at ease. It’s never easy when a little one is freaking out over something and, as a parent, you can’t seem to do anything to help them.”

Though he didn’t have any kids of his own, Ryker knew that what Donna was saying was true. He’d experienced it during his residency. Though he hadn’t been looking at it from a medical perspective when he’d agreed to do what Sophia asked since it wasn’t a medical issue, he could see that it was the same. A worried parent was a worried parent, regardless of what the basis of that worry was.

“I know you’re not ready to step back into a pediatrics practice,” Silas began, “but I’m so glad that you’re beginning to connect with children once again.”

“I connected with children before this,” Ryker said, trying to keep a defensive tone out of his voice. “What do you consider Jonah and Emery?”

“Relatives,” Silas said. “They would never have been your patients because of that. Plus, I think you feel safe around them because being around them usually means I’m in the vicinity. If something happens to them and you freeze, I’ll still be able to help them.”

“And maybe you’re able to connect with Bryson and Vivianne because you don’t view them as your patients either,” Donna added.

Ryker couldn’t deny there was truth in that, but at the same time, he knew there had been moments when he’d looked at both Bryson and Vivianne through the eyes of a doctor.

“Mommy, can I go play on my iPad?” Emery asked, clearly bored with the conversation. She might have the ability to understand what she was hearing, but that didn’t mean she was all that interested in it.

“Sure, darling,” Donna said.

She slid off her stool then turned to look back at her parents. “You’ll call me for cake, though, right?”

“No worries. We’ll definitely call you.”

After Emery had left the kitchen, Donna said, “So what’s Bryson’s mom like?”

Ryker saw the question for the trap it was, so he took another bite of his pizza. He also knew that if he didn’t answer, they’d read even more into it. “She’s devoted to Bryson. Very accommodating of his needs. I don’t know her very well, though, since she seems very reserved.”

“Shy?” Donna would definitely relate to her in that regard. Though she was a professor and had to deal with students and colleagues, Ryker knew that she found it difficult at times.

“Maybe a little.” He thought back over their interactions and how things had gone down with Mellie. “I think she’s been through quite a lot since Bryson was born. I don’t know what, so don’t bother asking me. It’s just from comments she’s said, plus she had guests earlier this week that said some really…awful things.”

He usually wouldn’t share things like that with people. Still, as he’d told them about Bryson and Sophia, he realized that he needed to talk to someone about what was bubbling around in his head. He couldn’t talk to Michael about it since he knew Sophia, and Ryker didn’t feel it was right to reveal things about her to someone she interacted with. The chances of her ever meeting Silas and Donna were slim to none.

“What sort of awful things?” Donna asked.

After a moment’s hesitation, he shared what had happened to Bryson, and even as he recounted his own interactions with Mellie, Ryker realized how truly weird that all had been. Charlie’s “joke” on Bryson was understandable because there were kids who could be mean like that. But Mellie’s comments about being willing to share him with Sophia because they’d shared before had just been…so bizarre.

As Ryker talked, Silas walked over to the coffee machine and refilled his mug. Ryker knew he wasn’t ignoring him, which was proven true when he came back to the counter.

“Do you think she might have been part of a cult?”

Ryker stared at his brother. “What?”

“The comment about them having shared a man in the past. Plus the bit about their sons being brothers. We’ve seen situations where an ex-wife and current wife develop a friendship of sorts for the sake of the children,” Silas said. “But the antagonism showed by this other woman toward Sophia, plus some of her other comments make it