Healing Hearts (New Hope Falls #6) - Kimberly Rae Jordan Page 0,95

the night. Even though he tried to get her to rest once he arrived each afternoon, she never slept for longer than an hour or so.

To that end, he needed to get back to the room to see if he could convince her to sleep for a bit.

Pushing up to his feet, he headed back to Bryson’s room. When he walked in the door, he was relieved to see that the boy had settled down and that Sophia wasn’t crying. Things like the blood draw episode could be as hard on the parent as they were on the patient. Maybe harder since the parent understood exactly what was going on.

Bryson was sleeping once again, but Sophia wasn’t.

“Go lay down for a bit,” he said. “I’ll wake you if he needs you.”

It was the same thing he said every day, and it was a testament to how tired she was when all she did was nod, then walk to the single bed and lay down. Ryker went to the windows and lowered the blinds before switching off the overhead lights, hoping that the darkened room might help Sophia sleep longer.

The hospital was a relatively new building—only about a decade old—and they’d gone all out to make the rooms in both the PICU and on the regular units family-friendly. That meant they had a bed for a parent to use when they stayed overnight with their children, as well as a loveseat and a table with chairs—a home away from home…sort of.

He took the seat she’d vacated, settling back into it, glad for its comfortable cushions. Hopefully, the nurses wouldn’t be in to check on Bryson for a little while, so they’d be able to get some uninterrupted sleep.

Surprisingly enough, he was able to catch a little sleep himself before waking to the sound of the door opening and conversation from the hall. He frowned as he sat forward, wanting to tell whoever had made the noise to be quiet.

His brows rose when he spotted the man standing just inside the door. Was Callie responsible for this as well? Or had one of the staff given him up to the chief of staff of the hospital?

With a glance at both Bryson and Sophia, Ryker quickly moved toward the door, motioning with his hand for the man to go back out into the hallway. He pulled the door nearly closed before turning to face the man.

“Uncle Landon,” he said, keeping his voice low. “What are you doing here?”

“I heard a rumor you were in the building, so I thought I’d check and see if it was true.”

Ryker gave a shake of his head. “Not even going to ask who gave me up.”

His uncle’s brows drew close. “Were you here undercover?”

“No,” he said with a huff of laughter. “Just didn’t realize that my presence here was going to create such a stir.”

“Really?”

Ryker sighed. “Okay. So you’ve seen me now with your own eyes.”

His uncle glanced at the door Ryker stood in front of. “Who’s the patient to you?”

Was it any surprise that his mom’s brother was also willing to take on a game of twenty questions?

“A friend’s son.”

He seemed to be about to ask another question, but instead, he just nodded. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

“I will.”

“I’ll let you get back to it then.”

“Tell Callie to keep her nose out of my business.”

The older man chuckled. “Will do.”

Ryker waited until he disappeared around the corner, then went back into the room, happy to see that Bryson and Sophia hadn’t stirred. He sat back down, his gaze automatically going to the numbers on each of the machines that monitored Bryson.

He didn’t fall back asleep though. The stretch of sleep he’d managed to get had been enough to take the edge off his exhaustion for the time being. He was just grateful he hadn’t had a nightmare that had woken them all up.

As soon as Sophia was awake again, he’d head out to get them some supper. Bryson had his meals delivered. Not that he was eating much yet, even when it was something he had once enjoyed. Unfortunately, Sophia wasn’t eating a lot either. Neither of them had body fat to spare, so Ryker did his best to bring food that he hoped might appeal to one or both of them.

He heard movement from the bed and glanced over to see Sophia sit up, sliding her legs off the bed. She braced her hands on the edge of the mattress, her