Chapter 3
Matti was surprised that Sam was moved to a private room. She’d expected him to have a roommate. Ryan must have arranged that. She was getting him tucked in when an orderly pushed a cot into the room.
“Oh, thanks,” she said.
“You can thank Dr. Palmer.” After arranging the cot against the wall, the man grinned at Sam. “Dr. Palmer said you’re special, so if you need anything, tell a nurse to find Charley.” Charley tipped an imaginary hat to Sam and then to her before walking out.
When she turned back to Sam, she frowned. He had the sheet pulled up over his nose, only his eyes peeking out, and he was shaking.
“Sam, you’re safe here.”
He shook his head, then pulled the sheet the rest of the way over his face, hiding.
She’d seen enough fearful children to recognize the emotion on a child’s face and in their eyes. Charley was not only a male but a big man, and to a boy like Sam after what he’d been through the past few days, the orderly would be intimidating.
“No one’s going to hurt you, sweetie.” She lifted the edge of the sheet. “I promise.” Exhaustion lined his face, and she brushed his hair away from his eyes. “Go to sleep, honey.”
“What if the mean men come?” Even as he said that, his eyelids slid closed.
“No mean men are coming, and I’ll be right here, okay.”
She watched him for a few minutes, and when she was sure he was sleeping, she settled on the cot. Charley had even brought a lightweight blanket and pillow. She wondered if Ryan had told him to do that, too.
With all that had gone on tonight, she should’ve been able to fall right asleep, but between the hospital noises, the nurses popping in to check on Sam, and her own thoughts, she tossed and turned for hours.
Her mind kept buzzing with images of a certain doctor.
She lifted the hand he’d shook and wiggled her fingers.
She could almost still feel the tingling from when he’d wrapped his hand around hers.
She’d never felt anything like that before and had stuffed her hands into her pockets to keep from touching him again to see if she was imagining those tingles.
Then there was his sincere apology after he’d been so rude to her. As soon as Ryan realized his mistake, he owned it. There was a lot to like about that.
She wondered if he had a wife or girlfriend.
He didn’t wear a wedding ring, but many men didn’t.
If he did have one of those, she was probably model thin and beautiful.
That would be the kind of woman he’d be attracted to.
Oh, well, she wasn’t looking for a boyfriend—especially a doctor boyfriend—so Ryan would just be a pretty, shiny thing to look at and appreciate.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t used to being around great-looking men.
Her brothers—Callum, Wyatt, and the twins, Dylan and Aiden—were all what women called sex-on-a-stick.
But ewwww, they were her brothers, and she could never think of them like that.
Jeez, she’d listened to them have burping contests and other gross things.
So, where she looked at them and saw nothing but her brothers, Ryan was perfect to fantasize over. That was all he’d be. She—
A scream had her jerking up on the cot. It was Sam. She rushed to his bed. “Sam, wake up.” He thrashed and cried out again. “Sam! Sweetie, wake up.”
Big brown eyes filled with tears settled on her. “Matti?”
“It’s me. You were having a nightmare.” A very bad one apparently. “It’s okay. You’re safe. You remember where you are?”
He glanced around the room again. “The hospital?”
“That’s right. Nothing’s going to hurt you here. Can you go back to sleep for a little while?”
He grabbed her hand. “Don’t leave me.”
“I won’t. Move over a little.” He did, and she slid onto the bed next to him. “This better?”
He nodded. “I dreamed my daddy was hurting my mommy, then he looked at me, and he was going to hurt me, too.”
You’re killing me, Sammy. “Did your father ever hurt you?”
There was a long silence, then, “Sometimes,” he whispered. “When he didn’t have stuff to put in the needle that he put in his arm. He’d get mean and his hands would shake. That’s when he’d hurt Mommy and sometimes me.”
“Well, he’s never going to hurt you again, Sam. I won’t let him.”
“You can’t stop him. Nobody can.”
She was going to prove him wrong about that. There was no way she was letting this boy go back to his parents. It would mean extra work and time getting the proof she needed to show he’d been neglected and abused, but she wouldn’t let Sam be another Mikey.
“Close your eyes, and I’ll tell you a story.” This was something she’d done with other children, and she had a story about a puppy that went on a search for a ball he’d lost. She used her soft, sleepy voice that she’d perfected over the years of putting children to bed.
She was only halfway through the story when his breaths evened out, but she finished anyway, then drifted to sleep.
“Sleeping beauty and her little minion,” a familiar voice said.
Matilda blinked her eyes open and found herself staring into the chocolaty eyes of her fantasy man. “Oh.” She sat up. Her hair had to be a mess, and she probably had drool on her chin. Sadly, there was no way she was going to be his fantasy woman.
She combed her fingers through her hair. “He had a nightmare, so I…um, I guess I fell asleep.”
“You’ve had quite a night.” He held up a white bag, waving it in front of her face. “Thought you could use some decent coffee. There’s also a juice for Sam and a couple of Danishes.”
“Careful,” she said as she greedily grabbed the bag. “I might decide to marry you.”
He laughed. “Only propose to me if you mean it. And I’ll expect you to drop to a knee or the answer will be no.”
Matti usually felt a bit awkward around men, especially gorgeous ones like Ryan, but he had such an easy way about him that she felt comfortable just being herself. “You should’ve held the coffee ransom until my proposal. Now that I have it in my greedy little hands, I have no need to marry you.”
He slapped a hand over his heart. “I’m crushed.
I was already planning my vows, but I’ll remember that the next time I bring you coffee.
” He tapped a finger to his head. “Remember to hold Matilda’s coffee hostage until I have my proposal.
” He took a step closer to her. “Have I earned the right to be your friend and call you Matti now?”
Lord help her, this man was a delight, and that grin he directed her way made her toes curl. “Depends on how good my Danish is.” Were they flirting? It sure felt like it.
“I should’ve brought one of each kind,” he mumbled loud enough for her to hear. “How’s our boy doing?” He walked to the other side of the bed.
And just like that, the flirty doctor was gone.
Well, it was fun while it lasted. “He had a nightmare. Told me his father would hurt him when there was nothing to put in the needle that his father would stick in his arm.” Ryan muttered some words a doctor probably shouldn’t say in front of a patient or his social worker, but she wholeheartedly agreed.
“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to check up on him, make sure his leg is doing okay. Would you be willing to give me your phone number so I can do that?”
“Sure.” She gave him her number, and he put it in his phone.
“I’m sending you a text so you’ll have mine. If the wound turns red or looks irritated, call me, okay?”
“I will.” She shouldn’t be disappointed that he asked for her number so he could check up on Sam and not because he wanted to talk to her.
“Are you doing okay? It’s been a long night for you.”
“Nothing a bottle of wine wouldn’t cure, but since it’s early morning, I guess I should wait a few hours.”
He chuckled. “Might be a good idea.” Sam stirred. “Looks like our boy is waking up.”
“While you’re here to keep an eye on him, I’m going to hop into the bathroom real quick. I didn’t want him to wake up and think he’s alone.” Maybe there was a comb and toothpaste in there.
“Sure.” He removed Sam’s chart from the wall and busied himself reading it.
Matti groaned when she got a look at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her hair was a tangled mess, and her clothes looked like she’d slept in them… Well, she had, but did they have to be so wrinkled? She tried to smooth out the creases in her T-shirt, but the shirt didn’t look any better.
There wasn’t a comb or toothpaste on the counter, so she put a little soap on her finger and rubbed her teeth. Yuck, that was nasty. She had a brush in her purse, but she wasn’t going to go and get it while Ryan was there, so she finger-combed her hair, taming it as best she could.
“That’s about as good as it’s going to get,” she told her mirror self.
Ryan was putting a new bandage on Sam’s leg when she returned to the room, and he glanced at her. “Everything looks great, and I’ll discharge him. I’m going to write a prescription for an antibiotic, and you can give him ibuprofen for pain if he needs it, but follow the instructions for children.”
“Okay.” Although she’d planned to find Sam a foster family, with his gunshot wound and the attention he needed, she didn’t trust someone else to take proper care of him. Sam would stay with her for a few days. She refused to question her motive for that decision.
“Hey, Sam,” Ryan said. “You know you now have quite a story to tell the boys at school.”
“I don’t go to school.” Sam glanced at his leg. “I wish I did so I could have some friends. I’d tell them how I got shot.”
Matti exchanged a look with Ryan, and she knew he was thinking the same thing as she. He doesn’t go to school? “Well, that’s going to change, Sam. As soon as Dr. Palmer says it’s okay, you’ll start going to school.”
“I am?” He didn’t look too happy about that.
“Yes. You ready to get out of here?”
“Am I going back to the motel with Mommy and Daddy?”
“Nope, you’re coming home with me.” She ignored the surprised glance Ryan gave her. He would have been expecting her to take Sam to a foster family.
“Really?” Sam said with hope in his voice.
“Yes, for real.” As soon as she was sure his wound wasn’t going to get infected, then she’d get busy finding him a foster home.