His, Hers and...Theirs?

Chapter Two

Upon entering the E.R., Eva led the way to a triage area, where a nurse was posted to determine the priority in which the incoming patients would be seen.

Kaylee’s condition certainly wasn’t critical, and since the E.R. appeared to be especially busy today, Dan figured they wouldn’t see a doctor until the cows came home. And if that were the case, he was going to owe Eva big-time for spending the afternoon at the medical center with them.

The triage nurse sent them to sign in with a clerk behind a desk who took Dan’s insurance card. Thank goodness he’d put the kids on his plan after Jenny’s death.

After providing all the pertinent information, he returned to the waiting area. There weren’t many chairs from which to choose, so they opted for a grouping near a TV monitor that was set to the Discovery channel.

The kids and Eva zeroed in on the television, while Dan snatched a magazine from a table. He wasn’t sure how long they’d had to wait before Kaylee’s name was called, but he’d just reached the last pages of a battered, two-month-old issue of Modern Horseman.

As they all headed to the doorway that led to the exam rooms, the nurse who’d called them, a tall, slender woman with black spiky hair, looked at Kaylee and smiled. “What happened, sweetheart?”

“I fell down, and the slide hurt me.”

“That’s too bad. But don’t you worry. We’ll get you fixed up as good as new.”

“Are you the princess doctor?” Kaylee asked.

The nurse furrowed her brow and cast a quizzical glance Eva’s way.

“She’s talking about Dr. Nielson,” Eva explained. “Is she on duty today?”

The nurse smiled. “Actually, she is working. And we usually assign the children to her whenever we can. So your odds of seeing her are good.”

Eva seemed to be relieved, although Dan wasn’t sure why. Apparently that particular doctor was good with kids. Was she also a plastic surgeon?

The nurse—Shannon O’Reilly, according to her ID card—took Kaylee’s temperature and checked her blood pressure, then she left them to wait for the doctor.

Kaylee nibbled at her bottom lip, and Eva eased closer. “Are you doing okay, honey?”

“I’m scared. I don’t want it to hurt again. It’s all better now, and I just want to go home.”

Dan didn’t know if she meant back to New York or the ranch, but he wouldn’t ask. The kids didn’t have any options about where they lived now.

Eva slipped an arm around Kaylee’s shoulder, and the girl leaned into her. It was nice to see her connecting with someone. She’d been a little standoffish with him since he’d brought her to Texas.

He supposed he couldn’t blame her for that. He didn’t know squat about kids, especially girls. And he had a feeling she wasn’t used to being around men, especially the rugged and outdoorsy type.

Moments later, an attractive redhead entered the room. She couldn’t have been much more than an inch or two over five feet tall, but she had a definite, take-charge presence.

She introduced herself to Dan and Kaylee as Dr. Nielson, then greeted Eva. “Is this your family?”

“No,” Eva said. “We’re just…friends.”

Dan would have corrected her if he could have figured out a better answer, but as it was, that would have to do.

As Dr. Nielson slipped on a pair of gloves, then examined the child’s wound, Eva said, “Kaylee’s a little concerned about getting stitches and looking like a pirate.”

“Don’t worry about that,” the doctor said. “I’ve got something much better than stitches for this cut. We’re going to use skin glue instead.”

Dan eased closer, wondering if he’d heard her right. Was she really going to close Kaylee’s wound with some kind of glue? Or was this all part of the magical princess-talk that Eva had been using on the child?

“Cool.” Kevin eased closer to the exam table on which his sister sat. “Can I watch?”

“You certainly can.” Dr. Nielson stepped aside, giving the boy a better view.

When the doctor was finished and Kaylee’s wound was thoroughly cleaned, then sealed, Kevin stepped back and grinned. “It’s too bad all the king’s men and all the king’s horses didn’t have that stuff when Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall.”

The doctor smiled at the boy. “You’ve got a point there. They might have been able to put him together again.”

“So that’s all there is to it?” Dan asked. “That bionic glue will hold together?”

“Yes, it will.” Dr. Nielson removed her gloves and dropped them in the trash. “We can’t use it on all wounds, but it should work out nicely for Kaylee.”

“Just like magic,” Dan said, realizing that it sounded as if he was slipping into the fantasy zone Eva had created. But that’s not what he meant. He was thinking about the marvels of science and modern medicine.

The doctor reached for a clean rubber glove from the box and blew it into a balloon. Then she took a black marker and made eyes and a mouth near the base of the thumb, leaving the fingers to poke up like a Mohawk.

“Cool,” Kevin said. “It has pokey hair like the nurse. Can I have one, too?”

“You bet.” Dr. Nielson handed the blown-up glove to Kaylee, then reached into the box for another.

Dan looked over the sealed wound on his niece’s forehead. He’d had plenty of stitches in his day—the gash in his knee for one—so he knew the routine for that. Kaylee would need an appointment for a checkup and suture removal. But what happened with skin glue?

“Does she need to come back?” he asked.

“Not unless you notice any unusual redness or swelling.” Dr. Nielson gave them some instructions about keeping the wound dry and protecting it. “In fact, after you check out at the discharge desk, you’re good to go.”

“Can I see my owie?” the girl asked.

Dr. Nielson found a mirror, then handed it to her.

As Kaylee peered at her reflection, she scrunched her face. “It still looks like an owie. You didn’t do anything to make the cut go away.”

“It takes time for it to get better,” the doctor said. “The red line will turn pink before it disappears.”

Kaylee didn’t appear to be convinced.

“I think it looks like a fairy kiss,” Eva said. “All good princesses have one, you know.”

The little girl brightened. “Okay. And it’s shiny because of all the fairy dust and magic.”

If Dan was going to have to make up stories to appease Kaylee, she would be out of luck. His brain didn’t work that way. He was more inclined to resort to one of the snide remarks Uncle Hank used to make when Dan had been a kid and had sprained a finger, scraped a knee or stubbed a toe. “Just go rub a little dirt on it and quit your whinin’.”

But Dan couldn’t say something like that to a little girl.

Besides, when he was twelve and had a cut along his thigh from a piece of barbed wire, Hank had used that line on him. He hadn’t realized the old man hadn’t intended for Dan to take him literally, and after following what he thought was sage advice from a real live cowboy, he’d gotten an infection along with a fever. He’d had his own medical emergency after that.

While Dan settled the account and signed the discharge paperwork, Kevin slipped up beside him. “When are we going to eat the picnic food?”

They’d had a late breakfast and hadn’t been hungry when the other picnickers had spread out their lunches. So most of the food Dan had packed for them was still in a cooler in the back of the pickup. But he didn’t feel like eating a bologna sandwich right now.

“I have a feeling that most of the people at the park have called it a day and headed home.” Dan looked at Eva. “You’ve got to be hungry, too. How about going out to an early dinner with us? After that, I can take you back to your car.”

The invitation seemed to take her aback, and before she answered she glanced down at her blouse, which was stained and crumpled.

“We’ll go someplace casual,” he added. “Maybe the Burger Barn or something.”

“Oh, please!” Kaylee said to her new friend. “Come with us, Eva. I don’t want to be the only girl.”

At the child’s request, the tension on Eva’s face eased, and Dan was again struck by her natural beauty. By the delicate arch of her brows, by the thick dark lashes, by the intoxicating color of bourbon in those expressive eyes.

The collar of her blouse, which she’d turned up after removing her scarf, now drooped, revealing the scar she’d probably tried to cover.

“All right,” she finally said. “And as luck would have it, I’ve got spare clothes in my locker at the lab. So if you don’t mind giving me a few minutes to change, I’ll go with you.”

Kaylee let out a joyful little whoop, and Kevin appeared to be just as happy, which only went to show that kids were better off with a woman than a man. Of course, that wouldn’t change the dynamics of the Walker household. They were stuck with two men.

“Do you want us to wait in the car?” Dan asked Eva.

“You don’t have to. Why don’t you come to the lab with me? You can see where I work.”

“Sure,” Dan said. He had to admit that he was curious about where the pretty scientist spent her days. Besides, he didn’t have anything else planned for today, other than grabbing a bite to eat and then heading home.

So he and the kids followed Eva to the elevator and down one floor to the basement, where the lab was located.

Eva let them all in, then asked them to take a seat near the entrance while she changed clothes. “I’ll just be a few minutes, and then I’ll show you around.”

Moments later, she returned wearing a cream-colored, lightweight turtleneck sweater and the same pair of jeans. She’d applied a touch of pink lipstick, and when she smiled, he noted a flush to her cheeks. He didn’t think it had anything to do with makeup.

“Are you ready to check out the lab?” she asked.

The kids nodded and got to their feet. As Eva breezed past Dan, he caught the whiff of citrus—orange blossoms, maybe?

They followed her through the doorway and into a large room with white walls and various cubicles, where several people in white lab coats either studied machines or sat on stools and peered through microscopes. Eva said hello to her coworkers and introduced Dan and the kids.

“We’re going to take a quick tour,” she explained, as she moved through the lab.

Dan had never been behind the scenes in a hospital before and felt as though he was on some kind of field trip. Still, he found it interesting as she pointed out a refrigerator case that stored blood and blood products, as well as the several different machines and testing apparatus.

“So you’re the one they call in when they need to take blood,” Dan said.

“Actually,” Eva explained, “the lab technicians are the ones who draw blood. I’m a technologist and work behind the scenes. I run the needed tests and send the results to the doctors so they can make the proper diagnosis and treat the patients.” She led him to a cubicle that had a fancy microscope. “This is the station where I work.”

“Who’s that?” Kevin pointed to a photograph Eva had displayed on one of the sidewalls of her workspace.

Dan noted a smiling Eva, an elderly woman and a candle-laden birthday cake.

“That’s Clara Morrison,” Eva said. “She’s a friend of mine. We were celebrating her seventy-sixth birthday that day.”

“Wow,” the boy said. “That’s a lot of birthdays.”

“It sure is.” Eva reached into a drawer, pulled out a slide and slipped it into the microscope. “Here, let me show you what I do.” She peered through the lens, then stepped aside to let the boy take a peek.

“Ooh,” Kevin said. “I see a whole lot of little circles.”

“I want to see them, too.” Kaylee pressed against her brother. “Let me have a turn.”

Kevin moved away reluctantly, then let his sister peer into the microscope. She’d barely had a chance to ooh and ah herself when he said, “Come on, Kaylee. It’s my turn again.”

Dan was tempted to ask for a turn himself, but he was too caught up in watching Eva move through the lab or in trying to catch another hint of orange blossoms each time she brushed past him.

As it was, he stood off to the side and remained an observer, a role he usually slipped into whenever he left the ranch. But not because he was shy or awkward. He just didn’t open up around people he didn’t know or trust.

Yet as he watched Eva blossom in her natural surroundings, her amber eyes brightening as she spoke to the kids, her tone soft and maternal, he couldn’t help lowering his guard just a bit.

And looking forward to having dinner with her.

Dan figured the Burger Barn was their best choice for a meal, and the minute he stepped inside the family-style restaurant, he realized he’d been right. He placed their orders, then with Eva’s help, carried their food and drinks on trays to the dining area.

“I’m not hungry anymore,” Kevin said the minute he spied the colorful, indoor climbing structure that was designed to look like a big red barn with a yellow silo and blue netting.

“Not so fast, sport.” Dan unloaded the drinks, burgers and fries onto the white Formica table. “You need to eat first, while everything is warm. You’ll have plenty of time to play when you’re done.”

“Oh, okay,” the boy said, plopping into one of the white seats covered with a built-in blue vinyl cushion. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple of Matchbox race cars and a Star Wars action figure.

A few minutes later, both kids had wolfed down their kiddie meals and had finished their milk.

“See?” Dan said. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

Without answering, the twins dashed off, leaving Dan and Eva to munch on their burgers and fries.

“Kaylee seems to be doing a lot better,” Eva said.

Dan agreed. She’d been a real chatterbox at dinner, opening up for Eva more than she had for him in the past two weeks. And he had no choice but to attribute the change to the attractive woman seated across from him.

As he caught Eva’s gaze, she leaned forward and lowered her voice. “So, where’s their father?”

Before Dan could respond, Kevin slipped back to the table to pick up the little toys he’d left behind and said, “Our daddy’s in New York.”

Kaylee, who’d returned on her brother’s heels, added, “He’s rich and has a great big car.”

“Yeah,” her brother chimed in, “but we don’t get to ride in it. He’s too busy.”

“He’s always busy,” Kaylee said. “That’s why we never get to see him.”

Eva glanced down at the half-eaten bag of fries resting in front of her, then back at the child. But she let the conversation drop.

When the kids took off again, she blew out a sigh, leaned forward and rested her forearms on the table. “I didn’t mean to pry. Or to bring that up in front of them.”

“I know. I thought they were out of hearing range, too.”

“I take it their father isn’t very involved in their lives.”

“No, he isn’t.” Dan didn’t want to go into all the details. When he’d found out his sister was dating a married man, he’d told her how disappointed he’d been in her. She’d tried to explain that she hadn’t known at first, that the guy had kept it from her. And that when she’d told him that she was pregnant, he’d finally confessed.

Dan had tried to talk her into moving back home, but she’d refused. He’d never understood her need to move away from Brighton Valley in the first place, never understood her dreams.

After that, she’d been pretty tight-lipped about the kids and her personal life. But he’d never been one to keep quiet and had continued to let her know that he believed children should be raised in a loving, two-parent home. And that maybe they should be raised closer to family. But there was no need to go into any of that with Eva.

“Their dad has never really been a part of their lives,” Dan said instead.

“That’s too bad. They’re cute kids.”

“It’s their old man’s loss, I guess.” He’d tried to tell himself that they were probably better off without him, which is what Jenny had insisted.

And maybe she’d been right.

All Dan really knew about Daddy Warbucks was that he was some Broadway bigwig who’d paid only a token amount of child support. And that Jenny hadn’t wanted to make trouble for him by asking for more money. At least, that’s what Catherine, her roommate, had said.

Dan opened a small bag of ketchup and squeezed a splotch onto his fries. He wasn’t going to reveal more than he already had to Eva. It didn’t seem fair to the twins—or to Jenny’s memory. Still, he would have liked to have been able to say that his sister had known better than to get involved in a situation like that, but obviously she hadn’t.

“I think kids ought to be raised by people who want them,” he said.

“So do I. And I’m glad they have you.”

Dan sure as hell wanted to do right by them. He’d feed them, clothe them and educate them by sending them off to college or trade school. But no one knew more than he did that kids needed love and affection, too, and he was afraid he’d fall short in that department.

“When did your sister die?” Eva asked.

“About six months ago.”

“And you’ve had the kids all that time?”

“No, they just moved in with me a couple of weeks ago.”

If Eva wondered why that was, she didn’t ask. But for the damnedest reason, Dan felt compelled to explain. “After the funeral, my sister’s roommate, Catherine, suggested that they stay with her. And it seemed like a good idea to me. They hardly knew me. I’d only seen them once—when they were three. My sister came for a visit, but she didn’t stay long.”

They’d argued, as they were prone to do, and she’d left earlier than she’d planned.

Eva remained silent, but seemed to be hanging on his words. Her eyes asked, And you agreed to leave them in New York with a stranger?

“The only other option I had at the time was to take them away from their comfort zone and drag them back to Texas to live on the ranch with me, and, like I said, they didn’t know me very well.” He didn’t mention Uncle Hank, who’d finished raising Dan and his sister, Jenny, when they’d had nowhere else to go. The crotchety old cowboy meant well, but he spent the bulk of his day grumbling about his lot in life.

“How are they doing?” Eva asked. “Was the move hard on them?”

“Probably. Who knows?” Dan lifted his chocolate milkshake and took a sip, relishing the cold, creamy drink. “Catherine recently landed her dream job—the lead dancer in a Broadway musical—and daycare became an issue for her.”

To be honest, even if he didn’t feel like sharing it with Eva, when he’d left the kids in New York after the funeral, he’d felt a little uneasy about the whole setup. He’d wondered how Catherine would handle the childcare on her own, but she’d seemed so sure of herself.

And, just as he’d suspected, when the kids had become too much for her to juggle, she’d contacted him and he’d immediately jumped on a plane.

“So now they’re living in Texas with you,” Eva said, connecting the dots with the information he’d given her.

“Yeah. That’s about the size of it.” If there was one thing to be said about Dan, it was that he tried his best to do the right thing, and that come hell or high water, he was loyal and responsible.

“What did you think of New York?” she asked.

“It wasn’t my cup of tea.” He preferred wide-open spaces and rolling hills to skyscrapers.

“How long were you there?”

“Too long.” His flight had been delayed in Houston, and by the time he’d arrived in New York, it had been too late to get the kids. So he’d taken a cab to an over-priced hotel, where he’d been too keyed up to sleep a wink. Then he’d gone to Catherine’s apartment the next morning and picked them up. “To be honest, I felt like a real fish out of water in Manhattan.”

As awkward as he’d felt, as afraid as he was that he’d somehow mess up and do damage to their psyches and scar them for life, he hadn’t been able to get them to the airport fast enough.

But once he’d brought the kids back to the ranch and tried to create some kind of family, he’d been more out of place than ever.

“How about you?” he asked.

“Me?” Eva reached for her milk.

“Have you ever been to New York?”

“I’ve always wanted to go. I’d love to see a Broadway show. But I doubt that I’ll get to travel anytime soon.”

“Why’s that?” he asked, reaching for a fry.

“Because I’m pregnant.”

His hand froze in midreach. “You gotta be kidding.”

She wasn’t, and he soon came to that conclusion.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “but you don’t look…pregnant.”

“I’m only about three months along.”

He paused for the longest time, the French fries long forgotten. “Is that why you were hanging out at the play ground, watching the kids?”

“In a way. I’m not used to being around small children, so I’m intrigued by them.”

“I never would have guessed that. You were so good with Kaylee. If you would have told me that you were a preschool teacher or a mother of three, I wouldn’t have doubted it for a minute.”