Claiming the Doctor's Heart

by Renee Ryan

He stayed out of sight and let her voice wash over him.

  The story sounded different coming from her. Her inflection was almost comforting, soothing even, and very female.

  He peered into the room. His gaze sought and found Olivia. With her head bent, her lips moving, there was a softness about her and her voice was filled with an underlying tenderness, as if she was being very careful with the girls tonight.

  The twins looked peaceful in their beds, their eyes closed, little smiles on their faces. His heart tripped over the sight.

  Connor tried not to read too much into the situation. Olivia was simply doing her job, nothing more. Yet he couldn’t help thinking she was right where she belonged. In his home. Reading to his daughters while he watched over them.

  He started at the direction of his thoughts, torn between guilt and satisfaction as he straddled the precarious spot between past and present, old and new.

  Olivia paused, looked up, caught him staring.

  Her blue-blue eyes searched his, her gaze full of profound gentleness, as if she understood the conflict waging inside him.

  He swallowed another wave of unease.

  She mercifully looked back to her book.

  On surprisingly unsteady legs, Connor quietly left the hallway. Panic had him searching for the photo album he’d pulled out the other day.

  Needing air, he took the book outside and settled on the back stoop. He drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly and opened to a random page. A picture from his and Sheila’s honeymoon jumped out at him. They’d been happy, both mugging for the camera on the edge of a sandy beach in the Caribbean.

  He studied the image of his wife’s smiling face until he had it permanently fixed in his mind. Then closed the album and set it on the ground by his feet.

  But as soon as he looked up, the image slipped from his mind. This time, the sensation didn’t bring the usual spurt of pain. He even felt a smidgen of peace, as if he was letting her go slowly and it was the right thing to do.

  Olivia was partly to blame.

  Watching her read to his girls tonight, remembering how well the day had gone with all four of them at the baseball game, gave him hope for the future. Hope that he might actually find another woman to share his life. It wouldn’t be Olivia.

  Not if she left town to pursue her career.

  What if she didn’t leave town? Would she be someone he could see in his life?

  She was certainly special and had brought calm to his chaotic home. No matter what happened between them, if anything happened between them, Connor could never go back to just going through the motions.

  Olivia had awakened something in him that couldn’t be ignored—a desire to start living again, without grief weighing him down.

  Behind him, the door between the kitchen and the mudroom creaked on its hinges. “Connor?”

  “Out here,” he called. “On the back stoop.”

  Olivia poked her head out the doorway. “I just wanted to let you know the girls are asleep and I’m heading out now.”

  Not thinking too hard about what he was doing, or why, he patted the spot beside him. “Sit with me a moment before you go.”

  “All right.” She settled in beside him.

  He could feel her eyes on him, could practically hear the questions running around in her head. She had to be wondering why he’d called her outside to sit with him.

  He wasn’t sure himself.

  “I owe my brother a huge thank-you. That was an awesome game.”

  “Yeah, it was.” Not only because the Bobcats won.

  He expected her to say more, but she simply looked up at the sky. She reached out and covered his hand with hers.

  Her touch should have put him on edge. Instead, he felt the tension drain out of him, inch by agonizing inch. For a dangerous moment, he wanted to tell her how worn out he felt most days, how overwhelmed he was trying to be both father and mother to his daughters.

  Would the confession be a betrayal to Sheila?

  Or a step toward moving on with his life?

  Drawing in a ragged breath, he pulled his hand out from under Olivia’s. She turned her head and smiled at him, the look in her eyes full of understanding. “Connor, I was thinking—”

  Her cell phone rang, screeching out a popular version of the song “Bad to the Bone.” Olivia scowled at the interruption but didn’t immediately answer the call.

  “Aren’t you going to take that?”

  “Still debating.” The ring tone hit a crescendo. Baaaaad to the bone. “It’s Ethan.”

  Ba-ba-ba-baaaaad.

  Lips twitching at the very appropriate ring tone, Connor shook his head. “Might as well see what he wants.”

  “He’s probably just wondering where I am.”

  “Which means he’s worried about you.”

  She made a face. “Why would he be worried about me? I’ve lived nearly ten years on my own.”

  “Take the call, Olivia.”

  Frowning at him, she pressed Talk and then put the phone up to her ear. “Hello?”

  Ethan said something Connor couldn’t make out.

  “Sorry, E. I meant to text you. The game went long.” She looked over at Connor. “And then we stopped for dinner on the way home.”

  She listened a moment in silence.

  “Of course I’m safe. I’m with Connor.” She smiled over at him.

  He smiled back, then frowned again.

  “Bye, Ethan.” She lowered the phone, then pulled it back to her ear. “What? Oh. The Bobcats won, seven-to-five. Thanks for the tickets, by the way.”

  He said something else. She laughed, then ended the call and stuffed her phone back in her pocket.

  “Sounds like Ethan was worried about you.”

  “He was just being his overprotective self.” Annoyance came and went in her eyes. “You’d think I was still seventeen, not six months away from turning thirty.”

  Connor laughed at her miffed tone. “Don’t be too hard on him. It’s his job as your big brother to worry about you.”

  “I never should have told him I was downsized from my last job.” She absently shoved at her hair. “He’s been overly attentive ever since, like he’s waiting for me to fall apart.”

  Connor didn’t get that impression. But before he could say so, she continued.

  “I’m not going to fall apart. I have plans. Coming home was the best thing that ever happened to me. I belong here in Village Green.”

  He liked the sound of that. Maybe too much. “It’s good to know where you belong.” His reply came out sounding hoarse.

  “I should have come home sooner.”

  “There’s no shame in not wanting to leave Florida right away. You’d built a life for yourself there.”

  “Well, now that I’m here I’m thinking of opening my own tearoom in town, specializing in chocolate desserts.”

  “You want to start your own business?” Admirable, yet realizing how much time and effort that would take, he felt his stomach rolling. “That’s why you left Florida?”

  “No, not at first. I left because I... That is, I needed to get away. I couldn’t stay any longer because I...”

  “Olivia, you don’t have to tell me this.”

  “I know.” She held his gaze. “I want to.”

  “Okay, if you’re sure.”

  She nodded. “I didn’t leave because of my job loss or to start my own business in town. Well, not only because of those things. I also left because I broke up with my boyfriend.”

  Connor suddenly felt cold. Ice cold. All this time, he’d assumed Olivia had come into his life with no personal history to speak of and definitely no ex-boyfriends. That had been pretty shortsighted on his part, and maybe even selfish, certainly sel
f-centered, as if his problems were all that mattered.

  He looked over at her and his heart took a nosedive. She was so beautiful. And clearly upset. She’d tugged her bottom lip between her teeth and was twisting her fingers together in her lap.

  “Olivia.”

  Her head turned in his direction. Every single thought flashed in her gaze and Connor realized she regretted sharing her story with him.

  That just slayed him.

  “About your boyfriend—”

  “Warner. His name was, is Warner Hartsfield the Fourth.”

  What a pompous name. Connor disliked the guy already. “Tell me about him,” he said through a tight jaw.

  “You really want me to?”

  He’d rather stick himself in the eye. And that made little sense. It wasn’t as if he had any claim on Olivia. She was just his daughters’ nanny. “Sure.”

  “Well...all right.” She thought a moment. “He’s a successful architect in Jacksonville, one of the best in the state of Florida, actually, and a former All-American quarterback for the University of Miami.”

  “How did you two meet?”

  “At a Super Bowl party.” She sighed. “We hit it off right away. He’s a single dad and loves his daughter fiercely. His devotion to Kenzie is what I liked most about him.”

  Connor’s throat tightened as he recognized the obvious similarities between him and this Warner dude. “Did his daughter live with him?”

  Olivia shook her head. “He shared custody with his ex-wife. I adored her. The daughter, not the ex-wife.”

  “I figured that.”

  She gave a humorless laugh. “Warner always said we were a perfect fit. I didn’t disagree. We both had successful careers, knew lots of the same people and I got along really well with his daughter. Why not? She’s at a really great age.”

  “How old?”

  “Nine. When I lost my job at the bank, Warner pushed for a more serious commitment from me.”

  Every muscle in Connor’s body tensed. “How serious?”

  “He asked me to marry him.” As still as a rock, she stared up at the sky. Her lovely face stood in profile, projecting an emotion Connor couldn’t define. Regret? Disappointment?

  “You said no.”

  “I absolutely said no. Warner didn’t love me. I was simply a convenience, especially on visitation weekends. Any number of women could have fit his requirements.” She blinked. “He said as much when I told him I didn’t want to marry him.”

  “I’m sorry, Olivia. He didn’t deserve you.”

  “Thank you for that.” She drew in a slow, steady breath. “But if I’m being honest with myself, I’d admit that I wasn’t much better than Warner. I didn’t love him, either. I was only in love with the idea of him. He was good-looking, successful and had an adorable daughter whom I cherished.”

  Connor’s chest seized painfully. Did Olivia recognize the similarities between her situation now—with him—and the one she’d just described with her ex-boyfriend? Sure, there were differences. But not many.

  “I miss Kenzie.” She swiped at her eyes. “But Warner? Not really. What does that say about me?”

  “It says that you weren’t in love with the guy. You broke things off when you realized that. That doesn’t make you a bad person, Olivia. It makes you very wise.”

  She pressed her fingertips to her temples and rubbed hard. “I’m sorry, Connor. I didn’t mean to turn the conversation so heavy. Guess I’m just tired and feeling overly emotional.”

  “It’s been a long day.”

  “Thank you for listening.” She smiled over at him. “Aside from a few speed bumps, it’s been a really great day.”

  Until a few moments ago, Connor would have agreed with her. Now his heart felt unnaturally heavy in his chest. He might have been starting to look at Olivia with more than friendship in mind, but he had to remember she didn’t look at him the same way. She had her own hopes and dreams for the future. A tearoom to open. A breakup to get over.

  Anything between them just wasn’t meant to be.

  Chapter Eleven

  The next morning, groggy from a restless night’s sleep, Olivia woke to the sound of rain slapping against her bedroom window. It was the sort of torrential downpour that didn’t show signs of stopping anytime soon. She sighed at the watery world beyond her window. So much for a day at the pool with the girls.

  No worries, Olivia would think of an indoor activity for them instead.

  Tossing off the bedcovers, she stretched her stiff muscles and thought through her options. A day of baking might be the perfect choice. They hadn’t spent much time in the kitchen since she’d taught them how to make frittatas. Why not try out a few new recipes today? She had a great one for chocolate-covered popcorn.

  Excited now, she quickly dressed and, deciding not to take Baloo with her for a change, headed across town to Connor’s house alone.

  Heavy sheets of rain pounded from the sky, making visibility tough. Thunder boomed in the distance. Lightning sizzled and cracked.

  Olivia drove with considerable care. She knew this route by heart and the various threats that lurked beneath the car’s tires. Still, her hands shook. And her pulse hammered through her veins.

  Her parents had died in a storm like this, in early March when the rain had been a vicious mix of sleet and snow. According to the official report, their car had hit a patch of black ice and slid off the road into a ravine.

  Willing her mind to release memories of that night, especially when the state trooper had delivered the horrible news, Olivia clutched the steering wheel tighter.

  Think about something else, something pleasant.

  Her mind immediately went to Connor, the girls and their time together yesterday at the ball field. Every moment had been precious to her. Despite knowing the dangers of getting too close to them, all three Mitchells were becoming a part of her life, a part of her heart.

  The realization scared her. And she wondered if she could stop the inevitable from occurring. Or was it too late? Had her life already been changed irrevocably? Was there no going back?

  At least she’d told Connor about her breakup with Warner. She hadn’t planned on doing that, ever. But she’d been feeling vulnerable after her conversation with the girls about their mother. And Connor had been so understanding, no judgment, no condemnation. His insight had released the guilt she’d been harboring over her role in the breakup.

  Yes, she’d fallen into a relationship with a man she hadn’t really loved. So she’d stayed with him longer than she should have because of his daughter. At least she’d gotten out before it was too late.

  That had to count for something.

  Olivia would not allow herself to look back and worry over the mistakes she’d made in the past. It was a new day, a new beginning. Her chance at a new one.

  No more planning.

  No more putting off finishing her business proposal.

  No more waiting for guarantees.

  It’s go time.

  Scary. An uncertain future lay before her, but she had to trust she was on the right track, that the Lord would supply her with the necessary resources and energy.

  It all started with faith. Olivia just needed a little more faith.

  By the time she arrived at Connor’s house, she was ready to begin the rest of her life. Step one, work on several more recipes, with Molly and Megan’s help.

  The house looked unusually dark, as if the family hadn’t risen from their beds yet.

  Olivia rushed through the pouring rain and let herself in through the mudroom. She took off her slicker, hung it on a hook and went in search of her family. The kitchen was dark, as well. Odder yet, she encountered no barking, rambunctious puppy spinning out on the tile floor.

&
nbsp; “Hello?” Olivia called out, moving through the kitchen into the hallway leading toward the front of the house. “Anyone home?”

  She rounded the corner just as Connor exited the girls’ bedroom, Samson tucked under his arm. He pulled the door shut and turned to face her. Her breath caught in her throat. He looked...terrible. As if he hadn’t slept all night. His hair was a wild mess, his jaw full of stubble, his eyes red-rimmed with fatigue.

  “Connor? What’s wrong?”

  “Molly got sick in the middle of the night.” He ran a hand across his mouth. “She woke up just after you left, complaining of a headache and stomachache.”

  “Too much junk food?”

  “I thought so, at first. But then she contracted a fever and a rash broke out on her stomach. Now Megan has a headache, too.”

  “Chickenpox?”

  He nodded.

  A thick blanket of tension fell between them. “What can I do to help?”

  “For now, nothing. While the girls are asleep I’m going to run out and get some calamine lotion.” He shifted the puppy to his other side. “Did you have the virus as a child?”

  “I did.”

  “Good. Then I don’t have to worry about you getting sick, too.” He wiped at his mouth again, looked around the hallway with half-glazed eyes. “I need to call Ethan, let him know what’s going on, that I won’t be coming in this morning.”

  “After you get back from the store, why don’t you go crash for a few hours?” She reached for the puppy. “I can take over here.”

  “I don’t think—”

  “Connor. I’ve nursed sick children before. I can handle this. Seriously. Get some rest, Doctor.” She laid a hand on his arm, softened her next words with a smile. “That’s an order from your nanny.”

  He stared up at the ceiling, then nodded slowly.

  Olivia ran her gaze over his face, wishing she could do more to ease his concerns. He looked wiped out, and really worried about his daughters. Was he remembering his wife’s illness? Possibly. He probably thought of it every time one of the twins got sick.

  Olivia wanted to weep for him, or maybe pull him into a comforting hug.

  She petted the puppy’s head instead. “Does he need to go outside?”