Page 55 of Stolen Hearts

Her daughter looked up at her, drool on her chin from the tooth still trying to break through the gum, and kicked her legs excitedly. She picked up her lion and flapped him around, gurgling louder.

Throwing a look at the clock, Rhae saw it was getting close to the time when Decker Jansen, the veteran known as Dutch, came in each week. He wasn’t quite ready to talk—not about the big things—but he came willingly and regularly to sit with Navy.

He didn’t say much to her daughter, but she saw how he settled around her.

Dutch had a very interesting case. When he arrived at the Black Heart Ranch, he didn’t speak a word. It wasn’t that he physicallycouldn’t. He just didn’t.

Over the course of months he was in the program, he did everything on offer to expedite the healing process, bouncing between her office and the resident psychiatrist, Bella. He also participated in horse therapy with Willow, and recently had begun art therapy with Honor.

At some point, he had a breakthrough. Rhae wasn’t quite sure what did it—maybe all of the sessions finally put him at ease, or it was being around other veterans with similar pasts,or both. Either way, the day Dutch walked into her office and he answered her greeting with a deep, “Hello,” she almost fell out of her chair.

Right on time, he knocked on the door. She hurried over to swing it wide, a smile on her face.

“Glad to see you today, Dutch.”

He dipped his head in greeting, saying nothing. A frown tugged at her brows, but she didn’t let him see. His silence was probably nothing.

He walked over to Navy, and she saw the guarded expression in his eyes vanish as he looked down at her little girl.

Navy squealed at the sight of him, her arms shooting up to be picked up.

He smiled gently and picked up her daughter, moving to his usual armchair and settling her in his lap.

Rhae took the sofa, notepad in hand. For several minutes, she simply jotted observations about Dutch. His shoulders seemed stiffer, pushing upward toward his ears higher as he seemed to curl into himself tighter.

“Navy still hasn’t gotten that tooth she’s been working on,” she said to get the conversation going.

He tipped his head, studying Navy’s drooling mouth but said nothing.

Rhae’s chest hollowed out. A setback. She’d worked with several military persons who experienced them, and they were never easy to break through.

Navy wiggled to get out of Dutch’s lap, and he set the baby on the floor. She crawled a few feet away and rolled on her back, gnawing on her rubber cow.

Dutch moved to sit beside her. When she dropped the slobbery toy, he handed it back to her. Navy dropped it again, and he placed it in her hands.

Soon they were playing the drop it and pick it up game. Rhae looked on, watching Dutch’s face. Under the ball cap he wore low over his eyes, he was ruggedly handsome. She couldn’t see any scars on the surface—all of his were buried under the skin.

Navy let out a giggle as he made the cow trample over her belly.

A low noise from the doorway brought her head up to see that Denver had pushed it open. He took up the whole doorway, arms crossed.

Rhae shot to her feet, moving to stop him from entering during a patient’s session, but before she could take a step, he crossed the room. In two long strides, he planted himself between Dutch and the baby.

“I’ve got this,” Denver said casually. Too casually. “I’ll play with my daughter today.”

Dutch blinked, thrown.

Rhae swallowed a gasp and lurched toward Denver. She laid a hand on his arm, trying to haul him out into the hallway to talk. But Dutch felt too out of sorts after the interruption.

He gained his feet and hurried to the door. Right before he vanished through it, Rhae called out, “We’ll catch up soon, Dutch. Come back later.”

But he’d already ducked out of the office, gone.

As soon as the door clicked shut, the atmosphere in the room changed. The air seemed to thin. The sunlight seemed harsher now, even though nothing had changed.

Rhae slowly turned to Denver. “What the hell was that?”

Denver shrugged.

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