Page 8 of Stolen Hearts

And bittersweet loss.

It shouldn’t matter. He shouldn’t care.

But the question burned a hole straight through him—was she the same Rhae Rivers he knew?

He wasn’t sure if he wanted the answer or not.

Chapter Two

Two familiar raps on the doorframe drew Rhae’s head up from the notes she was finishing up from her last patient. She abandoned her task immediately and pushed away from her desk.

“Crew. I was wondering if you’d stop by today.”

The former pilot for the Air Force gave her a brief nod—his attention was all for Navy. Her daughter sat up on a colorful playmat next to Rhae’s desk. The ball she played with had a spiny texture that she loved chewing when she was getting a new tooth.

Crew picked up on the squeak of her gums on the rubber. “She’s cutting a new tooth?”

“Sounds that way. She was a bit fussy before I put her down for her nap. Come on in.” She grabbed a fresh notebook and pen and drifted to the armchair while Crew took his usual spot on the floor with Navy.

As soon as her daughter’s big eyes fell on the tough man, she dropped her toy. A stream of drool flooded out of her wide grin. Three little white teeth glinted in her smile.

With a low chuckle, Crew automatically reached for her. He pulled Navy into his lap and picked up her ball. Navy brought it right back to her mouth and began happily gnawing on it.

“How is your day so far?” Rhae prompted over the squeaks of Navy’s gums on the rubber.

Crew began to talk about his morning of tending to chores on the ranch. Rhae read between the words, hearing moments offrustration interspersed with a few peaceful times when he felt things were going his way…like things were inside his control.

“I ran into Gray and had a good talk.”

“How so?” She jotted down a few more notes on the topic.

To her, Gray Malone was a wild card. The brother had never crossed her threshold or sought her counsel in the short time since he returned to the ranch. However, she knew he was former Air Force too. A pilot like Crew. And they shared big losses in common.

“We set up a time to work on the letters. A bigger block of time to get more done.”

The letters were a big project Gray and Crew shared. Writing to the families of servicemen who perished after an aircraft carrier sank seemed to be helping both to make peace with their losses. Crew lost his copilot in a crash…and Gray lost every man on that ship.

Her stomach knotted at the thought of everything her patients struggled with on a daily basis…and those Malone brothers who didn’t come to talk.

She touched the necklace at her throat. “How do you feel about that? Excited? Relieved? Worried?”

He shrugged. With Navy tucked in his lap, he reached for the building blocks she enjoyed and started stacking them in slow movements. Controlled. By the time he had three stacked, Navy stopped chewing to watch what he was doing.

He slid her to the floor in front of him. Immediately, she dropped her ball and swiped an arm at the blocks but didn’t knock them over.

Rhae leaned in to keep watch. While none of the guys would ever intentionally hurt her child, she was still a protective momma bear.

Navy squealed in delight as the tower reached four blocks. One chubby arm waved in an arc toward the structure but she didn’t make contact.

Six blocks. Seven.

Navy whipped out her arm and struck the tower. Blocks flew everywhere.

Crew went still.

Rhae perched on the edge of her seat.

Then Navy issued a big belly laugh, and she relaxed.

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