Page 37 of The Healing Touch

Leave it to his papa to know the subtle nuances in his voice that gave away how upset he was. If he’d called any of his brothers, they’d never have deciphered it. It was a parent thing, or so his mama claimed. He’d been thirteen and contemplating smoking the pot his friend had given him. His mother had known. How? He had no clue, but she had.

“It’s a girl, Papa.”

“It’s always about a girl.” Ronin chuckled on the other side of the line. “You just figuring this out?”

“No, I’m not just figuring this out. I write romance novels for a living.”

“Doesn’t mean you know shit about women, Dimitri. You write fiction. Until you fall for a girl and go through all the ups and downs of that, you know shit, boy.”

Truer words had never been spoken. Nothing he wrote had prepared him for this. “That’s why I’m calling, Papa. I need some advice about that. How did you know you loved Mama? What was it that made you realize she was yours?”

His old man let out a low whistle. “You got yourself in a pickle, don’t you?”

“Yeah, Papa, I do, and I might end up hurting the only person I never want to.”

“Tell me.”

Dimitri spent the next hour telling him about Becca, from when they met up until when he’d walked out on her in the hotel room.

“You got yourself into a fine mess, there.” He broke off, saying something to someone in the background.

“Is that Mama?”

“No, it’s the wicked witch.”

“What?”

“Your grandmother. She wants to know about this girl.”

Dimitri groaned. Leave it toBabbyto eavesdrop. “Tell her nothing! I want to actually try to fix this thing without her twisting me up in knots.”

And she would. His grandmother would have him so out of whack, he’d never make a decision, other than the decision she wanted him to make.

“I told her you’d call her later, once your head was sorted out.” Ronin coughed, and it worried Dimitri. His father had been coughing a lot recently. His mother sent him an email about it. Said he refused to go see a doctor.

“You been to the doctor yet about that cough, old man?”

“Your mother’s been in your ear, eh?” He grunted, but it wasn’t aggravated. “I have an appointment for next week. I just don’t want to say anything until I know what’s going on. No sense worrying her if there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Papa, she’s worried because she thinks you aren’t. If you tell her you have an appointment, she’ll settle down. You’recausingher worry by keeping this from her.”

Another grunt. “I might tell her, don’t know yet. Back to you and your girl. So, what made me know your mama was it for me? Well, I don’t think it really was just one thing. She snuck up on me, real stealthy-like. Her smile drew me in, her laugh made me ask her out. She teased me, she threw me off balance, and she did a number on my head.” He laughed, and Dimitri grinned thinking about his old man off balance. He always had such control. It was hard to imagine the strict soldier as anything but stoic and in control.

“Was there something that made you realize you couldn’t live without her, though? You and Mama had one of the fastest courtships in history. You were even faster than Nik and Lily. Boy proposed after only a few months.”

“Well, that’s the thing, Dimitri. Kincaid men, we don’t need a long time to know what we want. Sometimes you can over-complicate it, but in the end, we just know.”

“Papa, that makes no sense. You can’t just know.”

“It was snowing that night. I was going to be shipping out to Germany the next week. Didn’t know how long I’d be gone. I thought to myself, I should just leave it alone, she’d be better off with someone who she didn’t have to constantly worry about. Someone who would be there every day for her, not a soldier who was gone for months on end sometimes.”

“But?”

“But I asked myself a question. What would it feel like to never hear her voice or see the joy sparkling in those beautiful blue eyes of hers? To never see her dancing without a care in the world or to hear her laugh? It gutted me, and that’s when I knew I couldn’t live without her. I had to have her even if it was wrong. She’d wormed herself under my skin, and I loved her.”

It was something his father would do, list the pros and cons and then make a decision.

“This girl, you’ve known her for a long time. Gotten to know her really well. She’s the one person you never go a day without speaking to. Hell, you jumped on an airplane to go after her when she wouldn’t return your calls after only a day. I think there’s more there than you want to admit, son.”

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