A Perfect Homecoming

The color drained from Ashleigh’s face.

Kyle wondered how she liked hearing that this stranger played a bigger role in her family’s lives than she had.

Ashleigh changed the subject back to Ryan. “From the way Ryan’s holding his arm and the radial pain on contact, I’m pretty sure it’s a simple break.”

Hank turned to examine Ryan. “How you doin’, buddy?”

Meanwhile, Kyle went against his better judgment and scrutinized a preoccupied Ashleigh.

Dr. Ashleigh Wilson. He’d never minded that she’d kept her maiden name when they’d married. An homage to her father, Dr. Clayton Wilson—a man Kyle had been proud to know.

Ashleigh was a little thinner since the last time he’d seen her, pounds she couldn’t afford to lose. Other than that, she looked even more beautiful than he remembered. His fingers itched to touch the loose tendril that escaped from her casually knotted hair. He longed to place his lips on the skin beneath it, to taste the sensitive spot on her neck that never failed to make her suck in her breath....

“Kyle?” From Hank’s tone, it wasn’t the first time the man had addressed him. All three of them stared at him.

He blinked twice. “Yes?”

“Do you want to go to Radiology with Ryan?” Hank narrowed his gaze and cocked his head in puzzlement.

“Of course.” Kyle then said to Ryan, “Let’s get you a wheelchair to ride in. Dr. Hank wants to take a picture of your arm.” Ryan’s eyes lit up as expected.

“Can we do a wheelie in it?” Ryan asked.

“We’ll see.” Kyle avoided Ashleigh’s gaze.

“But you and Aunt Ashleigh will both be there,” Ryan said. “Didn’t she say I needed an adult? Now I have two.”

“Aunt Ashleigh is going to wait for you here.” Kyle needed a break from her after that barely controlled fantasy.

“No,” Ashleigh countered. “I’m going with you.”

Kyle shrugged. “You’ll have to wait in the Radiology waiting room.”

Ashleigh’s cheek muscles tensed and she narrowed her eyes at Kyle. The daggers were locked and loaded.

“Hospital regulations,” he said pleasantly before she could argue. “You no longer have privileges at this hospital.” Her choice, but he didn’t say it aloud.

“You’re a pediatrician, as I recall.” Hank appeared oblivious to the tension in the room. “Where are you practicing now?”

Ashleigh’s color heightened. “I’m no longer practicing medicine. I work out of Richmond as a hospital fund-raiser.”

The reality of Ashleigh’s words hit Kyle in the pit of his stomach. Ashleigh had given up the career she adored because she could no longer bear to be around children.

* * *

ASHLEIGH FUMED AS she sat on the thinly padded vinyl chair in the radiology department waiting room. How dare Kyle exclude her? She was every bit the doctor he was, even if she hadn’t cared for patients since she left town.

She was perfectly happy working as a hospital fund-raiser. Turned out, she was pretty darn good at coming up with unique ways to get people to part with their money.

Which didn’t mean she never regretted giving up medicine—specifically working with children. She loved being in an office full of laughing and crying little ones, the noise and confusion never more than she could bear.

Until her last miscarriage.

That was the child she was supposed to finally carry to term. She’d made it into her second trimester and had begun telling people she was pregnant.

She crossed her arms over her abdomen and bent forward in pain at the vivid memory of that first wave of cramps that had ended her dream of giving Kyle the child he deserved.

“Are you okay?”

Ashleigh straightened at the young woman’s voice. “Yes, I’m fine.” Ryan sat in his wheelchair in front of a woman in purple scrubs. Her name tag read “Molly,” but she didn’t look familiar. She didn’t appear to recognize Ashleigh, either.

“Ryan’s all done.” Molly had a perky lilt that matched her smile. “Dr. Jennings and Dr. Phillips asked for him to wait with you while they consult with the radiologist.”

Ashleigh’s jaw clenched. She was being shut out again. She’d known the radiologist, Jim Gorman, since preschool. Under other circumstances she’d barge into his office, but she decided not to push the issue. In the short time she’d been at the hospital, several old acquaintances had given her a wide berth. They obviously weren’t fans of hers since the divorce.

Molly turned and left them alone in the waiting area.

“How’s your arm feeling?” Ashleigh asked Ryan.

“Okay, I guess. They let me see the picture of my arm bone. It was cool!” He busied himself locating hidden pictures in a kids’ magazine someone had given him, so Ashleigh didn’t say anything more.

She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes for a moment before realizing the voices around the corner were speaking about Kyle.

“It’s a shame about Dr. Jennings,” one female voice said.

“I know, he’s so nice. And cute, too.” The other female let out a quiet moan.

Ashleigh listened carefully, assuming they were discussing how she’d divorced poor Dr. Jennings, when two other people deep in conversation entered the waiting room. As they walked past her to the reception desk, Ashleigh could no longer hear the women.

So she rose from her seat and pretended to search for a magazine on the vertical acrylic rack bolted to the wall, while tuning her ears to the conversation around the corner.

She could only pick up certain words, but they were important words.

Accident, lawsuit, brain injury.

* * *

PAULA ROLLED FROM her side to her back and stared at the bedroom ceiling until she was ready to scream. Or at least until she found herself out of breath, forcing her to roll back onto her left side.

A few minutes ago, Mark had slammed the front door to announce his arrival and now she heard him rooting through kitchen cupboards searching for a snack.

“Don’t spoil your dinner,” she yelled.

“I won’t,” he promised, and she believed him. He’d been going through a growth spurt and he consumed food and outgrew clothing before the money left the checking account.

Paula struggled to a sitting position. Propping herself up with pillows against the headboard, she took her laptop from the drawer next to her bed and turned it on.

She needed to let Scott know what was going on. Kyle had confirmed Ryan’s arm was broken when he called about a half hour ago, but she didn’t want her husband to know the doctor had put her on bed rest. He had enough stress with his job and he didn’t need to have to worry about her, too.