Page 31 of Guarding Colton’s Witness

“No, not at all. What do you mean kind of?” He hadn’t made plans to see her tonight, which had been just as well since he would have had to cancel when the ambulances started arriving with the car crash patients.

“Sam said something tonight that I can’t stop thinking about. He said he’s happy, but he doesn’t think he should be since his parents are dead.”

“That’s pretty heavy for a six-year-old. What did you tell him?”

“I told him his parents were happy now, so he could be, too.”

“That’s a good answer.”

“He asked if they were in heaven.”

“Doubtful.”

“I know, but I couldn’t say that to him, so I just answered with a yes. When he was telling me all that, I wished you were there so you could answer his questions.” She chuckled. “Like whenever we asked Mom something she didn’t want to talk about, she’d tell us to go ask our father.”

“I don’t think I could have handled it any better than you did.”

“Thanks, that makes me feel better.”

“What’s your plan for tomorrow?”

“I’m not sure. Everything is so new to Sam, that whatever I do with him is like an exciting adventure. Oh, I took him to the fire station this afternoon, and you should have seen him, Ryan. He was walking on air. Aiden—”

“Who’s Aiden?” Was that jealousy he was feeling? It had better not be because he wasn’t looking for a girlfriend. But if he was…

“My brother. He’s a firefighter, and he let Sam sit in the fire truck, turned the siren on, gave him a tour of the station, then sent him home with gifts that Sam wanted to sleep with. I convinced him to put them on the dresser where he could see them. I wouldn’t be surprised if I look in on him before I got to bed to find his new things cuddled up with him.”

Okay, Aiden was her brother. He’d heard Jon talk about his firefighter son before. “He’s had so little in his life that those things are precious to him.”

“I know. I love seeing him happy, but it makes me sad that it takes so little. I was thinking about taking him to the park tomorrow. There are swings and seesaws he can play on.”

“He’ll enjoy that. Wish I was off so I could come with you.”

“I wish you could, too. What time is your shift over? Six?”

“Yes.”

“Why don’t you come over for dinner? He’d love to show off his new toys.”

“I’d like that.” And not just to see Sam’s new toys.

“Great. See you then.”

“Looking forward to it. Good night, Matti.”

“As I said to Sam, sweet dreams.”

“Aw, can you come over and kiss my forehead?” He was positive she’d kissed Sam’s when she’d put him to bed.

She laughed. “Some other time. You sound tired, so I’ll let you go.”

He was tired, and after putting his phone back in the charger, he closed his eyes. He’d trained his mind and body to go instantly to sleep during whatever hours he could snatch in his intern days, so he expected to nod right off. He didn’t.

Matti was in his mind, stealing his sleep. Sam was there, too. She was so good with the boy, and when it came time to turn him over to a foster family, it was going to break both their hearts. He could see that coming plain as day. He understood why she couldn’t keep Sam, but he wished there was a way because it felt to him that those two were meant for each other.

As he finally drifted to sleep, a hazy image of a pretty woman with a big heart and a boy who desperately needed a family to love him was there in his mind, and a whispery voice that sounded a lot like his said, What if?

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