Page 33 of Guarding Colton’s Witness

That was true, and it worried Ryan, too. However, even if he pushed Matti to put Sam with a foster family, she would still do as she pleased. She wasn’t a woman you could force to do anything she didn’t want to. He respected that in her.

“What’s the second reason?”

“She’s getting too attached to Sam. She has a tendency to do that, get attached to the children under her care. There was a little boy—”

“Mikey. Yes, she told me about him.”

Jon gave him a considering look. “That’s interesting. She never talks about Mikey.”

“She isn’t planning on keeping Sam, but she refuses to turn him over to a foster family until she’s sure there’s no longer a threat to him. You know your daughter, Jon, so tell me, do you really think I can make her do anything she doesn’t want to?”

Jon sighed. “No, I guess not. She’s always had a mind of her own, even when she was a little thing.” He chuckled. “One time, I think she was about five or six, she got it in her head that she wanted to play with the neighbor’s dog. It was a Rottweiler and there were Beware of Dog signs all over the fence. She was told no, she could not go into that yard and play with a dangerous dog.”

“But she did?”

“She sure did. Don’t know how, but she managed to climb the privacy fence. Her mother found her over there, playing chase with the dog, both of them having a ball. When she was fourteen, she decided she wanted a cat. We already had a cat and a dog, but she wanted her own cat. She was told no. To this day, we don’t know how long she managed to hide a cat in her room because she refused to say, but the end result was that she got to have her own cat. The point is, I’d like you to try to reason with her on putting the boy with a foster family, but knowing my daughter, I guess I don’t expect miracles.”

“That’s good because I doubt I could deliver you a miracle where Sam’s concerned, but I’ll talk to her.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

After Jon left, Ryan thought about his Matti stories and grinned. Young Matti was apparently a handful. Still was, and he liked that about her. As for talking her into turning Sam over to a foster family, he very much doubted she would agree, but he’d try. He was worried about faceless bad men coming after her and Sam, too. Her argument would still be that she wouldn’t put a foster family in danger, and he didn’t have a good argument against that. He didn’t see a solution that would make anyone happy.

The good news on Jesse, the break was a hairline fracture, and Ryan put a splint on his arm, then gave the parents care instructions. The boy thought seeing his bones on the X-ray was super cool. Ryan loved it when he could lessen the trauma of being in the emergency room for his patients, especially the children.

At the end of his shift, he texted Matti to tell her he was stopping by his apartment for a shower, then he’d be over. He waited for her to respond, and when she didn’t, he wondered if dinner was still on. With a shrug, he slipped his phone in his pocket, then headed home for that much-needed shower. Unless she canceled, he’d still go over. He hoped she didn’t. After he’d showered and dressed, he texted her again, asking if tonight was still on.

The message he got back from her sent him racing out the door, believing Matti and Sam needed him.

Chapter 15

“I can play on the swings? And on the slides?” Sam asked, his eyes wide as he stood at the edge of the playground taking in the sight in front of him.

“You sure can.” In one of his new books, a little girl met a little boy at a playground, and they became friends. When Sam told her he’d never been to a place like that, she’d loaded him in the car and brought him here.

“Nobody will yell at me for playing here?”

“You can play here to your heart’s content…well, until it’s time to go home and start dinner. Ryan’s coming over tonight.”

His eyes lit up. “He is? I can read the new words I learned today to him.”

“I know he’ll be impressed.” She’d only planned to spend an hour or so on teaching him new words this morning, but he hadn’t wanted to quit, so they’d worked on his lessons until lunch. “What do you want to play on first?”

His gaze swept the playground. “The swings. Will you push me like the girl pushed the boy in my book?”

“Sure.” She followed him to the swing set. There was another little boy about Sam’s age on one of the swings, and he was by himself. She glanced around, hoping someone was here, keeping an eye on him. There was a woman sitting on a bench, and she seemed to be watching the boy.

When Sam got on the swing next to the boy, he shyly smiled. “Hi.”

The boy grinned. “Are you going to swing, too?”

Sam nodded. “Matti’s going to push me.”

“Can she push me, too?”

That was how she ended up pushing two little boys while wondering why the boy’s mother—or maybe it was his nanny—sat over there on the bench and let a stranger play with her child. The woman had her phone out, and seemed to be texting, no longer paying attention to the boy.

“My name’s Robbie. What’s yours?”