Ash touched her arm. “Do you want me to go first?”
She shook her head. Levi was so still and quiet that she thought he was asleep, but when she rounded the end of the bed, she realized that his eyes were open and fixed on the window. “Hey, buddy.”
Levi startled, but he didn’t look at her. She reached into the bag she’d so haphazardly packed and pulled out a lovey, as Claire’s kids called them. She placed it near his fingers.
Next out of the bag was the smaller pair of pajamas, which she realized would still swallow him. But actually, that might be better over the bandages.
“How about I take a quick look before you dress him?”
At the sound of Ash’s deep voice, Levi started to shake, and he curled into a protective position, knees at his chin.
Jordan longed to pick him up and bring him safely into her arms, but she knew that he wouldn’t feel safe there—not yet. Looking over at Ash and meeting his eyes, she gave him an apologetic shrug. “Maybe if you give us a few minutes.”
Ash nodded and backed toward the door. “I saw Dr. Lowenstein at the nurses’ station. I’m going to get his thoughts on Levi’s care from here on out and take a look at the chart before he’s discharged.”
She studied the baby in the bed. Levi was in near fetal position, his thumb in his mouth, dark brown eyes wide and terrified. She’d gentled a lot of fearful horses in her time, horses who had been mistreated and neglected. Maybe teaching this little boy that she could be trusted wasn’t so different.
Jordan pulled the rocking chair close to the bed, close enough to touch him. The first thing she did with a skittish horse was get them used to the sound of her voice. She began to sing to Levi, a little song she’d learned as a child. He glanced at her and looked away, but he didn’t cry.
She heard the door softly latch as Ash closed it behind him. If she could just act like a normal human being around the handsome doctor, they could be friends. Instead, she was as awkward as a seventh grader at her first boy-girl party.
But there was no slow dancing here in room 314. Nothing to worry about. She smiled into a toddler’s troubled brown eyes. Levi was the new man in her life now.
* * *
Ash leaned against the wall outside the door of the hospital room where Levi Wheeler rested. Nausea churned in his stomach—not at the wounds; he’d seen worse. No, he had to make an excuse to get out of the room because the thought that the very people who were supposed to love and protect this little boy were the ones—
Our God is a great big God and He holds us in His hand...
Jordan’s sweet voice carried through the closed door. He didn’t know how she could sing about God right now. Where was God when that baby’s parents duct-taped him into a chair and left him there for days?
Ash’s hand curled into a fist but he resisted the urge to punch the wall, instead choosing to walk the few feet to the nurses’ station. “Levi Wheeler?”
The nurse selected the chart and handed it across the counter. “I haven’t seen you in a while, Dr. Sheehan. You have time for a coffee? I’ve got a break coming up.”
Flashing the smile was automatic. “I don’t today. Rain check?”
He looked over the notes that Dr. Lowenstein had left in Levi’s chart and glanced back at the nurse. “You have his discharge papers ready?”
“Yes, sir.” The pretty blonde looked up at him from under her lashes.
He sighed and then forced the appropriate words. “Thanks, Amber. Let’s see if we can get this young man out of the hospital.”
She squeezed his arm as she walked by him. He stabbed his fingers through his hair, annoyed in spite of himself. His siblings were always making fun of him for his dimples, blond hair and blue eyes. And sure, in high school and college, he’d loved the attention from the ladies. Now it was just a distraction.
He didn’t want someone who liked him for his looks. He wanted to spend time with someone who was interested in what he thought, what he cared about. He would never tell his brother, Joe, this, but he wanted a soul mate, like Joe had found in Claire.
He sighed. Maybe it was best that he hadn’t found that. Marriage and family might work for Joe, but it wasn’t in the cards for him. He pushed open the door to little Levi’s room.
Jordan had Levi dressed in navy blue fleece pajamas with rockets and moons on them. The toddler’s big brown eyes, his eyelashes wet from tears, met Ash’s for one long moment before he stared out the window again.
“He let you dress him. I didn’t hear any screams.”
She shook her head. “He wasn’t happy about it, but he did let me touch him. Baby steps, I guess.”
As Nurse Amber went through the discharge papers with Jordan, Ash made sure to stay close to the door, away from where his presence might upset Levi. Other than the terrified reaction when Ash had gotten close to the bed, the little boy had shown no interest in anything and had made no sound at all. The hospital had done some preliminary evaluations, but no one could tell at this point how extensive the damage to Levi might be.
Amber handed Jordan a stack of prescriptions and then said, “Okay, sign here and you’re good to go.”
When the orderly rolled the wheelchair into the room, Levi looked toward it, brown eyes going wide. As the orderly brought it closer, Levi began to whimper. And when Amber reached for him to put him in it, the little boy lost it.
He screamed and scratched, jerking away from the nurse until she gave in and dropped him back onto the mattress, where he collapsed, sobbing.
Jordan stepped toward the baby, putting herself between him and the wheelchair. “Please take that out of here. Now.”
The orderly left without a word.
Jordan nailed Amber with a look. “I know it’s against hospital policy but I’m going to carry him out. The chair is obviously terrifying to him and I can’t let him be more traumatized.”
She held her arms out to Levi, whose huge waif eyes were full of dark fear. “Come on, buddy, let’s get out of here. No chair. Just you and me.”
He didn’t move. Ash was pretty certain that she was going to have to carry him out kicking and screaming, but suddenly, the injured toddler threw himself into her arms.
She paid exactly zero attention to the snot running down his face, just cuddled him close and grabbed the backpack she had brought with her.
Amber was between Jordan and the door. She held Jordan’s gaze for another moment before she relented and stepped out of the way. “I’ll make a note in the chart that Dr. Sheehan walked you out.”
“Perfect. Ash, let’s get this little guy out of here.”
Pulling the door open, Ash stepped out of the way and Jordan walked past him without looking back. Levi’s little arms were clenched around her neck, his face buried in the hollow of her shoulder.
Ash thanked the nurse and followed Jordan into the hall. He’d dated a lot of Ambers, girls who were pretty and sweet, smart even. Jordan was different. She didn’t care about her hair. She didn’t wear makeup, that he could tell. More often than not, she had something questionable staining her jeans and hay sticking in her hair.
But she had just stood up for Levi, knowing instinctively what he needed. In her therapy practice, he had seen her create magic between a child and a horse. She was complicated and gifted and stunningly beautiful, despite the fact that she obviously didn’t notice.
Or maybe because of it. And every time he tried to talk to her, the words stuck in his throat.
In the parking lot, Jordan’s truck