“Do you have everything you need for the moment?” she prompted, eyeing the bottle of water and snacks Declan had insisted River take to his bedroom with him. “Because I’m still employed as Declan’s nurse, and I need to go and check on his dressings.” Just the thought of gazing at and touching that expanse of muscular skin again was enough to cause a quiver of awareness down the length of her spine.
“Oh, I’m more than happy to rest here for a while,” River assured. “Maybe Danny will come by and visit with me later?” he speculated with a grin.
Fawn’s chest tightened as she realized this was the happiest she had seen her brother in a long time. Since he had been dealt the blow of being diagnosed with kidney disease three years ago, in fact.
Oh, River tried to keep up a brave face, but over time, the disease had become intrusive in every aspect of his life. It had become even more of a heavy weight to bear after their parents died two years ago and the two of them were forced to deal with the situation completely alone.
River was right, it did feel nice that Declan now wanted to have their backs.
River’s happiness, now shown by the lack of a frown on his brow and the smile of anticipation still curving his lips, was the primary reason Fawn hadn’t objected too strongly when Declan had announced her brother would be moving into this apartment with them after River’s discharge from the hospital.
Right now, just like River, Fawn felt as if someone else was helping to ease the burden of River’s disease. Or, at least, as if she was sharing that burden with someone she already knew was ultra protective, as well as strong and forceful.
“I also need to thank him for all that he’s already done for us,” she acknowledged.
Nikolai Volkov might be responsible for bringing Mark Reynolds to the hospital to examine River, but Fawn had no doubt that it was the Russian’s friendship with Declan and the Wynter family that had been the impetus behind him doing so.
Finding Declan to tell him how thankful she was proved to be a little more difficult than she had thought. When she couldn’t find him in the kitchen or sitting room, she knocked on his closed bedroom door without even bothering to look in the home gym.
She was sure that even Declan, determined and stubborn as he was, knew he wasn’t yet ready to be lifting weights or using any of the other high-tech equipment in the gym.
“Come in,” came the muffled reply.
Fawn opened the door to see Declan sitting on the side of his bed, staring at a framed photograph he was holding in his hands.He slid it back inside the open drawer of his bedside cabinet and closed it before looking across at her inquiringly.
Fawn would take a guess on that photograph being of the son Declan had lost so long ago.
How any parents dealt with the heartache of the disappearance of their child, she had no idea. In Declan, that loss was evident in his prematurely salt-and-pepper hair, the deep lines beside his mouth, and the frown lines between his eyes.
“You told me to come in,” she reminded gently when he still hadn’t spoken several long seconds later.
Declan smiled. “Actually, I said ‘coming,’not come in. But it doesn’t matter,” he dismissed when Fawn looked uncomfortable at her mistake. “Is River all settled in?” he prompted as he stood up and stepped away from the bed.
He had previously been looking at the photograph that usually sat on top of the bedside table. The one of him and Connall.
Declan would never get over losing his son, never stop looking for him, never forget him, but for the first time in forever, there was now a glimmer of hope inside him that he might have something else in his life. Someoneelse.
The frown smoothed from Fawn’s brow. “He is, thank you. I also want to thank you for all that you’re doing for him?—”
“I haven’t done anything except invite him to stay here, and that was to put your mind at rest about him as much as it’s for River,” he revealed honestly.
It had felt as if Declan had received a punch to the chest when he witnessed Fawn’s worry this morning over her brother. To a degree Declan would now do whatever was necessary to ensure he didn’t have to ever see her in that level of distress again.
“Nikolai Volkov wouldn’t have interfered—interceded,” she corrected, “if the two of you weren’t friends.”
Declan huffed a laugh. “Nikolai doesn’t have friends. But he doesinterferein whatever he decides he wants to interfere in. Most of the time, he’s just an arrogant arsehole, but this time, that interference might actually result in something positive.”
Fawn chuckled. “He’s very intimidating.”
“Remind me to introduce you to his wife and children sometime. He’s a complete pushover where they’re all concerned,” he acknowledged lightly.
She frowned. “I’ve somehow never thought of members of the bratva as also being husbands and fathers.”
“That’s because most of them aren’t. But, much as Nikolai protects and is loyal to hispakhan, who is also married with children by the way, Nikolai’s own immediate family is everything to him.” In Declan’s eyes, it was this one redeeming factor, in spite of everything else the Russian stood for and did, that made Nikolai’s other actions tolerable.
“It looks as if, in his mind, he’s folded the Wynter family, and now you, because you saved Thea’s life, into his inner circle too,” Fawn observed.
“What can I say? Turns out that underneath the ruthlessness, the bastard has a heart,” Declan acknowledged.
