“I can watch her,” I volunteer, walking over to the group.
“Ryan,” Maya says, letting out a gasp and covering her mouth with a hand. “I didn’t know you were still here. I’m so sorry; you have my key. I can take—”
“You’re rambling again, Maya,” I say, gently cutting her off. “Go in and see your father. I’ll keep this little lady company.”
“Um, I don’t think…”
“We’ll stay right here so you can see us through the door,” I say, realizing she doesn’t trust me to leave her niece alone with me. Which is fair, she doesn’t know me fully yet. And this is obviouslya step beyond our patient-therapist relationship. That doesn’t stop my wolf whimpering, though.
Maya hovers, and her sister looking me up and down curiously with bloodshot eyes.
“Ryan Rivera,” I say, offering her my hand. “I was with Maya when she got the call and drove her here. This is your daughter? Maddie?”
“Yes,” she says, taking my hand in a firm grip but looking to Maya. “Is he okay to leave with Maddie?”
“I have a younger sister,” I continue. “I’ve got this, and we’ll be right here where you can see us. I’ll check at the nurses' station to see if they have anything to color with.” I say the last part to the little girl with the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen, and it gets a smile from her.
“I want to color,” she says as I urge Maya and her sister to go see their dad.
“Thank you,” Maya says before turning to her sister. “It’s okay. Maddie will be fine with him.”
Then they rush inside, leaving me and Maddie alone. “Let’s see what we can wrangle from the nurses,” I say, and the little girl grins at me, clearly oblivious to the worries of everyone else. The nurses only have a few different colored pens, and they shove some paper at me before rushing off. I forget how much harder human healthcare professionals have it than what it’s like for Doc and the nurses. The patients here are so damn breakable.
Maddie draws big looping circles on each page, running through them quickly.
“I like it better when I color in a picture instead of drawing,” she says with an adorable little huff. I glance back at the nurses' station, but there’s no way I’m going to ask them for anything else. They’re being run ragged.
“Would you like to color in the pictures here?” I ask, unbuttoning my cuff and rolling up my sleeve to reveal my tattooed arm. It’s a risk to expose my ink in such a brightly lit area so close to Maya, but I want to keep Maddie happy. I already know she doesn’t have a dad after listening to Maya and Pippa talking at lunch last week, and now her grandfather is unwell. So when her little face lights up, I can’t help the smile that stretches across my own face.
Maya can’t have kids. She told me that already, and we’ll be okay without them. But I wish it weren’t the case. I wish we could have a whole pack of pups or whatever they would be. She would be an amazing mom, and I’ve had so much practice with Sofia. I always wanted a big family. But Maya is more important than the potential of children. Nothing is guaranteed in life, and we don’t need pups to be complete.
Perhaps we can look at other options once Maya and I are marked and mated. I haven’t asked her what the issue is, but maybe it’s something we can talk to Doc about. Maybe we could adopt. If Maya wants that.
I watch Maddie as she concentrates on filling in the gaps of my sleeve tattoo, a picture of pure concentration on her cherubic little face.
“Are you Auntie Maya’s boyfriend?”
“Not yet, Sweetheart. But hopefully one day.”
“Eeeew,” she grumbles, scrunching her nose up. “You can’t kiss her. That’s gross.”
“I’ll try not to,” I say with a chuckle.
“And you’ve gots to be nice to her.”
“That I can promise. I want to make her happy.”
“Cookies make me happy,” Maddie says thoughtfully, pausing her coloring for a brief moment. “Maybe you gets her a cookie?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Maya’s sister comes out and picks Maddie up. “Thank you,” she says with a soft smile as she notices my arm before I pull down my sleeve. “Granddad is being moved to a different room, and you can visit him tomorrow, baby.”
“Okay, Mama. Can the man come too? He let me color in his arm, and he’s gonna gets cookies so Auntie Maya will be his girlfriend.”
“Not quite how I remember that conversation,” I say, but Maya’s sister lets out a hearty laugh.
“I needed that.” She sighs. “I’m Pippa, by the way. Have we met? I feel like I know you…”
