The M.D.'s Surprise Family by Marie Ferrarella Read Free Book Online

her parents here? She needed someone to lean on. “How long am I supposed to look through this window?”
    Now she was being rational. “At least twelve hours, twenty-four would be better.”
    Raven nodded her head. “All right,” she told him even though she already knew what the decision was going to be.

Chapter Four
    â€œW hat did I ever do to deserve you?” Renee smiled warmly at her son-in-law. Then, grasping the wheels of the wheelchair she’d been forced to use today, Renee scooted herself back from the front door.
    â€œYou had Lisa.”
    Peter entered, his arms full of the groceries he’d stopped to pick up. He’d called her earlier to see if he’d left his jacket at her house the other night. It had been an excuse to talk to the one person who made him feel comfortable, the one person he didn’t feel he had to keep his guard up around. The tired note in Renee’s voice had alerted him. He knew that this was one of her bad days.
    Being Peter, he’d asked about it. She’d been slow to confirm his suspicions. Further pushing on his part had informed him that she hadn’t been able to get out of the house to go to the store. He’d volunteered to go for her, picking up the few things she’d admitted that she needed.
    Peter made his way to the kitchen and placed the three grocery bags on the counter. Without waiting for Renee to say anything, he began to unpack them. He knew his way around her kitchen as well as she did.
    â€œHave you taken the anti-inflammatory medication I prescribed for you?” he asked casually.
    Renee came to a stop directly behind him. She’d gotten far better at managing her wheelchair around corners than she was happy about. But she’d resigned herself to the necessary evil.
    â€œNo.”
    He looked at his mother-in-law over his shoulder, noting that she avoided eye contact. “Have you even bothered to have it filled?”
    â€œI will, I will,” Renee assured him, and then she sighed. “It’s just that I don’t like being foggy.”
    He gave her a look. They both knew she was just being stubborn. “It won’t make you foggy.”
    Renee waved her hand dismissively. “They all make me foggy, or nauseous or something.” With another resigned sigh, she said to him what she always said at times like this. “It’ll pass, it alwaysdoes.” And then she smiled. “But thanks for worrying.”
    He mumbled something unintelligible as he got back to unpacking and storing. “You know that patient I told you I lost?”
    Immediate interest entered her eyes. He knew she liked something to chew on. “The one who walked out with her brother because of your less than warm-and-toasty bedside manner?” He nodded in response. “Did she have a change of heart?”
    Heart, that was the word that best suited Raven Songbird, he thought. She displayed a great deal of it in every word she uttered. “She showed up at the hospital yesterday, said she’d changed her mind.”
    Placing the carton of milk on her lap, Renee propelled herself to the refrigerator to put the item away. “Guess she knows quality when she sees it, even if you have to make a cactus seem warm and cuddly sometimes.”
    It felt as if he fought a two-front war. “It’s not my job to coddle them,” he reminded her.
    The look Renee gave him showed she was completely unconvinced. “Well, there we disagree. Sometimes that is part of the job.”
    Peter paused, shaking his head. “That’s what she said.”
    Approval shone in her hazel eyes. “Smart cookie. What’s her name?”
    Peter had to think for a second. He’d never beenvery good with names. “Raven,” he finally said. “Raven Songbird.”
    The second half gallon of milk on her lap, Renee paused in midroll to look at him with something akin to surprise and awe.