Mina nodded, chuckling, too. “That’s what my mother always said, and it made sense to me. I have a brother, and I thought he was a mess for a long time. It wasn’t until he was in his twenties that I thought he was actually growing up.”
Charm’s eyes widened. “Will I have to wait that long before I start liking boys?”
Mina shook her head, smiling, suddenly happy, and proud to have been chosen for this girls’ chat.
“No. It’ll probably happen sooner than that.”
“Oh, whew,” was the response. “I don’t want to be that old before I start dating.”
“Wait, what’s this about dating?”
Neither of them had noticed Kiah coming back, and both looked up at him as he stood beside the table. The look of horror on his face made Mina want to laugh, and she couldn’t resist giving him a little smirk.
With a shrug, Charm turned back to her roasted corn and said, “Nothing, Uncle. Auntie and I were just talking, and she said boys don’t grow a brain until they’re older. When did yours grow?”
The dirty look she got from Kiah made holding back her laughter impossible. And it got worse when he replied, “I’m not sure I ever grew one. Or if I did, sometimes I think I’ve lost it all over again.”
Even still laughing, as she watched him slide onto the bench and felt another wave of desire rush through her body, Mina understood exactly what he meant.
CHAPTER NINE
ALTHOUGH HEARTENED BY what he saw as Mina’s improved outlook on life, Kiah couldn’t help worrying about how she’d fit in at the hospital. Not that she was difficult, or hard to work with, but small Port Michael Public Hospital was a far cry from the huge Toronto South.
Which was why he didn’t interrupt when he heard Miss Pearl telling Mina, “It’s going to be different from what you’re used to, because all our doctors play as many roles as necessary. You’re here in an advisory capacity as an orthopedic surgeon and trained instructor, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help out in other situations.”
Mina had just nodded and murmured her agreement, but Kiah had seen the skepticism in her expression, and knew she was probably wondering what that entailed.
And if she could be of help with only one hand.
By the end of her first week, though, Kiah felt more relaxed about the way things were going.
“It really is different,” she told him as they were driving home together. “A lot more paperwork than I’m used to, and a slower pace, until there’s an emergency. And they’ll call me in to consult as soon as there’s even a hint that I might be useful. I oversaw a student nurse wrapping a sprained ankle today.”
“Not something you’d usually be bothered about, is it?”
“Nope. But I kind of like it. It’s like going back to the beginning. Getting a reset.”
“Like residency all over again, huh?”
That made her chuckle. “But at least I get lots of sleep this time around.”
The household, too, settled into a routine that Kiah found all too easy to appreciate. Leaving home in the morning with Mina and Charm, and Miss Pearl on the days she was going to the hospital early, too, made him happy. It felt way too much like the way family life should, and he had to keep reminding himself it was only temporary.
And he couldn’t help noticing how Charm gravitated to Mina, asking her opinion or getting her to help with homework. At first he worried that Miss Pearl would be upset, or think her role was being usurped. But the old woman didn’t say anything, and Kiah often saw her smiling over at the pair, as though happy to see them together.
Then he worried about how Charm would react when Mina left.
She’d lost so much in her young life already. Would Mina’s return to Canada distress her?
He already felt as though it would break his heart to see Mina go, and didn’t want his niece going through the same thing.
But it was too late to wonder if he’d done the wrong thing by inviting Mina to St. Eustace. She was here, and he’d just have to live with the fallout of his decision.
To add to his concerns, there was a difference in the dynamic between him and Mina, and he was at a loss to pinpoint it, or figure out why. All he knew was that although they talked and laughed and teased as usual, he sensed a reticence about her, as though she was withholding something from him.
Part of him wanted to find out what was going on in her head, but his ego wouldn’t let him ask. For most of their relationship, he’d prided himself on being able to read her every mood, and it irked him when he couldn’t.
Just as the surging desire he felt for her shocked and annoyed him, although perhaps it shouldn’t. If he’d had his way, she’d have been his first girlfriend, but that definitely hadn’t been in the cards for them. For all these years, that young boy’s crush had been pushed to the furthest recesses of his mind, never to be thought about.
Having her around all the time now, though, brought all the old awareness and emotions swirling to the surface.
He caught himself watching her when she was oblivious, noticing again the graceful, bouncy way she walked, hips and hair swinging; the way light and shadows played across her face. The sweet curve of her lips when she smiled, the siren’s call of her laughter.
But he couldn’t avoid also hearing his mother’s voice in the back of his head.
“Hezekiah Langdon, don’t you dare touch that little girl, or I swear on your father’s grave I’ll beat you within an inch of your life and send you back to your granny. You don’t deserve someone like that.”
It didn’t matter that she’d said it twenty years ago, or that the threat shouldn’t mean anything to him now. Back then it had been
