“You can talk to me,” Sarah said as she looked over at him, “if you want to, that is.”
Surprisingly, he found that he did want to talk to her. If anyone would understand the stress a new baby—a sick new baby—could put on a marriage, she could. She dealt with not only the young patients they saw, but also their parents.
“When Davey was born with a heart defect we didn’t know what to expect. By the time he was two he’d had four surgeries. He went on the transplant waiting list after the last one.”
“A lot of marriages have trouble when they have a chronically sick child. You know that,” said Sarah. “Did your wife have any medical experience?”
The only thing Lisa had experience with had been manipulating men, though he hadn’t known that until it was too late. The woman had made a fool of him long before Davey had been born. He could have forgiven her that, but he would never forgive her for running out on their son when he had needed them the most. A part of him had known from the beginning Lisa didn’t have it in her to accept what life with Davey would mean, but he had hoped that for the sake of his son that she would be able to change.
“No. Lisa blamed a lot of her problems with dealing with Davey on the fact that he was always sick. She even blamed the time he spent in the hospital for the reason she hadn’t bonded with him.” He remembered the anger he had felt at that remark.
“She finally decided that she didn’t have the time for a sick child like Davey in her life and then she was gone. Davey seldom mentions his mother, but then why would he when he hasn’t seen her since his second birthday when she had arrived expecting a birthday party to only find Davey back in the hospital.” And instead of staying with their son till he was well enough to leave the hospital she’d laid a fancy wrapped present on the bed and left.
“Are you afraid that she’ll come back one day and want to be part of Davey’s life?” Sarah asked.
She unexpectedly reached for his hand then squeezed it. When she began to pull it away, he held it tighter. He had started this conversation to help Sarah be able to talk to him, to help her deal with the pain that he suspected was holding her back from moving on with her life, but here she was helping him instead. Holding her warm hand in his seemed to ease the pain and anger that he felt whenever he talked about his ex-wife.
“A part of me is afraid she’ll come back and another part of me is afraid that she won’t. Davey deserves to have a mother in his life.” Right now all he knew was having a father, but someday that little boy would ask him why his mother wasn’t there and he didn’t know what he’d say to him.
As they neared the paddock, David was surprised to see his son sitting on top of a squat pony being led by Jack. He dropped Sarah’s hand before they got closer. It wouldn’t do for either Jack or Davey to get the wrong idea about their relationship.
“Daddy, look at me,” Davey said as they got closer. “Look Miss Sarah, I’m riding just like my daddy.”
“I see,” Sarah said as they both stopped.
“The boy’s a natural and Humphrey needed some exercise. I hope you don’t mind,” Jack said.
David started to assure the older man that he didn’t have a problem with Davey on the pony when he realized that Jack hadn’t been talking to him. It was Sarah that he’d wanted to make sure was okay that Davey was riding. Did her father-in-law think that Sarah didn’t trust him with Davey? But that didn’t make any sense at all.
“It’s fine, Jack. Humphrey is perfect for Davey right now,” she said, then turned away and went inside the building.
Then it hit him. Humphrey must have been her son’s horse. How old had the child been? The pony was a good fit for Davey partly because he was much smaller than most of the children his age. Had her son been younger? There were so many questions he had and none of them were his business he reminded himself.
“He was your son’s pony? I’ll understand if you don’t want Davey on him, again,” he assured her, though right now he wasn’t sure how he would be able to talk his son off the pony.
“It’s fine,” she said as she looked back over at him. “I mean it. Let’s get this tack up and I’ll show you the proper way to brush out a horse.” A small smile crossed her lips, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
They worked in silence till they were joined by Davey and Jack.
“That was the best!” said Davey as he led the small pony inside with Jack walking beside him. “And Mr. Jack says I can take him back to the house and tackle him.”
“I think he meant that you could put up his tack—that’s the saddle and reins, like me and your dad are doing here,” Sarah said as the three adults laughed at his son’s expression. This time he was relieved to see that her smile touched her eyes.
“Okay. He said I could do that tack thing and then we’re going to eat some beans like the cowboys used to do,” Davey said, then smiled at Jack. David had never gotten that reaction from his son when he’d tried to get him to eat his beans.
“I said we’d have to ask your dad, Davey,” Jack said as he rubbed the top of Davey’s head affectionately.
“Ah...” David looked at Sarah, obviously not sure how she
