Healing The Md's Heart. Nicole Foster

Noah pushed off the couch and stood there, staring at Sophie as if he wasn’t sure what part of her to hold on to.

      With none of Noah’s reticence, Sophie grabbed his hand and tugged. “Let’s go see the pony!”

      Then Noah beamed back and Duran knew he’d made the right choice. “No longer than an hour,” he said as his son let Sophie pull him toward the front door.

      “You keep track of the time, Tommy,” Cort called to his son as the four kids made a noisy exit.

      “He’ll be fine.” Without him noticing, Lia had shifted a little closer and spoke only for him, following his gaze to the empty place his son had just left.

      She touched his hand, a brief brush of her fingers, intended to punctuate her reassurance, and for a moment, Duran had the urge to grasp hers as if she were the tether that would keep him anchored above the confusion of feelings and people and remind him of what was important.

      Instead, he let the feeling pass and settled for a half nod, half shrug.

      Although she smiled a little in return, her eyes were troubled. She answered some comment of Laurel’s but Duran felt and saw her watching him, slantways, pretending her attention was elsewhere but keeping him in view in a way that was almost protective.

      Before he could decide how he felt about that, the front door flung open and a man strode in to join the company. From his strong resemblance to Sawyer and Cort, Duran guessed this was Cruz Déclan, his opinion justified a moment later when the man walked up and offered his hand as Duran got to his feet.

      “You must be Duran,” he said. “I’m Cruz. Welcome to the family.”

      The words were friendly enough but came with a wry twist that gave Duran the impression Cruz understood some of how he felt about being the outsider who suddenly found himself a part of a tight-knit family group.

      Taking a chair opposite Duran, Cruz asked, “Looks like I beat Jed here.” He looked to Cort. “I heard you got voted the one to make the call last night. How’d he take it?”

      “Like we expected,” Cort said. “Del on the other hand—”

      “She isn’t takin’ it too well,” Josh finished for him.

      Sawyer gave a short laugh. “Now there’s an understatement. Del is Josh’s mother,” he added for Duran’s benefit. “So we’re gonna let him handle her.”

      “Just don’t take it personally if she’s less than warm and fuzzy,” Josh said, with an apologetic smile Duran’s way.

      “I understand. It’s a difficult situation. If there’d been any other way—”

      “We’re glad you found us,” Laurel said. She gently stroked Quin’s back where he lay, snuggled against her chest. “If there’s any chance one of us could help Noah…” Leaving the sentence unfinished, she looked at Quin, shaking her head, her eyes misty.

      “I think we can all understand how you feel when it comes to your son,” Sawyer said quietly.

      “I’ll get things lined up for the testing next week,” Lia said. “I know everyone here is more than willing.”

      Duran’s brothers all nodded and made comments in full agreement. Their enthusiasm and open acceptance of him and Noah, and Lia’s determination to help him find what he most wanted for his son, wrapped around an empty place inside, warming it and filling it with feelings too tangled to recognize. For a moment, he couldn’t speak, gripped by a sense that he’d found a lot more than he’d ever bargained for here.

      Before he could muster words of thanks around the catch in his throat, the front door opened again. And again, Duran recognized the features on the man’s face. Not so much because he strongly resembled any of his sons in the room, but because he was looking at an image of Ry—older, grayer, harder, but a reflection of his twin.

      The clear proof of his identity was there and now he had to confront it face-to-face in the man who was his father.

       Chapter Four

      They stood facing each other and there didn’t seem to be a right thing to say.

      The sense of imbalance Duran had been feeling since he started the search for his birth parents visited him now, more strongly than ever. He’d always been confident of who he was, where he belonged. The confrontations with his past, though, had stirred to life a stranger inside; someone, that if it hadn’t been for Noah, he wasn’t certain he would have wanted to know.

      “Not sure what I expected,” Jed said at last. He came slowly into the room until he faced Duran. His blunt assessing look ended with a grunt and a shake of his head. “But it wasn’t you.”

      “That’s pretty much what Ry said,” Duran told him, despite the circumstances a little amused at the similar reaction from his twin and the father neither of them had ever known. “You’d have a hard time guessing we were twins. There’s no question he’s your son, though. You’re more his twin than I am, at least in looks.”

      Jed accepted that with a nod. “Who’s your mama?”

      “Lucy Miller, or she was then. And the only place she’s my mother is on a birth certificate.”

      “Maybe so. But you can’t change where you came from. Believe me, boy, I’ve tried.” Eyes narrowed as if he were peering into the past, Jed said after a moment, “I don’t recall a Lucy Miller.”

      “One-night stands generally don’t leave much of an impression,” Duran said dryly. “She probably wouldn’t have remembered you, either, if you hadn’t given her two sons.”

      “When?” The question was shot at Duran from behind Jed and for the first time Duran noticed the blond woman, fluffy white poodle clutched in her arm, still standing by the doorway. Duran guessed she had to be Jed’s wife, Del. When Duran didn’t answer her straightaway, Del spun on Jed. “When did you know her?”

      “Like I said, I can’t recall. What’s it matter?”

      Del’s painted mouth tightened. “People will be talking.”

      “Let ’em. Not like they haven’t before.”

      From the hard set of her face, Duran guessed whatever had been said about Jed Garrett in the past hadn’t been good. He had a pretty fair idea of what they’d be talking about this time, the speculation over whether or not Jed and Del had been married when Jed’s night with a stranger had produced two more Garrett sons. Judging Josh’s age as fairly close to his, there was a better than even chance they had. He couldn’t blame Del Garrett for resenting his suddenly showing up in Luna Hermosa. For Jed’s wife, meeting him face-to-face was unwelcome evidence her husband had cheated on her.

      Before Del could counter Jed, though, Josh came up and took his mother by the arm. “How ’bout you come over to my place and tell Ellie and me all about your trip?” Del’s protesting didn’t start until Josh had her turned around and halfway out the door. Flashing a wink and a grin over his shoulder, he pulled the door closed on his mother’s increasingly loud sputtering.

      “Damned woman’s gonna make a fuss about this,” Jed grumbled as he made his way to a chair, dropping heavily into the seat. He sent a scowl around the room at each of his sons, sparing only Duran. “And don’t any of you start. I’ll get enough grief from her to make up for the lot of you.” He fixed his attention back on Duran. “Cort says you’re here about your boy. What makes you so sure one of your brothers can help?”

      “Because they are his brothers,” Lia spoke for him.

      Duran had forgotten she was there behind him, now at his side, squarely facing Jed in a stance that clearly warned the older man to back off. He didn’t need her to fight his battles but she ignored his glance.

      “A blood relative is more likely to be a match,” she