Above Rubies (Rockland Ranch) Read Online Free Page B

did, and when my foster father found out, he was going to force me to have an abortion.”  She put her hand over her belly.  “I didn’t plan for this baby, but I don’t want him to kill it.  That’s why I ran.  He was going to make me.”  Tears escaped her eyes and ran down her cheeks.
                  Naomi’s voice was gentle as she asked, “Kit.  How old are you?”
                  Kit tried to control her sobs.  “Seventeen.”
                  “Who is the father?”
                  She wouldn’t look up and Naomi came to her and leaned over, pulling her to her in a hug as she cried.  Finally, in the smallest of voices, Kit said, “My foster father.” 
                  They were both in tears and didn’t see Rossen when he came back in with the food.  He looked from one to the other, then silently slipped back out the door unnoticed. 
                  A few minutes later, whistling loudly, he came through the doorway again.  This time, although it was still evident that they'd been emotional, the tears were gone and Naomi looked up as she was helping Kit brush her hair and said, “Ah, good.  There you are.  This girl needs some food.  I know a cheeseburger isn’t usually the first thing to try, but maybe it’ll go down easy.”  Naomi smiled at her and squeezed Kit’s hand.
                  “It smells wonderful.”  Kit took the burger and began to eat it.  Rossen watched skeptically as he moistened a cloth.  After just a couple bites she was sick again, but Naomi encouraged her to keep eating and miraculously she made it through the rest of the burger and kept it down beautifully.
                  Rossen was amazed and said, “Mom, you are a miracle.  Do you know how sick this girl has been?  That is so backward.  I would have thought a tiny bit of bland food would be better.  How did you know?”
                  Naomi just winked at Kit.  “Moms know everything, honey.  You know that by now, don’t you?”  She wrapped her arm around her son’s waist.
                  “I should."  He grinned.  "You caught me every single time I did something wrong!”
                  Kit was still tired.  Her head ached and her elbow throbbed.  When she hadn’t been able to keep pain pills down, they’d brought her a morphine pump.  It kept the pain under control, but made her sleepy, and finally well fed, she went back to sleep almost instantly. 
                  When she next woke, Naomi was gone, but Rossen was still there asleep in the chair beside her bed.  It was strange.  Somehow as he had been helping her, she had come to trust him.  There was something so innately safe about him that she’d been able to push aside the fear she’d come to have for literally every male she encountered.  
    She studied him in the dim quiet.  He was tall with bleached blonde hair and long legs stretched out in front of his chair, crossed at the ankles.  Faded jeans and cowboy boots exactly fit his casual strength.  He was incredibly handsome, even with his eyes closed and she already knew that with his eyes open he was devastatingly so.  His eyes were deep blue and although he always seemed to be smiling, they had a quiet depth that went on forever.  Even in his sleep he had a hint of a smile in the tiny lines around them.  She wondered how old he was.  He obviously wasn’t a teenager anymore.
                  She still wasn’t exactly sure how she came to be here at the hospital with him and his sweet mom.  She’d never been around anyone like them.  Their love and affection was so obvious and comfortable it was remarkable. And the way they treated her was unbelievable.  They treated her like she actually deserved to be cared for and watched over, even though they didn’t know her.  They had never even met her before