Page 105 of Wyatt

Especially when her gaze softened on Coco and she moved around the bed, her arms open. “Coco. Sweetie. I missed you.”

Coco, too, seemed undone, unmoving even as his mother folded her into her arms.

RJ was leaning against the window, frowning, and by the wall, York had shoved his hands into his pockets, looking rueful.

“Hey, Wyatt,” York said.

Wyatt just stood in the doorway and swallowed.

His mother had released Coco and now took her face in her hands. “York says this darling boy belongs to you. He’s a beautiful child, Coco.”

Coco’s eyes had filled, a tear dragging down her cheek.

Huh.

That’s when he got the slightest shake of head from York. As if…

If York hadn’t said anything, then…

“Um…so…how are you here, Ma?”

“Road trip with RJ.” His mom came over and drew him down into a hug. “I’m so glad you made it home safely. When RJ said you went to Russia to play hockey—and to bring Coco home, well,of courseyou did. You and Coco were always special to each other.” She patted his cheek.

He frowned and glanced at RJ.

She was looking at York, her mouth pinched.

Mikka flung his arms around Coco. Wyatt didn’t understand the words, but he could figure them out. He hoped for the same reaction someday.

His mother was looking at the little boy with such a soft expression.

And suddenly, the fact that he’d…

Who are you? This isn’t how a Marshall behaves.His father’s voice sliced through him.

He had the sudden urge to slink from the room.

Behind them came another knock. Sarai came in, dressed in a white lab coat, wearing one of those stickers, followed by another doctor, a Korean woman, her dark hair cut chin-short.

A blonde nurse in her mid-twenties, dressed in an orange top and pants with fish on them, followed. As the two doctors came over to the bed, the nurse smiled up at him, her eyes widening. “Are you Wyatt Marshall? Goalie for the Blue Ox?”

The question came so far out of the blue it felt like he’d been high-sticked across the head, his life rushing back to him.

Wyatt Marshall. Goalie for the Blue Ox.

Yes. That was him. He nodded.

“Are you visiting the children’s cancer ward today?”

He glanced at Coco.

And then, for some unknown reason buried only in his subconscious, he nodded again.

“This little guy is special. He’s from Russia,” she said and came over to take his blood pressure.

Sarai sat on the bed. “Hey, Coco. Wyatt. We’re all checked in, and we ran the first panel of tests. They should be back soon.”

He didn’t know why, but Wyatt couldn’t move.