Accepting Eva [Slick Rock 8] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read Free Page A

a little more, but it wasn’t enough. The surgeon eventually had to do more surgery to make me one.
    “That was major surgery and I ended up in bed in traction for six weeks and in a wheelchair for a while. I couldn’t go to school for a whole semester.”
    “Shit, that must have been rough for a kid,” Quin said.
    “No, the operations I could handle fine. Thanks to my orthopedic surgeon, I may be able to keep my own hip joint for the next twenty years or more, though nothing’s ever certain. I wouldn’t even be able to walk if it wasn’t for my surgeon.”
    “Why not?” Quin asked.
    “I didn’t have a formed hip socket. My surgeon made me a hip socket and put my femur back into place.”
    Quin was still curious, but Eva looked down at her coffee mug and said, “I’ve talked so much about myself.”
    “Not at all, sugar,” Gray said.
    “But we still have so many questions,” Pierson said in a teasing tone.
    Quin stood, realizing that they probably had asked her more than enough. He didn’t want her to feel overwhelmed by them, but he didn’t want her to go just yet. “We’ve finished for the day. Why don’t you let us drive you to wherever you’re staying?”
    “Oh, thanks, but it’s not that far.”
    “Are you staying at the motel, sugar?” Grayson asked.
    “Yes. I plan on being in Slick Rock about two weeks.” Evana leaned over to pull the tape from her lower leg.
    “Let me do that, honey. I don’t want it to start hurting you again.” Quin began to peel the tape off her smooth skin. “We can’t let you walk back to the motel by yourself, Evana. It’ll be dark before you make it back.”
    “Oh!” She turned toward the window behind her. “I hadn’t realized how late it was. Could you please hand me my boot?”
    Quin walked over to the other desk, picked up her leg brace, and then handed Evana the boot and brace. He watched as she pulled her sock on and then her boot with the metal bars connected just before the heel. She opened the Velcro, placed the cuff below her knee, and secured it into place.
    “What is the brace designed to do?” Pierson queried.
    “Um, well, as I said, my right lower leg is too bowed. So the caliper helps keep it straighter and support and strengthen my muscles, and the boot is supposed to help keep my right foot from turning in.”
    “It always amazes me what specialists can do,” Gray stated as he collected the empty mugs and placed them on the tray.
    Quin knew that there was a lot more to it than Evana had explained, but she had given them the basics. He wondered how such a little thing had endured so much pain, but even as he thought that, he thought about all the other kids suffering in hospitals from life-threatening illnesses. At least Evana’s condition had been corrected as she grew. A lot of other kids didn’t have that kind of chance.
    “Are you hungry, Evana?” Quin inquired as he led the way out of the workshop.
    “Yes. It feels like I haven’t eaten for hours.”
    “Come to the diner and have dinner with us,” he suggested and guided her outside. He watched her nibble on her lip as she decided what she wanted to do and then she looked up at him with a small smile.
    “I’ll have dinner with you all on one condition.”
    “What’s that, sugar?” Gray asked after pulling down the large roller doors to the shop and locking them.
    “You let me pay. I want to thank you all for looking after me and helping me when I was in pain.”
    Quin looked at his brothers and gave them a wink when Evana looked away. If she wanted to pay for their meal, then he would let her. He didn’t think she would accept their offer to dine with them if they refused.
    “Okay, but the next meal is on us,” Quin replied.
    “Thank you.”
    Quin noticed that she didn’t question the idea of there being a next meal. That seemed like a promising sign.
    He took Evana’s elbow and guided her toward his truck, and then he gripped her waist and lifted her up into