A lump developed in my throat at the sight of her wrists—or the marks on them, rather.
“Raya…?” But before I could say anything more, someone drew back the curtain to our room. For a second, I thought it was the girl’s mother. But instead, Kylie Hackett peeked in at us. Our eyes instantly met for a second that felt like an eternity before Kylie shifted her gaze to the little girl.
“How are we doing in here?” she asked.
The little girl was still rubbing her eyes. Kylie’s brow wrinkled; she was still beautiful even with a frown on her face. I stood frozen on the spot as I watched her approach the child and kneel down before her.
“What’s the matter, sweetheart?” Kylie asked.
“I don’t feel good,” she said.
Kylie glanced back at me.
I shook my head and cleared my throat. “Raya has a fever. She’s going to need some antibiotics. Right now, we’re just waiting for her mom to return.”
I saw it this time—the slight flash of panic that appeared on Raya’s face when I mentioned her mother.
“I see,” Kylie said. She met my eye again, and I struggled to figure out how to discreetly indicate the marks on the child’s wrist.
“Raya tells me that she enjoys stickers. I was just trying to find some for her, but they seem to be hiding from us.”
“Is that so?” Kylie said, standing up. “Well, I’m sure those stickers can’t hide from me.” She winked at Raya and crossed the room toward me. “Excuse me, doctor.” I thought I detected the slightest bit of snark in her voice, but there was no time to contemplate it. She brushed past me and our arms grazed each other’s. Irrationally, my cock twitched.
Dammit. This was getting worse by the second.
Behind me, she opened a cabinet I hadn’t made my way to yet. When she opened it, she pulled out a jar that contained not only stickers, but lollipops as well. She turned back towards Raya with a smile on her face as she shook the jar at her. “I told you they couldn’t hide from me!”
Raya giggled through her tears. “He couldn’t find them.”
Kylie glanced at me. “Well, that’s because he’s a boy. You know, boys don’t always know as much as they think they do.”
The significance of her comment wasn’t lost on me and I was forcibly reminded of how rude I’d been to her the day before. “I won’t deny that,” I said. Kylie glanced at me once again as if she could decipher the thoughts behind my words.
“Here you go, sweetie,” she said, offering the jar to Raya. “Pick whichever ones you want.”
Raya reached into the jar to get a green lollipop and a sticker of some kind of Disney princess.
Kylie gasped.
“What?” Raya said.
But I already knew what had happened; Kylie had spotted the marks on the girl’s wrist when she reached for the sticker.
Kylie cleared her throat. “Oh nothing,” she said. “It’s just… you remind me of someone.”
“Who?”
“A princess, of course. That’s how I knew you were going to pick that sticker.”
Kylie carefully screwed the top back onto the jar and crossed the room to place it back in the cabinet. She met my eye along the way though, and I nodded, letting her know that I too had seen the marks.
“What princess?” Raya asked.
“Well, let me tell you all about her.” Kylie settled down into the seat I’d previously occupied. “There was once a beautiful little girl who didn’t know she was a princess,” she began. “One day, she woke up not feeling too good. And she was so afraid because she didn’t know what was wrong with her! So she ended up having to go to the doctor. When she got to the doctor, he checked the little girl’s eyes. And he looked into her ears. And then he checked her nose.” Kylie paused to wiggle Raya’s nose, making the girl giggle again. “And then he placed his hand on her forehead, and he jumped. He said, ‘Why little girl, you’re burning up! Do you know what that means?’ The little girl shook her head, so he leaned in and whispered to her, ‘That means someone has put a spell on you.’”
Raya’s eyes widened, already riveted by the story.
I, on the other hand, was thoroughly riveted by Kylie. Her ease at connecting with Raya was astonishing. I could easily tell that she related with patients on a personal level because she cared so much. I stood there, hating myself for the way I had spoken to her the previous day.