“What time is it?” I asked.
Will looked at his watch. “Five past nine.”
I slipped my arm from around Ryker’s shoulders and eased myself up, trying not to disturb the two men sleeping at my side.
No such luck.
Lawson mumbled and reached out for me. His fingers brushed against my ankle and fell to the blanket as I stood. Ryker propped himself up onto his elbows and mumbled, “Morning already?”
I patted his head, stood up straight, and stretched. “I need a shower.”
Owen hopped to his feet. “Right this way.”Lunchtime arrived, and the power still hadn’t been restored.
“We’re going to have to eat everything,” said Brock, “or it’ll all go to waste.”
The eleven of us were up to the challenge.
By the time we’d finished our feast, the day was slipping into the evening, the roads had been cleared, and Will offered to drive us back to our motel.
“You’re perfectly welcome to stay here, of course,” he said. “But we can at least get your things, bring them back.”
“What about the DNA test?” asked Ryker.
“We probably still need to wait a day or two,” said Will, “but I’ll call my friend later and check, just in case.”
Ryker nodded.
“Not that there’s much of a need,” Will added. “I mean, we know we’re related.”
“Yeah, seems like just a formality at this point,” said Ryker.
“Dennis is back,” said Will, and he fought back the tears. He went to give Ryker a hug, then resisted. Then he abandoned resisting and took Ryker in a strong embrace. “Dennis!” He pulled away and looked Ryker in the eyes. “But now you’re Ryker. I know that. That’s cool.” He fought back the tears, shook his head, and added, “I never gave up hope. I always knew you were out there somewhere and that you were okay.”
“And now I’m here,” said Ryker. “And now I’m more than okay.”Will dropped us off at the motel. He said he wanted to do some grocery shopping, and he’d be back in an hour or so to pick us up.
Instead of packing—there was very little to pack anyway—I immediately collapsed onto the motel bed. “Man, what an incredible turn of events!”
“Shocking, isn’t it?” said Ryker.
I rolled over onto my side, propped myself up onto my elbow, rested my head on the back of my hand, and lay with my feet dangling off the side of the bed. “What are we going to do, Ryker?”
“About what?”
“I mean, are we going back to their cottage? What about the trail? I have a charity to document.”
“Can’t you do that from here? You could treat Franklin like a base of operations. Spend a few days on the trail, come back, write up, and post your reports, then head back to the trail for a few days.”
I rolled onto my back and kicked up my feet. I suddenly had lots of energy. I felt like I could do absolutely anything in the world; there were no more boundaries; all options were now open.
“What about you?” I asked. “Aren’t you going to finish the trail, finish your residency?” I wanted to ask him about his family in Massachusetts, but I bit my tongue. Too soon.
He took a seat on the bed beside me. “I came here to find out about my roots. I hadn’t imagined that I would find a brother, let alone nine of them.” He held a guidebook of the trail and tossed it from one hand to the other like a baseball. “I’m going to stay here a while. My search has only just begun.” He stood up and began packing.
I watched him and waited till he was finished before I packed my things. I didn’t know what my next move would be, but I did know how I felt about Ryker. We had grown so close over the last few days, too close for me to up and leave him here, and I wanted to see where his journey—our journey—would lead us.
As we drove back to the cottage, Ryker bombarded Will with questions: What will I do about my residency? Do you think there are opportunities here for me? What about renting a house? What’s the job market like? What am I going to tell my family back in Massachusetts?’
Will didn’t interrupt. He merely let Ryker get all of his thoughts and his doubts off his chest. Finally, once Ryker paused to catch his breath, Will said, “This area needs doctors badly. You’ve probably seen evidence of that in the short time you’ve been here. It’s true, there are communities, isolated communities, in the mountains that are in bad need, plus the people in town need doctors, too.
“You’ll have no trouble finding a residency program here. I can even help you with that when you’re ready.”
“You can?” Ryker exclaimed.
Will chuckled. “I’ve lived here my whole life. I know a lot of people. Plus, I work at a hospital, remember. I know a lot of doctors and administrators, too.