Risking It All for the Children's Doc
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Tina Beckett
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PROLOGUE
FIVE-YEAR-OLD ELEAZAR ROHAL’S mom kneeled in front of him and took hold of his shoulders. He couldn’t remember the words she said, but he could remember the exact moment his universe changed forever. His gaze took in the serious men who stood on either side of her—men whose expressions made him fearful—and the way his mom’s mouth trembled when she said she had to go away for a while.
He glanced to the side where his “Aunt Maddie” stood in the doorway and surveyed the scene, tears streaming down her face. When his mom finally stood, she nodded at Maddie, who came over and took his hand. Ellis shook it off, trying to move toward his mom instead. But she took a step back, staying just out of reach.
He stopped. “Mommy?”
“Be good, Ellis. Remember Mommy loves you. Now and forever.”
Except she didn’t, or she would have stayed with him.
Five years went by. Then ten. And although Maddie was kind and loving, Ellis had never quite been able to erase the pain generated by his mother’s abrupt departure or the fear that Maddie, too, might be taken away by people he didn’t know. His questions about whether his mom was in jail or had been kidnapped had been evaded, and Maddie had simply repeated the words she’d said countless times before: Mommy had had to go away, but she would never stop loving him.
He never really believed it. And Ellis could never quite muster up feelings of love for anyone else. Attachment disorder. He’d heard the words whispered from behind closed doors. And although the label had eventually fallen away as he threw himself into school—excelling at subjects that involved science and objective reasoning—he never quite forgot what it meant: he was incapable of attaching to others in an emotional way.
But it was okay. He’d found other ways to cope. He’d done his best to banish the possibility of softer emotions—and had been quite successful, if his failed juvenile romances were any indication.
And now on the cusp of graduating from high school and moving into adulthood, he had some decisions to make.
All he knew was that he would figure out where he belonged in this world and take his place in it.
No matter how many years it took, or how many sacrifices he had to make to do it.
