Read the book: «Her Family For Keeps»

Table of Contents

Cover

Excerpt

Dear Reader

About the Author

Title Page

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

EPILOGUE

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

REBEL TAYLOR ROLLED her shoulders against the heat. Sweat tickled and trickled down her back as she crossed the steaming parking lot. It was a very hot day for the first of June, even for New Mexico.

Movement in the backseat of a small sedan drew her attention. As an ER nurse, she was highly trained in skills of observation. Even the smallest detail made the difference between life and death. Frowning, she moved closer to the back window.

Rebel dropped her backpack as she hit full ER nurse mode. “Hello?” She stepped closer and the bottom dropped out of her stomach.

A toddler was strapped in the backseat.

Alone.

“Oh, God.” Panic flooded her, and her limbs went limp for half a second. She looked around at the parking lot full of cars but devoid of people. “Help! Someone help!”

Tugging on the door handle brought her no results. The windows in the front were down a crack, but not enough to squeeze her arm through.

The child’s cries grew into screams as he pulled on his hair. What Rebel had first thought was a seizure was the frustration of the toddler imprisoned in the heat.

“Hold on, baby. Hold on!” She jerked her cellphone out of her pocket and called 911.

Dr. Duncan McFee strolled across the parking lot toward the hospital, but had to pass through the lengthy, car-filled parking area. When the doctors’ car park was full, he parked with the rest of the staff. Heat bubbled up from the black surface and seemed to take on a life of its own, reaching out to drag passersby down into the dark depths. Days like this, he always wondered why he’d passed on that exotic job offer in the Caribbean. An ocean breeze would have been very welcome at the moment. If the desert had an ocean, it would be perfect.

Up ahead, he noticed a woman with long, luxurious, curly red hair who apparently had locked her keys in her car and was bent on beating the life out of it as a result. He decided to see if he could help the lovely damsel in distress. Not every day presented an opportunity to meet such a stunning woman.

“Lock your keys in?” he asked.

She turned, true panic in her incredibly green eyes, and took in a gasping breath. Duncan frowned. Something was wrong with this lady, not just keys locked in her car.

“There’s a baby in there!”

“How long has he been in there?” Duncan dropped his briefcase, instantly understanding her panic.

“I don’t know, but he’s in trouble.”

Duncan knew he needed to get that child out of there. Time was the enemy right now.

“Call 911.”

“I did, but he’ll die before they get here. We’ve got to do something.” She hit the heel of one hand against the window in frustration.

Duncan looked around for a rock or anything he could use to break into the car. People started to gather, attracted by their activity. The woman grabbed the closest person. “Go get Security. We have to break into this car. It’s an emergency. Go!”

The man raced away into the building.

Frustration mounted in Duncan, and he felt the same emotion emanating from this unknown woman. She was obviously a caring and concerned person, as well as stunningly beautiful. She stuck her fingers through the space in the front window and pulled. The window didn’t budge. “Dammit.”

Duncan joined her and managed to slide his fingers in alongside hers. “On three, pull. One, two, three…pull.” Together they put their muscles to work, but the window simply didn’t move. They couldn’t get enough leverage on it.

“Dammit! Where’s Security?” He glared toward the building, but there was no rescue party racing up the hill. “We’re going to have to do this ourselves.” One glance in the backseat was all he needed to realize she was right. The baby would die in the next minute unless he was rescued.

And then what they both feared happened. The child had a seizure, its little limbs jerking uncontrollably in response to the high temperature in the car forcing its body temperature too high. The brain could only take so much before reacting badly.

“There has to be something we can use to smash the window.” The woman glanced around. “There!” She ran a few feet to grab a landscape rock nearly hidden by shrubbery.

“Give it to me.” He took the rock, and she turned her back, but stayed close. With everything, every ounce of strength he had, he smashed the rock into the driver’s window, determined to get this baby free. Never again was he going to let someone die in a car. Not if he could help it.

Glass shattered. She shoved the window in with the heels of her hands and released the door lock. “Got it.”

Duncan yanked open the back door. In the last few seconds the baby had lost consciousness after the seizure. With quick thinking, she released the car-seat clasp and Duncan pulled the child free.

“We have to cool him quickly.” She pulled off his shoes and socks and stripped him down to his diaper.

“Let’s go.” Duncan raced into the ER with the woman at his side. “Pediatric code! Call a pediatric code,” he yelled as they sprinted through the doors, the baby clutched against his chest.

This man was obviously known here and thank heaven for that, Rebel thought as she raced into a treatment room with him, her hand supporting the baby’s head.

Once she had her hands on him, she refused to let go, as if her touch could infuse life into him. Staff arrived quickly and took over the scene. Once on the stretcher, the baby was flaccid, his breathing erratic.

“Get an IV in him.” Duncan gave orders and the staff were already responding. Performing in code situations was something these people did routinely and were obviously accustomed to working together.

Out of her element and uncertain what to do, Rebel wet a towel at the sink and draped it over the boy’s head.

Duncan looked at her with dark brown eyes filled with dangerous anger, and she nearly stepped away. Had she overstepped her boundaries? He didn’t know she was a nurse or that she had any medical knowledge whatsoever.

“Good idea. Cool his brain off.” He gave a grim nod and continued to give orders, orchestrating the scene. After the boy was hooked to the respirator, Duncan took a stethoscope and listened to the little chest as it rose and fell in synchronization with the respirator. “This will rest him a bit.”

Rebel tried not to give in to the awful sense of dread crawling into her limbs and stomach. These heroic efforts may have been too little, too late. The baby had had a grand mal seizure, the worst kind. His immature brain had gotten too hot too fast and might not recover from the insult. Even if he survived, he could have lifelong brain damage.

Rebel pressed her lips together as emotion overwhelmed her. Images of her family flashed into her mind. “We didn’t get to him in time.” He was going to die. Just the way her father and three brothers had.

“We don’t know that yet,” Duncan said, and clasped Rebel’s shoulder in a reassuring gesture that failed to bring any comfort. She knew that no matter how good medical care was, people still died. Her father had been the first, then her brothers. Nothing had been able to stop the disease that had taken them all.

“Time will tell,” she said, defeated by the rescue efforts she knew were probably futile. If there were miracles in the world, they hadn’t been given to her family. Each of her brothers had died a slow, agonizing death, leaving behind holes that could never be filled.

Duncan looked at her as if trying to read something into her words. “Yes. Time will tell.” He moved to the side and drew Rebel with him. “Is this your child?”

“What? No.” Rebel’s eyes widened, surprise on her face. “I just happened to come along at the right time.” She looked away. “I guess it was the right time.”

“I see. Just doing business in the hospital?” He normally didn’t stick his nose into the business of others, but this was an unusual and very traumatic situation. One he wanted to figure out now.

“Actually, I’m here to finish up some pre-employment paperwork. I’m a travel nurse. Start tomorrow.”

They moved into the hallway as the staff finished stabilizing the boy to transfer him to the pediatric ICU. There was always hope. There had to be for him to carry on with this work as a healer, a physician, as a human being. If there was no hope, what was the point in even trying? Even when his fiancée, Valerie, had been near death, he’d had hope she’d survive. Unfortunately, he’d been wrong that time.

“Where will you be working?” Curiosity made him ask.

“Here. In the ER.” The sideways smile she gave said it all.

Duncan nearly chuckled at the irony of the situation, but held back. This was no laughing matter, and he could see in her expression that she thought the same thing. “Quite a trial by fire you hadn’t expected.”

“It’s the life of an ER nurse.”

“Yes, for ER doctors, too. I’m Duncan McFee, one of the physicians here in the ER.” He paused a moment and watched her soulful green eyes follow the child as he was wheeled toward the elevators. “How are your hands?” He gestured for her to hold them out.

“My hands? What do you mean?” She frowned and looked down at them.

“Your palms, I mean.” He placed his strong hands over hers and turned them over. His touch was firm and warm and a little tingle she hadn’t expected rushed through her. “You pushed the glass in with your hands, and I’d like to make sure you don’t have any cuts. Glass can go deep before you even know it.”

“I did? I don’t remember doing that.”

“You did.” He stroked his fingers over the heels of her hands and her palms, using his sensitive fingertips, looking for any irregularities. “Guess we’ll be working together if you stay.” He released her. “Looks good. What’s your name?”

“I’m Rebel Taylor and what do you mean, if I stay?” Rebel raised her brows and leveled her intense eyes on him. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good. Then I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t worry about the paperwork. You can finish up in the morning. Go home and de-stress after this. You need it.”

After a deep sigh, Rebel’s shoulders drooped. She knew the benefits of letting go or destressing or whatever you wanted to call it, after such an event. Time to take a breather on duty was often a luxury, rather than the necessity it should be.

“Maybe you’re right.” Conceding felt like weakness, but her mind overrode the emotions. She wasn’t officially an employee yet, so she had no real place here.

“I’ll walk you out. I have to recover my briefcase anyway.”

“I hope it’s still there. My backpack is there, too.” She shook her head, having forgotten about it in the rescue crisis. What a pain that would be to replace all of the items in her wallet if it had been stolen.

“I’m sure it is. This hospital complex doesn’t have a lot of crime and there were plenty of people around.”

As they approached the exit, Duncan turned to her. “So where’d you get such an unusual name? You don’t look like a rebel to me.”

She smiled, some of the tension lifting, even though she recognized his distraction technique. She’d used it many times on her patients, and she appreciated his efforts for her now. “It was something my father gave me when I was a kid. Apparently, as a toddler, I was quite the rebel and the nickname stuck.” She gave him a slant-eyed glance. “My given name is Rebecca, but if you ever call me that, I’ll slap you silly.”

Duncan laughed and some of the tension seemed to let go of him as well.

“Agree.” He offered an arm for her to move ahead of him. “I think Rebel suits you better anyway. Rebecca is too tame for all that wild hair.” Curiously, that hair made him itch to touch it, feel its texture and softness. Check that. Not gonna happen.

They left via the double doors that whooshed open on quiet hydraulics. They approached the parking lot, now alive with police and security.

“Wow.” Rebel looked at the area now packed with fire trucks, rescue vehicles, an ambulance and a police aid directing traffic away from the area. “Guess we’ll have to file a report, won’t we? And someone’s got to find out who that baby belongs to.” The person probably worked in the building and had forgotten to leave their child with the sitter.

From behind them, Rebel heard a gasp. A young woman dashed past them toward the car and the police officer putting up yellow tape.

“What happened to my car?”

The officer faced her. “Is this your vehicle, ma’am?” He set down the crime-scene tape and stepped closer to her, the sun glinting off his reflective sunglasses. He removed them and wiped his forehead.

“Yes, what happened?” She gestured to the mess it had become.

“Can I see some ID?”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” She dug into her purse as Duncan and Rebel moved closer. “Someone breaks into my car, and I’m the one who has to show ID?” She shook her head in obvious disgust. “I was only at work for half an hour and someone broke into my damned car.”

“We broke into your car,” Duncan said, his voice soft, and Rebel shivered with anticipation as to what his next words would be.

That confession got the officer’s attention, and he looked between Duncan and Rebel, keen eyes putting together the scenario.

“You broke into my car?” The woman looked him up and down, then at Rebel, completely baffled. “Why?”

“Because your son was in there.” Even though his voice was as soft as silk, the words were hard to hear.

Rebel took a deep breath and gritted her teeth, certain she’d have knots in her shoulders later. Duncan held her gaze and gave her a nod and she moved a little closer to him. The close proximity brought her some comfort and feeling some of his strength made her realize she was going to get through this difficult situation. With the power this man exuded, she thought she might just be able to get through anything.

CHAPTER TWO

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, my son? Eric’s at daycare.” She swallowed, her blue eyes wide with fear and uncertainty. She looked between Rebel and Dr. McFee trying to figure out if they were telling the truth or if this was some sort of sick joke.

“No, ma’am. Your son was discovered in the backseat of this vehicle.” The officer took her ID from her limp fingers.

“N-no, he wasn’t. He’s at daycare.” She looked at Rebel and Duncan, and then at the car as she put the pieces together and completed the horrifying puzzle.

The back door hung open.

The car seat was empty.

The diaper bag lay upside down on the floor.

She focused on Rebel. “Isn’t he?”

“Did you forget to stop on your way here?” Duncan asked as gently as possible.

“Did I forget…? Of course I didn’t forget.” Anger flared in her face, then was quickly replaced by fear. She began to hyperventilate and her grip on Rebel’s arms loosened.

“Then you left him in the car on purpose?” the officer asked.

“No! I would never…” Her eyelids fluttered.

“She’s going out.” Rebel held on to the woman’s arms as the purse and wallet thudded to the pavement.

“Go get us a gurney,” Duncan instructed the security guard, who ran into the building, and took some of the woman’s body weight from Rebel.

“As soon as she wakes up she’s under arrest,” the officer said, and shoved his shades back on.

“As soon as she wakes up she needs to see her child, so back off.” Dark anger flashed in Duncan’s eyes, and Rebel held her breath.

“She put her kid in mortal danger. He may die.”

“I understand. She’s not going anywhere, so you can arrest her later.”

For the second time in less than an hour Rebel and Duncan entered the ER with an unexpected patient.

“Can you start an IV?” Duncan asked. “The others are working on a new trauma.”

“Yes,” Rebel said, ready to be helpful and hide the fear surfacing in her veins. Facing her fears was what had led her to ER nursing, but some days the fear nearly did her in.

Duncan pointed to the counter behind her. “Supplies are there. Get some saline going.”

In seconds Rebel had everything prepared and inserted an IV into the back of the woman’s hand.

Duncan rummaged in a cabinet beside her. “Aha.” He moved closer to the patient. “Make sure that’s taped down well.”

“Why?”

He held up the small mesh-covered capsule. “Old-fashioned smelling salts.”

“Haven’t seen those used in years.” Thinking outside the box was what kept ER nursing interesting. “Let ‘er rip.”

The instant Duncan popped the capsule with his fingers, the noxious scent invaded the room. He waved it beneath the woman’s nose, and she jerked away.

“Wake up for me,” Duncan said, and patted her cheeks.

“Her name is Amanda Walker.” The police officer arrived from outside with her belongings.

“Amanda? Amanda. Wake up now.” Duncan spoke to her.

Rebel leaned close to Amanda’s ear. “Eric needs you.”

Amanda’s eyelids fluttered, and she jerked away from Duncan’s hands. “Yuck, what is that?” She struggled to wake from unconsciousness and coughed.

“Amanda, I’m Dr. McFee, and you’re in the ER. Do you remember what happened?” Amanda kept her eyes closed and frowned.

“Eric? What about Eric?” She opened eyes that appeared to have no memory of the recent events in the parking lot. Not unusual. The brain provided wonderful coping mechanisms to assist in dealing with emotionally painful situations. None of them were going to help her now.

“You were on the way to work and what happened?”

“What do you mean? I parked and came into work like I always do.” She focused more on Duncan and glared. “Why are you asking about Eric? Did the daycare call?”

“No, ma’am…” Duncan interrupted the officer with a glare. He clenched his jaw, not wanting to verbally castigate the officer when he had a patient on his hands. “No. Daycare didn’t call.”

“I was…No. Is Eric okay? What’s happened?” She tried to sit up. “What’s going on?”

Rebel stepped forward and glanced with hesitation at Duncan. He didn’t know her, had never worked with her before, so he had no reason to trust her or her abilities as a nurse. Then again, he had no reason not to trust her. He nodded.

Rebel placed her hand over Amanda’s with a gentle touch. Compassionate energy pooled around Rebel in such waves that Duncan felt them. This woman was made of tough stuff. So far turning out to be a damned good ER nurse. Gorgeous and smart. Hard combination to find.

“I’m Rebel, one of the nurses. I…discovered Eric…in the back of your car.”

“No, you didn’t.” Amanda shook her head in denial and jerked her hand away from Rebel. “He’s at daycare.” Amanda placed a trembling hand over her mouth and tears spilled from her eyes as trickles of the truth emerged from her subconscious. “You’re scaring me now.” Amanda looked around the room, at the glaring overhead lights, at the medical equipment, at the IV in her arm. Then she took a deep breath.

The wail that followed emerged straight from her soul.

The hair on Duncan’s neck twitched in reaction to the agonizing cry no amount of comfort could touch. He looked at his newest coworker.

Tears overflowed Rebel’s eyes as she stood with hands clenched in front of her. Even the cop turned away.

“N-o-o-o. No. No. No.” She hopped off the gurney, her eyes wild. “You people are crazy! His dad always drops him off.” Her breathing came hard and fast.

“Amanda. Think back to this morning. Was there a change in your routine? Did you deviate…?” Rebel asked questions designed to trigger her memory.

“No!” She pointed a finger at Rebel. “Wait till I call my husband. He’s a lawyer, and he’ll…My husband…is…sick…today.” Amanda collapsed to her knees. Sobs croaked out of her in an unrelenting torrent of realization.

Rebel knelt beside her. “What happened? Can you tell me?”

“His office has daycare.” She huffed in a few breaths. “He always takes Eric. Always.”

“And he’s home sick today?”

Amanda nodded, then slumped over onto the floor. “I killed my son! Oh, God, I killed my son.”

“Eric is alive, Amanda. He’s not dead.”

Amanda sat up and grabbed Rebel by the shoulders. “You found him in time?” She hauled Rebel into an exuberant hug. “Oh, my God.” Now, sobs of relief overflowed. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

Rebel placed her arms around Amanda and looked at Duncan. Those beautiful green eyes of hers pleaded for his help and something inside him emerged. Whether it was the trained physician in him, the male protector of women and children, or he was just reacting to the pain in Rebel’s face, he didn’t know. He just knew he had to respond.

“Amanda, sit up. I’ll tell you about Eric, then we’ll take you to see him.” He assisted her to her feet, protecting Rebel from being overwhelmed. He offered a hand down to Rebel and brought her by his side. His instinct was to place his arm around her waist, to shield her from the pain they both knew was yet to come, knowing the story before it was even told. Instead, he took Rebel’s hand and led her to a chair. She was pale and her hand was clammy. Though she didn’t look it on the outside, he knew she was having great difficulty with this situation. Officially she wasn’t even an employee, and she’d gone above and beyond what was expected of her. She could just as easily have walked away, but she hadn’t. What heart she must have.

Duncan placed his hands on the shoulders of the sobbing woman. This was going to bite. “Amanda, pull yourself together. You need to be strong for Eric. Now take a breath and stop crying.”

In a few minutes she’d managed to subdue her emotions. Tears still dribbled from her eyes, but she could look at him. That was a start.

As the noon hour approached, Rebel felt about a hundred years older than her actual thirty. Days like this were why people left healthcare. Some days being a nurse just wasn’t worth it.

She’d been sitting outside the PICU where Eric had been taken. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t want to leave just yet. Dr. McHunky had taken the mother inside to see Eric.

Rebel had plopped herself into a chair outside the unit and hadn’t been able to get up. Sitting outside an intensive care unit brought back so many overwhelming memories it shut her down. For years she’d been an unwilling participant in her family’s inherited illness, Huntington’s disease. Watching her brothers struggle to survive had forced her to grow up too quickly, to be too old too soon, to leave childhood behind too early. Events like today sucked her back in time to when she had been a frightened little girl watching her family be taken from her one by one.

The door to the unit swung open, and she shoved aside her past to dive into the present again. That’s what adrenal glands were for, right? Surges of adrenaline kept her going from one crisis to another in the ER, and that ability didn’t fail her now.

“So, how is he, Doctor?”

“It’s Duncan, please.” Though he patted her on the shoulder in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture, he looked as if he needed some comforting himself.

“Okay, Duncan. First tell me how he is then tell me how you are. You look like someone beat you with a hammer.” Lines of what could be grief or fatigue showed on his face. Though it was mid-morning, he looked like he’d been up all night.

A small smile twisted his lips and a little relief appeared in her eyes. Mission accomplished.

“I feel like someone beat me with a hammer.” He looked at his watch. “And it’s not even lunch yet.” He took a deep breath and let it out in a very long sigh. “I’ll be okay. I think. Eric’s critical, on a vent, the works. I’ve never seen so many tubes hooked up to a kid that size, and I thought I’d seen it all.”

“I’m so sorry.” She gave his arm a squeeze, intending to offer him some of the comfort she’d offer to any of her patients and families. His arm beneath her hand was warm and firm. Though this child wasn’t related to either of them, he was special and bonded the two of them together.

Duncan turned his dark-eyed focus fully on her, and she gulped at the intensity of him. When he focused on something, it was something else. His dark, dark eyes seemed to have no pupils. His aura nearly reached out to her, like some invisible cloak trying to cocoon her into its warmth.

“And how are you holding up?”

“I’m okay, I guess.” She shrugged. “Are you ever okay after an event like this?” She’d been through many traumas in her career as an ER nurse and some patient situations stuck with her, no matter how long ago they’d happened.

“You might want to go home. The paperwork for employment can wait until tomorrow.”

“I’m good, really—” Denial had gotten her through many tough situations in life, why not one more?

He gave her such a doctor look, knowing she wasn’t all right, knowing she’d been through the wringer today, and knowing she wasn’t telling the truth, that she actually felt a flash of shame.

“Rebel. We don’t always have time to shake off the vibes from work while in the midst of it. Take the time to relax and shake this off.” Duncan spoke like a man who had been on the front line of healthcare for a long time. That kind of experience didn’t come without a toll on the body and the psyche.

“Thanks. You’re right.” She nodded. “I usually like to meet with the charge nurse the day before I start and introduce myself to see who I’m going to be working with. Stuff like that.”

Duncan gave a snort as the elevator doors whooshed open. “I think you’ve had quite an introduction already. The entire staff knows who you are by now, so just go home. I’ll tell Herm.”

“If you’re sure it’s going to be okay…”

“It’ll be fine.” The elevators took them to the first floor, and they exited. “Today is an admin day for me, so I’m going to do the bare essentials and head to the gym. Always helps me blow off the stress of the day.”

“My apartment complex has a pool. Maybe I’ll take a swim.”

“Good idea. Don’t forget the sunscreen. At this elevation the rays are more intense. See you tomorrow.” He’d hate to see all that luscious skin damaged by the sun. It was beautiful and she obviously worked to keep it that way.