was instantly alert. Bohemian-like though she had been for most of her life, there was a very strong mother-grandmother streak alive and well within her heart. It rose to the foreground, blotting out everything else. “Why? What’s wrong.”
“Nothing’s wrong, Gemma. I just wanted to call you as soon as I heard.”
“Heard what?” She had never once lost patience with her granddaughter, but she felt herself coming close to the edge now.
Instead of answering, Victoria asked a question of her own. “Do you think you can come home three weeks from Saturday?”
Anastasia blew out a breath. “Victoria, you grow more and more like your father every day. Now what is going on?” She wanted to know. “Why do you need me to come home? Is it your father? Has something happened to Brandon?”
“Well, yes,” Victoria hedged. “Something’s happened and it does involve Dad, but not like you think.”
Her head suddenly filled with a variety of dramatic scenarios, none of them good, Anastasia assured her granddaughter, “Trust me, you have no idea what I’m thinking. Now, what’s going on, Victoria?” she demanded with the full range of her powerful voice. She was a force to be reckoned with.
“Dad’s getting married!” Victoria cried happily, the news all but bursting out of her. “To Isabelle,” she told her in case there was any doubt. “They just told me. It’s going to be at Maura’s house because it’s so big and all,” she went on breathlessly, referring to her father’s literary agent. “But they said they won’t have it if you can’t make it. Tell me you can make it, Gemma. I’ve never seen Dad look this happy before,” she added.
Anastasia laughed shortly. As if anything could keep her away. “Of course I can make it. My understudy is watching me like a hawk, hoping I’ll fall off the stage and break the other hip so that she can go on in my place. She’ll be thrilled if I take a few days off. But why didn’t Brandon or Isabelle call me themselves?”
Just as she asked the question, Anastasia heard her phone beep, telling her that another call was coming in. She quickly glanced at the screen for confirmation. “Well, speak of the devil. It’s your father,” she told Victoria.
“Oh. He’s probably calling to tell you the news. Don’t tell him I told you. It’ll spoil it for him. Act surprised, Gemma,” Victoria implored.
“Of course, darling. Acting is what I do best. Now go to bed. Love you.”
“Love you, too, Gemma,” Victoria said. “Isn’t it wonderful?” she couldn’t resist asking.
“Yes, darling, wonderful,” Anastasia replied, sharing her granddaughter’s happiness. She heard Victoria end the call.
Settling back in her chair, Anastasia switched to the incoming call.
“Hello, Brandon,” she greeted her son cheerfully.
Raising her eyes, she looked up into the mirror. The woman reflected there was smiling in triumph. And why not, Anastasia silently asked rhetorically. Her son’s forthcoming marriage was, after all, at bottom all due to her initially calling Cecilia. She considered the match to be her own personal victory.
Her smile widened as she innocently asked, “So, what’s new?”
Capturing the Single Dad’s Heart
Kate Hardy
A love worth fighting for?
Nate Townsend is a brilliant surgeon, but being a full-time single dad is his biggest challenge yet. So he doesn’t need the temptation of beautiful neurosurgeon Erin Leyton!
Erin’s instantly taken with Nate’s daughter. She knows she can help them both—if she can keep her heart off the table...because love never lasts, right?
But time spent with Nate and Caitlin stirs hopes Erin has long thought impossible. Can Nate convince her that his love is here to stay?
Erin felt that same prickle of awareness as when their hands had touched over the scones. But this time, instead of avoiding eye contact, she looked him straight in the eyes. Nate’s pupils were dilated to the point where his eyes looked almost black.
Oh, help. It looked as if this attraction she felt toward him was mutual, then. What were they going to do about it? Because this situation was impossible.
His face was serious. “Erin.” He reached out and cupped her cheek in his palm, then brushed his thumb over her lower lip.
She felt hot all over, and her skin tingled where he touched her.
“Nate. We’re right in the middle of the hospital,” she whispered.
“And anyone could see us. I know.” He moved his hand away. “Erin, I think we need to talk.”
She knew he was right. “But not here.” It was too public.
“Where? When?” His voice was urgent.
“You said Caitlin would be all right with your mum for a while.” She took a deep breath. Maybe she needed to be brave about this, as Mikey had suggested. Do it now. Tell him the truth. And if he walked away—well, it just proved that she’d been stupid to let him matter to her. “My place, right now?”
I’d gotten to that stage of life where I’m really fascinated by gardens—and then my friend Michelle told me about a news story of a sensory garden for spinal patients. What a perfect setting, I thought. Especially when I kept seeing stories about spinal patients in the news.
But who would get involved with a sensory garden? And who would think it was a bad idea?
Meet Erin, who has a lot of shadows in her past, and Nate, who has a lot of shadows in his present.
The sensory garden starts by keeping them apart, and then it is very instrumental in bringing them together. Add in a troubled teen—who reminds Erin very much of herself at that age—complicated families and the whole idea about how love happens when you least expect it...and you have what happens with Erin and Nate.
I hope you enjoy their journey—and that the garden inspires you as much as it did me.
I’m always delighted to hear from readers, so do come and visit me at katehardy.com.
With love,
Kate Hardy
To Michelle Styles, with love and thanks
for the lightbulb
Praise for
Kate Hardy
“This
