Forever Together
FOREVER TOGETHER
Montana Brides Series, Book 6
Leeanna Morgan
Copyright © 2014 Leeanna Morgan
Smashwords Edition
ISBN 978-0-9941138-0-1
Published by Rogan Press
For more information visit http://http://www.leeannamorgan.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is co-incidental.
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the US Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior permission of the author.
About this Book
Kate Jennings hasn’t seen or heard from her father in fifteen years. When a genetic fluke makes her a perfect match for her half sister’s bone marrow transplant, she travels to Montana to help save her sister’s life. With a new family to meet and old wounds to heal, Bozeman is the last place Kate wants to be.
Dan Carter doesn’t trust easily. The Deputy Chief of Police has learned the hard way that everything in life has a price. When Kate arrives in Montana he does everything he can to keep her there, even if it means spending time with a woman who’ll end up taking more than she’s willing to give.
Forever Together is the sixth book in the Montana Brides series. Each of my books can be read as a standalone. If you would like to know when other books will be published, please go to my website www.leeannamorgan.com and sign up to my newsletter. Happy reading!
Other Contemporary Romances by Leeanna Morgan
(All series are linked)
Montana Brides:
Book 1: Forever Dreams (Gracie and Trent)
Book 2: Forever in Love (Amy and Nathan)
Book 3: Forever After (Nicky and Sam)
Book 4: Forever Wishes (Erin and Jake)
Book 4.5 Forever Santa: a Montana Brides Christmas Novella
Book 5: Forever Cowboy (Emily and Alex)
Book 6: Forever Together (Kate and Dan)
Book 7: Forever and a Day (Sarah and Jordan)
The Bridesmaids Club:
Book 1: All of Me (Tess and Logan)
Book 2: Loving You (Annie and Dylan)
Book 3: Head Over Heels (Sally and Todd)
Book 4: Sweet on You (Molly and Jacob)
Emerald Lake Billionaires:
Book 1: Sealed with a Kiss (Rachel and John)
Book 2: Playing for Keeps (Sophie and Ryan)
Book 3: Crazy Love (Holly and Daniel)
The Protectors:
Book 1: Safe Haven (Hayley and Tank)
Book 2: Just Breathe (Kelly and Tanner)
Book 3: Always (Mallory and Grant)
Book 4: The Promise (Ashley and Matthew)
Dedication
For Tim, Connor, and Aimee.
For everything you do so I can write.
You are amazing and I love you heaps.
CHAPTER ONE
Kate glanced at the crumpled piece of paper in her hands, then up at the red brick building. Bozeman Deaconess Hospital stretched out in front of her, ready to swallow her whole if she let it.
“Are you lost, ma’am?”
Kate looked at the unsmiling cowboy standing beside her. “I’m not lost. I...” She stuffed the paper into her back pocket and squared her shoulders. She could do this. She could walk into the hospital and find her father. She could slap a smile on her face and pretend the last fifteen years hadn’t mattered, that she didn’t care if Tom Jennings only wanted her here because a genetic fluke made her the perfect match for his eight-year-old daughter.
“Ma’am?”
“Sorry...I was...” Kate looked into the man’s clear blue eyes. They stayed leveled on hers, steady and calm. For the second time in as many minutes she forgot what she was about to say. Except this time her forgetfulness had nothing to do with why she was here and everything to do with the man standing beside her.
The last time she’d been this tongue-tied was when Billy Anderson asked her to marry him. Except Billy hadn’t cocked his head to one side and waited for her brain to catch up with her mouth.
“I’m going to the pediatric ward to see my half sister. She’s sick and I’ve just arrived in town. I live in San Diego.” She shut her mouth before any more Jennings’ family history spouted forth. “Thanks for asking if I need help. I guess I’ll go in now and, well...thanks.” She rushed past his six-foot denim clad body before he thought she should be looking for the mental health clinic.
She ignored the heat of his gaze on her back, ignored everything except what she was here to do. The phone message from her father said to take the elevator to the second floor and keep walking until she reached the end of the corridor. The pediatric ward would be on her right. She couldn’t miss it, even if she wanted to.
She punched the elevator button, hoping Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome didn’t want to share a ride. She wasn’t capable of making small talk and he didn’t seem like the type to try.
“I hope everything works out for you, ma’am.”
He took his hat off and Kate stared at his jet black hair. It curled a little wildly over the collar of his white cotton shirt, not at all like the buzz cut she’d half expected. And why she’d thought that was beyond her. Except for the way he moved, he could have been anyone. By the time he’d disappeared up the stairs she knew what set him apart. He had a don’t-mess-with-me attitude, a way of being that belonged on a soldier, or someone who was as far removed from Montana as she was.
She took a deep breath and stepped into the waiting elevator, preparing herself for what would happen next. Her father would be waiting for her. His wife and her sister, too. A ready-made family waiting for her bone marrow.
She couldn’t remember what her father looked like and that worried her. If he was in the corridor, she might walk straight past him, ignoring him for the stranger he’d become. The only family photos her mom had kept were of Kate and her sister Lily. So she’d done what she did best. She’d spent the first few days after her father’s phone call trawling through the Internet, searching newspaper articles and whatever else she could get her hands on. Anything to make her father real, to give her some idea of what she was coming back too.
But as hard as she’d looked, she hadn’t found anything. She could have called him and asked for a photo, asked him about his new family. About his life after he’d left. But talking to him would start building a relationship and she didn’t want to go there.
She crossed her arms in front of her chest, regretting not bringing her tote bag with her. She needed something to hold onto. Something to stop her hands from trembling and her head from remembering other hospital visits that had ended in heartbreak.
The elevator came to a smooth stop. It opened onto a wide corridor painted with rainbows, fairies, and pirates.
Pediatrics.
Bear footprints on the white vinyl floor led her toward a large orange desk. Machines beeped and nurses moved quickly from room to room. She hated hospitals almost as much as she hated her father for divorcing her mom. For leaving her with nothing except his DNA and a lot of broken promises.
A smiling nurse dressed from head to toe in purple greeted her at the desk. “Hi, honey. Can I help you?”
Kate stuck her hands in her pockets, feeling about as comfortable as a goldfish swimming in a tank of sharks. “I’m looking for Kaylee Jennings’ father. I’m supposed to meet him here.” There was no point telling her that Tom was her father, too. It would lead to too many questions. Too much of everything she wasn’t ready to answer. r />
The nurse’s smiled slipped. “Let me get Kaylee’s doctor for you.” She stood and waved Kate across to an alcove beside her desk. “Have a seat in the waiting room. I’ll be back in a minute.” Instead of pirates and fairies this area had been painted like a wildlife safari. Elephants, tigers, and crocodiles smiled at each other beneath a clear blue sky.
Kate sat on the edge of a bright red chair and tried not to stare at a little boy drawing a picture in front of her. He leaned across the table, picked up a yellow crayon and glanced at her before adding more color to his masterpiece. Apart from the dark circles under his eyes, his face was as white as the bandages wrapped around his head. Two thin tubes ran from the side of his neck into bags of fluid strapped onto a pole beside him. She glanced back to the nurse’s desk, hoping Kaylee’s doctor wasn’t far away.
“It’s a beach.”
Kate jerked her head toward the little boy. “Pardon?”
He twisted the piece of paper around, pushing it toward her. “It’s a beach. In Hawaii. Mommy and daddy are going to take me there when I’m better. And they’re going to take Stacey too, only she’s a baby and mommy says babies don’t fly too good. She might cry, but that’s okay because daddy says he’s got earplugs.”
Kate looked between the picture and the little boy. She rubbed her hands down the side of her jeans and felt a trickle of sweat between her shoulder blades.
“You ever been to the beach?” he asked.
Numbers flashed on the gray box strapped to his stand. The machine let out a shrill beep. “It does that sometimes.” The boy shrugged his shoulders and stood up, pushing a button on the monitor. “Nurse Julie makes a fuss when it happens, but sometimes I want to be left alone.” He sat on the floor and pulled his drawing toward him. “You ever been to the beach?”
Kate glanced back at the nurse’s desk. “I live by the ocean. On a beach in California.”
The little boy’s mouth dropped open and he crawled toward her, pulling his pole of drugs behind him. “I’ve never met no one who’s been to a beach. Even daddy’s never seen waves and seashells and stuff. What’s it like?”
Big bruised eyes gazed up at her, excitement mixed with awe as the little boy wiggled closer. If the base of his pole hadn’t got caught between the table and her chair he might have landed in her lap.
“The ocean’s big and bright. Kind of like the blue water you’ve drawn. And it’s almost always warm.” He nodded his head, soaking in what she was saying like a sea sponge dipped in the salty waves.
“What about sand? What does it feel like?”
Kate thought about the long walks she enjoyed on the beach. The times when she felt like the only person alive with her can of pepper spray and the neighbor’s Rottweiler. “It’s squishy and cold when the waves wash over it. But when the tide’s out it feels like you’re walking in a big bag of flour.” It didn’t have the poetic description she’d hoped for, but the boy at her feet didn’t seem to mind.
“Toby, what are you doing out here?”
They both glanced up. A man with eyes as bruised as the little boys reached out his hand. “I’m Scott Hamilton. Toby’s dad.”
Kate wiped her palms on her jeans and shook his hand. “I’m Kate. Toby tells me he’s going to the beach.”
The smile in Scott’s eyes dimmed. He shook her hand briefly, staring down at his son with such longing that Kate had to blink back the tears gathering in her eyes.
“That’s the plan. Have you finished your drawing, Toby?”
“Just about.” He added four stick figures and turned to Kate, handing her the picture. “This is for you. It’s a picture of me and my family on the beach. Only Stacey’s standing up because I don’t know how to draw a baby that’s crawling.”
Kate swallowed the lump that jammed itself in her throat and stared at the picture. “It’s beautiful. Thanks, Toby.”
“You’re welcome,” he chirped, pulling his drugs behind him. He turned before he disappeared out of sight. “This is my room. You can tell me about the beach later on if you like?”
Kate’s heart squeezed tight at the hopeful expression on his little face. “I’ll do my best.”
That was enough for Toby. He waved goodbye and disappeared behind the curtain.
His dad scooped up the crayons and left them in the plastic box on top of the table. “Thanks for talking to Toby. He gets bored in here, but he’s too sick to leave.”
“He’s a nice boy,” Kate said.
“Yes, he is,” Scott sighed. “You’re more than welcome to visit whenever you like. If I’m not here, my wife will be with Toby.”
“Excuse me. Are you Kathleen Jennings?”
Kate looked at the man that joined them. Without the white coat stretched across his tall frame, she wouldn’t have picked him for a doctor. Football half-back, maybe. Healer of the sick and injured? No way. “Yes, but you can call me Kate.”
His blue eyes crinkled at the edges. “I’m Taylor Keegan, Doctor T to everyone. If you follow me, we can start the family conference.”
Kate said goodbye to Scott, then followed Doctor T down a short corridor. Her heart hammered against her ribs. This was it. After three weeks of planning and tests, she was about to see her father and his family for the first time.
Doctor T stopped outside a closed door. “I understand from what your dad told me that you haven’t seen each other for nearly fifteen years.”
Kate nodded.
“If you feel uncomfortable at any stage, just let me know and we’ll take a break. You need to know that Kaylee won’t be at this meeting. She’s got a chest infection. Until it goes away, we’ve had to put the transplant on hold. We’re going to discuss Kaylee’s treatment and care. After that, I want to go over what the transplant will mean for you. Are you ready?”
Kate glanced at the wooden door, then back at Doctor T. “I’m ready.”
He opened the door and she braced herself against the impact of seeing her father. Her eyes darted around the small room, confusion replacing the worry that had kept her awake most nights.
Doctor T nodded to a man hovering by the window. “Kate, this is your father.”
She didn’t know what to say, what to think. Her father was about her height. Blue eyes stared at her with the same uncertainty she could feel working its way through her body. He had dark hair, peppered with gray, and a face that had seen more than its share of the sun and wind.
And he wore a suit. A dark blue suit with an emerald green tie. She couldn’t have said anything or moved if her life depended on it. She felt like her body had been slammed into a concrete wall, head-first, leaving her dizzy and breathless and scared.
“Hi, Kate. I’m Anna, Tom’s wife. Thank you for helping Kaylee.”
Tears swam in Anna’s eyes. She moved toward Kate, reaching out to give her a quick hug. Kate closed her eyes and tried to plow through the shock of seeing her father, of meeting his new wife.
Anna stepped back and wiped her face. “Kate, this is my brother, Dan Carter.”
Kate looked into the same unsmiling blue eyes she’d met downstairs.
He nodded and she straightened her spine. She knew that look. The one that was quick to blame and took even longer to trust.
She’d seen it staring back at her in the mirror, on the days when she wanted to forget about her past. Days like today.
***
Doctor T looked down at his notes. “I’ve got to be honest with you. I don’t know what the future holds. It all depends on Kaylee and how well she responds to the steroids we’ve given her.”
“What about the transplant?” Anna’s face had gone white. She clutched Tom’s hand, held on so tight that Kate wondered if it was the only thing keeping her upright.
“Kaylee’s not going to get better without it. The steroids we’re giving her are putting a Band-Aid on what’s going on inside her body. We’ll get through this infection and the next round of chemotherapy. After that, we’re straight into the transpla
nt.” He glanced across at Kate. “We won’t start the transplant for another couple of weeks. I don’t know what that means for any commitments you might have, but you need to stay.”
Kate thought of her job back in San Diego, the apartment she shared. The bills that were piling up while she wasn’t earning money. “I could go home. Come back when you need me.”
No one said a word.
Dan crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave her the meanest scowl she’d ever seen.
“I’ve only got two weeks of vacation owing to me.” Her voice drifted off to nothing.
“You could stay with us,” Anna offered. “It would save on your accommodation expenses and give you a chance to get to know your dad.”
It was her turn to scowl. Her father was the last person she wanted to spend time with. If she didn’t arrive back in California in two weeks, she wouldn’t have a job. No job meant no income, and that wasn’t something she wanted to face.
“For God’s sake,” Dan growled. “I don’t care if you’ve never met any of us before. Kaylee’s your half sister. You need to do everything you can to make her well. If that means staying here, then by God you’ll stay.”
Kate felt her temper rising. She wanted to help Kaylee, but Dan Carter could jump in a lake if he thought he could tell her what to do. With his designer jeans and tailored shirt, he didn’t look as though he knew what it was like to live from day to day. She’d spent too much time wondering where her next meal was coming from to lose her job. And if she stayed in Bozeman she wouldn’t have a job to go home to.
“If you’re short of money we could help out,” her dad said. “If you leave, Kaylee will die.” His bottom lip trembled. Anna wrapped her arm around her husband’s shoulders and held him firm.