Unforgettable Love Read online

  Julie looked at Mark calmly. It wasn’t like the grand spectacle James had orchestrated. It was just Mark and her, alone in his office.

  “Married?” she said with an exaggerated tiredness in her voice. Her hand crept up to her neck and touched the beautiful necklace she had grown to love more than any huge diamond she could have been bought. Rolling her eyes, she stepped closer and put her arms around Mark’s neck. “Are you sure? I might be crazy?”

  Mark slipped his hands around her waist and pulled her gently to him. He looked at her face and touched her cheek.

  “Oh, I have no doubt that you are.”

  Outside, the rain still fell in a fine mist over Inspiration Point as the sun pushed its way through the clouds. A rainbow formed for a few precious seconds.

  “And I don’t know what my parents are going to think. They aren’t talking to me at the moment, but that should resolve itself in about five years.” Julie’s eyes sparkled with tears of sadness over the loss of her parents in her life. “They are just misguided, Mark. They aren’t intentionally cruel people.”

  “Of course they’re not. They created you, didn’t they? If we have to, we can just kill them with kindness.”

  Julie smiled but looked sadly out the window.

  “Now that isn’t exactly the face I expected to see on the woman I just proposed to. Are you alright?”

  Julie pulled Mark to her and hugged him tightly.

  “I can’t help it. I know James would have a lot to lose if he tried anything funny. Especially now that you know how he operates. But he’s got money. A lot of it. And there isn’t a whole lot some people won’t do to make a few extra dollars. I hate to say it, but I’m scared of what he might do.”

  “Did I ever tell you that my cousin works for the District Attorney’s office?”

  Julie shook her head no.

  “Well, it isn’t something I go bragging about. But Mr. Turner isn’t the only one with connections. Sometimes you have to fight to get what you want. And I’ll fight for you, Julie. With everything I have. God sent you to me. You’re a gift from Him. How could I not cherish you?”

  “Oh Mark, that’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. It’s all I’ve ever wanted from a relationship, to be cared about as much I care about others.” Julie couldn’t stop herself. She leaned in and let her lips meet Mark’s. They kissed a real kiss for the first time, and she could feel a rush of excitement travel down her spine.

  “So is that a yes, that you’ll marry me?” Mark’s eyes widened with anticipation as he eagerly waited for the words he wanted to hear.

  In Julie’s mind, there was no doubt Mark was the man she wanted to marry. Under the most unpredictable circumstances, God had placed him into her life and now she had an unexplainable peace inside, a peace she never experienced with anyone else. Yes, Julie loved Mark, and there was no question in her mind she wanted to build a future with him, a marriage blessed by God.

  “Yes, Mark. That’s a real yes,” Julie said as she gave him a big smile and leaned in for a second kiss.

  ###

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  Preview of Book #1 Fall From Grace

  The man on Kevin Pierce’s examination table at Harbor Hospital was of average height, with dusty brown hair and bluish eyes, and according to the clipboard now resting beside him, his name was Peter Renfrew. Peter had come into the ER complaining that his ribcage was “busted up,” and after seeing the significant bruising pattern on his torso, Kevin was inclined to believe him. Still, he prodded the area gently with his fingertips, just to feel for trauma and irregularities himself. He knew the man probably had some broken ribs and bruising, but his first problem was making sure there were no other internal complications.

  “Ow!” Renfrew burst out suddenly, jerking away from Kevin’s hands. “Take it easy, will you? I already told you they’re broken.”

  Kevin backed up slightly, holding his palms out as if the man was ready to lunge at him in revenge. “I’m sorry, sir. We always need to check your condition first because self-diagnosis can be misleading. Let me finish checking and then we can get you all fixed up and on your way. OK?”

  Peter rolled his eyes as a sigh of exasperation escaped his thick lips. “I guess that is your job. So what d’ya think? Am I right?”

  “Unfortunately, I’m afraid you are.” Kevin picked up the clipboard and studied it while he talked. “I’ll need to take an x-ray to confirm it, but those ribs certainly do seem to be broken.” He paused, glancing at his patient. “Have you been experiencing anything like coughing up blood, shortness of breath, or bloody stools?”

  “No.”

  Kevin marked down his response. “Okay. And when exactly did the injury take place?”

  Renfrew hesitated before lowering his voice. “Two nights ago.”

  “Hmm.” Kevin scribbled on the paper that was attached to the clipboard. “How did it happen? Were you in a car accident? You probably should have come in earlier. As you’re experiencing, broken ribs are nothing to be taken lightly.”

  The man shifted a little and winced. “Sorry, Doc. I can’t tell you that, or I’ll have a lot more problems than just this lousy ribcage. The wife would murder me for sure.”

  “Mr. Renfrew.” Kevin adopted his best soothing medical-professional voice. “As your examining doctor, I have to stress that I need to know all the details of your circumstances in order to make sure you get the best care possible.” After a moment, he added, “Everything you say here in the emergency room will remain confidential. Even to your wife.”

  At last, Peter Renfrew sighed, running his hands through the top of his thinning hair. “All right, listen. My wife is a lovely woman, sweetest lady you’ll ever meet. But she’s ... well, she’s big. I mean like, at least three-fifty. So the other night, we’re in bed, me and her, just sleeping. And she rolls over, and I guess she didn’t notice that I was there, because ...” He stopped, indicating the bruises. “A couple days later, here I am.” He exhaled heavily. “I wanted to come and see you earlier; I really did. Believe me, this hurts like crazy. But every time I tried to get out of the house, she stopped me. She doesn’t want me telling anyone what really happened.” He glanced at Kevin. “She’s embarrassed about it, see?” Peter shook his head. “I guess it’s not exactly flattering.”

  “How did you manage to get here tonight, then?” Kevin said. “I’m glad you did, but it must have taken some planning to get here. I mean, she sounds like she was watching you, so how did you sneak away?”

  “When I knew it was one of those nights when she took a long shower, I ran out as fast as I could. I try to be a good husband, Doc. I really do. I don’t even mind so much that she squashed me. But I can’t just leave broken bones to heal on their own, can I?”

  Kevin raised the clipboard to his face and bit down on his lip, willing himself not to laugh out loud. He knew the man was being serious, and he felt bad for him. The poor guy didn‘t want to upset his wife but knew he also needed medical attention. “No, you can’t,” he stated calmly. “You made the right decision.” He peered at Peter over the top of the board. “I promise not a word of this will ever leave this room. You’ll be fine.”

  “Whew.” Visibly relieved, Renfrew relaxed a little. “What about my chest?”

  “It’ll heal on its own, assuming the x-ray shows nothing unusual. I’m going to prescribe you some pain medication to help you during the healing process, but I want you to get in to see your regular physician as soon as you can, okay? We can send over the x-rays and all your reports whenever you can make that appointment.”

  “Do I have to tell him what happened, too?”

  Kevin smiled a little. “Tell him whatever you like, as long as you go.” He tucked the clipboard under his arm and reached out to shake Peter’s hand, but the patient stopped him
.

  “Wait a minute. Aren’t you going to wrap up my chest? I thought that’s what happened with broken ribs.”

  “Well, that’s what doctors used to do, but more recently, we’ve observed increased chances of complication from wrapping the chest. Now, we just make sure everything’s stabilized. The human body has a remarkable ability to heal on its own without intervention.” Again, he held out his hand. “The x-ray technician will be in shortly to take care of you. Best of luck at home.”

  As soon as the door had shut behind him, Kevin’s head wagged in sympathy as he crossed over to his office. The computer was already on, and he chuckled as he sat down in front of it with the clipboard. This was certainly not the adrenaline pumping residency he had envisioned of his career as an ER doctor. How many times had he been warned about the insanity of the emergency room, especially in a big city like Los Angeles? He had joined the staff at Harbor Hospital ready for the kind of harrowing action that happened in movies: paramedics bursting through the doors with barely-breathing patients in need of immediate, lifesaving operations. He’d expected blood, gore, gang-related gunshot wounds, and 18-hour days. He had thought that he had moved into the bustle of the busy life. He wanted to do surgery. Any kind of surgery, as long as it was needed and an emergency.

  Instead, so far the closest heart thumping action his senior resident had assigned him since joining Harbor had been a 55-year-old man with chest pains, a woman who’d gotten food poisoning from some bad Mexican food, and Peter Renfrew, a victim of his own obese wife. Kevin sat back in his office chair, wondering what his professors would say. He had graduated in the top ten percent of his class at Stanford and started his residency at Harbor under the weight of extremely high standards. There wasn’t a single person on ER staff who hadn’t heard of how promising and talented Kevin Pierce was. It was a lot of weight to carry, but he was determined to bear it with pride, even if his illustrious career hadn’t quite started off with a bang.

  He had learned from his Uncle Thad that one needed to take life with big steps. His uncle never missed a thing. It didn’t surprise him that was why the man was so successful. His uncle owned a thriving and prominent private practice in the upscale part of Los Angeles. He had tried to get Kevin to come work for him, but he had declined. He had told his uncle he needed to be in a hospital setting, to experience everything medicine had to offer so he could discover his element. But what he really desired was the adrenaline pumping spontaneity of the ER. He didn’t want to do the same thing every day or see the same people over and over. He felt he had made the right decision and was in the best environment for him and his career.

  “Hey, Pierce?”

  Kevin looked up to see his good friend Dr. Brian Turner. He was one of the other residents on the floor and they had been classmates, graduating from the same medical school They had both been fortunate enough to land a job at Harbor and hung out together frequently outside of work. “Hey. How are ya?”

  “I’m good. Hey, Sandy, Harry, and a couple of the nurses were going to go over to Caffe Grande for a coffee after shifts. Whadya say? Join us?”

  “Sounds like a plan.” It was common for many of the doctors and staff to hang out at Caffe Grande after their shifts were done. The tiny place was easy to miss if you weren’t paying attention while driving down the street. The Northern Italian-influenced cafe featured some of the best espresso drinks on the west side of Los Angeles, and Kevin would frequently order the espresso shots steeped with cinnamon.

  “After that some of us are catching a 9:45 movie. Interested?”

  “That sounds like a lot of fun, I wish I could, but I can’t. I’ve got an early shift tomorrow.” Kevin looked at Brian with disappointment. He knew Brian was referring to one of his favorite places, a historic multiplex theater in the Westwood area, a place that played many of the new hit films and even some indie films. A group of them would often catch the latest flicks there and always pay extra for the reserved seating just to make sure their faces weren’t five feet from the large screen.

  “Aw, sorry to hear that. Don’t you hate it when you get those? I think we should all vote to have early shifts eliminated.” An unprofessional grin spread across Brian’s face.

  “I hate those shifts too, but somebody has to do it. Patient care first, remember our Hippocratic oath?”

  Brian raised his right hand. “I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, yaddy yadda. But Hippocrates never said anything about super early morning shifts.” Brian chuckled.

  Kevin could still recall graduation day from medical school. It was a clear summer day and his class of one hundred ten students sat anxiously under the beating sun as they waited for their names to be called. His medical school was one of the few that still required a live recitation of the modern Hippocratic Oath as a requirement to graduate, an ancient practice most of his classmates frowned upon with apprehension. Dressed in a black cap and matching gown with lines of Irish green trimming running down the front, the words flowed effortlessly from his lips as he recited the phrases he had practiced almost a hundred times. In fact, his rendition had such an impact that even the Dean of Medicine congratulated him on his flawless performance. Yes, Kevin fully embraced every tenet of that oath, and as he started out on his new career, he vowed to use everything within his skills to save every precious human life that needed his help.

  “Maybe we can do something this weekend. By some miracle, I’ve got the whole weekend off. How about tennis Sunday morning?”

  “Sunday sounds perfect.” Brian swung an imaginary tennis racquet through the air and suddenly stopped midswing “Oh, wait a minute, I forgot. Terry and I are taking her girlfriend Lisa out for dinner and then we’re going go-kart racing. We’ll probably be out late, so I don’t think I can make tennis early in the morning. How about the afternoon?”

  “I’m stopping by at my uncle’s office after lunch. He wanted me to check out a fancy heart machine he just bought.”

  “Your Uncle Thad has a great thing going on with that practice. I would love to own an internal medicine practice like his someday. Sometimes I wonder if I should have chosen internal medicine instead of trauma.”

  “Yeah, my uncle’s one lucky man. But let’s face it, you and I are a different breed. We’re here because we love the excitement of the ER.”

  Brian gave him a grin. “You’re right. I can’t think of any other job I’d rather do besides the ER. I’ll admit, I’m an adrenaline junkie. It’s in my blood.”

  “Well, if we can’t schedule tennis this weekend, we can do it some other weekend.”

  Brian’s face lit up with excitement. “Hey, I’ve got a great idea. Why don’t you come out with me and Terry? You could help us keep her friend Lisa company.”

  Kevin pushed his nose up with disapproval. “What, you mean you want to set me up on a blind date?” He shook his head. “No thank you, I’m not in the mood for one of those dating disasters.” Dating the opposite sex was one subject Kevin had never mastered while attending school. Having gone through high school with his head buried in textbooks, he paid little interest to chasing after girls. Occasionally, he would notice a cute girl that would catch his eye, but then his insecurities would pop up, drowning the spark of hormonal desire that would often consume other boys his age. The fact he had on braces with headgear and wore high water pants with black leather shoes probably didn’t help his situation. But looking back from the present, Kevin didn’t care. He had loved school and all the challenges it had to offer, and he looked forward to the day when he would fulfill his dream of becoming a doctor.

  “C’mon Kevin, you hardly ever get out. Do it for me just this one time, and I promise I’ll never ask you to go out on another blind date again. Lisa is only staying for another few days and then she returns home to Minnesota. Please, I’m going to go crazy if I have to listen to another conversation about babies, makeup, and the latest fashions.” Brian en
folded his fingers together. “Please, you wouldn’t let a fellow resident suffer a slow and painful death would you? Remember your Hippocratic Oath?” He wore a humorous grin.

  Kevin pressed his lips together. “And what do I get in exchange for doing you this favor?”

  Brian’s eyes drifted upward in concentration. “Tell you what, if you come with us Saturday night, I’ll take you to The Regency for lunch next week.”

  “The Regency?” Kevin’s eyes grew wide. He knew the upscale restaurant was one of the hottest places in LA and getting a table without a week’s advance reservation would be next to impossible. Though he had never dined at the place, he had heard from the other staff members that many of the doctors would frequent the restaurant for lunch or dinner. “You really must be desperate,” he said as a smile formed.

  Brian’s lips turned down into a frown. “You have no idea, Kev. Besides, I’ve always wanted to try that place out. I heard their prime rib is to die for.”

  “You know you have to make reservations at least a week in advance, don’t you?”

  “Don’t worry about that, I’ve got that covered. I treated the head chef last week for an accidental knife wound to his hand. He was so thankful, he told me I could eat there for any time with a day’s notice. All I have to do is give him a call the day before.”

  “You lucked out, buddy.”

  “I sure did. That’s one of the perks of being an ER doctor. Look, I promise you’ll have a great time. Lisa is a mortician, and she’s really nice. She just broke up with her boyfriend of seven years, and Terry offered to show her around town to keep her from becoming depressed.”

  “A mortician?” His face twisted with disbelief. While he had dated a nurse and a dietician from the hospital, his mind drew a blank about what they would have in common. “Wonderful. Not only do I get to look forward to a boring conversation about dead people, but I get to chaperone someone who’s on the rebound.” Kevin rolled his eyes upward. “God, is this all I deserve after trusting you with my dating life?”