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The Doctor's Secret Son
Deb Kastner
You Can Go Home AgainDelia Rae Ivers said goodbye to small town Serendipity ten years ago for medical school. To start a new life, she’d ended her romance with the town rebel, Zach Bowden—and kept their little boy a secret.But when her mother falls ill, Delia answers the town’s online ad for a new doctor. It’s time to come home to family, friends…and the man she loved a decade ago. Will forgiveness give them a second chance to become the family they were meant to be?Email Order Brides: Online connections lead to forever love
You Can Go Home Again
Delia Rae Ivers said goodbye to small town Serendipity ten years ago for medical school. To start a new life, she’d ended her romance with the town rebel, Zach Bowden—and kept their little boy a secret. But when her mother falls ill, Delia answers the town’s online ad for a new doctor. It’s time to come home to family, friends…and the man she loved a decade ago. Will forgiveness give them a second chance to become the family they were meant to be?
Hadn’t anything else scandalous happened in the ten years she’d been gone?
It seemed to her everyone had far too keen of memories where she and Zach were concerned.
Delia had a hard time breaking her gaze away from Zach. He took one step toward her and then stopped, undecided.
Alexis, Mary and Samantha stood and hovered around Delia until she, too, came to her feet.
But instead of meeting her halfway, Zach stepped sideways and planted his hat on his head.
“Ladies,” he murmured with a clipped nod. A moment later he was striding out the door and down the road.
Delia was equally distressed and relieved. She didn’t care for him brushing her off with such callousness, but she wasn’t quite ready to talk to him, either. She didn’t yet know how to say what needed to be said, nor when would be the best time to do it.
Maybe there was no best way to say it.
Zach, you have a son.
DEB KASTNER
lives and writes in colorful Colorado with the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains for inspiration. She loves writing for Love Inspired Books, where she can write about her two favorite things—faith and love. Her characters range from upbeat and humorous to (her favorite) dark and broody heroes. Her plots fall anywhere in between, from a playful romp to the deeply emotional. Deb’s books have been twice nominated for the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best Book of the Year for Love Inspired. Deb and her husband share their home with their two youngest daughters. Deb is thrilled about the newest member of the family—her first granddaughter, Isabella. What fun to be a granny! Deb loves to hear from her readers. You can contact her by email at Debwrtr@aol.com, or on her MySpace or Facebook pages.
The Doctor’s Secret Son
Deb Kastner
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Dear Reader,
Welcome to Love Inspired!
2012 is a very special year for us. It marks the fifteenth anniversary of Love Inspired. Hard to believe that fifteen years ago, we first began publishing our warm and wonderful inspirational romances.
Back in 1997, we offered readers three books a month. Since then we’ve expanded quite a bit! In addition to the heartwarming contemporary romances of Love Inspired, we have the exciting romantic suspenses of Love Inspired Suspense, and the adventurous historical romances of Love Inspired Historical. Whatever your reading preference, we’ve got fourteen books a month for you to choose from now!
Throughout the year we’ll be celebrating in several different ways. Look for books by bestselling authors who’ve been writing for us since the beginning, stories by brand-new authors you won’t want to miss, special miniseries in all three lines, reissues of top authors and much, much more.
This is our way of thanking you for reading Love Inspired books. We know our uplifting stories of hope, faith and love touch your hearts as much as they touch ours.
Join us in celebrating fifteen amazing years of inspirational romance!
Blessings,
Melissa Endlich and Tina James
Senior Editors of Love Inspired Books
Dear Reader,
Welcome back to Serendipity, Texas, for the second book in the Email-Order Brides series. Many of the same characters who first appeared in Phoebe’s Groom are back for more laughter, learning and love as childhood sweethearts Zach and Delia attempt to mend their relationship and move on as a family with their nine-year-old son, Riley. I hope you enjoy your return to Serendipity and the quirky characters I’ve grown to love while writing this series.
Next up in the Email-Order Brides series is The Nanny’s Twin Blessings. This is the story of Drew Spencer and his adorable three-year-old twins. And if you’ve been following the romance between Cup o’ Jo café owner Jo Murphy and cantankerous old Frank Spencer, be sure to catch this book—you won’t be disappointed!
I love to hear from readers! Email me at DEBWRTR@aol.com, or look me up on Facebook.
Keep the faith,
Deb Kastner
To my grandchildren, Isabella and Anthony.
You are the future of our family’s faith.
* * *
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Bearing with one another and forgiving one another; Even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
—Colossians 3:12–14
Contents
Dear Reader (#u3213d709-1ae5-5cd5-8e6d-f69515dbe723)
Prologue (#u4baedc16-db31-5370-ac18-93247ba7f279)
Chapter One (#u0e6e5a64-5962-5112-80a7-57ad12affaac)
Chapter Two (#uf8286dc4-d1cd-5e6d-b63a-04e965202f0d)
Chapter Three (#uf0bcd84b-fd48-53e7-aeb1-a17568dc02f7)
Chapter Four (#u30716521-bb7f-53c7-9e64-b4708dd34afb)
Chapter Five (#uf6b0959d-2330-5bfd-b96d-5d6f0f03760f)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Questions for Discussion (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue
Text Message
Riley Ivers: My mom is crying. She just got off the phone with Grandpa.
Justin Sanderson: What’s up?
Riley Ivers: She says we have to move.
Justin Sanderson: Dude, tell her the house next door to mine has a For Sale sign out front.
Riley Ivers: I wish. My grandma’s sick. We have to move near her.
Justin Sanderson: Where?
Riley Ivers: Texas.
Justin Sanderson: No way!
Riley Ivers: I don’t want to move away from Baltimore.
Justin Sanderson: Tell her you don’t want to go.
Riley Ivers: I did. She said she doesn’t want to go, either, but we have to ’cause of Grandma.
Justin Sanderson: Oh, man.
Riley Ivers: This stinks.
Chapter One
Medical emergencies were few and far between in Serendipity, Texas. Delia Rae Ivers wasn’t sure she’d ever readjust to the sleepy pace of the town where she’d been born. She hadn’t so much as visited for years, and now suddenly she was living and working here. After a busy emergency room setting at the Baltimore hospital she’d interned at, being a small-town doctor was going to take some getting used to.
She leaned back in the leather chair behind her desk and stretched wearily. She was a doctor, not an accountant, and squinting at numbers for hours as she examined the small medical clinic’s financials and then entered them into her computer was not her idea of fun.
“Riley, buddy, are you finished counting the gauze rolls?” she called to her son. They’d arrived in town only five days ago, and Riley hadn’t yet met any kids his age, so Delia had given him small tasks to do around the clinic to keep him busy and out from underneath his grandparents’ feet.
“I’m done, Mom.” Riley peeked his head around the corner of the back office door and a lock of shaggy black hair flopped over his forehead. No matter how he tried to comb it, his thatch of hair stubbornly spiked hopelessly in every direction.
“And the boxes of gloves? Did you get those, too?”
“Yeah, I did.”
Delia’s gaze dropped to the toy car her son was clasping in his left hand. Clearly he was getting bored counting medical inventory, and she couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t exactly the most exciting job in the world, especially for a nine-year-old boy. Gentle waves of love lapped in her heart. Riley was her world, and had been from the moment he was born.
“I have another project for you,” she informed him, pinching back the smile that would give her away.
Riley groaned. “Oh, Mom.”
“I think you’ll like this.” She let her smile emerge. “You know that little alcove—room—in the back corner of the waiting room? The one that’s set up for kids to play in?”
Riley nodded. His eyes glinted with interest, but she could tell his concentration was still focused on the car in his hand.
“I bought a video game system and a small television to hook up in there so the older kids have something to do while they wait.”
“Way cool!”
She chuckled. Now she knew she had her son’s full attention.
“I need to get it hooked up. Think you can do that for me?”
At age nine, Riley was heads-and-tails above Delia in the electronics department. When it came to video games and televisions, and even computers, he already knew more than she ever would. She had no doubt that he’d have the system up and running in no time. As she’d said, it was for the kids; but most especially, it was for Riley. She knew there’d be times he would be stuck at the clinic waiting for his mom to finish work. Now he’d have something to keep him occupied.
“The TV and the video system are already in the room, so whenever you’re ready…” Her sentence drifted to a halt as Riley sprinted from the room. Delia smiled.
