Second Chance at Love (The MacKenna Born & Bred Trilogy)
Read Second Chance at Love (The MacKenna Born & Bred Trilogy) Online
Authors: Tara Paradise
Book One of the MacKenna Born & Bred Trilogy
by
Tara Paradise
*** This book contains content intended for mature
readers and is recommended for ages 18+ ***
Cover by Rachel
Mizer (Shoutlines Design)
Formatted by Tami Norman (Integrity Formatting)
Copyright © 2013 Tara Parrotti
All rights reserved. Without
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it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
This book is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events,
locales, organisations, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
To my two beautiful and amazing sons, Braden Matthew and
Jordan Christopher.
I never knew what it was to be truly blessed until you both
came into my life. Always follow your dreams and be true to yourself and you
will discover the many wonderful things that life has in store for you. I love
you both with all my heart.
To my wonderful husband, Matthew, who has always believed
in me and supported me in all that I have chosen to do.
Thank you for your patience and understanding during the
writing of this book, and for the many times that you encouraged me to keep
writing because you knew that it has always been my greatest dream. I am so
lucky to have you in my life. I love you.
“Alright, Mandy, you need to push. On three, okay? One, two,
three, push!” The fatigued mother-to-be gripped her husband's hand, her
knuckles whitening as her slender fingers closed around his and squeezed. She
bore down hard. With each desperate push, her body seemed to be at its breaking
point.
Dr. Brooke Cates' patient had been in labor for nearly
fourteen hours, which was normal for a first-time birth. Brooke had been kept
up to date on her progress. When she'd finally moved into the transition phase,
and her cervix had dilated to nine centimeters, with contractions coming less
than a minute apart, Brooke had been paged to Labor & Delivery. It had
taken her a mere two minutes to scrub in and high-tail it into her patient's
room. As Mandy reached complete dilation and effacement, Brooke had given her
the go-ahead to push.
“Mandy, I know you're tired, and I know it's been a long
labor, but you're almost there. Soon you'll meet your baby for the first time.”
Brooke spoke to her in a soothing voice, fully aware that Mandy was completely
exhausted by this time, and reminded her to focus on her breathing and
relaxation techniques. “Mandy, I need for you to push again. You're doing
great, almost there now,” Brooke continued.
Mandy looked up at Scott. The pained look in her eyes was
almost too much for him to bear. Patiently, he talked to his wife, ignoring the
pain coursing through his hand as she dug long fingernails mercilessly into his
skin.
“Come on Mandy, baby, you can do it. You're the bravest
woman I know.” He smiled at her then in the characteristically gentle way that
he had while smoothing her pale blonde hair back from her face. “Just a few
more pushes.” Mandy nodded, screaming out as the pain intensified.
“Oh, God,” she moaned, doing her best to breathe the way
she'd learned in her Lamaze classes. She was determined to do this. Mandy
pushed once more, bearing down as hard as she could. The baby's head began to
crown.
“Okay, Mandy, I can see the baby's head. You need to push
more gently now,” Brooke said.
“I can't. I can't,” Mandy managed, her breathing labored. “I
just need to get this baby
out.
”
“Yes, you do, Mandy. But you need to push
gently
,” Brooke
told her.
Scott brought their joined hands up to his lips and gently
kissed the top of hers. Mandy knew it was her husband's way of offering
encouragement, which was just one of the many reasons why she loved him, even
in light of her current predicament. She nodded, tiredly.
She pushed again, as gently as she could manage, and gritted
her teeth. When the baby's head began to emerge, Brooke nimbly cupped it to
support it as it slid through the vaginal opening. With quick hands, Brooke
suctioned out the baby's mouth and nose. Slowly and steadily, the baby turned
as it came out. Brooke concentrated on its shoulders as they came next.
Finally, with one last exhausted push from Mandy, Brooke caught the baby's
tiny, slippery body as it plopped out.
“It's a girl,” Brooke murmured, holding the tiny bundle in
her hands.
“A girl?” Mandy managed, half laughing, half crying. Scott
kissed her tenderly as she lay her head back against the pillow for the first
time throughout the entire ordeal. She was too weak to sit up any longer.
Quickly and competently, Brooke handed the newborn over to
the nurse. Laying her on her mother's abdomen, the nurse dried her off and lay
a blanket over her to keep her warm, adding a cap to the baby's head for extra
warmth.
Pushing the blanket aside, Brooke clamped the umbilical cord
in two places, and then instructed Scott where to cut between the clamps. The
new papa did exactly as Brooke instructed, beaming proudly through the tears
that welled up in his eyes.
Brooke had the utmost confidence in her team. She hadn't
been expecting any issues or complications to arise with the delivery, but she
and her team had been ready to handle any type of emergency nonetheless. She
was relieved that it hadn't come to that. Mother and baby were healthy and
well, and that's all Brooke could have hoped for.
Swaddling the newborn, the nurse lay her at her mother's
breast. Mandy stared down at the tiny bundle as she held her close, allowing
the love she felt at that moment to consume her. When Mandy watched her husband
lean over to nuzzle his cheek against their daughter's fuzzy head, a myriad of
emotions washed over her. She glanced up at him, her eyes brimming with tears.
The look they shared was magical, Brooke thought. She
couldn't resist the urge, and smiled to herself. And
that
is why she
became an OB in the first place. Nothing she could have chosen to do for a
living could have been more gratifying than this. She shook her head on that
thought, as if to reaffirm it. Nope, absolutely nothing.
The intense heat burned her lungs as she kicked up dust
behind her. Ahead, there was only white sand, as far as the eye could see. She
breathed in the salt air, and pushed on.
Freedom
, she thought. There was
nothing like the high she got from racing across the beach, hearing the waves
crash to the shore and feeling the wind in her face.
She loved to run. It was one of two things she enjoyed
most, the other being horseback riding, and she reveled in the time she
dedicated to it each evening to release all of her pent-up energy. And, of
course, it was her means of staying fit. Brooke, at 5'6'' and 120 pounds, was
lean and toned. The great body she had was the result of hours of hard work and
exercise each week. Three mornings each week she worked out at the gym and in
the evenings she ran. She had to. She loved food, and well, having a love
affair with food meant that you had to be realistic. In order to maintain an
ideal weight, she needed to burn those calories. Besides, exercise was good
cardio, and that was paramount.
By the time Brooke had finished entering her notes into her
laptop and made her final rounds of the day, it had been nearly 6:00. The half
hour drive home, even with Adele belting out her latest tune on the disc player
about the fire that was starting in her heart, did little to relax her. She was
tense and restless, and was counting on her run to loosen her up and to balance
her mood. She'd already run the two-mile stretch of beach and was working her
way back. She was thankful that there was only one other house on this
particular stretch of beach, and its inhabitants were in residence for only
short periods of time throughout the year, and had just recently vacated. It
gave her the privacy she craved.
By the time she reached the stretch of sand that was hers,
she'd slowed to a jog. Stopping now, she placed moist hands on her thighs, bent
her knees, and leaned forward slightly, waiting for her breathing to regulate again.
Some of the tension had eased and she felt exhilarated. Oh yeah, it was exactly
what she'd needed.
The sun had just started to go down over the horizon, and
Brooke figured she'd have just enough time to work in her nightly swim before
it disappeared completely. She pulled the clip out of her hair, her long dark
tresses tumbling down haphazardly. Stripping to her skin, she made her way
toward the surf. Deciding on just taking the plunge rather than easing into it,
she dove right in, disappearing beneath the calm waves.
The water felt cool and refreshing on her naked skin, and
was a nice contrast to the hot and sticky feel of just minutes before. When she
broke the surface, she kicked her legs out and positioned herself on her back.
She lazily did the backstroke, using the up-and-down freestyle kick and
windmill stroke to propel herself through the water. She'd recently reached her
goal of six laps, and was determined that she would make it through at least
that many during this swim workout.
When she swam approximately fifty meters, she took ten
breaths, making sure to count her exhalations, and then turned her body in the
opposite direction and continued the stroke, repeating the process every fifty
meters. Her movements were strong and steady as she glided through the water.
After swimming five full laps she began to tire, but managed to complete the
sixth and final lap of her workout. Her goal was to build up to eight laps, and
at this rate it wouldn't take her long at all.
Swimming was ideal in the swimming pool, and she could use
the one at the fitness center, but swimming in the ocean appealed to her so
much more. There was so much more....space. She stilled, bringing her arms to
her sides and then fanning them outward, skimming the water gently, while
floating on her back. She'd just take a couple of minutes to get her wind back
before she swam back to shore.
Her mind wandered as she focused on the faint spots of light
twinkling in the already darkening sky. She felt completely relaxed.
She loved this place, and she knew she was so fortunate to
have ended up in California. She completed medical school at UCLA, and then did
her internship and residency there. After her residency, she was offered a
position in Obstetrics. She was thrilled. It meant that she would be working
with some of the best medical professionals in the country, and since it was a
teaching hospital, she would have the opportunity to pass on her knowledge and
skills to the future doctors who would walk through those doors, the same doors
she'd walked through nearly a decade before, ready to soak up everything she
possibly could and to someday save lives. So far, nothing about her decision to
stay on at UCLA had been a disappointment.
Brooke was thankful for her many blessings. She had a career
she loved, great friends. Especially Ashley, who had befriended her not long
after she'd moved to Los Angeles. Ashley was the truest friend she had ever
had, and it was one of those friendships that Brooke knew would last a
lifetime. She had her pretty little house here on the beach. She loved waking
up every morning to the sound and the smell of the ocean. And sitting on her
patio in the evenings, watching the sun slowly disappear into the deep blue. It
was beautiful and peaceful. It had become home.
She hadn't actually been
home
in over a year. Montana
seemed so distant to her now, but each time she'd gone back, she felt the same
love and appreciation for the beauty of it that she'd felt while growing up
there.
She missed her family. Her parents and her younger sister
were the one constant in her life. They were selfless and loving and giving,
and Brooke had always been able to count on them. Leaving them had been the
hardest part of moving away to New England fresh out of high school, young, in
love, and eager to begin her life. The life she was convinced was going to be
wonderful and perfect in every way. And it was, until her fairytale came to a
heartbreakingly abrupt end. When she thought of that time in her life, and of
Logan, her heart still ached. Ached because of the heartbreak, but also for
what she had lost, and for what might have been. So she ran away to the west
coast to pursue her dream of attending medical school the day after graduating
from Harvard, ran as far and as fast as she could, and hadn't looked back.
Her parents had both grown up in Montana, and she knew they
would never want to be any place else. Brooke understood that. She and her
sister, Karissa, were born and raised in Angel Ridge, so they were connected
also. Karissa had left only to go away to college in Great Falls. She had still
been close enough to make it home frequently, on holiday breaks, summers, and
occasional weekends. And on the day she graduated with her Bachelor's degree,
she moved back home. Like her parents, Montana was where her sister's heart
was. But for Brooke, losing a piece of her own heart made it hard to go back,
particularly when a certain tall, dark, and ruggedly handsome cowboy once again
called Angel Ridge his home.
A wave slammed into her, rocking her on top of the water,
and brought her back to reality.
Where did that come from?
she wondered.
The water had been so calm just minutes before. When Brooke focused, she could
see that the sun had disappeared completely. The moon offered the only light
there was. She'd drifted for a while, losing herself in thoughts of the past.
But some things were better left there, Brooke knew. Because she didn't want
him there, she pushed all thoughts of Logan out of her mind and began the short
swim back, her movements sure and steady as she made her way to shore.
