Harlequin Medical Romance: June 2022 Box Set 2 of 2 by Annie O'Neil

Author:Annie O'Neil
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

He didn’t say much as they drove out of the city and followed the river to Multnomah Falls.

“You’ve gone all quiet and broody again,” Hazel commented.

“Sorry. I was just thinking that it’s been some time since I’ve been out here.”

“I’ve driven by it, but never stopped.”

“It was my late wife’s favorite place,” he said quietly.

“You told me she died in childbirth.”

“She did. A pulmonary embolism during her emergency C-section. Her heart stopped, and they couldn’t resuscitate her. She lost so much blood and...” He trailed off, because it was a hard thing to talk about. “I’m very mindful of blood clots during emergency caesareans for my clients.”

And he was.

When he’d returned to school after his wife died, it had been hard for him for one second to pick up a scalpel, to focus on what he needed to do to become a doctor, but he had managed to compartmentalize it all. He’d put away his own trauma about how his wife had died on the operating table.

He’d concentrated on his work, the patients and the fact that he wasn’t going to allow another woman’s partner to feel the same kind of pain that he’d felt when he was told that Jane was gone.

“Childbirth is a scary thing,” Hazel said quietly. “We lost a mother during one of my first rotations as a midwife in training. It was crushing. We did everything we could. She gave birth in a hospital, but there was no stopping the bleeding. It almost, for one moment, deterred me.”

“Yet you persisted,” he said.

“As did you.”

They shared a smile.

“Have you ever been married?” he asked suddenly. He was a bit uncomfortable talking about it, but he was surprised that a beautiful, intelligent, vibrant woman like Hazel Rees was unattached.

“I came close. Once. He was a surgeon. We met at the hospital I worked at after I became a nurse practitioner. He pursued the general surgery program, and I was trying to save up to study midwifery. We were both busy and then... I found him with another woman. In a closet. It was absolutely soul crushingly painful. I decided then I would focus on my own dreams. I became a midwife, worked in a hospital in southern Arizona for a couple of years, then focused on opening this center with my best friend.”

“He was an idiot,” Caleb murmured. “I’m glad you didn’t let him deter you from pursuing your dreams.”

“My dad would’ve kicked my butt if I’d given up. He taught me to fight for what I want.” There was a hint of sadness to her voice.

And he couldn’t help but wonder what it was, what was causing her sadness.

It’s not your business.

Except he badly wanted to comfort her. He’d thought she was too young to carry wounds as deep as his own, but maybe he was wrong about that. Inside that professional exterior of hers, she had been living with pain just like he had.

And he hated that she’d had to do that.

She deserved so much better than her ex.

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