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Imperfect
Love
The
4ever Series Book 1
by Isabella White
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Two people begrudgingly perfect for each other, creates the ideal recipe
for imperfect love.
At
24 years old, Holly Scallanger has the perfect life. Everything a
girl could want; a beautiful man, a stunning home, as well as being
in the midst of preparing for the wedding of her dreams. This all
vanishes the night she catches her fiancé, Brandon Morgan, in bed
with her worst nightmare, Donna Sinclair, just a week before Holly is
set to walk down the aisle.
Attempting
to recover from his betrayal, Holly swears off the affections of men
in order to pick up the pieces of her crumbling life. Unfortunately,
meeting Jake 'Hooligan' Peters is not part of her plan. The tall,
dark-haired and handsome as hell med student, sweeps Holly away from
the pain of her past and reveals to her the bright future that lies
ahead. That is, until she falls pregnant just as Jake begins his
internship at P&E; his family's hospital.
Will
this love at first sight lead her to the fairytale she has always
craved? Or, will she fall victim to a betrayal of the heart yet
again?
**Get
it FREE!! **
Excerpt
HOLLY SCALLANGER LOOKED at the email in her hands.
That son of a bitch. How could he do this to me, and only a week prior to our wedding?
She had given him everything. Had stood by him in his time of need, having fulfilled the vows she hadn’t yet made before God. And what had he done? Her fiancé had slept with the woman he’d promised never to speak to ever again; Donna Sinclair.
That little stunt had ripped her heart out and tore it into a million pieces, like a wolf with a fresh kill. He had decimated her without a second thought.
Their relationship was the price demanded of one tramp in a push-up bra and paid with the wink of an eye.
Donna had always been a thorn in her side, the kind that wedged in deep like a tick, burrowing in deeper and deeper the more you tried to remove it.
She should have left him when that bitch first made her appearance in their lives, but she had innocently believed his rotten tongue.
Not only that, but she had also taken into her heart the poison he’d fed her with every “I’m sorry” and “It will never happen again”. She’d believed that he loved her more than anything in existence and that he’d made a mistake.
Tears welled up in her eyes and her stomach knotted.
But if he loved me, why’d he sleep with that skank only a month ago?
A part of her knew that Brandon was aching for Donna. They were the same, both liars— cheaters. They belonged together. She just wished Brandon had had the balls to break up with her. Maybe she could have saved all the money she had poured into their farce of a wedding. Better now than too late, she thought.
She should have known that Brandon Morgan would never change his ways. There was a saying her mother always used: “A fox may change its fur, but never its color.”
Holly sat in front of her computer and began composing an email to Donna. She pounded away at the keys until the screen before her illuminated a vicious, scolding letter. Pausing, she deleted it, re-typed different cuss words, but eventually deleted that, too.
“You’ve won,” she said out loud, as her fingertips tapped with resigned beats on the letters that spelled the two words on her keyboard and pressed the send button.
Composing herself, she gazed around the polished wooden desk that housed her computer. As her eyes swept over the books and various notes, they rested on the small, black device like a beacon of her misery. Her phone was going to ring in the next couple of minutes and she knew who it would be. Brandon, of course.
Holly wasn’t stupid, knew the two secretly messaged each other, but she’d been too in love and blind to truly see Brandon’s weakness.
As she looked around the small bedroom, her eyes focused on the dark wood of the closet door. Her suitcase was pushed way to the back.
Unable to control herself, she kept running over and over in her head what the hell she was going to tell her mom. God knew, Jane Scallanger didn’t have money but had nevertheless spent—more like wasted—a fortune on a wedding that would never take place.
Pulling her legs up to her chest, she silently made a promise to herself and to whatever god happened to be listening. She would repay every penny, even if it took the rest of her life to do so.
Holly got out of the plush chair and gingerly walked across the soft carpet. Grasping the metal handle, she opened the closet door with a flourish and pulled out the suitcase. Flapping it open, she began arranging all her clothes haphazardly. Lucky for her, it was a big suitcase. When she bought it, she’d known the size would come in handy one day, she’d just never thought that it would be used for the situation she now found herself in.
Pausing in her frantic packing, she fell back onto the white carpet, letting her hair swirl around her, reflecting the tornado of emotions swirling within.
How could he have done this to me?
They’d had so many dreams. They could have been such a great couple if he would have just kept his dick in his pants. Heaven knew she loved Brandon, but she refused to marry Donna, too.
Tears began streaming down her cheeks, leaving a hot path that burned into her very soul. She inhaled deeply, trying not to lose it as she pushed her hair back. She knew that as soon as his
Audi pulled into the driveway, he was going to start with his begging again. Especially now, a week before the big day.
She had to stand her ground. She owed it to herself and deserved so much more than that two- timing whore. Yes, Holly was sick of double standards; if women were called whores when they slept around, men should be labeled in the same manner.
Suddenly, her phone began buzzing frantically. She reached out a hand to grab it off the floor, where she’d placed it when she started packing and looked at the polished glass screen. A beautiful picture of him and her smiling greeted her.
Damn... we look so happy.
“Yes?” she answered.
“Hey, Holls. What are we going to eat tonight?” his deep honey voice asked.
Just hearing his voice caused a wave of emotion to roll through her body, which almost sent her phone flying toward the closet’s door. She knew he wasn’t calling about the evening’s menu. Donna had probably called him as a result of the message she’d sent half an hour ago.
“You know what? Eat whatever you want to eat. Hell, eat Donna, for all I care.” Angrily, she punched the red disconnect button on the screen.
Her phone rang again a second later, the same picture flashing on the screen. “What do you want, Brandon?”
“You okay?” he asked.
“Am I okay?” She gave her ‘you’re unbelievable’ snort, wanting to hang up on him yet again.
I’m so sick and tired of playing this game with him.
“No, I am not okay, but I will be Brandon,” she bit his name out with pure venom.
He cussed. “Is it that time of the month again?”
“You know what? Go fuck yourself. I can’t do this anymore... you, you sleazeball, you two- timing piece of shit.” She took a deep breath. “I’m leaving you. And I think it’s better we do this now, rather than waste two years of our lives with each other.”
“Wh-what? Just wait for me, Holls, okay? I’ll be right there. I love you, baby.”
She knew the minute she spelled it out for him that he’d cottoned on to the fact that she knew he’d slept with Donna, and then the lies would start all over again. He would begin by telling her his soppy version, and ultimately manipulate her into staying by telling her that it would never happen again. Except, that this time, she had proof.
The deadline signal beeped in her ear before she could tell him not to bother.
If she wanted to be rid of his sorry ass, she had to move fast. Where he worked was only a twenty-minute drive to her place, and in an emergency, ten.
Holly got up off the floor, grabbed the rest of her stuff, shoved it into her suitcase, and hauled it to her pathetic little Beetle, unceremoniously chucking the suitcase into it. She didn’t own anything else, because he had everything. Another thing he’d manipulated her with throughout the years.
She backed out of the garage of the million-dollar mansion her now-no-longer-to-be-daddy-in- law had bought them as a wedding present three months earlier. She knew she would never find that kind fortune again, but money couldn’t buy happiness, she knew that now.
Her phone was on the passenger seat.
She had no idea where to go, except to Bernice’s, her best friend. They’d had a falling out a month ago, and although Bernie had warned her to not go crying when he hurt her, she knew her friend hadn’t meant it in that way.
They had been friends since they’d been in diapers. Bernie would understand. She’d tried and failed to tell Holly, repeatedly, that Brandon was a dick, but Holly hadn’t listened. At that time, the reality of not being with him had been unbearable.
Now the only thing she saw whenever she closed her eyes, was Donna on top of Brandon in some classy hotel he’d never taken her to.
Holly resolutely dialed her friend’s number; thanking God she hadn’t deleted it when he’d asked her to. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, as Holly knew Bernie’s number by heart. The phone rang three times before Bernice answered.
“Never thought I’d hear from you again,” Bernie huffed in an unimpressed tone.
“I did it,” Holly blurted without a greeting, and then promptly began to cry. She’d kept most of her tears back for way too long.
“What?” Bernie sounded surprised. “Where are you now? Shit, I hope you’re not driving.”
“I had to get away. I only have my suitcase and no idea what I’m going to do!” she bawled. “Calm down, okay? Pullover, or better yet, go to the mall. I’ll meet you at Madley’s. Just don’t drive, please,” Bernie begged.
“Okay,” Holly uttered, so softly it was barely audible. She disconnected the call, dropped her phone onto her lap, and quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and face before she ended up causing an accident. Thankfully, the mall was a five-minute drive from their home. She didn’t think Brandon would go looking for her there. At least, she hoped he wouldn’t.
Holly ordered a regular coffee, since Madley’s was a non-licensed coffee shop, and waited for Bernie. She went over in her head how she was going to beg her for forgiveness and ask to be given another chance, and possibly a room until she was able to save up enough money to afford a place of her own.
The waiting was excruciating. For Bernie, it wasn’t a five-minute drive to Madley’s like it was for Holly. It was more of a half an hour drive.
As she waited, her mind wandered back to the day she’d met Brandon. She remembered how his blue eyes had set her heart on fire in a downtown bar. Neither of them was supposed to have been there that night, but fate had intervened. And as far as Holly was concerned in regards to fate—it didn’t fucking exist.
She should’ve seen the signs. She wasn’t even fond of blond guys, but for Brandon, she had made an exception. His personality had transformed all his flaws right before her eyes and turned him into her dream guy. At the time, she never had a clue he was a living, breathing replica of her father. Just thinking of the comparison upset her.
Charles Scallanger, she whispered, the name leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. She hated men like her father, yet there she’d been, on the verge of marrying his carbon copy.
Growing up, Holly’s mother had worked two jobs, one to put food on the table and pay the bills, the other to pay her father’s ass through university so that he could fulfill his dream of becoming an architect.
These weren’t men. They were boys who never grew up. And what had Charles done when his ship finally sailed in? He’d dumped her mother and married his blond bimbo secretary, Gabriella, who he’d known for less than three months.
No, Holly didn’t want a life that remotely resembled theirs. In the end, her mother hadn’t gotten her father, and to this day still lived alone.
Maybe there was no such thing as a good husband. Maybe they were all cheaters, and there would always be a Donna.
The two men she’d once loved and worshipped had proved that. What was said by many was true; you always ended up marrying your father. She almost did.
Feeling herself being pulled down into a spiral of depression, Holly forced the good things about Brandon to the front of her mind. He had really made her feel like a million dollars at times, but the reality of those emails to Donna quickly made her feel like she had never been worth a dime to him.
How could I have been so stupid?
As much as Holly hated Donna, she had to admit that the bitch was really good. She’d had her sights set on Brandon ever since the day they’d met on that stupid website everyone was making such a big fuss about. Perhaps, stupidly, Holly had thought love would prevail and conquer that devil spawn. Thank heavens she found out sooner rather than later that love didn’t have that kind of power. It didn’t conquer all if there was no respect and trust.
She pulled the printed email out of her purse and read through it again. There wasn’t any forwarding email address with her name attached to it. And it wasn’t from Donna either, but somehow it had managed to get to her, a week before their wedding. There were even entries that went way back, even after he’d promised he would never speak to Donna again. She’d read through those a million times.
The fire burned inside her again as she took in every inked word. She had never felt this kind of betrayal or humiliation in her life, not even when her father left.
Brandon had written to Donna about how beautiful she was, and the words ‘miss you’ popped up a couple of times. What hurts the most was the emails where he told Donna how he felt trapped in his relationship with Holly. Now that she thought about it, she’d never actually had Brandon all to herself. Guys like Brandon would never know what they had until it was too late. Bernie suddenly dropped her skinny ass into the chair across from hers. “Sorry, I’m late.” She
had cut her long, summer blond hair to shoulder length and it looked really good.
Holly didn’t say anything but slid the twenty-four-page email in front of Bernie.
Grabbing the pages up from the table quickly, her piercing blue eyes scanned through them, as if earth’s existence depended on the information she held in her hands. “That fucking asshole,” she whispered and continued to read. She gasped now and then and gave her ‘I don’t believe it’ snort here and there. “What did he say?” Bernie asked, halfway through.
“He didn’t say a thing. I just told him I’m leaving and that was that.”
“He didn’t even put up a fight?” She looked at Holly with raised eyebrows.
“I didn’t give him the chance. You know what he’s like, Bernie. He’ll manipulate me and tell me that it’s not him, and you know how naive I can be.”
Bernie looked at her, eyes huge and round. “Holly, after this, no way he’d be able to bullshit you again,” she huffed. Shaking her head gently, she closed her eyes for a beat. “And, you can’t be that stupid.”
Holly inhaled deeply, knowing that Bernie was right. But her ex-fiancé would have found a way of talking her into making the biggest mistake of her life. Brandon was that good. “You know what he’s like, Bernie,” she repeated, fresh tears forming in her eyes.
Looking across the wide table at her friend, Bernie knew how tormented Holly was. She had a weakness when it came to Brandon Morgan. “Just think about these emails, Holly. No one in his or her right mind would take someone like that back. If you like, you can stay with Leonard and me. You’ll just have to purchase a pair of earplugs for the nights’ Sam keeps me up. He’s teething and it’s driving me insane.”
Holly hugged her friend awkwardly across the table. “Thank you, Bernie.”
“You’re doing the right thing, Holls. He doesn’t deserve you. Be happy that this happened now, instead of two years down the line when there’d likely be little feet running around the house.” Holly nodded. Bernie always thought about others, especially children.
They decided to have lunch while Bernie wandered off to place a call to Leonard, updating him on the change of plans involving Holly. Sam stayed with Leonard’s mom in the mornings, so Bernie had a chance to catch up on all the chores around the house. Luckily for Holly, it was a Saturday and Brandon had to work, or so she’d presumed. For all she knew, he could’ve been at Donna’s. Thinking about that made her blood boil, leaving her no choice but to agree with her BFF that Brandon didn’t deserve her.
When Bernie returned, they both ordered a hamburger and chips—traditional comfort food. In the end, Bernie paid the bill, which Holly hated but her friend had been adamant.
Out in the parking lot, they split up to collect their cars respectively. Bernie had parked on the opposite side of where Holly’s car was, so she waited patiently in her Beetle.
Removing her phone from her handbag, she noticed that it had somehow switched to silent while they had been talking and eating.
She had wondered why it hadn’t rung, although she couldn’t remember making the switch. Twenty-four missed calls were brightly displayed on her phone. Three of the messages were from Brandon wanting to know where she was, why she wasn’t answering her phone, and begging her not to do this to him a week before their wedding.
She sighed, forgetting all the steps involved in canceling a wedding. All the people she had to phone. Aunt Suzie, as well as Lorinda, would give their condolences and say that they’d always known Brandon wasn’t the right one for her. She had gotten so sick and tired of that saying of theirs: Beautiful men belong to multiple women. This task would require a bottle of vodka.
She read the last message again.
Don’t do this to me, please!
Blah, blah, blah.
Holly chucked the phone onto her back seat. Do this to him, indeed! She couldn’t help but giggle. She’d almost felt bad thinking that she was doing that to him a week before their wedding, but then he should have thought about what he was doing a month ago when he’d rolled into bed with that slut.
She had to find another job since the five-star restaurant where she currently worked as a full- time personal assistant didn’t pay enough to support herself. Thinking of her job made her heart sink. She loved working in the food industry and needed the people who always looked out and cared for her.
Holly’s boss and her husband were darlings, and they’d offered to help her financially ever since
she’d started working for them. However, Brandon had always had more than enough to support them both.
Just then, Bernie’s SUV pulled up and Holly quickly started her Beetle. But when she turned the key in the ignition, a loud whining noise emitted from under the hood. The car backfired and she couldn’t help thinking that if he had really loved her the way he’d always said he did, he would’ve bought her a safer car—one that didn’t die at every stoplight.
Tears filled her eyes again. No matter how hard she tried to push him off the pedestal she had placed him on so many years ago, he was still on it, standing just as tall as he always had. “Please, God, give me the strength to let him go,” she whispered. Her faith had always held strong, but lately, it was beginning to wane, probably because she hadn’t gone to church in months. However, Holly still prayed at night, which didn’t detract from the fact that she still felt bad in knowing how she had chucked God away, like a discarded toy. He was the only constant in her life, and she was banking on that constant to pull her butt through the torturous week that awaited her.
Secret Love
The
4ever Series Book 2
Guarding
a secret and playing with fire has never been a good
combination.
Four years ago, Holly Scallenger embarked on the most difficult journey of
her life. As if being a single parent isn't already stressful enough,
Holly also attended med-school, in hopes of helping other pregnant
women in a way she wasn't helped. But things don't look so good as
she has to embark on a new journey - a journey that would take her
back to Boston, back to the man who broke her heart and discarded her
and her babies.
Sworn
to never fall for him again, Holy is put to the test once more when a
chance encounter reunites them.
Secret
Love is the second novel in the 4Ever series by Isabella White
Excerpt
4 years later
THE SUITCASE SAT open on the bed. The past four years hadn’t been easy for twenty-eight- year-old, Holly Scallanger. She’d lost one child and raised another on whatever she had.
If it hadn’t been for Jane, her mother, she wouldn’t have known how life would turn out. Her decision to become a doctor hadn’t made life any easier, either. It was with thanks to the Lord that he’d created her with a good head on her shoulders, and placed people in her path who saw talent when it stood in front of them, hence being awarded a scholarship.
If it hadn’t been for all the good that had ventured her way, well, she wouldn’t have had the very suitcase that sat open on the bed that day.
“How many sleepies, Mommy?” the curly black head asked.
Her ice-green eyes made Holly’s heart skip a beat every time she looked into them. Jamie truly looked so much like her dad, but as hard as it was, Holly thanked the Lord every night for having Jamie in her life. The almost four-year-old had been nothing but a blessing, and Holly couldn’t imagine life without her.
“Did you find the calendar?”
Jamie hopped off the bed.
She really should get a haircut, Holly thought. The girl’s black curls almost reached her bottom. Just a trim though.
If there was one thing Holly loved, it was Jamie’s curls. She had them, too, but because of all the pulling and tugging caused by Jamie as a baby, Holly had cut it all off, so short she could barely put it into a ponytail.
Jamie returned with the calendar, one almost as big as she was. She flopped with it onto the bed, out of breath. “Here you go, Mommy. That thing is heavy.”
Holly laughed as she went to the drawer next to her bed, retrieving a black marker, and went back to the calendar. She paged through the first five months until she got to June.
“That’s your birth date, and I promise I will be here, okay?”
Jamie’s eyes continued to stare at the round circle her mother had drawn, her tiny lips pulled down in a frown.
“What is it, peanut?”
“That is a lot of sleepies.” Jamie looked into Holly’s eyes, her bottom lip now trembling a little.
“I know,” Holly said, picking Jamie up and setting her on her lap. She gave her daughter a big hug. “Remember what we spoke about?”
Jamie nodded.
“I need you to be a brave little girl, and also be good for Nana.”
“You won’t go into the rainbow, too?” Jamie asked with a squeak in her voice.
“I promise. I’m staying as far away as I can from any rainbows, except when I’m chasing one. But I would still keep my distance as nothing, and I mean nothing, would ever take me away from you.” Holly’s heart turned into a knot as she thought about the rainbow.
Jamie was smart, too smart for a three-year-old, but it was to be expected. Her father was a genius, and Holly thought she had a pretty good head on her shoulders, too. She’d gotten it from both sides.
Ever since she was two, she’d asked the daddy question. Holly couldn’t bring herself to tell a two-year-old the truth; Jamie wouldn’t have understood, anyway.
So instead of telling Jamie that her daddy hadn’t wanted her, she did the opposite. She told Jamie that he loved her, but he was stuck in a rainbow. The story evolved as she got a little older and Amelia, Robyn, Grandpa Gus, and all the others made their way into the rainbow, too. Every single one of them lived in a rainbow.
She was grateful that Peters’ was easy to google, so she ended up printing their photos. She’d stuck them in a book with their names above each respective picture. It was the only thing Holly had been able to do as Jamie’s questions kept on coming. She wanted to know everything.
In the beginning, it had been extremely hard. Holly would end up crying every night before she went to bed. Angry tears would eventually turn into sad ones. Sad where Jake was concerned, because he was missing out on the most beautiful little girl, both on the inside and out.
At the time, she hadn’t thought too much about her story or even contemplated introducing her to Jake and the Peters’. But Jamie had wanted to know where her father was and what he
looked like, and Holly had relented. Now, it seemed to be biting her in the ass.
She had been going to do her internship at Seattle Memorial, but a couple of months ago they had been told that there would be no internship program anymore because they’d lost their status as a teaching hospital.
Holly and Rodney, her best friend who was gay but one would never say so, had to take whatever was available. She’d almost told Rodney the one day who Jamie’s father was, but was thankful she hadn’t.
As for the rainbow stories, she managed to keep those from him as well; the meaning of them that was, although he knew about them in a whole different way.
Rodney wanted to be a neurologist, and the best one around was Jake. It came as no surprise that he’d fast made a name for himself and became known as the doctor who’d take risks with tumors nobody else would. It all began with that first operation her mother had told her about. The one where he’d scrubbed in with a doctor from China; Dr. Huyo, who’d sort of becoming Jake’s mentor. He’d even spent a year in China, which made Holly silently wish he’d never returned, but he had. Since then, he’d taken on patients who were close to death and added another twenty-five years to their future.
It was by no means easy to study to become a doctor with the Peters’ receiving awards for practically everything, as well as attending lectures where their names popped up constantly. And it wasn’t just Jake. They were all masters in their chosen fields.
Robyn had reached a huge goal, too. She’d become an oncologist and invented some kind of synthetic colon. She’d also found a cure for pancreatic cancer, and had won the Gillepsy Award. If Rodney ever found out that the Peters’ were the ones who’d left her in her time of need, and that Jake was Jamie’s father, he would not want anything to do with him. He would only be second best, and Rodney needed to become the best. He deserved to be trained by the best, and he’d been wanting to meet Jake for a long time.
So, Rodney went to P&E and Holly to Downsend. The distance between both hospitals was only about fifteen minutes, but she would find a way to steer as clear away from P&E as she could. That had been one of the reasons why she hadn’t taken Jamie with her. She now knew what her father looked like, what all of them looked like, and Holly was scared that Jamie would accidentally run into one of them.
Holly breathed deeply just thinking about it all. Jake would be livid with her for having kept Jamie, but had he to meet her he’d also fall deeply in love with the little girl who had the tendency to crawl into one’s heart, dirty feet and all. He would surely take her away.
One thing Holly didn’t have was the money to fight Jake in court, and she doubted very much that grandpa Charles would hand it over in order to fight him, even though her father hated Jake’s guts.
Charles had found out that Jamie’s father was a doctor, the minute she’d told him about her great plan to become one herself.
Everything had stopped.
Charles had gone on to tell Holly that she needed to start paying him back. It was something Charles Scallanger just didn’t understand. He didn’t want that for her, and the only way he could keep her from her goal was to overpower her with the bills. Bills she’d somehow found a way to repay by working nights as a cleaning lady at an up-market hotel. She’d almost paid a tenth off but was convinced that once she became a doctor, it would be easier to pay her father in full. And then, she could finally tell him to stuff it.
Jake would definitely win should she ever come to that crossroad. Even if his case was weak, Jake would always find a way to win.
Though Holly had made up the rainbow story, she would eventually tell Jamie the truth. But for now, her little girl lived in a dream world where her father was some sort of hero, saving lives in a rainbow world.
Jamie’s arms released Holly’s neck, bringing Holly back to the present. The two looked at one another, their noses touching softly.
Don’t cry, Holly, she begged herself.
“Where are my kisses?”
Jamie giggled and started kissing Holly all over her face. She gave her one long kiss on the mouth. “That one counts for ten sleepies.”
Holly laughed. “Okay, but I think you should give me about ten of those and you’ll be that much
closer.”
By the seventh kiss, Holly could tell Jamie was really getting bored.
“Two more long kisses and they count for twenty.”
“Okay,” Jamie said, giving Holly the requested quota.
A knock on the bedroom door made both of them lookup.
“And where are my kisses?” Rodney asked, walking into the room.
“Uncle Rodey!” Jamie yelled, jumping off of Holly’s lap and into his arms.
Jamie could never pronounce the ‘n’ in his name, which made Holly laugh every time she called him Rodey. He was the father she’d never had.
To Holly, he was the brother she’d never had and one of her best friends. He loved kids, and she was sure that had he not been gay, she would have married him. His mom was African American, and his dad Caucasian, which left Rodney with soft brown skin and beautiful blue eyes. He was handsome, but he didn’t come close to Jake. Still, the guy that one day captured Rodney’s heart would be the luckiest man ever.
Jamie began to get bored all over again, squirmed out of Rodney’s hands, and half skipped and half ran to her room.
“How are we holding up today?”
Holly looked at him, tears glistening in her eyes.
“Come here, sweetheart.”
When she complied, he wrapped his arms around her. “You are leaving her for a good reason. To give her the best future any child could have.”
“I know, but it’s so hard.”
“Of course it is. But think of the end result. It’s only for a year, and the following year we’ll be back, somewhere close to Seattle. Hopefully, the pay will be better and we can finally get a house where she can have a damn puppy.”
Holly giggled through tears.
“It is going to be fucking hard, though,” he admitted.
Holly slapped him. “Watch your language.”
“Ow! Sorry.” He rubbed his chest. “Okay, it’s going to be fudging hard, but she’s going to love you tons when you get back.”
Holly couldn’t help but burst out laughing while wiping a stray tear from her cheek. “News flash, she already loves me.”
“She loves me more.” He winked.
Only because you don’t say no to her.”
His face scrounged up. “You’re the only one who can tell her no.”
Holly laughed again.
Just then, Jamie ran back into her room. “Look what I made you.”
Rodney crouched in front of her and looked at the picture. “It’s you and mommy, saving lives,” she said in explanation.
“And what is that?”
“That is a kidney, and a heart and those are brains.”
“Okay...” Rodney gave her a playful, raised eyebrow look, then gave Holly an insane look, which made her giggle. He looked back at the picture. “And that?”
“Its blood.”
Rodney laughed. “You are watching way too much Grey’s Anatomy with your mother.”
“Are you insane? She’s not watching Grey’s Anatomy until the day she’s twenty-one! There is way too much... coloring in there.”
Jamie’s body bent over as she crouched simultaneously, laughing uncontrollably at what Holly said, but having no idea what it was really about.
“Well, maybe mommy should color in again.”
“Oh, shut up. My coloring days are so over.”
“Are not, you colored in with me last night,” Jamie spoke up, still having no clue what they’d been talking about.
“Cheater,” Rodney teased.
Holly chuckled at his antics. “Fine, I cheated, so what?”
Jane entered the room. “It’s time you guys hit the road, otherwise you are not going to make your first day. You still need to hunt for an apartment.”
Rodney dangled a set of keys on the end of his finger. “I’m way too organized for you Scallangers.” He shook his head in a taunting motion, earning him a slap on the chest from Jane.
“What is it with you women and slapping?” He rubbed his chest.
“Those thanks to daddy?” Holly snorted.
“Whatever. You are going to live like a queen because of my daddy.” Rodney wiggled his eyebrows.
Jane laughed. “At least your daddy pays for things like that.”
Holly rolled her eyes.
“I don’t get your father. He still wants you to pay him back?” Rodney queried.
“Every month.”
“He sucks.”
Both women laughed.
“Grandpa Charles doesn’t suck.”
“Okay, missy, he doesn’t suck that much,” Rodney teased again.
Jamie loved her grandfather, but then she got away with murder every other weekend when she visited him.
Holly blew out a breath and her lips quivered as she tried to push back tears.
Rodney grabbed her suitcase, and Jamie helped by taking hold of the smaller bag.
Holly picked up her handbag and slung it over her shoulder, and then tucked a pillow under her armpit for the long trip.
Both Jane and Jamie walked down to the ground floor where Rodney had parked his Toyota. It was a typical ‘doctor starting out’ type of car; it huffed and puffed when starting it, but it got you where you needed to go.
He placed Holly’s suitcase on the back seat with the rest of her stuff.
She snorted when she thought back to when she’d left Boston. The situation was practically identical, and now she was going back in a similar fashion.
Holly turned to Jamie and crouched down to her level. Her baby had tears in her eyes, so she pulled her in for a tighter than tight hug. To keep her voice from breaking, she cleared her throat. “Remember what mommy told you?”
Jamie nodded, while still in Holly’s arms.
“I’m going to miss you so much, but I promise to speak to you every day over the phone and to chase down every rainbow I can find, okay?”
Jamie smiled and every time she did so, Holly smiled back. How she was going to break the truth to her one day was a conundrum she’d have to figure out. She just hoped that when the time came, Jamie would understand why she’d lied.
“Love you, Mommy. Be good.”
Holly snorted. “You be good, and no ice cream after eight.”
“What we are going to do is none of your business,” Jane butted in.
Jamie giggled. “Yes, it’s our little secret, Nana.”
Jane covered Jamie’s mouth playfully, making everyone laugh.
“I’ll know,” Holly said, closing the door, and then rolling the window down.
“Love you, Mommy.”
“Love you more.”
“Love you more than more,” Rodney said, picking Jamie up. “I’ll see you on your birthday, okay?”
“Promise?” she asked.
“I’ll try my damn best.”
“Rodney!” both Holly and Jane yelled.
“Oops! Sorry.” He glared at Holly. “I’ll try my damn best,” he whispered in Jamie’s ear, but Holly knew exactly what he’d repeated.
She merely shook her head.
“Big kiss, and a biiiiig hug.” He made a grunting sound and Jamie flung her arms around his neck, squeezing tightly.
Jane winked at Holly.
Holly winked back. “Love you,” she mouthed.
“Love you more,” Jane answered softly.
Rodney put Jamie down and climbed into the driver’s seat.
“Drive safe and call me the second you get there.”
“Will do,” Holly promised.
“Last touch.” Jamie snapped her hand out, grazing Holly’s elbow just before the car pulled slowly away.
Holly tried to touch her back, but Jamie had squirmed away, giggling loudly.
“I love you, Jamie!” Holly shouted, halfway down the road.
“Love you more, Mommy.”
Holly watched her little girl until Rodney turned a corner. When the coast was clear, she finally broke down and bawled her eyes out.
Endless Love
The
4ever Series Book 3
Death
comes to us all, but true love conquers all?
For
once, Holly Scallanger has it all. After more than her fair share of
ups and downs, fate intervened and changed her life the day she
bumped back into Jake Peters' life. Now her Now her future seems
brighter than ever before.
She's
training at the best hospital in Zurich, she shares a love with the
man of her dreams—the type of love most women only ever dream
of—and her little girl has everything her heart desires. But fate
has other plans. When an old acquaintance crashes back into Holly's
life causing havoc at every turn, Holly's perfect existence falls to
pieces around her.
Will
the couple survive the turmoil entering the lives, or will their
happily ever after come to an end?
It's
the third and final part in the 4Ever series by Isabella White
Make
sure to watch out for the What If novellas, alternative endings and
stories happening in the 4Ever series.
The
4ever Series Box Set
The
4ever Series is now available in a boxset (Digital).
Two
people begrudgingly perfect for each other creates the ideal recipe
for imperfect love.
At
24 years old, Holly Scallanger has a perfect life. Everything a girl
could want; a beautiful man, a stunning home, as well as being in the
midst of preparing for the wedding of her dreams. This all vanishes
the night she catches her fiancé, Brandon Morgan, in bed with her
worst nightmare, Donna Sinclair, just a week before Holly is set to
walk down the aisle.
Attempting
to recover from his betrayal, Holly swears off the affections of men
in order to pick up the pieces of her crumbling life. Unfortunately,
meeting Jake ‘Hooligan’ Peters is not part of her plan. The tall,
dark-haired and handsome as hell med student, sweeps Holly away from
the pain of her past and reveals to her the bright future that lies
ahead. That is, until she falls pregnant just as Jake begins his
internship at P&E; his family’s hospital.
Will
this love, at first sight, lead her to the fairytale she has always
craved? Or, will she fall victim to a betrayal of the heart yet
again?
Get
it exclusively at Firequill
Publishing!
What
If Series BoxSet
Alternate
Endings to the 4ever Series
The
What If Series is now available in a boxset (Digital).
What
if Holly phoned Jake?
With a broken heart 24-year-old, Holly
Scallanger gave birth to Romalie and Jamie Bernice. But things don’t
look good.
Romalia is weak, and the little one finally lost the battle.
Her rage and fury blinded her and she made that one phone
call, scolding Jake and voicing her hatred to him?
Just a small
change, but everything would’ve been so much different.
Get
it exclusively at Firequill
Publishing!
Isabella
White is a USA Today Bestselling author.
She
published her first novel Imperfect Love in 2015, which is finally
available in audio now, with Secret Love following two years later.
Endless Love the third and final part was published in 2018.
When
she isn't writing she is listening to audios as her time is limited
and found a new way of reading books. Or she spends it with her
family and pets, enjoying the journey that life takes them on.
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