A Christmas Miracle for the Doctor (Shadow Creek Montana) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Find your Bliss with these great releases… The Cowboy’s Christmas Baby

  The Christmas Layover

  Mistletoe in Mayhem Boxed Set

  Jane’s Gift

  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, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by Victoria James. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

  Entangled Publishing, LLC

  2614 South Timberline Road

  Suite 105, PMB 159

  Fort Collins, CO 80525

  [email protected]

  Bliss is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

  Edited by Alethea Spiridon

  Cover design by Bree Archer

  Cover photography by iStock, Shutterstock

  ISBN 978-1-64063-718-4

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  First Edition November 2018

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for supporting a small publisher! Entangled prides itself on bringing you the highest quality romance you’ve come to expect, and we couldn’t do it without your continued support. We love romance, and we hope this book leaves you with a smile on your face and joy in your heart.

  xoxo

  Liz Pelletier, Publisher

  To anyone who is waiting for a miracle of their own this Christmas, never stop believing.

  Prologue

  “I don’t want joint custody anymore.”

  Drew Barrett stared at his ex-wife through bloodshot eyes as she stood in the doorway of his penthouse. He’d just fallen asleep after a long night and then morning of emergency surgery in the ER and was in deep sleep before Jill dropped off their daughter, Isabella, unannounced. It was her weekend to have Bella. He looked over his shoulder to make sure their daughter wasn’t within earshot. “What are you talking about?”

  Jill’s chin wobbled, and her eyes filled with tears. “I’m on the verge of a breakdown. I can’t do this single parent thing anymore. I think she’d be better off with you. Just you.”

  He scraped his hand across his jaw, stubble pricking his palm. “You’re not a single parent. She goes back and forth. We have a nanny. You have a housekeeper. You have a cook. You have staff. You even have your parents as backup.”

  She looked up at the ceiling and shook her head, perfectly highlighted blond hair tumbling around her shoulders. Despite this supposed breakdown she was having, she’d managed to take the time to look as though she was ready for a photo shoot. “It’s not the same,” she said, looking at him. He clutched the doorframe and tried to think of anything to convince her that this was just a temporary blip. “You’re overwhelmed with work. It’ll pass. Hang in there.” The fact that he was telling her to hang in there was pretty laughable, but he didn’t like what she was implying right now.

  The truth was they could both be better parents. Every parent thought that, he was sure. The only thing they’d ever been able to offer their daughter was material wealth. He worked insanely long hours because he was a talented surgeon—it was a fact and not an exaggeration. He took his job seriously…but he felt it had been at the expense of their daughter. Jill worked because she loved the fame. Together, they were absentee parents.

  “Drew, I want my freedom again, you know? I miss it. We’ve been divorced for a year, and I want to get out there again before I’m old.”

  He leaned against the doorjamb. “As I remember it, you had no trouble getting out there when you were married with a child. Shouldn’t this be easier for you now that you don’t have a husband to lie to?”

  She crossed her arms, and her surgically enhanced cleavage threatened to tumble out of the top of the skin-tight dress she wore. “You don’t have to throw that in my face. I apologized.”

  It was a waste, talking about that anyway. He’d fallen out of love, or infatuation maybe, with Jill years ago. They had stayed together because of Bella. But when she’d cheated on him, he was out. “What do you want from me then?”

  “I want you to take her full-time. We both know neither of us signed up for this whole parent thing. I never wanted to be a mom. You fell into this role much easier than I did.”

  Panic slammed into his gut, and he forced himself to remain calm. That was never part of the plan. He had a demanding career. He saved lives; he wasn’t able to just put everything on hold while Jill had some kind of life crisis.

  He stared at her, wondering how they’d gotten here. How he’d gotten here. He didn’t know how to be a father; he never had. When it was his turn to have Bella over, Brenda, their nanny, came along to help. “Okay. Fine. So, what? Weekends, every other weekend?”

  She shook her head. “Maybe I can take her on holidays?”

  He pushed off the door and stood straight as anger swept through him. “So, she stays with me every day and then you get her at Thanksgiving, Christmas…? What the hell, Jill?”

  She shook her head, shrugging, her eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry. I don’t even…if you want her at holidays too, that’s fine.”

  He looked down and swore. “It’s almost Christmas. What, you’re just going to fall of the face of the earth?”

  She shrugged, embarrassment staining her cheeks red. “I wanted to go to Paris with Bruce.”

  Revulsion slammed into his gut, but he forced himself to think clearly. “Let’s deal with this through our lawyers,” he said, needing physical distance from the woman who was even more selfish than him, not wanting to hear any more. He wasn’t thinking straight right now and didn’t want to agree to something he’d regret later.

  “I knew I’d be able to count on you,” she whispered, taking a step closer to him, the smell of her Chanel perfume filling his nostrils. “I’ll make sure you’re well compensated.”

  “I don’t need your money,” he said, backing up a step, disgust replacing the smell of Chanel. Jill came from a very wealthy family, but he didn’t need it. Just the idea of needing “compensation” to take care of his own daughter was revolting.

  She gave a nod and a wobbly smile. “I’ll call you tomorrow. We can figure things out.”

  He held onto the door frame tightly, giving her a nod. She turned and walked away, her lithe and sculpted body shown off to perfection in her clinging dress and three-inch heels. She gave him a wave before entering the elevator. He let the door close and slowly turned around, wondering what the hell he was going to do now.

  Shame burned through his body as he saw Isabella standing at the end of the hallway. He stared into his daughter’s green eyes—his eyes—and he knew she’d heard. She’d heard them callously talk about her as though she were this worthless object neither of them wanted. They had broken her heart. He may have been an absentee father, but he wasn’t so far gone that witnessing the pain on her face wouldn’t affect him.

  “Mommy does
n’t want me anymore?” she asked, her large eyes wide but void of tears.

  He cleared his throat, and in all his years, all his mistakes, all his regrets, nothing had ever prepared him for the self-hate he felt at this moment, at hearing the pain in his daughter’s voice. He was better than this. His parents had raised him better than this. He was a smart man, but he didn’t know what to say, what he could do to make any of this better. “You are very loved, Bella. Your mother needs a little more time to…sort things out. Sometimes, adults need time on their own.”

  She looked down at the ground, and he knew he should go over there, but he didn’t know what to do; he didn’t know how to comfort her. “Am I going to live with Brenda?”

  The moment that Jill had told him she was pregnant flashed in front of him, their shock, their panic. They had never wanted to be parents. They had both mistakenly thought that if they could provide for their child, they were doing enough. There had been a nanny from day one, and they hadn’t missed a beat when it came to work. They never ate together, they never played together… He slowly walked to his daughter, each step feeling as though it would never be enough, that the divide was too great, that it was all too little, too late.

  He stared down at his daughter’s head as shame suffocated him. She hadn’t even thought that living with him would be an option. She thought she would have to live with her nanny. He crouched down in front of her and reached out to gently grasp her little shoulders. “You’re going to live with me,” he said, waiting for something, even an ounce of relief, to flicker across her green eyes.

  She looked nonplussed. “What happens if you need time alone away from me like Mommy?”

  “I will never need time away from you,” he whispered hoarsely. He knew one thing about himself—he never broke his word. It was just that his words hadn’t been good enough this last decade, they hadn’t been about promises to other people, they’d been about promises to himself. He didn’t know if his word would be good enough, because Bella stared at him with skepticism.

  “Okay, Daddy.”

  He tried to smile, but it was a sorry attempt because there was nothing to be happy about. He and Jill were ruining her life.

  He squeezed her shoulders gently, not knowing if she’d want a hug from him. But as he straightened to get up, she threw her arms around his neck. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her small body. When he felt a sob wrack her body, he lifted her up, for the first time in what seemed like years. How time had passed so quickly, how she’d gone from a baby to a little girl. How many firsts he’d missed, he’d taken for granted. How many scraped knees had he not known about, how many tears cried, how many laughs he hadn’t shared?

  He rubbed her back and kissed her head and acted like the father that had raised him. He crossed the expansive great room of his apartment, stopping when he reached the floor-to-ceiling windows, and looked out at the sparkling Chicago skyline. Bella didn’t speak, but she held onto him as though he had everything she needed.

  When had he changed? When had he become this kind of man? Where had he gone wrong?

  He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and held onto his daughter tighter. Regret strangled him until it hurt to breathe. When he finally opened his eyes, the skyscrapers changed to mountain peaks and green pastures, ranches and horses, fields blanketed with pristine white snow…and he knew. The last time he’d been the person he was meant to be was home, in Montana.

  He had a little girl to protect, to raise. He had to become a man, a father she could be proud of, a father she could count on. He held her close, and her little arms were still wrapped around his neck, and he knew this was his new beginning.

  He kissed the top of her head again. “I love you, Bella. We’re going to be fine, just you and I.”

  Chapter One

  One year later

  Addie Mayberry closed her eyes and tried to make a Christmas wish. The only problem was there were too many things she could be wishing for, and she couldn’t decide which was most important. She snuck a peek at the little girl watching her intently, and she suddenly knew what to wish for. It’s not that Addie, at the age of twenty-six, believed in wishes anymore, but her youngest customer, and most adorable, really needed a healthy dose of Christmas magic.

  “Did you really make a wish, Addie? I saw your eyes open,” Isabella Barrett said, leaning forward, hands on her hips. Bella peered at her with a gaze that suggested the little girl had had made many wishes in the past that had never come true.

  Addie crossed her hand over her heart. “Uh, of course. As if I would lie about that. You can’t lie about wishing, especially around Christmas. There’s magic everywhere, Bella,” Addie said, spreading her arms wide. She considered her store a little magical right now. She wasn’t about to tell Bella that sometimes wishes didn’t come true, that sometimes you had to wait for wishes to materialize. She certainly wasn’t going to reveal that she was still waiting for some wishes to come true. No, right now, her little friend needed a huge dose of seasonal optimism.

  While she’d been a librarian, she’d always known she would come back to her small town of Shadow Creek, Montana, and open a bookshop that was more like an imagination haven for young children. She’d had her own share of heartache growing up, and books had always transported her out of reality and taken her to a place filled with adventure and romance. No one could make fun of her or torment her when she was in an imaginary world.

  She glanced over at Bella, who was touching one of the dangling gold reindeer on the Christmas tree. “Why do you love Christmas so much, Addie?” she asked, turning to frown at Addie.

  Addie smiled softly, her heart squeezing. There was something about Bella that brought out all these motherly instincts she didn’t even know she had. Since the moment she’d met her, she’d felt a connection to the little girl. Maybe it was the vulnerability in her big green eyes or the heartache she sensed, the loneliness; she could relate to those things. She had always felt like an outsider, sometimes still did, which was one of the reasons she’d wanted to make this bookstore especially welcoming for children. “I love how Christmas brings families together, how it reminds us of what’s really important. I love going to church, and I love volunteering to help those who are needy. I love the songs, the hustle and bustle, the hot chocolate, the apple cider, gingerbread houses…”

  She stopped speaking when Bella’s jaw dropped open.

  “You do all those things?”

  Addie nodded. “Well, I haven’t made a gingerbread house in years, but I’ve done all the other things. There’s even more. Do you know that in Shadow Creek there’s a special night that’s called ChristmasFest? Your school will put on a performance, there’s an ice skating show, there’s the tree lighting, wagon rides. So many things.”

  “I’m going to see if my dad is working. If he’s not, maybe he can take me,” she whispered.

  “I’m sure he will,” she said, hoping she was right. She didn’t know too much about Bella’s father, and he seemed to really keep to himself.

  Bella nodded. “He’ll try. He tries to spend lots of time with me, but he has an important job because he saves people’s lives. I’m going to be like him when I grow up,” she said, placing her hands on her hips.

  “You’d make a great doctor. I can already tell.”

  Bella’s eyes widened. “You think so?”

  “Of course. You’re kind and smart, and those are really important qualities. Your dad will be proud of you no matter what you do.”

  Bella turned to look out the window, no doubt looking for her father. “I didn’t really make a Christmas wish, Addie. I hope that doesn’t hurt your feelings.”

  “Of course not. Wishes are personal things. Besides, there is plenty of time before Christmas, so if you change your mind, you can always make one,” she said, coming to stand beside her.

  “I don’t really know what to wish for. There are lots of things I want this year, but none of them are things to buy
, you know?”

  Addie crossed her arms. “I do know. I’ve had years like that, too. In fact, this year, I didn’t wish for a store-bought gift. I wished for something completely different.”

  Bella made eye contact with her in the reflection of the window. “I want a mom and a dad again,” she whispered, her sweet face crumpling. “I want my dad to have my mom back because he’s lonely.” Addie knelt down and opened her arms to her. Bella flew into them, and she smoothed her hair and squeezed her tight.

  “I bet your dad is so happy he has you to come home to every day,” she said, pulling back to look into Bella’s eyes. “I know this is a big adjustment for you, but I think you’re doing a great job. You should be really proud of yourself. You moved far away, to a new town, to a new house, a new school. That’s a big deal. And I think your dad must be super proud of you, too.”

  Bella gave her a wobbly smile. “Yeah. I guess so. Can I tell you something, Addie?”

  Addie nodded.

  “I’m happy because I see my dad way more than I used to in Chicago,” she said.

  Addie tried not to look surprised, and she didn’t want to ask leading questions because she didn’t want to pry. “Well, this is a smaller hospital, so your dad probably doesn’t have to work so many hours.”

  Bella shrugged, not looking entirely convinced, and then turned around, like she didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “I like your Christmas tree, Addie. I’m glad you put it up a long time ago. My mom said you had to wait until Thanksgiving was over before you put up a tree.”

  Addie nodded, walking around her small store to turn off some of the lights, getting ready to close her little shop. She flipped the sign to CLOSED but didn’t lock the door since she was expecting Bella’s father momentarily. Bella didn’t talk about her mother too much, and Addie hadn’t quite figured out what their relationship was like. She didn’t seem to be very involved. She felt heartbroken for her little friend who seemed confused by it all. “Your mom is right. I think most people wait, but I always put it up right after Halloween. Want to know something else?”