Kylee Croft finds herself pregnant and alone as an only child of her deceased parents. Her father died soon after her birth, and her mother recently passed. With her grandparents also deceased, all that’s left of the family she’d known were photos…or so she thought.
Uncovering the biggest secret of her mother’s life, Kylee leaves the idyllic town of Chantilly, France for Twinkle Falls, Vermont in hopes of finding the family she never knew existed.
Soon after arriving, she becomes friends with her handsome co-worker, Trace Holberg, a single dad raising twin boys by himself.
As Kylee and Trace’s relationship grows, she forges a friendship with Bridgette Dupont, the woman who gave her a job when she desperately needed one. She’s the same woman Kylee believes to be the sister she never knew about, and the daughter of a father who’s very much alive.
Will Bridgette and her father accept the news Kylee believes to be the truth, or will her hopes and dreams of a new family be shattered?
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EXCERPT:
(Trace and Kylee)
A squeal from the passenger’s seat pulls me back to the present just as we turn down the street to the hospital. Glancing at Kylee, she looks pale with moisture on her forehead.
I push on the accelerator. “Talk to me babe. Are the pains getting worse?”
Grunting, she rapidly nods. “It—uhhh!” She grabs her lower abdomen after another gut-wrenching squeal rings out.
“Whatever you do, don’t push. We’re almost there, Kylee.” I caress her shoulder and feel the heat from her feverish body.
Tears steadily flow when she bends forward holding her belly with both arms. “Something’s wrong.” Fighting a sob, she says, “I—I think I’m bleeding.”
“Maybe your water broke,” I say, trying to calm Kylee as well as my own fears. “We’ll be there in less than a minute, baby.”
“It’s not my water.”
With both hands on the wheel, I yell, “Hey, Siri, call the hospital ER.” I programmed the number in my phone after I became a single father knowing I might need it one day.
“Twinkle Falls Emergency Room,” a curt female voice answers.
“Any minute, I’ll be approaching the emergency room doors with a woman in labor. She’s feverish and may be hemorrhaging. Get a stretcher out here, now!”
“Uh, yes sir, right away.”
When the phone clicks, I carefully take the last curve leading me into the parking lot of the Emergency Department. Pulling to the curb, two men come running through the electric doors with a gurney rolling between them.
Jumping out, I meet them at the passenger’s door, flinging it open. They lock the wheels while I scoop Kylee up in my arms, gently laying her on top of the stretcher as they begin belting her to it. That’s when I see her blood smeared across my right forearm and on the sheets below her.
As I stare at the blood on my arm, I get tingly when one of the men grabs ahold of my shoulder. “Hey, she’ll be okay; let’s get her inside.” The three of us take off running through the doors and down the hallway to a large room just past the nurses’ station.
“What’s her name?” One of them asks.
“Kylee. Kylee Croft.”
“How old is she?”
“Twenty-two.”
“Is this her first child?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know her blood type?”
“Yeah, um…it’s O positive.”
A nurse is already in the room when they roll her inside, attaching what looks like an IV bag to the pole at the head of the hospital bed. Three more nurses rush in, one pushing an incubator against the wall near the foot of the bed.
While they remove the belts and lift Kylee onto the mattress, a woman wearing a doctor’s coat ushers me closer to the door asking, “Is this your wife?”
“She’s my girlfriend.”
“We’re going to need some information from you so we can treat her. I need you to come with me and let the nurses do their job.”
“No, I can’t leave her, she’s scared.”
“I’m Doctor Stringfield. What’s your name?” She holds my gaze until I answer.
“Trace, Trace Holburg.”
“Well, Mr. Holburg, we need to contact her OB-GYN for her medical history, as well as the baby’s pediatrician, and we need to do this now. My nurses will take excellent care of her; nevertheless, we need critical information before we can treat her and the baby, you understand?”
Raking my hand over my head, I nod. “Yes, I understand, though someone needs to stay with her. She gets pretty nervous in hospitals ever since her mom died.”
“I promise you she won’t be alone, not in her condition. We need to stabilize her, and that’s why you need to come with me to fill out some forms and make the necessary phone calls.”
Before leaving, I walk close enough for Kylee to see me. “I won’t be far, baby. I need to do some paperwork, and then I’ll be back, I promise.”
Author Bio:
Freda was born in southern New Jersey but grew up in Florida. She has loved writing her entire life. After retiring from a career in law enforcement, she knew it was time to fulfill her lifelong dream of being a published author.
She's the author of The Hawaii Series, proudly named from her love of the beautiful Hawaiian Islands. It's a three-book series with all of them written as standalone books.
Freda loves her large family, horses, dogs, cat, and close friends. She hosts monthly family dinners at her home in the country, which she shares with her husband.
She loves baking (she owned and operated a cupcake business for years), cooking, yoga, crocheting, nature and traveling with the love of her life.
What helps her write? Music makes her happy! If music doesn't give her the right motivation, she puts on a romantic movie, usually from the Hallmark Channel, which she can't get enough of!
Freda speaks her mind and pushes perfection to its limit. She strives to be her best, most positive self she can be in life. With time, determination, and practice, she believes anything is possible.
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