The Doctor's Bride

He glanced at Mom, and his heart sank. She was having the time of her life…and probably hadn’t heard one word of the speaker. Her eyes flicked from Chloe to him as if she were watching a tennis match.

He leaned over and whispered, “What are you doing?”

“Never mind,” she whispered back. “I know what’s going on. I’m going to invite Chloe to my birthday dinner tonight.”

“Good.” Sometimes he ran out of things to talk about with his mother. It would feel like more of a party with Chloe along.

All this matchmaking was giving him a headache. He rubbed the back of his neck and told himself everything would be back to normal a week from Monday. Mom would be back in Illinois and he’d be back in the OR, where he didn’t have to deal with people and how they felt until their anesthesia wore off and he could prescribe something for real, physical pain.

Dealing with people and their feelings was tough. He would love nothing more than to give his mom a hug and say, “I know you want grandchildren, but, please, can’t it be enough that I’m happy?”

Because his mom loved him, she would nod and try to hide how it crushed her, and he would feel terrible. He never wanted to disappoint her…if he could help it.

Chloe hadn’t heard much of the speaker’s presentation. She’d been too busy thinking that she’d finally met someone with boyfriend potential, but Zack was her polar opposite. She wanted to raise children who would know what it meant to be loved, and Zack had a reputation for not needing anyone.

Her sisters, Carmen and Cate, agreed that he was a great guy. He didn’t have an inflated ego, which was a remarkable quality considering the attention he got from the doctor-groupies who seemed intent on becoming the second half of “Dr. and Mrs.”

Chloe had never understood women like that. Didn’t they realize that they would see their pool guys more than they would see their husbands? At least that was the way it had been in her house. Surgeons like her dad lived at the hospital.

When the speaker finally finished, Chloe gave Zack’s mother her business card. “Call me when you know when you’d like that clown lesson, Bonnie. I’ll be out of town next weekend doing a workshop, but any weekday after four is fine.”

“That’s so nice of you, Chloe.”

“Well, it is your birthday.”

“Oh! You have to see what Zack did for my birthday. Could you come up to my room for a minute? I’ve got to share this with someone.”

“I’d love to!” How could she turn Bonnie down?

“I see someone I’d like to talk to,” Zack said. “You two go ahead, and I’ll meet you upstairs.”

When Bonnie opened the door to her room, Chloe could see why Bonnie had been so impressed. The place had California luxury written all over it. Outside the balcony, the tops of tall palm trees swayed in the breeze. On the bar counter was a basket of luscious-looking fruit, and centered on the dining table was an enormous bouquet of roses.

“Bonnie! What a wonderful place to celebrate your birthday!”

“I’m staying with Zack for the rest of my visit, but he wanted me to have a room at the hotel during the conference. A room, Chloe! Do you call this a room?”

“I call it the effort of a son who wants to show his mother he loves her.”

“But he’s done so much. He set up a day at a spa back home for me to have a makeover. He made sure I had new clothes, and he flew me out here first class. I feel like Cinderella!”

Chloe laughed at the woman’s exuberance. “I’m sure you deserve it!”

“On top of everything else, he had the roses waiting for me—sixty of them—one for each year I’ve lived. I didn’t know I’d raised such a thoughtful son…or that he could afford all this!”

“From what I hear, Zack has become the orthopedic surgeon to see in Los Angeles. His patients are among the most celebrated in a town full of celebrities.”

“Really?” Bonnie’s blue eyes rounded with pleased surprise. “I wish Zack’s dad could have heard that. Zack had so many achievements, but Roland never had a kind word for Zack. It made me so mad.”

Chloe had to wonder why Bonnie had put up with that. She was a teacher. She knew how withholding praise affected a child.

“Zack seems happy, but I have to wonder if he isn’t lonely.”

“Being alone isn’t the same thing as being lonely. Maybe he’s just wrapped up in his work. That’s how it’s been for me.”

“Chloe, you’re such a wonderful person. I can’t believe you haven’t found your Mr. Right by now?”

Bonnie’s woeful expression struck Chloe as funny. “It’s okay, Bonnie. I haven’t really been looking for him.”

“And now that your life has changed directions?”

“I don’t know if I’ll find Mr. Right. Many women don’t. Outside of literature, do you think people experience that earth-shattering love that we read about?”

“Yes, I do. I felt it for Zack’s father. Sometimes it doesn’t seem to last, but it’s what I want for my son and all my single friends.”

It was hard to believe this lovely woman claimed that kind of love for a man who hadn’t taken pride in his son. It wasn’t for Chloe to judge, but how could Bonnie have loved that man?

There was a knock on the outer door before Zack entered, holding up the card key he’d used to get in. “Am I interrupting?”

“You are, but in the best way,” Bonnie said. “Chloe and I have been talking like old friends. I haven’t even gotten around to asking her if she’ll join us for dinner tonight. Can you celebrate with me, Chloe?”

The invitation came as a surprise, but who could say no to this nice woman? “I’d love to join you, Bonnie.”

“Great!” Zack said. “Chloe’s sister is joining us, too.”

“How wonderful. It will be a party!” Bonnie exclaimed.

Bonnie must have told Zack she was inviting Chloe for dinner, and Zack must have called at least one of her sisters. “Which sister, Zack?”

“Carmen. I called Cate, too, but she had plans.”

Bonnie’s eyes narrowed. “Zack, if you can invite these women at the last moment, you must know Chloe’s sisters very well.”

Zack sent a silent SOS to Chloe. As intelligent as she was, she had to have realized that Mom was in match-maker mode. With more people around, Mom couldn’t zero in on just the two of them.

Chloe’s eyes said she got it. “Bonnie, Zack is a favorite in our community, professionally and socially.”

That was good so far. He threw her a grateful glance.

“In fact,” Chloe continued, “he’s such a favorite that my parents are hoping Zack will choose a Kilgannon bride. Our mother is rooting for my younger sister, Cate, but our dad is staunchly behind Carmen, my older sister. She’s the one you’ll meet tonight.”

“Oh my!” his mother gasped.

Zack almost groaned out loud. Chloe hadn’t lied, and everyone in the Beverly Hills medical community knew it, but did his mother have to know?

“I don’t believe you’ve mentioned this before, Zack,” his mother said in her teacher voice. “Is Carmen the sister you’re interested in?”

“Chloe’s sisters are my friends, Mom. Just that. Friends.”

“Then why do their parents expect you to marry one of them?”

He felt sweat break out on his forehead. “Possibly for the same reason you’re hoping I’ll find someone.”

A smile broke through the tension on her face. “Then, good for them!”

“Bonnie, my parents are fierce matchmakers,” Chloe said.

He held his breath, hoping she wouldn’t make it worse.

“Mom and Dad began their courtship of Zack two years ago. It was the first night I ever saw him, but we didn’t meet.”

“And why not?” his mother asked before he could.

“Zack and I talked about that before lunch. We were at a wedding reception. He sat with my family, but Flower the Clown entertained the children at the kids’ table.”

“And you wore pink!” he said, suddenly remembering. “Pink hair, pink costume, pink clown shoes—”

“It was the bride’s color,” Chloe said with a grin.

“I remember! You were so cute.”

“Thank you! Bonnie, Zack can be excused for his lapse in memory. The poor guy was on sensory overload sitting between my sisters and across from my mother. They’re charming and far more than cute. ”

They were gorgeous, but he remembered how adorable Flower had been and how she’d been completely undeserving of her father’s harsh admonition to “grow up.” He particularly remembered Sterling saying that, and his respect for the man had taken a nosedive.

“I remember trying to talk to you that night,” he said.

“Flower doesn’t talk,” she replied with a grin.

“That’s why I said ‘trying.’ I wanted to get to know you.”

“You did?” She seemed surprised…and pleased.

“Sure, I even called you at your parents’ house, but you were gone.”

She thought for a moment. “That was the mudslide in the Himalayas. It took out a whole village.”

“How terrible,” his mother said. “Chloe, you’ve lived a remarkable life for such a young woman. I’m eager to hear more about it at dinner tonight, and I’m looking forward to meeting your sisters, who are such good friends of my son.”

“Just Carmen tonight, Mom,” he corrected.

She gave him a knowing glance. “Carmen tonight, but Cate very soon.”

Okay, Mom had made a point of showing him she remembered both names and forgot nothing. His plan had been to steer clear of the Kilgannons while Mom was here to avoid all this, but Chloe had stirred the pot and left him in hot water. And what did she think of herself?

A glance said she was enjoying herself way too much.

Chloe picked up her purse and her gift for Bonnie and met Carmen standing by the front door, tapping her foot. “I’m not late,” Chloe said defensively.

“I know, but if I’m not early, I feel late,” Carmen replied, leading the way to her car. “Why are you carrying your shoes? I’m pretty sure it’s ‘no shoes, no service’ at The Hilltop.”

“I’ll wear them, just not until I’ve gotten past these broken tiles that pass as a path. I’m not as good at wearing these stilts as you are.”

At the car, Chloe slipped her new shoes on. They were only a couple of straps across her toes, but they did make her legs look great. Sliding into the passenger side of Carmen’s sports car, she reached for her seat belt. It would wrinkle her new dress, but a few wrinkles might make her feel more like herself.

With her long hair swept up at one side and secured by one of Cate’s combs, she hadn’t recognized herself. In the past she would have chosen something so awful that the contrast between her appearance and her sisters’ would have seemed deliberate, not something she had no control over.

But tonight the apprentice swan had done what she was told, and Chloe had to admit she looked pretty good—not as good as Carmen, who was petite perfection in her little black dress and big diamond earrings, but no one looked as good as Carmen. She carried their beautiful mother’s genes and the DNA of her gorgeous birth father. Chloe had seen a picture of him once.

Before she started the car, Carmen turned to her and said, “Chloe, do you understand why Zack invited me tonight?”

“I think you’re sort of a decoy.”

“Right. He says his mother is crazy about you.”

“No! It’s just the clown connection.”

“Zack says it’s more than that, and I believe him. You, Chloe Kilgannon, are exactly who Bonnie Hemingway wants for the mother of her grandchildren.”

Chloe swallowed hard. She wouldn’t be having anyone’s biological grandchildren. She would love to, but her body couldn’t do the job.

“Zack thinks you’re great, but—”

“I got it, Carmen. He’s not about to let his mother push him into marriage, yet he’s not the kind of guy who can say, ‘Back off, Mom,’ especially when she’s celebrating her birthday.

“That’s it. Zack’s been a good friend, and I’m willing to help him by playing the decoy, but I’m terrible at acting. I won’t be believable playing the role of prospective bride.”

“Then use my motto. Keep it simple, keep it honest, and pray before you act…or in your case, try to act.”

“What is it with you and prayer?” Carmen asked, exasperated. She turned on the ignition of her car and backed out of her drive very fast. “I pray for the Lord to guide my hands in surgery. I pray for Him to do what medicine can’t. But I’m not going to bother God with prayers about things I should handle myself!”

“Okay, but the Bible says you’re supposed to.” She’d prayed for openings like this. “The Word says we’re to pray about everything…all the time!”

Carmen shook her head.” I don’t know. Every day I see situations where God is a person’s only hope. It just doesn’t seem right for me to take God’s time with whiny prayers about the little stuff.”

“There is no ‘little stuff’ with God,” Chloe said, unwilling to argue past that. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll pray that Bonnie will relax and not worry about her son. I’ll pray that God gives you the words you need for tonight, and I’ll pray that Zack—” What should she pray for him? “I’ll pray he’ll enjoy his mother’s vacation as much as she does. How’s that?”

Carmen shrugged her shoulders as if it didn’t matter.

Lord, You gave me an opening to talk about You, and I think I blew it. If You give me another chance, I’ll try to do better.

“Chloe, if you’re really going to do all that praying could you throw in something about Dad’s reaction when he realizes Zack and I aren’t seeing each other?”

“He doesn’t know that?” Chloe didn’t want to be around when he found out. “Why haven’t you told him? Having second thoughts?”

“No! I’ve tried to tell Dad, but he’s just obsessed with Zack becoming part of our family. He’s never gotten angry with me before, but I’ve seen how he gets with you. You can take it, but I don’t have your courage.”

Courage? It was more like she’d had no choice. Dad could lose his temper with her any time, any place, and she’d never known when it was coming.

“Carmen, I can pray that Dad takes the news calmly, but that’s a very big prayer. I’ll need your help with that one.”

The corners of Carmen’s mouth twitched. “You’re probably right. Tell me what to say.”

Chloe laughed out loud. “To begin with, you don’t need a script. When I talked to the Lord while I was getting dressed—“

“You did that?” Carmen sounded shocked.

Chloe nodded. “I asked the Lord to keep my head straight tonight. Since neither you nor Cate fell for Zack, there’s no reason to think I will, but he was all I could think about this afternoon.”

“And what’s wrong with that?”

“Everything. Nothing. It just makes me nervous to be this interested in a guy.”

Carmen grinned knowingly. “You could always try praying that away.”

Chapter Five

Z ack pulled up to The Hilltop and watched his mom’s face light up. High on a hill as the name suggested, the view from the restaurant was one of the best in Los Angeles. They would catch the tail end of a spectacular sunset and, later, watch the city’s twinkling lights.

It was the kind of restaurant Zack’s dad would have despised. He’d have griped about turning the car over to a parking valet and complained about waiting to be seated by the maître d’. When he saw the fancy menu, prices and manners of the waitstaff, he might have walked out.

Zack remembered how self-conscious he’d felt the first time he’d dined here. When the waiter had plucked the white linen napkin from the goblet and flipped it onto his lap, Zack had felt exactly like who he was—a country boy from Illinois. Tonight he took the waiter’s flourish for granted and smiled when it surprised his mom.

He’d made sure she was seated at an angle so she could see the fabulous view or scan the room and perhaps see a celebrity she recognized. He’d taken the seat beside her so he could watch for Carmen and Chloe.

But Mom saw them first. “There’s Chloe! Oh, my. The girls are lovely!”

Carmen looked fabulous as usual, but it was Chloe, in a terrific red dress, who made his heart rate pick up.

He stood when they approached the table. Carmen gave him a wink that said she was ready for his matchmaking mom. Chloe headed straight to Mom, gave her a warm embrace and said, “I’ve brought you a big birthday present, Bonnie. Here she is, my sister, Carmen. She’s a surgeon like Zack, but she’s ready to settle down.”

Had Carmen coached her to say that? It was perfect.

Chloe stepped aside so Carmen could give Mom a pair of Hollywood air kisses and a little hug. “I have a present for you, too,” Carmen said, producing an elegantly wrapped gift.

“Should I open it now?” Mom asked, already tearing the paper off.

Zack recognized the designer gift box before Mom pulled out the tiny crystal bottle of perfume.

“If you don’t care for it, we can exchange it for a scent you might prefer more,” Carmen said.

“Oh, no! The fragrance is lovely!” his mother exclaimed. “And it will make me think of you, Carmen.”

“That’s a nice gift,” Chloe said, producing a small colorful bag, “but you’re going to like mine better.” Mom dug under the bright tissue and pulled out a red clown nose with an attached tag that read, “IOU one clown lesson and all of my ‘how-to-clown’ books.”

His mom squealed with delight. Carmen sat beside him, and they brought her up to speed about Bonnie’s clown obsession. The waiter took their drink orders, and Zack leaned back in his chair.

His mother had a birthday glow that made his heart swell with gratitude. The joy and contentment on her face was worth more than money could buy. Carmen flirted with him as planned, to throw his mother off track about his interest in Chloe.

He knew Mom had noticed him and Carmen. She’d given him a bunch of assessing looks, as if she were trying to determine if he and Carmen had more going for them than he’d claimed. Exactly what he’d hoped for.

Was he only imagining it, or was Chloe flirting with him, too? Her brown eyes sparkled with fun, and she was just so pretty he could hardly take his eyes off her. With Mom concentrating on Carmen, he didn’t have to be as careful.

He noticed her sweet consideration of his mom, her quick glance of gratitude toward the waiter who filled her water glass, the way she graciously accepted her menu and her pleased expression as she looked at the menu offerings.

He hadn’t thought about it, but being unimpressed with fine dining was part of the code of conduct among the rich. He’d probably adopted that attitude as well, but not Chloe. Enthusiastically, she described her favorite dishes to Mom and said this was her favorite restaurant in Los Angeles.

He’d never been this interested in a woman. He was sure of it. When his foot accidentally touched hers, his heart actually raced. Did she have any idea of how pretty she looked in that red dress? She didn’t seem to, and that made him like her even more.

Chloe gripped her menu, the better to steady her nerves. What was the matter with her? She’d dined at the Hilltop so often it should feel like a second home, but she’d almost tipped over her water goblet and her salad fork had just skittered off the table and landed noisily on the hardwood floor.

It wasn’t the end of the world, and Flower the Clown wouldn’t have been embarrassed, but Chloe was…until Zack’s dinner knife clattered to the floor, too.

With all eyes on him, he merely shrugged, smiled and said to their food server, “We seem to have flying silverware.”

Had Zack copied her clumsiness to make her feel less like a klutz? Bonnie beamed at him as if she thought he had.

“You aren’t worried about your reputation, Doctor?” Carmen teased. “Who’s going to trust a surgeon who can’t keep his silverware on the table?”

“I may have to consider a new career and enroll in Chloe’s clown class,” he said. “Any chance I can get Mom’s rate?”

Chloe smiled to herself. She’d give him lessons for free.

They placed their orders and made small talk until their waiter served their appetizers. Bonnie looked at Zack, and without missing a beat, he said, “I’ll say grace.” He offered one hand to Bonnie and the other to Carmen, who looked a little startled, but quickly followed suit. They might be the only diners holding hands while they prayed, but Chloe loved it.

Zack bowed his head and spoke in a normal conversational tone. “Lord, we praise Your name, especially on Mom’s birthday, and we thank You for Your many blessings. Thank You for giving me a wonderful mother. May this next decade be the best in her long, healthy life. Bless the food, Lord, and thank You for letting us share this special occasion as family and friends.”

Zack looked up to see his mom blinking back tears. He hadn’t done anything that special. Maybe she was glad he still knew how to pray.

“That was a beautiful prayer, son,” his mother said. “The best gift a mother can receive is knowing her child has a relationship with God.”

Temporarily flushed by his mother’s praise, Zack cleared the lump in his throat and said, “When I planned this dinner for you, Mom, I had no idea that your favorite conference speaker would turn out to be our new friend, Chloe, or that Chloe’s sister would be my old friend, Carmen.”

“‘Old?’” Carmen protested playfully. “Watch it!”

“Sorry,” he said with a grin. “It’s great that such a cool coincidence brought us together.”

“It is wonderful that we’re together!” Bonnie agreed. “But I would say it was more God’s direction than coincidence. When I look back over my life, I see how often I thought God wasn’t hearing my prayers, but He was. Often the bad times were preparation for the good things God had ahead for me.”

Zack bit his tongue as he always did when she talked about this. He loved her too much to mention she’d chosen to stay with his dad and go through those bad times. He’d finally gotten away after high school, but not without guilt because he’d left Mom to serve her sentence. That was how he thought of her life with Dad.

“I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have faith that God has my best interest at heart,” Mom said, her sweet face fervent with her belief.

Carmen nodded her head in understanding. “Since Chloe’s been back home, I have to confess, some of her faith is rubbing off on me.” Carmen gave Chloe a sisterly squeeze on her arm.

Zack tried not to show his surprise. What was Carmen talking about? She’d always had faith—the same kind he had. It might be faith on a more generic level than his mother or Chloe seemed to have, but he believed in a Higher Power. Sometimes his patients lived when his skills hadn’t been enough.

“Hey, everybody.” Collin Brennan stopped by their table.

Zack stood to shake Collin’s hand and whispered in his ear, “Don’t mention our surgery this morning.”

Collin gave him a questioning look, but blinked agreement.

“Mom,” he said with a hand on her shoulder, “This is Collin Brennan, grandson of the founder of Brennan Medical Clinic where I have my office. Collin has an office there, too, and we both do our surgeries at Cedar Hills Hospital.”

Color drained from her face—alarmingly so.

“I understand it’s your birthday, Mrs. Hemingway, and I want to add my good wishes,” Collin said with his usual charm, but he looked at Zack, silently inquiring about her sudden paleness.

“Thank you, Collin.” Mom stared at Collin as if she couldn’t look away.

What was wrong with Mom?

Carmen and Chloe greeted Collin like the old friends they were. Chloe leaned toward his mother and said, “Our father and Collin’s uncle Albert were roommates at Stanford in their undergrad days. We’ve grown up together.”

“Collin’s an anesthesiologist, Bonnie,” Carmen added. “In fact he worked with Zack this morning on their celebrity patient.”

Collin gave Zack a look as if to say he hadn’t blabbed.

“Did anyone catch Zack on TV?” Carmen asked.

“You were on TV?” his mother asked.

“When our patients are celebrities,” Zack explained, “the media always wants details. Meeting with them is the worst part of my job. The cameras, the mikes in your face—I feel like a deer caught in headlights.”