A Family For The Children's Doctor

by Dianne Drake

• ISBN13: 9780373199051
• ISBN10: 0373199058
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-01-08
• Publisher: Harlequin

Summary

A two-week assignment in Costa Rica causes all sorts of complications for doctors Adrian McCallan and Caprice Bonaventura. The weather is hot, but not as hot as they are for each other. Will they feel the same once their respective secrets come to light? Original.

Excerpts

It was beautiful land down there. So lush and green. Trees as far as the eye could see. It had a certain peaceful quality to it he liked. Peaceful...hopeful...something he needed in his life.Dr Adrian McCallan stared down over the treetops in the jungle below, excited by the prospect of what lay ahead of him, yet dreading the two weeks it would take to accomplish his promise. He wanted to be here. Had wanted it for a very long time now. Yet he didn't, and that little bit of dread in him was using up all the peacefulness he had in reserve. Until now, he'd truly never known what it felt like to be ripped in half.Now he did.Physically he was here, ready to do the work. Intellectually he was intact and up to the chore. But emotionally he was far away. He shut his eyes, conjuring up an image of what he was leaving behind and, as always, the face that he envisioned brought a sure smile to his face. It always did.In a sense, it was amazing that he was going through all these conflicting feelings. That he could go through all these feelings. It hadn't been that long ago that feeling anything had been foreign to him. It wasn't that he hadn't been able to, but more that he hadn't wanted to. It had made life easier that way, without encumbrances. But now he had a personal testimony to what they said--absence did make the heart grow fonder. Absolutely! Or, in his case, tore it into shreds. For him, the pain of absence was almost a physical one, and he was glad to feel it. Glad for the reason to feel it.Yet what he was about to do--working with all those children--he'd wanted to do this, wanted to get involved in something so worthy for a long time now. That part of the absence he didn't regret in the least. But the other part...Sighing, he opened his eyes and stared out the window again, listening to the low drone of the airplane engines. The rumble of the monotone these last two hours should have dulled his senses, but all it had done had been to give him empty time in which to doubt his choice to come here. He'd known it was going to be tough being away from Sean, but he hadn't counted on it being this tough, and so early on. For God's sake, he was only into it a day and already it felt like a week...a month...a year. Which was ridiculous. But damn it! He already missed his son. Separated from the person he loved most in this world by only twenty-four hours and already he missed him like hell.What in the world was he going to be like being away from him for a full two weeks?That he didn't even want to think about. One day at a time. That's what he was promising himself. He'd get through it one day at a time and each day spent would mean one day closer to Sean.Still, with all the internal reassurances that he could do this, and with his son's own stamp of approval that his daddy was going away to do a very good thing, he couldn't fight his mixed emotions. Operation Smiling Faces was such a worthy cause. Dr Caprice Bonaventura and her group provided valuable medical services to children who might not otherwise receive the help they needed. He'd read about her in a journal a while ago, then listened to her speak at a medical seminar well over a year ago. After that he'd finally made the decision to add his name to her volunteer roster, but only as an anesthesiologist on an emergency basis, as he did have Sean to consider. Two weeks at a time was what Dr Bonaventura asked of her volunteers, and that's what he'd agree to do--once, maybe twice a year. It wasn't much in terms of what other volunteers gave but, at this point in his life, it was all he had. In Sean's life, two weeks was for ever, although he did understand why his father was leaving for a little while. To help other children. Sean had been good with that, and very mature for a six-year-old.More mature than he himself actually, as right now he wasn't sure he had two weeks in him to gi