The Family She's Longed For Read online

  A family to heal her heart...

  Dr. Clara Lewis was devastated when Virgil Arterton left, but she picked herself up and started again, even after an accident that left her unable to have children...

  Six years later, Virgil, now a widower, walks back into Victory Hospital—with his daughter! He knows leaving Clara was the worst mistake of his life, but can he convince her he’s changed and, if she’ll trust him with her heart, he can give her all the love and family she longs for?

  He put his glass down and leaned forward.

  ‘I thought there was no hope of reconciling with you, Clara. I had to move on with my life—to try and find some new form of normal.’

  ‘Just like I had to move on with my life—to heal after my accident, and travel overseas in order to find my new life.’ She nodded, her words soft. ‘I do understand, Virgil.’

  When he reached for her hand she let him take it, linking their fingers together. When he gazed into her eyes she didn’t look away, but instead saw the sincerity of his convictions. Perhaps she’djudged him too harshly. Perhaps he had changed. but if he truly had, did that mean she should give him another chance?

  Her heart was screaming yes, but her mind—her mind was definitely not saying no, and that was a scary prospect to consider.

  Was there a future for herself and Virgil, just waiting to be explored? Should she take the chance? She honestly didn’t know.

  Dear Reader,

  At times it feels as though the world spins at a faster pace than normal, and at other times it drags on. One thing I’ve been learning is to live in the moment, to enjoy the road trip of life and appreciate those who have chosen to share it with you.

  As for Clara, she’s endured a wild ride—with heartbreak and physical injuries to overcome. At times, I’m sure she feels as though life has dealt her a cruel hand. Thankfully, with the help of her family, she has been able to rebuild her life, and is happy to settle for a mediocre existence.

  Virgil has also endured his fair share of heartbreak. But through the unconditional love of his daughter, Rosie, he’s able not only to conquer his own fears about moving forward into happiness, but also to help Clara. Together they risk it all, to take a second chance at the love they lost all those years ago. For Clara, Virgil and little Rosie, a mediocre existence is not an option. Instead they choose vibrancy and a passion for life.

  I hope you enjoy The Family She’s Longed For.

  Warmest regards,

  Lucy

  The Family She’S Longed For

  Lucy Clark

  www.millsandboon.co.uk

  LUCY CLARK loves movies. She loves binge-watching box-sets of TV shows. She loves reading and she loves to bake. Writing is such an integral part of Lucy’s inner being that she often dreams in Technicolor®, waking up in the morning and frantically trying to write down as much as she can remember. You can find Lucy on Facebook and Twitter. Stop by and say g’day!

  Books by Lucy Clark

  Mills & Boon Medical Romance

  The Lewis Doctors

  Reunited with His Runaway Doc

  Outback Surgeons

  English Rose in the Outback

  A Family for Chloe

  The Secret Between Them

  Her Mistletoe Wish

  His Diamond Like No Other

  Dr Perfect on Her Doorstep

  A Child to Bind Them

  Still Married to Her Ex!

  Visit the Author Profile page at millsandboon.co.uk for more titles.

  For my babies—once you were small and now you’re grown. Where did the time go? Thank you for loving me back and choosing to spend your time with me.

  Ecc 7:9

  Praise for Lucy Clark

  ‘A good and enjoyable read. It’s a good old-fashioned romance and everything you expect from Medical Romance. Recommended for Medical Romance lovers and Lucy Clark’s fans.’

  —Harlequin Junkie on Resisting the New Doc in Town

  ‘I really enjoyed this book—well written, and a lovely romance story about giving love a second chance!’

  —Goodreads on Dare She Dream of Forever?

  Contents

  Cover

  Back Cover Text

  Introduction

  Dear Reader

  Title Page

  Booklist

  Dedication

  Praise

  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

  Extract

  Copyright

  PROLOGUE

  CLARA LEWIS KEPT her head down as she walked to her car. It was close to three o’clock in the morning and her shift in the Emergency Department at Melbourne General Hospital had run very late, but that was the way life was when you were an overworked doctor. She sniffed, telling herself she wouldn’t cry—not again, and definitely not within the hospital grounds. Even at this time of the morning she felt as though there were prying eyes, watching her through the darkness.

  It wasn’t the long hours she spent at the hospital which was upsetting her, it wasn’t because the registrar on call had snapped at her, and it wasn’t because a patient had decided to share the contents of his stomach all over her shoes. That wasn’t the reason she was trying so hard not to burst into tears. No, her reason was the age-old one of a breaking heart. Was it possible to actually feel your heart break in two? She hadn’t thought so before, but now she most definitely believed it.

  Thankfully, Clara made it to the sanctuary of her car and quickly shut the driver’s door. After putting the key into the ignition and clipping her seatbelt into place, she gripped the steering wheel and allowed her tears their release. If she bottled up her emotions any more than she already was, she ran the risk of exploding at an unsuspecting person for the most minor infraction.

  She wanted to throw back her head and wail, to scream and shout, to share her heartbreak with anyone who cared enough to listen. But at the same time she didn’t want anyone to know just how distraught she really was. Clara was well aware of the way the gossips whispered about her as she walked down the corridor. As soon as she came into earshot they would quickly stop and turn their attention to something else, but as soon as she passed them by, off they’d go again.

  ‘How terrible for her.’

  ‘I heard he dumped her at the fundraising dinner.’

  ‘He is so incredibly good-looking. Perhaps too good looking for her.’

  ‘I’m not sure what he saw in her anyway.’

  ‘I thought they were just friends. At least they were all through medical school. Some women are meant to stay firmly in the friend-zone rather than trying to chase after a man too good for them.’

  That last one she’d heard as she’d been sitting in the cafeteria. The woman who had been gossiping about her had spoken rather too loudly—loud enough for Clara to hear—and even though Clara had tried to rationalise that the gossip might not actually be about her, as soon as the gossiper in question had turned and seen Clara sitting there she’d gasped.

  ‘I’m so sorry for what’s happened, Clara,’ she had mumbled, before scuttling away.<
br />
  And if it wasn’t the whispers in the corridors and back rooms, it was the pitying looks which were shared openly by those staff who knew her. It was getting beyond a joke, and it didn’t make working her shifts any easier as it provided a constant reminder of just how Virgil had broken her heart.

  At least she only had another fortnight at the Melbourne General until her contract was up. She’d agreed to do a twelve-month specialisation in emergency medicine before taking up a position as junior GP with a busy practice in her home town of Loggeen, forty minutes outside of Melbourne city.

  She was looking forward to getting to know her patients, to making sure they weren’t just some numbers in a file. She wanted to help people, but apparently Virgil hadn’t been able to see that. Now he thought the world of general practice far too mundane for him, and their previous plans to settle down after their internship, and open up a practice together, had evaporated into thin air.

  Virgil had fallen in love with general surgery, and the instant he’d changed his preference for the specialisation he’d stopped being the Virgil Arterton she’d come to know and love.

  They’d been best friends throughout medical school, and for the past eighteen months they’d been a lot more than friends. Virgil had been accepted onto the service registrar programme before he’d even finished his internship. He was hungry to climb the hierarchical ladder—to become the best general surgeon he could. He was also planning to write his PhD thesis during his registrar training, which Clara had suggested might be a bit foolish.

  ‘You’ll be burning the candle at both ends. That won’t be good for your health.’

  Nor for their relationship, she’d added silently. She hadn’t spoken the words out loud because she hadn’t wanted to hear him say that their relationship was over. She realised now that all the signs had been there: all the signs that she’d been losing his attention, losing his love, losing his desire to be with her. But she’d ignored them, not wanting to believe that her Virgil was like so many of the other egocentric surgeons who walked the hospital corridors.

  ‘I’ll be fine.’ He’d brushed her concerns away as though her words were nothing more than an annoying fly. ‘You could do your PhD with me,’ he’d suggested. ‘We could both be studying and working together.’

  ‘I’m not interested in doing that.’

  And that had been the problem. Virgil had a clear idea of what he thought Clara should do with her life, and he wasn’t interested in listening to what she had to say.

  ‘I want to be a GP.’

  And so the debate had continued between them, until the night when they’d been at a hospital fundraising dinner.

  ‘I was positive you would change your mind during this past twelve months—that you’d agree to do more emergency medicine,’ Virgil had told her.

  The other thing he’d told her was that he’d been accepted on to the full surgical registrar training programme and would be heading overseas.

  ‘You’re not going straight away, are you?’

  Clara had felt the nagging pain at the back of her mind, which had been increasing over the past six months, begin to pulse with dread at what he might say next.

  ‘Of course I’m going. It’s such an honour—and it’s in Montreal. At one of the most ground-breaking hospitals in general surgical medicine.’

  ‘But what about us?’

  ‘Clara...’ He’d sat back in his chair, his air matter-of-fact. ‘We don’t want the same things any more. You’ve made that abundantly clear. Besides, I won’t have time for any sort of private life. I’ll be constantly at the hospital or studying and brushing up on my French.’

  ‘But what about the other things we’ve discussed—marriage? Children?’

  He’d sighed, as though explaining his plans to an imbecile. ‘I’ll have no time for any of that. I know that sort of thing is important to you, but it’s not my priority—not my focus any more.’

  As she’d sat there, watching his mouth move, his words penetrating her heart, she had realised that her Virgil—the man she’d been such close friends with,the man who had once shared all her hopes and dreams for the future—was gone. He was gone, and in his place was an arrogant workaholic.

  Yes, she wanted to get married and have children one day, and she’d always thought she’d end up doing that with him. But that wasn’t the end of her plans for the future. Clara had hoped that one day she would have her own GP practice—that she’d be a respected member of the community and be known for helping others in their time of need. Wasn’t that more important than being the best of the best of the best, with honours?

  Shaking her head, Clara sniffed and reached into her bag, hunting for a tissue but finding none. She looked around her car, searching the glove box and other areas for a tissue, or a serviette, or even a piece of paper. Eventually she found an old sticky note, which had a phone number on it written in Virgil’s handwriting. She used it to blow her nose.

  He’d ended their relationship and the next day he’d flown out to work for a year in Montreal. Clara knew she should be happy he’d shown his true colours—that she hadn’t wasted even more years of her life changing her plans to suit his ideals. She’d had a lucky escape.

  That had been three weeks ago, and she’d been left to endure the gossips and the pitying looks.

  Starting the car’s engine, she hiccupped a few times before pulling out onto the road. Thankfully, at this time of the morning, there was little traffic which meant the drive back to her apartment shouldn’t take too long.

  Determined not to think any more about Virgil while she was driving, she switched on the radio and was trying to find a decent song when out of the blue there were bright lights in front of her...heading straight for her...

  Clara braked and tried to swerve, but the last thing she could remember was the sickening sound of crunching metal as two cars collided.

  CHAPTER ONE

  ‘CHECK THE LEG PULSE,’ Clara Lewis instructed her co-worker, while she continued with chest compressions on their patient.

  She’d been working with her retrieval team for almost two years since she’d returned to Australia in time for her brother’s wedding. Prior to Arthur tying the knot with her long-time friend Maybelle, Clara had been working in the UK for two and a half years, desperate to forget all about Virgil Arterton. She’d filled those years with meeting new people and getting her life back on track.

  ‘Pulse is present on the left leg, but not on the right.’

  ‘Check for fractures,’ she said, before checking her patient’s pulse. ‘No pulse.’

  It was necessary to report all the details to her team to ensure everyone knew the status. That way, they could perform their duties effectively. She continued with chest compressions.

  ‘Possible fracture to the right femur,’ Tony stated.

  ‘Pulse!’ she called a moment later as the man drew in a staggered breath. ‘It’s weak, but it’s there. Suspected internal bleeding. Geoff—oxygen, stat. Then set up an IV. Push fluids. Tony, deal with the fracture.’

  She looked to her patient, a twenty-three-year-old male who was still unconscious but at least breathing again. She tried calling to him while she checked his pulse once more.

  ‘Hello? Can you hear me?’

  No response.

  ‘Pulse is stronger.’

  She picked up a stethoscope and checked the man’s heart rhythm, pleased with the result.

  ‘Administer an injection of Methoxyflurane to provide pain relief.’

  Her team worked together as Tony continued to stabilise the femoral fracture.

  ‘Tony, have we got a pulse in that right leg yet?’ Clara performed neurological observations. ‘Pupils equal and reacting to light.’

  ‘Right leg pulse is faint, but present,’ Tony reporte
d half a minute later.

  Once Geoff had the IV set up, Clara dug into her emergency medical backpack for the medication, which was already drawn up and clearly labelled. ‘Check medication,’ she said to Geoff, who duly confirmed the medication before administering it via the intravenous drip.

  Once that was done, Geoff addressed the fracture to the right upper arm, while Clara placed a bandage on a laceration to the left thigh.

  Within another five minutes their patient’s breathing and blood pressure had stabilised, which meant they were ready to transfer him, with the use of a PAT slide, onto a stretcher and into the waiting ambulance.

  Ensuring the man’s head was secured in a head and neck brace, and that he was strapped firmly onto the stretcher, they levered him into the ambulance, handing his care over to the paramedics.

  Clara shut the doors to the ambulance, then received a round of applause from the crowd. The onlookers, who had been kept away by the barriers, clapped and some even whistled.

  ‘Well done, Dr Lewis. You and your team have successfully stabilised the patient and completed the aims in under the projected time frame.’

  Dr Fielding, one of the adjudicators of the retrieval team examination, shook her hand. The entire exercise had been designed not only to test the retrieval teams from different hospitals but also to raise public awareness of the importance of first aid courses.

  ‘If you wouldn’t mind delivering the verbal report, we can conclude your proceedings.’

  ‘Thank you, Dr Fielding.’

  Clara took a deep breath and looked out at the crowd. She held up her hands for silence and the applause died down.

  ‘I’m Dr Clara Lewis. General Practitioner at the Victory Hospital Specialist Centre, located near Loggeen. This—’ she indicated her team ‘—is RN Tony Simpkin and RN Geoff Thompson, both of whom have trained long and hard in emergency trauma management retrieval procedures.’

  There was another round of clapping.