The Road to Hope

  The Road to

  HOPE

  RACHAEL

  JOHNS

  www.harlequinbooks.com.au

  Dear Reader

  Firstly thanks for picking up The Road to Hope—whether you’re new to my books or have been reading them for a while, I want to thank you for grabbing it off the shelf and taking it home. You’ve made my day and I hope you enjoy your reading experience.

  This book is linked to my first ever rural romance, Jilted, (although you can read the books in any order) and came about because of a number of readers who emailed or messaged me on Facebook to say how much they enjoyed Jilted. I had so many requests to continue Flynn and Ellie’s stories (the hero and heroine in that book) and although I felt like I’d finished with them, I understood your desire to return to Hope Junction and catch up with the locals you’d grown to know and love. I kinda liked the idea of going back for a little while too.

  So I did something I never planned to do.

  I wrote a story about a character who wasn’t that nice in Jilted, in fact, in my head I’d nicknamed her The Nasty Nurse and, when I first wrote about her, I never intended on making her a heroine. She was gorgeous all right, but she wasn’t that nice, in fact I went out of my way to make her unlikeable. That character is Lauren Simpson and she became the heroine of this book.

  Writing The Road to Hope provided a new challenge for me—making an unlikeable character sympathetic, someone readers would want to be friends with and barrack for. I had to dig deep to work out why Lauren was how she was and why she’d come to get her not-so-pretty reputation. And I hope you think I’ve succeeded.

  As with all my books, this is a romance, so I had to find Lauren a worthy hero. I have to admit, I fell in love with Tom from the moment he popped into my head. He’s a tall, dark and delicious surfer who also happens to be a locum doctor travelling round Australia in a vintage ute. Seriously, what’s not to love? But although Tom tries to flirt and charm the pants off Lauren, he has a serious side and something in his past is holding him back from falling in love.

  Neither Tom nor Lauren are typical heroes and heroines, but I hope you’ll grow to love them (and the host of crazy characters in the hospital) as much as I did. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the book either via my website (www.rachaeljohns.com) where you can keep up with my latest news or on Facebook or Twitter.

  Until next time,

  Happy Reading

  Acknowledgments

  My name might be on the front of this book, but I couldn’t do what I do without a whole load of fabulous people in my corner.

  Thanks to my publishers, Harlequin Australia—to Michelle, Cristina, Sue and the whole wonderful team for everything you do. Also to my utterly brilliant editor, Lachlan Jobbins, who has the ability to make me laugh at his editorial comments even when he’s suggesting I rewrite or delete a whole scene. I have to admit, you are usually right.

  To Helen Breitwieser, my agent, who not only has a truly cool accent but knows her stuff and works hard for me always.

  To Leigh-Anne Randall, Jo Ladyman, Fiona Lowe and my husband, Craig, for letting me pick their brains and mine their medical expertise. Any mistakes that the characters make in Hope Junction Hospital are mine not theirs.

  To my writing support crew, Beck Nicholas, Cathryn Hein, Alissa Callen, Amanda Knight and Janette Radevski, who are always at the end of an email to help me brainstorm or simply listen to me whine (believe it or not, this happens more than I care to admit). I could not get through the days without you girls.

  To my family—to Mum, Craig and the boys for being my champions every day. Words cannot express how much I love you.

  And finally to the readers—you are my favourite people in the whole entire world!

  Dedication

  To all the lovely readers who emailed or told me on Facebook that they wanted Lauren from Jilted to have her own story. I hope you like what I’ve done! Xo

  Contents

  Dear Reader

  Acknowledgments

  Dedication

  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

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  Sitting on a painfully hard church pew witnessing the man you’ve always loved declare his undying love and affection to someone else is a special kind of torture. It rams home all kinds of truths. You aren’t good enough, beautiful enough, smart enough, funny enough… You simply aren’t enough. As Lauren Simpson watched the Uniting Church minister pronounce local golden boy Flynn Quartermaine and national soap opera princess Ellie Hughes to be husband and wife, she began plotting her escape.

  Not just from this stinking hot church—although getting out of here would be a blessing in itself—but also from this town. Hope Junction was the only place she’d ever called home but also the place she’d somehow gotten herself a not so pretty reputation. And it was suddenly blindingly obvious that if she wanted any chance of finding her own Prince Charming and living happily ever after, she needed out. The thought filled her with more dread than excitement, but sometimes in life you had to step out of your comfort zone to move forward, and Lauren decided there and then that’s what she would do. It was time to leave Hope Junction behind and explore further pastures, to go someplace where nobody had preconceived ideas about who she was.

  ‘It is with great pleasure I present to you mister and missus Flynn Quartermaine!’

  The minister beamed out at the congregation as a freshly kissed Ellie turned to face the guests, all of whom appeared to have forgotten (or at least forgiven) what had happened ten years ago. Her illegally good-looking new husband also turned, pulling his wife into his side and offering her the kind of smile that could set whole countries alight. Lauren couldn’t deny the barbed wire of jealousy that wrapped around her heart—just looking at the happy couple made her feel physically ill. She placed her hand against her belly, hoping to quell the nausea.

  Most people in her predicament would have boycotted such an affair, but that just wasn’t done in a place the size of Hope Junction. The hospital manager had organised agency nurses to work this weekend, so the local staff could attend and enjoy the most important wedding the town had ever seen. There were even journalists and camera crews here for crying out loud. Lauren would have looked bitter and twisted if she’d insisted on working instead of attending. And just because she was bitter and twisted didn’t mean she wanted everyone to know.

  Straightening in her pew and flapping the wedding program like a fan near her face, she glanced sideways at her best friend Whitney and attempted a carefree smile. Whitney returned the smile and then turned back to gaze at the front of the church where her husband, Jordan O’Donnell (better known as Rats), was Flynn’s best man. Beside the bride stood Flynn’s teenage sister, Lucy, pretty as a picture in a magenta bodice and black-skirted bridesmaid dress. Very gl
amorous, very modern, Lauren had to admit, though she wouldn’t have chosen black for the bridesmaids at her own wedding.

  Pah! a voice inside her head mocked her. What wedding? You’ll have to find a man who wants to marry you first.

  As Lauren ordered that voice to shut the hell up, Flynn’s family rushed forward to offer their hugs, kisses and congratulations to the newlyweds. Ellie didn’t have any family of her own, but Joyce from the caravan park was doing a good job playing the part of surrogate mum. Joyce kissed her now and the two of them danced some kind of celebratory jig. They’d grown close during Ellie’s godmother Matilda’s battle with cancer, which had brought her back to town a decade after she’d left Flynn at the altar. When Joyce stepped back, Flynn’s mum Karina pulled Ellie into an embrace and held her tightly. Lauren couldn’t hear the words whispered between them but emotion clogged her throat at the visuals. They looked close. Lauren liked Karina a lot, and imagined she’d have made a great mother-in-law. It just didn’t seem fair that all the heartache Ellie had caused the Quartermaines was now forgotten and she’d been welcomed into the family with open arms.

  She looked away from the front, needing a moment, and saw Whitney lift a tissue to wipe her eye. Lauren felt like crying too but for entirely different reasons. Whitney and Rats were recently married and trying for a baby, Flynn was now off the shelf and shackled to Ellie… When was it going to be her turn?

  It wasn’t like she was asking for the world. She didn’t want millions or eternal youth, she just wanted love. She wanted a man whom she adored to stand at the front of a church and look at her like Flynn was looking at Ellie. She wanted someone to come home to after a long shift at the hospital. Maybe they’d get a dog, have a couple of kids, read the Sunday paper over a late breakfast while their adorable offspring watched cartoons.

  ‘Here, want one of these?’

  Whitney’s whispered question broke Lauren’s daydream. Her friend held out a small packet of Kleenex. Her eyes were wide and full of concern.

  Lauren swallowed as she felt a hot tear trickle down her cheek. She plucked a tissue from the proffered packet. ‘Thanks,’ she managed through a forced smile. ‘I always bawl at weddings.’

  Whitney grinned. ‘I know. You were a blubbering mess at mine, but are you sure that’s all this is?’ She placed a hand on Lauren’s knee and gazed into her eyes in that questioning way of a true friend. ‘I know you liked Flynn.’

  Liked? She’d loved him since she was twelve years old and he’d rescued her from a snake in the school playground. They’d been friends too—Rats, Whitney, she and Flynn, the Awesome Foursome—until Ellie had come to school in year eleven and ruined everything. He’d barely even glanced at another woman since. She’d tried to get over him—dammit, she’d tried. Moving away to study had offered a pool of dating potential but nothing serious had ever come of it. Since returning to work in Hope Junction she’d been out with a few local farmers and dated a number of medical professionals during their short stints in town, and even had a brief thing with a teacher, but it was like she had a use-by date stamped upon her forehead.

  She was incapable of keeping a man longer than three months.

  Maybe it was her fault, maybe it had something to do with Flynn—a secret hope that he’d suddenly wake up and notice her. A few months ago it looked like he actually had. They’d dated a couple of times. But all chances of that happening again were over now he had a wedding band on his finger. She might be a lot of things, but a marriage wrecker she was not. No way. She’d allow herself a few tears over an unrequited love lost and then she’d change. No more throwing herself at every good-looking guy who flirted with her. She’d get to know men before going out with them and she definitely wouldn’t sleep with anyone until they’d been dating for over three months.

  These were her new rules to live by.

  ‘Lauren?’ Whitney’s pressure on her knee deepened. ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’

  She blinked, shook her head slightly, sniffed, wiped her nose and then nodded. ‘Yeah. I’m fine. Oh look, they’re coming towards us.’

  Sure enough, Mr and Mrs Flynn Quartermaine were making their way down the aisle, pausing every few steps to thank their guests for coming. There’d been rumours they were going to have the wedding in Bali—that would have been so much easier to get out of—but the town had been up in arms at the thought, so Flynn and Ellie had relented.

  Lauren psyched herself up to smile and air-kiss the bride and groom. She hoped she could trust herself not to haul Flynn into her arms and plant one huge smoocheroo upon his lips. Her fingers shook in rhythm with her heart as they approached. If only she was an actress like Ellie she might have had some hope of getting away with the façade but the closer they got the less likely that seemed. Her heart literally ached.

  They were at the pew in front of her—Lauren racking her brain for something nice to say to them—when someone gasped and a commotion broke out at the front near the altar. Flynn and Ellie turned as one to see what all the noise was about. They parted slightly and through the gap between them, Lauren saw Karina Quartermaine drop to her knees. Her usually spritely, eighty-something mother-in-law lay sprawled on the church floor.

  Instinct kicked in. Lauren shoved past Whitney and charged up the aisle after Ellie and Flynn, who were now heading for his grandmother.

  ‘Please, Lauren, help her,’ Karina pleaded, looking up as Lauren approached.

  Lauren offered her a reassuring smile and then sank to the floor to examine the patient. Hilda Quartermaine’s lips were peeling and her usually peachy-coloured skin looked dull and dry; textbook signs of dehydration. It was a sweltering late November day and the temperature inside the country church was hot enough to pop corn. Although dehydration could be serious in the elderly, it was easily treated.

  Grabbing an embroidered cushion from the nearest pew, Lauren lifted the old woman’s head slightly and slipped it beneath her thin grey hair. ‘Can someone get some water?’ she asked, her gaze not leaving her patient as she placed her hand on her shoulder and shook gently. ‘Mrs Quartermaine, can you hear me?’

  ‘Should we call an ambulance?’ a voice behind her asked.

  She started to answer that yes, that wouldn’t hurt, but the words died on her tongue as the old lady’s eyes opened slowly. She looked up into Lauren’s face and then blinked as if disorientated. Lauren let out the breath she’d been holding. She loved old people. Many of her favourite patients lived in the nursing wing of the hospital, and she hated seeing them confused or distressed.

  ‘It’s okay, Mrs Quartermaine. You’re in the church for Flynn and Ellie’s wedding,’ she said, squeezing the older woman’s hand gently. ‘I think you must have fainted with the heat.’

  ‘Fainted?’ The words came out on a disbelieving whisper. Hilda Quartermaine was a stocky farmer’s widow who had witnessed years of drought and other rural hardships in her long life. She was still very active in the Country Women’s Association and the idea she could have blacked out over a little heat obviously appalled her. She yanked her hand from Lauren’s and palmed them both against the hard floor. ‘I need to get up.’

  Lauren smiled. The feistiness was a good sign. ‘Yes, of course, but let’s take it slowly, okay?’

  ‘I’ll help.’

  Lauren looked sideways to find Flynn crouching beside her. She was sandwiched between him and his mother but had barely noticed, her attention focused on her patient. ‘Yes, that would be great,’ she replied, then looked back to his grandmother. ‘Flynn and I are going to help you into a sitting position and then I need you to have a little water before we get you back onto the chair.’

  Mrs Quartermaine opened her mouth as if to object to the assistance, but her daughter-in-law Karina interceded. ‘Mum, do as you’re told for once. The sooner we get you sorted, the sooner we can get on with the day.’

  Lucy appeared with a large glass of water and hovered above them. ‘Is Granny going to be okay?’

 
; Karina stood and took the glass from her daughter. ‘I think so.’

  ‘She’s going to be fine, if she lets us look after her,’ Lauren said, offering her patient a reprimanding smile. ‘Are you going to do that, Mrs Quartermaine?’

  Pouting, Flynn’s grandma sighed and nodded. With everyone a little more relaxed now, Flynn and Lauren positioned themselves on either side of her and carefully eased her up. Flynn then stood behind his grandmother and she leaned back against him as she allowed her daughter-in-law to hold the glass for her as she drank. Lauren took the old woman’s hand again. Taking a pulse was second nature to her. The heartbeat was rapid, which matched her diagnosis of dehydration.

  Likely a rest and a few good glasses of water would do the trick but due to her patient’s age, Lauren didn’t want to take chances of there being another underlying cause to her collapse. ‘I’m really sorry,’ she said, glancing at the faces surrounding her, ‘but we’re going to have to take Mrs Quartermaine to the hospital and get Dr Bates to check her over.’

  ‘No!’ The old woman glared at Lauren. ‘Thank you for your help but I’m fine, really. I just forgot to drink enough in all the excitement of the morning, but—’

  ‘No buts, Gran.’ Flynn lifted her hand to his lips and placed a kiss on her paper-thin skin. Lauren’s heart turned over in her chest at the softness of his gesture, at the love he had for the older woman. ‘There’s a few hours till the reception,’ he continued. ‘We’ll come with you.’

  ‘Don’t be silly,’ tsked Mrs Quartermaine. ‘What about the photos?’

  ‘I’m sure Dr Bates will make you a priority but if things look to be running late, we’ll just have the photos in the hospital, won’t we, Els?’

  Els! Lauren’s heart cramped at Flynn’s pet name for Ellie. It couldn’t have sounded more adoring if he’d called her sweetheart or darling.

  Ellie blushed like the besotted bride she was, leaned past Flynn and kissed her new grandmother-in-law on the cheek. ‘Fine with me. In fact there are some rather nice roses in the hospital courtyard.’