The Doctor's Bride. Patt Marr

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      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.

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