When There is Love: A Christian Romance (The McKinleys Book 3) Read online

  “You didn’t have to go with them?” she asked.

  Eric shook his head and lifted Sarah onto his lap when she approached them. “This was more in line with what Than does than me.” He looked at her, his expression serious. “You ready for the surgery?”

  “As ready as I’ll ever be. At least, since I’ve been through this before, I know what to expect.”

  Eric nodded. “Well, you be sure and let us know if you need any help.”

  “Mom’s going to stay with me for the first couple of weeks, I think. Last time it was too difficult at their place because of the stairs.”

  “She’ll take good care of you. I think she misses having us more reliant on her.”

  “Yeah, I think so, too. And I’m glad she’s willing to put her life on hold for a little bit.”

  “Guess shooting will be put on hold for a bit as well,” Eric said.

  Victoria nodded. Though she wasn’t sure there would have been shooting anyway given how things seemed to be with Trent at the moment. “But once I’m healed up from the surgery, shooting will be even better. Do you get out to the range much?”

  “Not as much as Trent does, but I do try and head out every couple of weeks.”

  “And does Justin beat you up, too?”

  “He certainly tries. Some days I hold my own better than others. Usually I just try to stick to the gym.”

  “Is there anyone who can take Justin down?”

  “Marcus. He’s the only one of us who has managed to get the best of him. He might not have the bulk of Justin, but he’s quick and so good at reading people. It’s like he can tell what Justin’s going to do before he does it.”

  “Justin isn’t just cutting him some slack because he’s the boss?”

  Eric shook his head. “There’s a history between those two. Not sure what it is, but Justin has never taken it easy on Marcus or Alex.”

  “I never really thought much about the people you worked with, but it’s been kind of fun getting to know Than and Justin.”

  Before he could reply, their mom came over. “Brooke and Lucas will be coming a little later so we can go ahead and eat.”

  The rest of the family joined them at the table and once grace was said for the meal, they began to dish up their food. Victoria found that the nerves she’d been fighting for the past day or so had diminished her appetite, but she ate just so her mom wouldn’t get after her.

  They were sitting around the table discussing the benefits of waiting for dessert or having it right away when Brooke, Lucas and Danny arrived. Brooke and Lucas had their arms around each other as they made their way from the gate to where the family sat. As soon as Victoria saw Danny’s face, she knew they had news to share. The boy looked like he was going to burst with excitement.

  “Can I tell them now, Mom?” he asked, his gaze going to Brooke. He was practically dancing.

  Brooke grinned at him. After looking up at Lucas, she nodded. “Go ahead, sweetheart.”

  Danny swung around with a huge smile on his face. “Uncle Lucas asked Mom to marry him, and she said yes!”

  Her mom got up so fast her chair tipped over backwards, but she ignored it as she moved toward the couple and wrapped her arms around Brooke. “Congratulations, sweetheart!”

  Eric stood along with their dad to congratulate Lucas. “Welcome to the family, man. I hope you know what you’re in for.”

  “Oh, I know.” Lucas pressed a kiss to the top of Brooke’s head. “Just one of the many reasons I knew I had to get her to marry me.”

  “Details!” Victoria demanded, delighted at the news and also glad to have something besides her surgery to talk about.

  Brooke settled into the chair next to her, contentment and happiness evident on her face. “We went to Amber and Thom’s restaurant since that was where we had our first ‘date.’ And he proposed to me over chocolate soufflé.”

  “Let me see your ring.”

  Brooke held out her hand. Given Lucas’s wealth, Victoria had thought it would be a large diamond, but the dainty ring with a subtle diamond setting was just perfect for Brooke.

  “It’s beautiful. I’m so happy for you two.”

  “Have you set a date?” her mom asked.

  Brooke glanced at Lucas then back to her mom. “It’s going to be a few months. Maybe January.”

  “A winter wedding? Are you sure?”

  “Well, it will be winter here, but not where we plan to have the wedding.”

  “You’re not getting married here?” Victoria asked.

  “No,” Lucas said. “I have a friend who owns an island in the Caribbean, and we’ll be flying everyone down there for the wedding.”

  Victoria did some quick calculations in her head and if things went the way they had for her previous surgery, she should be crutch-free by January. She really wanted to be able to enjoy the wedding and being at a beach.

  This latest development just proved that her catching the bouquet at Staci and Eric’s wedding hadn’t been an indication of what the future held. Which was fine. Brooke deserved this happiness with Lucas.

  Her thoughts went to Trent, and once again she wondered if her initial reluctance to get involved with him—combined with him seeing her on crutches—had caused that ship to sail. Sadness seeped into her heart, edging away some of the excitement and happiness. But she supposed it was better that she find this out before things had gotten serious. Chances were this wouldn’t be the last surgery she had.

  “Hey, Tori.”

  Victoria blinked, her gaze going to Brooke. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

  “I said that I’d like you to be my maid of honor.”

  “Are you sure?” The thoughts that had plagued her at the movie theater returned. She hoped the smile she gave Brooke hid the pain as she said, “You know you don’t have to ask me to be in your wedding party just because we’re sisters.”

  “Of course I’m sure. Why would you even ask that?” Brooke tilted her head and frowned. “Don’t you want to be in my wedding party? You didn’t have a problem being in Eric’s.”

  She’d also felt closer to Staci than she had to Brooke, but Victoria figured now was not the time to point that out. Her gaze flicked to Eric, and she saw that he immediately understood what she was struggling with. Since his return three years earlier, he’d made the effort to spend time with her, and they were closer now than they’d ever been before. She wished that was true of her relationship with Brooke, but it wasn’t and might never be.

  Victoria looked back at her sister and smiled. “I’d love to be in your wedding party. But you have to promise no puffy pageant-style dresses for me.”

  Brooke hesitated as if she didn’t quite believe Victoria but then she said, “No worries. I think it’s going to be pretty simple. You know I’m not really into that sort of thing.”

  The rest of the evening consisted of talk of the wedding, but Victoria had a hard time concentrating and finally gave up. After assuring everyone she was just tired, she said her goodbyes and headed for home. There were a ton of things she wanted to get done around the house the next day. Even though her mom was going to be there afterwards, Victoria didn’t want her to have to do everything. Plus, it was a nice distraction from the worries plaguing her.

  So even though it wasn’t quite nine thirty when she got home, she quickly went through her night-time regimen and crawled into bed. She really wished that the next day had held time at the range, but it was likely to be several weeks before she could go shooting again—if ever. The thought of doing it without Trent sort of took away some of the pleasure she’d felt about practicing her new skill.

  Trent walked into the office on Monday morning feeling more like himself than he had in a while. Getting a break from the reminders of Victoria and being away from the pitying looks Eric would likely have given him had helped somewhat. Yes, it still hurt to think that Victoria was involved with another guy, but above all else, he did want her to be happy. So if this other
man could bring her more happiness than she would have found with him then he would accept that.

  In the meantime, he just needed to keep his distance from the McKinleys until the hurt had eased enough that he didn’t feel like his heart was bleeding all over the place at the mention of Victoria’s name or the sight of her. He’d even gone to a different service than usual at church the day before to avoid running into Eric and Staci.

  But it was Monday and over a week since his heart had been broken, so he knew it was time to face things head-on. As he walked to the open area between all their offices where the assistant he shared with Eric and Than sat, Trent noticed that Eric’s office was dark. That was very unusual, and he hoped that nothing was wrong with Staci or Sarah.

  Coming to a stop in front of his assistant’s desk, he jerked his head towards Eric’s office. “Where’s Eric? He’s usually in by now.”

  “He took a family day. One of his sisters is having surgery, I think.”

  Trent felt his stomach clench. “Do you know which one?”

  She shook her head. “He didn’t say who, just that he’d be out the whole day but could be contacted by phone or email.”

  “Okay. Thanks. Do you have stuff for me from last week?”

  The woman nodded and handed him a folder. “Everything’s in there. Most important is on top down to least important.”

  “Thanks, Mair.”

  Back in his office, Trent turned his phone over in his hand a few times. Text or phone. Finally he decided on a text. If Eric was available to talk, hopefully he would call.

  Heard you’re out for a family medical reason today. Hope everything is okay.

  He set his phone down and flipped open the file Mair had given him. He’d barely had time to glance at the first paper when his phone rang.

  Eric.

  “Hey, Trent,” Eric said when he answered.

  “Everything okay? Mair said someone was having surgery?”

  “Yeah, Victoria’s having hip replacement surgery today.” Eric hesitated then said, “Didn’t she tell you?”

  Trent felt like he’d just been kicked in the stomach. Again. He swallowed hard. “No. No, she didn’t tell me. We haven’t really talked for a couple of weeks.”

  There was a pause then Eric said, “Wait. I thought she talked to you last weekend. She said she’d called you to go shooting, but you weren’t feeling well.”

  “I wasn’t.” Trent rubbed his forehead. “We didn’t talk long.”

  “So you don’t know anything that’s been happening?”

  “Just what you told me that night at your folks’ place.”

  “Oh boy. I’m so sorry, man. For some reason, I got the impression that you guys had talked, and she’d told you about everything that had gone on. Although, now that I think about it, the fact that she didn’t know where you were this week should have clued me in.”

  “What’s going on, Eric? I feel like I’ve missed a bunch of important stuff.”

  “Yeah, you have, but first, I need to set the record straight. She wasn’t out on a date with Dan that Friday night.”

  “She wasn’t?” Trent was flooded by such a wave of conflicting emotions he didn’t know what he felt at Eric’s revelation.

  “No. Dan had offered to buy her portion of the company she and Dad started. They were out discussing details about it that night and then when they came to the house, they met with Dad to bring him up to speed.”

  “She sold her part of the company?”

  “Yeah, apparently she’d been thinking about it for a while, and his offer was just what she needed. She planned to use the money to fund her hip surgery, but then Lucas stepped up and offered to pay for it so she could save that money for her future.”

  “Lucas paid for her surgery?” He could have helped her with that if only he’d known that the reason she’d been waiting had been financial. But no, he’d acted like a stupid fool and assumed the worst about everything.

  “Yeah. Totally out of the blue, but a real blessing for her since her deductible was so high on her insurance. I didn’t realize until this came to light that that’s why she’s waited so long to have the surgery on this hip. She had the other one done about three years ago but kept putting off having this one done. She’s stubborn, that sister of mine. Determined to prove to the world that she can do it all by herself.”

  Trent closed his eyes and bent his head forward. “What time is her surgery?”

  “She’s supposed to go in around ten. They said that if all goes well, she should be in recovery a couple hours later. If you want to see her, why don’t you come up after work? She should be in her own room by then and up for visitors.”

  The question was, would she want to see him? He wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t. But he’d go up and test the waters. If she didn’t throw him out, he’d take that as a sign that perhaps he would be able to repair the damage he’d done over the past couple of weeks with his inability to communicate with her how he felt.

  “I’ll drop by. I’d come sooner, but I’ve got a whack of stuff to catch up on. Marcus wouldn’t be happy if I ducked out too early.”

  “No worries. She’s going to be out of it for a good chunk of the day anyway.”

  After ending the call with Eric, Trent sat for a moment trying to wrap his head around everything. He had no idea what to expect from Victoria, but he intended to stick by her side until she told him to his face to get out of her life. If that was what she truly wanted, he would respect that, but if he had a chance to fix the mess he’d made of everything, he was going to take it.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  IT WAS midafternoon before Victoria felt like the fog had finally cleared from her head. She’d woken shivering and disoriented in the recovery room. Though she had some pain, they were keeping her well medicated. Everything she went through the first time around came rushing back. She assumed it was somewhat like childbirth where a woman forgot the pain but that the memory of it came back once labor started with a subsequent pregnancy.

  It was all coming back with shocking clarity and for a few minutes in the recovery room—okay, maybe for more than just a few minutes—she’d regretted putting herself through it again. She had just kept repeating no more crutches as she lay in the bed trying to push the pain from her mind.

  Now the pain was finally under control with the help of some medication. Her mom was hovering over her, and she’d had a steady stream of family in and out of her room. She’d dozed off and on throughout the rest of the afternoon.

  Victoria had been lying there with her eyes closed, wishing her mother would stop asking her how she was feeling, when she heard a familiar voice.

  Trent?

  She tried to keep her breathing even, suddenly not sure she wanted to face him. It was almost a given that she looked awful. No makeup. Hair matted around her head. Yeah, not exactly how she’d wanted to look when she saw him again. Particularly since she wasn’t at all sure how things stood between them.

  “Tori, darling. Are you awake?”

  Her mother’s voice was soft, but Victoria knew there was no way she could fake sleep now. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her eyelids were desperately trying to lift of their own accord. Letting out a quick breath, she opened her eyes and found her mom at her bedside.

  “I’m awake. Just resting.”

  “Trent’s here, and he’s brought some absolutely gorgeous flowers for you.”

  Her mom stepped back and motioned with her hand. Trent stepped into view, a large colorful bouquet of flowers in his hands. She drank in the sight of him. He was still wearing his suit which meant he must have come straight from the office. The smile he gave her as he moved closer to the bed was more tentative than she would have expected from him. But he was still so handsome, and he was there. For her.

  “I’ll just go find something to put those in,” her mom said as she took the flowers from Trent and left the room.

  In that moment, part of her wished
that Lucas hadn’t arranged for a private room for her. The silence was heavy between them.

  Trent snagged a chair and pulled it closer to the bed. After he had settled on it, he looked at her, his blue eyes serious. “How are you feeling?”

  “Better since they gave me drugs. I had some pain coming out of surgery, but it’s pretty much gone now.”

  He stared at her without saying anything for what seemed like an eternity, then his gaze dropped from hers briefly. “I’m sorry.”

  Of all the things she’d thought he’d say none of them had been an apology. “Sorry? For what?”

  He paused for a moment, almost as if trying to figure out the answer to her question. “For not keeping in contact better. I let some…things distract me, and I’m sorry. I was shocked to hear that you were having your surgery today.”

  “There was nothing you could have done, even if you’d known,” Victoria said. Though she would have loved to have had him there before the surgery to distract her and keep her from focusing on it too much.

  Trent leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his thighs, his hands clasped between his knees. “At the very least, I could have been praying for you as you prepared for the surgery. Or offered to help with anything you needed to do ahead of time.” He hesitated. “And I could have done what Lucas did for you.”

  Victoria frowned. “No. That wasn’t supposed to be how this worked out.”

  “What? Why would you say that? You knew I had the financial means with which to help you with something like this. I didn’t realize the reason you were waiting on the surgery on your hip was because you couldn’t afford it. If I’d known, I would have offered to help you out.”

  “I know. But I have been praying for months for this to work out. When I got the offer on the business, I assumed that was God’s way of answering my prayer. It wasn’t until after that that Lucas offered his help. If it had been God’s will for you to provide for my surgery, things would have turned out differently. But I’m actually glad it didn’t work out that way.”