Grumpy Doctor’s Holiday Twins (Forbidden Doctors #17)

1. Melody

1

MELODY

I got a good feeling as I sat in the hard plastic chair across from the HR representative to whom I was assigned when I accepted the position of charge nurse. Mindy was a familiar face, and it felt good being welcomed back to New Hope after spending four years away from my small hometown. She and I were friendly but not overly close back then, but it felt like coming home to see faces I recognized.

She slid a stack of papers across the desk toward me and pointed at one section with a bright yellow sticky arrow indicating that she needed my signature. "This is just a release for your bank to allow us to direct deposit the funds from your paychecks." Her bright red and green nails screamed holiday spirit, though it was still more than six weeks until Christmas. We still had to get through Thanksgiving.

"Alright," I mumbled, scrawling my name on that and a dozen other forms. I felt like I was signing a lease like the one I had just signed for Dad and me to move into the small three-bedroom condo across town. My eyes hurt just thinking about that.

"So, you've been gone for a while." Mindy's statement hung in the air as I finished filling in a few details about my clothing size for them to order my lab coat and scrubs. I fully expected anyone and everyone to be super nosy with my return here to New Hope, but also my return to Mistletoe Springs after being gone.

"Yeah… It's been a while." Longer than I planned, too, though with the way life changed for me, I needed the privacy. It was better for me to be in Chicago than here with so many prying eyes wanting to know all the gory details.

"And…?" She rolled her eyes as I pushed the finished paperwork across the desk toward her. "You can't just leave details out. You know everyone in this town is going to want to know everything. You've been gone so long, and when your Mom died…" Mindy's voice trailed off as I winced at the memory.

No woman should have to bury her mother, but I did so only eleven months after my twins were born, and I spent most of their first few months caring for my disabled father, my dying mother, and two crying babies who drained me of energy and emotion. I didn't know how I would even survive, but I'd made it. I just wanted to put it behind me now and not think about it ever again.

"Sorry," she muttered and collected the papers. I could see she felt bad, but she was right. I might as well just get the story out so people could gossip. Eventually, they'd move on from me and find something else to spread rumors about. For now, my most important priority was caring for my babies, now three, who were very much no longer babies. They were so active, and I had my hands too full to care what people thought of me.

"Don't be…" I sighed, and she stood, so I stood with her. "Mom's cancer was a shock to everyone. You probably already know we moved to Chicago for her treatments, but I got roped into a lease that kept me a bit longer and her medical bills just… Well, let's just say I'm glad to be offered this opportunity that allowed me to financially support me and my kids and my dad through this move back home. We belong here." I forced a smile, but I knew it was tight and awkward.

The position of charge nurse was a huge step up for me from my former position as RN. It meant more responsibility but more pay too. And I loved kids, so taking the position in pediatrics was a dream come true. I knew I'd feel right at home.

Mindy gestured toward the door and nodded. "Let's go meet some of your staff. They'll want to get to know you better since you'll be in charge of them." She led the way, and I followed. I knew the place like the back of my hand, having worked here for a few years before tragedy struck that pulled me away. But I didn't know all the staff, so I was eager to settle in.

"We were all just so devastated when it happened, Mel. You know we just held a special space for John since he was stuck here and couldn’t go be with you all so often." Mindy, bless her heart, was trying so hard to be friendly, but the constant reminder that my brother and father and I lost someone we loved dearly was too painful. I had to change the subject.

"So, what's new around Mistletoe? Anything exciting happen lately?" I knew it was the same boring old Christmas-obsessed town it had always been. If anything exciting had happened, John would have told me. My big brother was dean of medicine at New Hope, though he hadn't gotten me this job. I earned it on my own merit after three hard years in the Chicago Hope emergency department.

"Nothing has changed. Oh, except the Christmas tree farm. Had a small fire. They have a new outbuilding, but other than that, it's the same town, same traditions, same people. Oh, with one happy addition." Her face brightened into a wide grin as we rounded the corner into the pediatric department and a very stunning specimen of a man looked up from a chart he was poring over.

"Dr. Lucas Hart, this is Melody Winters. She's the new first-shift charge nurse for pediatrics." While Mindy spoke, the handsome, tall doctor was extending his hand toward mine. "She's eager to get started… Oh, and Melody, did I mention Dr. Hart is very single and very friendly?" Mindy wagged her eyebrows, and I blushed as I took his hand.

This town was so nosy and pushy. No ring on my finger meant any person who saw me would try to set me up, especially over the holidays when they believed in "the magic of mistletoe." I didn't hate it, but I just had no intention of getting roped into a relationship. Even with this hunk of a doctor shaking my hand.

"Welcome to New Hope, Ms. Winters." His voice was smooth and buttery and made my body warm a few degrees, but when it did, I thought of Ethan and my heart felt cold again.

"Really nice to meet you, and that's 'welcome back.'" I tucked my hand into my jacket pocket and felt foolish. This handsome doctor whose face I’d never seen in my small hometown was smiling at me like a piece of fresh meat at a butcher shop.

"Oh, yeah, honey," Mindy interrupted. "Mel worked here for a few years before she left town, but she's back. Maybe she'll teach you some of the traditions since it's your first Christmas." She obsessively wrapped her arm around mine and clung to me as if by osmosis she could gain some of his attention which was completely fixed on me.

"I'd like that very much. I've already learned so much from the locals. One as pretty as you is bound to have a few secret Christmas traditions to share." He winked at me, and my cheeks warmed, and I was not at all upset when Mindy abruptly spun us around and walked me toward the nurses’ station.

"What the heck? Well, shoot. Looks like you have an admirer. Dr. Hart was flirting with you, honey." She snickered, and I gently pried my arm away from her.

No doubt that grin and the way he winked, coupled with his comment, were all intended to show me he found me interesting, if not attractive. I brushed a few strands of my long auburn hair out of my eyes and felt like shrinking into my sweater and hiding. Twins meant double trouble and no time for dating or men. He'd be getting let down gently.

"Yes, well, I'm quite a busy woman and I'm not looking for a relationship right now." I wasn’t looking four years ago before I left, either. It sort of just happened, and when it did, I was so in love and lost in the man.

My heart was still his, though I'd never be able to admit that aloud since we never told anyone we were an item. I never knew why, either, but when I left, I knew it was best for him. He was a wanderer, a soul whose body had no tether. He belonged to the world and went wherever his passion carried him, and knowing he was out there serving people with his gift for healing was all I could hope for him. He was happy, and I was here where I belonged.

"You never know what the holiday spirit could cause to blossom." Her hard elbow in my side was grating, but I said nothing. She led me on and introduced me to a few new nurses and a few old faces. We chatted a few minutes about my being their boss, and they seemed thrilled with the idea. I felt like we were hitting it off when Mindy again abruptly pulled me in a new direction.

"Now, we don't have a head of pediatrics right now. The former head took a job out of state only last week and Dr. Winters—oh, sorry, I mean John. You probably don't call your brother Dr. Winters, do you?"

I again winced at the over familiarity of this darn small town and how well people know each other and everything about each other's lives.

"Uh, I just call him John." Even as my ultimate boss, he'd always be John to me. Four years older, way wiser, but still my big brother.

"Yeah, well John had to call in a favor with a friend, I guess. We have an interim chief of pediatrics, and while you're not reporting directly to him, you'll want to know him. You two will be in charge of some of the holiday festivities around the hospital, decorating—the float, you know. That sort of thing." She waved her hands in the air as she spoke, and I couldn't help but picture that game show woman who turned tiles with letters on them in a giant game of crossword puzzles for money.

"That's no problem. I wouldn't be a Mistletoer if I didn't love Christmas." It was true. I'd always loved the season, partly because I grew up here, but also because it just felt magical. Until that year Mom found out about the cancer. I'd been battling the holiday blues since, but I promised myself and Dad that this year would change everything for us. Being back home would help us get our holiday spirit back.

"Alright, well let's just see if he's in his office right now." She tapped on the door which still read, Dr. Thomas Wright: Chief of Pediatrics , and then waited.

A warm baritone resounded on the other side of the thick oak door and called us in, and she opened the door and strutted through. But I stood paralyzed like a deer in headlights on Christmas morning after a foot of snow had fallen.

"Ethan?" I mumbled, seeing my former paramour seated behind the mahogany desk with a name plate that didn't match his name and a fancy suit that looked like it cost twice what my monthly rent cost.

"Mel, this is Dr. Ethan Sinclair. He's filling in for the next month or so until your brother fills the position. Dr. Sinclair, this is Melody Winters. She's the new charge nurse on the floor, the one we told you we were hiring. I'm sure you two will get along fine and…"

Mindy's voice faded into the background as I stepped forward, not believing what I was seeing. Ethan was supposed to be overseas working with Doctors Without Borders. He told me that night, when I told him I had to visit my mother and care for her, the night I wanted to tell him I was pregnant with his twins. The night I found out that if I didn’t go with Mom to Chicago, she wouldn't be able to get the treatments.

Why was he here, staring at me with doe eyes? Why was my heart doing a flip-flop? And how could I somehow disappear and melt into the floor to give myself time to think about this before I had to say something?

"Mel? Hun?" Mindy's voice was still a blur, and I felt dizzy.

What the heck was happening?