The Doctor's Unexpected Family: (Inspirational Romance) (Port Provident: Hurricane Hope) by Kristen Ethridge Page A

told me before we got married that he didn’t want kids, he wanted a career—he’s an anchor with Channel Four up in Houston. I agreed because I thought that’s what I wanted too. Then I found out I was pregnant. Everything changed for me, but for him, it didn’t. He left before Celina was born.”
    “He just left you?”
    Angela took a deep, fortifying breath before speaking. She never talked about this period of her life. Not with her mother, her sister, anyone.
    She couldn’t explain why she was confessing all this to Pete. Except that he cared. He cared about her, he cared about Celina. That much was clear, even if nothing else was since the hurricane blew through her island home.
    “He was offered a promotion at the station at the same time. They wanted to promote him from reporter to an anchor on their morning show. It was a huge step forward on his career path. He’d always been clear about what he wanted. I’d grown up in the shadow of a marriage that was held together for the sake of the kids, where one parent resented the other one. I didn’t want that for my daughter.” She shrugged. It seemed like the only thing to do. “So I let him go. I told him to go.”
    “Oh.” Pete’s tone conveyed an uncertainty about the whole situation. “But he never came back? For Celina?”
    Angela felt the corner of her mouth twist. “Well, no. His career took off after that. Everyone in southeast Texas knows David Carbajal. I guess he just had other things to do. But I can’t resent it, Pete. He was clear with me from day one, before we were even married, and I’m the one who told him to go.”
    “David Carbajal? Celina’s father is David Carbajal?” Pete raised his eyebrows. “Wow, when you say his career took off, you weren’t kidding.”
    The squeak of the saltwater-rusted hinges on the apartment’s door broke up the trail of conversation.
    “Mama? Can you come tuck me in? Brownie and I have our pajamas on. Well, Brownie just has fur. But fur means he’s not naked, right, Mama?” She helpfully held the bear out for inspection.
    Angela shook her head. “No, sweetie, Brownie is perfect the way he is. Just like you are. Perfect the way God made you. I’ll be right in.”
     “Bedtime.” She pointed over her shoulder at the door, while giving Pete one last glance. “Thanks again for taking her fishing today.”
     “Like I said—anytime.” Dual creases cut vertically between Pete’s eyebrows. “Hey, Angela…”
    She stopped, torn between bedtime duties for a bear and his best friend, and wanting to know the rest of what Pete had to say.
    “Hmm?”
    “After you tuck Celina in, if you want to come sit up on the deck for a little bit, I think I’m going to get out my telescope and look at the stars. There’s supposed to be a small meteor shower tonight. I’ve seen a few before out here. It’s amazing to watch the stars falling from out here.”
    Angela stood still and looked right at Pete’s face. She only gave herself a second, but she looked at the gray eyes that lit up at the sight of her daughter, at the brow that furrowed when she revealed how Celina’s father had left them both behind, at the jaw saved from being square by a thick dusting of post-hurricane stubble. She looked lower at the hands that had treated her when her blood sugar had dropped, the hands that had carried Celina to a safe bed to sleep in and had pulled in a small, wriggling fish on her fishing line.
    “Okay. Give me a few minutes. I think she’ll crash pretty quickly. She’s had a big day.”
    Angela turned and walked the few steps to the door of her temporary home. And as she tugged at the door knob, a realization hit her like the splash of a stormy wave.
    The stars in the sky weren’t the only thing falling.

    Pete placed two bottles of water on the top of the small round table between the two Adirondack chairs on the deck. The telescope was in the corner, and all there was left to do was wait.
    He tried to