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Book #2 in the award-winning Destiny Series
REVIEWERS’ CHOICE AWARD WINNER:
Historical Time Travel Romance Of The Year
“The most delicious, thrilling, rambunctious time-travel adventure to come along in a long time.” –Romantic Times Magazine
CHAPTER ONE
San Jose, California 2017
Josie Reed tucked a stray piece of dark, curly hair behind her ear and refocused her eyes on the computer screen in front of her. She was only halfway through a twenty-four-hour shift at the hospital, and she was already beginning to feel burned out. She’d need to grab a few hours of sleep before her shift ended at five if she hoped to make it through an all-nighter at the free clinic downtown…and then she had her monthly evaluation with her advisor the following afternoon. Any other resident would have balked at her demanding schedule, but Josie thrived on it. She’d devoted her entire life to becoming a doctor, and she was determined to be the best.
In college, she’d given up any semblance of a social life to complete her undergrad in just three years. She’d graduated at the top of her class in med school, won two Women In Science Awards, and scored a 272 on her USMLE, assuring her a choice of elite hospitals in which to serve her residency. She’d chosen UCSF in San Francisco. They had a top-notch family practice residency, and Josie had grown up in Oakland and wanted to give back to the community.
Now, at twenty-six years old, Josie’s drive had yet to falter; she was the youngest third-year resident at the hospital, and her career path was on track for opening her own private practice by the time she turned twenty-seven.
The other residents claimed she was some sort of phenom, as if her success had come easily and not without sacrifice. They called her Doogie—short for Doogie Howser— but she got even with them during occasional poker games in the call-room. It seemed that years of focus and study had not only rocketed her ahead of her peers, it had left her with a remarkable ability to bluff at cards.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and reached for the open can of Diet Pepsi sitting beside her on the desk. She’d never developed a taste for coffee. She preferred her caffeine in a sweeter form.
A med student stuck her head in the office door. “You’ve got a familiar patient in three.”
Josie looked up. “Who?”
The med student smirked. Josie couldn’t recall the student’s name, but remembered she was from Illinois. “The GOMER.”
“Mr. Belamey? I sent him to Behavioral Health.”
“And BH sent him back. He says his leg hurts.”
Josie dug her fingers into the back of her neck to work loose a cramp. “Give it to Miser. I’ve got three peer reviews to get through before—”
“Already asked him. He said the guy was your turf so now he’s your bounce.”
Brent Miser was another third year, so Josie couldn’t pull rank. She was going to have to deal with Mr. Belamey again.
She leaned back in her chair and nodded. “Give me five.”
She finished reading through the current page on her computer, and then left her office and headed down the long corridor toward room three.
When Josie entered the room, the patient waiting on the exam table gave her a warm smile.
“Hello, Doctor Reed.”
Josie frowned at the small woman. “I’m sorry. I was expected in another room.” She exited and glanced at the number on the wall. The number 3 stared back at her.
Frowning, she re-entered the room. “I’m looking for Mr. Belamey.”
Mr. Cecil Belamey was a tall, overweight man in his mid-thirties—impossible to mistake for a five-foot-tall, middle-aged woman wearing a gray suit and pearls.
“Mr. Belamey is safe and sound,” the woman replied.
Confused, Josie laughed. “Okay. Well. What can I do for you, Ms…?”
“Guide.”
“Ms. Guide.”
“Just Guide.”
“What can I do for you…Guide?” The stories were true, the weird ones always came out during full moons, and Josie had learned not to argue with them.
“Actually,” the woman replied, “I’m here for you.”
Josie folded her arms. “For me?”
“Tell me something, Doctor Reed. Have you ever met a man who could really make your heart pound?”
Josie blinked. That was an odd question out of left field. “No,” she answered slowly. “I can’t say that I have.” And if she ever did, she’d run him out of her life as fast as she could. “Do you have an ailment or injury, Miss—uh, Guide?”
The woman smiled. “They say people tend to find what they’re searching for in the last place they’d ever think to look.”
“Uh huh. Well, right now I’m looking for a reason for you to be in my emergency room.”
“You know,” the woman went on, “love is a remarkable thing. It can turn the coldest day to warm, the saddest heart to joy, the darkest soul to light—“
“It makes the world go around.” Josie interrupted. “I’ve heard the song.” She stepped further into the room. “Do you mind if I look you over?”
The woman pulled back. “I assure you, I am in perfect health.”
Josie’s favorite kind of patient: One who comes to the doctor but doesn’t want to be touched. “Okay… Are you injured? Maybe you hit your head?”
“Doctor Reed, don’t you harbor any hope for eventually finding your soul mate?”
“My life is pretty good just the way it is.” The woman didn’t look ill or injured. Maybe another one for BH? “Did someone bring you here today? Do you have a family member with you?”
The woman persisted. “What would you say if I told you exactly where you can find your perfect man?”
“You mean after I finished laughing?”
The woman gave her a bland look, but remained undaunted. “What if I told you he lived in New Mexico in the nineteenth century?”
Yep. Behavioral Health. And, unlike Mr. Belamey, this one was going to stick. “Isn’t it just like a man to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?” Josie joked.
“What if I told you I could send you back there to be with him?”
Josie ignored the question. “Are you taking any medications we should know about? Lithium? Aricept?”
“Doctor Reed, tell me…would you go back in time to be with the one man who could make you happy for the rest of your life?”
Josie smiled patiently. “Let me get a nurse.”
She left the room and caught the attention of the head nurse. “The patient in room three,” she told her, “needs a psych eval.”
The nurse shook her head. “BH just send Belamey back down here. He says his arm hurts.”
“He told the med student it was his leg.”
The nurse shrugged. “Told me his arm.”
Josie rolled her eyes. She didn’t have time for this. “Belamey isn’t in room three. It’s a white female in her forties with delusions.”
“White female?” Now the nurse looked confused.
Josie followed her back to room three where she pushed open the door and found Mr. Belamey seated on the exam table. The large man immediately went into theatrics. “My back is killing me,” he whined.
The nurse arched her brows at Josie. “Long shift?”
Josie stood in the doorway with her mouth hanging open. Other than Mr. Belamey, there was no-one else in the room. The little woman had vanished.
* * *
Josie jammed her car into fourth and sped up the entrance ramp and onto the freeway toward downtown. It had been a long twenty-four hours at the hospital—she hadn’t even bothered to take off her scrubs before leaving. She’d just grabbed her clothes and her backpack full of supplies for the clinic, and headed out. She’d only managed to sneak in four hours of sleep between patients, but that—and Diet Pepsi—were going to have to be enough to keep her going for the rest of the night.
“Hello.”
The voice startled Josie so badly she swerved into the next lane.
“Doctor Reed! Watch out!”
She straightened the car, then looked over to see the female psych patient from earlier that day sitting in the passenger seat.
“What the… What are you doing in my car?!” she demanded.
“We need to finish our conversation.”
“What conversation?!”
“The one about your soul mate.”
“Oh for God sake.”
Josie pulled off at the next exit and sped down the freeway ramp. She took the first right, and then headed back toward the hospital parking lot where she pulled up short beneath a lamppost and cut the engine.
“Come into the hospital with me so we can get you some help.”
“I don’t need your help,” the woman responded “you need mine. I can give you what your soul is crying out for.”
“My soul isn’t crying, lady. I am fine.”
“You are alone.”
“And what’s so bad about that? I get a lot done by myself. No husband to answer to. No children.”
“No love.”
Josie flinched. There was that, but she’d learned to fill up the loneliness with more work.
The woman leaned closer. “An unfortunate mistake has been made, Doctor Reed. Within each person’s lifetime there exists one other who is their perfect match. However, you, my dear, were born in the wrong century. Your true love exists in another time and place.”
Josie rubbed her forehead. She suddenly felt so tired. “Are we back to this again?”
“Trust me. Let me guide you to your soul mate, to the place where you truly belong. Let me help you find your true destiny.”
“Look, Guide, I appreciate your concern, but I’m fine. My life is perfect just the way it is.”
“You’re wrong. Neither one of you can get along without the other. If you stay apart much longer, the consequences will be tragic. All you must do is agree to meet him.”
Josie laughed. “You mean like a blind date?”
“Of sorts.”
She leaned back against the headrest and sighed. The woman obviously thought of herself as some kind of magical match maker. The lady needed serious help. “If I agree to meet this guy, will you agree to come into the hospital with me?”
The woman didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely.”
“Then, fine. I’ll meet the guy. When and wh—”
Josie suddenly found herself standing in an old wooden doorway. She took hold of the splintered frame to steady herself and heard a dull thud. She glanced down at a dirty plank floor and found her backpack resting at her feet.
Fear, deep and strong, coiled inside her stomach. What had just happened to her?
The sound of muffled voices caught her attention. She slowly looked up and stared in stunned silence at two men standing by an old metal bed across the room. They were awash in the dull yellow glow of lantern-light, and were so intent on the form lying on the bed in front of them that they’d failed to notice her presence.
“He’s out again,” the heavyset man said.
The tall, balding man nodded. “With that infection, he likely won’t make it to morning.”
“Then there ain’t nothin’ for it, Doc?”
The tall man sighed and began rolling up the full white sleeves of his shirt. “Get the saw, Deputy Green. I’m taking the leg.”