Time for Raine Read online

  Table of Contents

  Excerpt

  Praise for TIME FOR RAINE

  Time for Raine

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Epilogue

  A word about the author…

  Thank you for purchasing this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

  Noelle had never seen a more beautiful man.

  He stood across the room like a deer in headlights, gorgeous. He wore a navy sport coat, khaki slacks, bright white shirt, and peach tie. Each piece of clothing seemed designed and tailored perfectly for those broad shoulders and slim hips. Time stood still as she walked slowly toward him. His eyes fixed on her advance. The closer she got, the more her heart hammered. She stopped a few feet from him and smiled.

  “You look…stunning,” he said.

  “I was about to say the same about you.”

  He moved ever so slowly toward her, stalking her, drinking her in with his eyes. She willed her legs to take her closer. She thought she might keel over, yet strangely, she had no fear. If she did faint, she hoped she would fall into his arms. He licked his lips and leaned closer still.

  If he doesn’t kiss me right now, right here on this spot, I will die.

  “Daddy?”

  The sleepy sound came from behind them.

  The spell was broken. A different Sean Sampson appeared before her eyes. The passion in his eyes faded. Noelle found humor in the moment and laughed. From the look on his face, he did not.

  Praise for TIME FOR RAINE

  “The story unfolds at a pace that kept me enthralled, and dialogue and characterizations were crisp and completely relatable.”

  ~The Romance Reviews (5 Stars)

  Time for Raine

  by

  C. Barry Denham

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  Time for Raine

  COPYRIGHT © 2017 by C. Barry Denham

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Contact Information: [email protected]

  Cover Art by Kristian Norris

  The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

  PO Box 708

  Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708

  Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com

  Publishing History

  First Sweetheart Rose Edition, 2017

  Print ISBN 978-1-5092-1426-6

  Digital ISBN 978-1-5092-1427-3

  Published in the United States of America

  Dedication

  For all the little girls from China,

  especially those lost or left behind

  Chapter One

  Ono Island, Alabama—the first day of fall

  Raine was too young to have memories of her mother. Sean Sampson remembered everything. The scent of her lotion and subtle taste of mint from her good night kiss. The way her long, thick, chestnut hair refused to stay put over delicate ears, no matter how many times she pushed it away from her face. The salty tears she tried to hide from the intense pain she suffered, knowing there wasn’t one thing he or anyone else could do to will a different fate for her.

  The days before, during, and after the long trip to China to get their daughter marched through Sean’s mind like so many bands in a parade. Some of the memories were melodic and beautiful. Others were loud, ugly, and etched deeply into his heart. The pain of her absence refused to loosen its grip. A small tear leaked from the corner of his eye.

  “Are you okay, Daddy?” Little fingers held tight to his index finger. One of his steps meant two for her along the desolate sandy beach.

  The warm air promised to extend the long summer. The light salty breeze off the Gulf of Mexico played at the senses and eased the soul. The sun raced across the western sky, burning its way to the end of day. It took aim at a cluster of sea oaks perched on one of the many high dunes that stretched inland.

  “I’m fine, sweetie. Daddy has something in his eye.” It was only a little white lie.

  Having her next to him made it a little easier to keep the memories distant.

  “Daddy, why do they call today the September eck…eck…qwi…not?”

  He stopped, knelt, and frowned at the barefoot child. The breeze threw a bracket of raven hair over her face. She pushed it away. Eyes as black as midnight searched his. What she said wasn’t what one might expect from a child barely two and a half years old.

  “September equinox?” he whispered.

  Raine lowered her chin toward the soft sand that bubbled and sizzled around her toes. A docile wave receded. She nodded and looked again at him. “Did I say it wrong, Daddy?”

  He gently took her shoulders. “Oh, no, sweetheart, you said it fine. I was just surprised you know what today is.”

  Until then the significance of the date hadn’t registered. He smiled, squinted, and tilted his head. “How did you know today was the first day of fall, little one? Have we been watching too much TV?”

  He goosed her. She giggled and tried in vain to escape. He lifted her into his arms and gave her neck a smooch, before setting her gently back onto the sand. They resumed the walk as the last of the sun faded to a blazing sliver on the horizon. A sea gull swooped in and landed squarely on top of the remaining orange yoke.

  He waited for an answer. His mind raced through his memory for any books on seasons he might have read to her or TV shows on the subject. Was it from the Animal Planet shows they watched together? The Learning Channel? He could think of nothing that could have prompted such a question.

  “I don’t know. I guess I saw it somewhere.”

  At the end of the day, she would sit on the carpet next to his chair and rustle through the pages of the daily newspaper. Or, from a lower shelf in the den, she would haul down one of the ancient, heavy World Book Encyclopedia volumes he had for some time meant to put in storage. It became part of the routine before he read to her at bedtime. Until that moment he assumed she was playing, looking at the pictures, pretending to read like Daddy. “So you saw a picture?”

  “I read about it.” As if any fool should know it was the only way for a thirty-month-old child to top off her evenings before bed.

  “In the books or in the newspaper?”

  “Yeah.”

  He stopped and knelt once again. His mind regressed to times she had reacted to words and sentences in books he read to her, even before he read them aloud. The Swiper’s trick on Dora…The Cat in the Hat’s antics…He had thought about her doing this at times, but assumed she had memorized portions of her favorite books.

  “So you look at the words in the encyclopedias and in the newspaper?”

  “Duh.” She grinned and planted her hands on her hips, the way he did, and then said, “That’s how you read, isn’t it?”

  He smiled and popped his fore
head with the heel of his hand. “Of course it is. Silly Daddy, huh?”

  She giggled and gave him a look that melted his heart.

  His weak laugh sounded more like a whimper. His mind churned. He wanted to grab her up, gallop back to the car, take her home to the novel he was reading, and find out if what she said was true. Instead, he took a deep breath and continued walking toward the last light of day.

  Why did he suspect his daughter’s gift meant trouble?

  He might need some help to figure out the answer to that one.

  Chapter Two

  Raine’s pediatrician had been right concerning Dr. Victor. The doc warned Sean might need to get on a list and could have a long wait to get in to see the popular child psychologist. Indeed, she was booked solid through the fall and beyond the holidays. He opted to be put on a list for cancellations. Fortunately, the week before Thanksgiving, the office called.

  The next Tuesday, he and Raine arrived to a packed waiting room. Sean looked around the room as they stood before a young, pretty receptionist with flaming red hair. A woman in the corner stared at him.

  “Excuse me, aren’t you Sean Sampson, the writer?”

  Raine turned toward the woman. “Yes, ma’am, and he’s my daddy. But he hasn’t written in a long time.”

  Leave it to Raine to hit the nail on the head. He hadn’t written since Patty died. The inspiration seemed to die along with her. Try as he might, he couldn’t convince himself to hit the power switch on the old desktop he had once frequented. He couldn’t hold on to ideas long enough to get them down on paper. The words were prone to evaporate, along with the balance in his bank accounts. Royalties dwindled, and he was well into rainy day money, just to make ends meet.

  The woman looked as though she wanted to say something but instead turned her attention to the magazine she was reading. Another woman from across the room spoke up. “Well, I for one love your books.”

  “See, Daddy?”

  Fortunately, the receptionist ushered them into the doctor’s office and introduced them. She looked up, walked around her desk, and gave Raine a surveying smile. Sean felt strange as the doctor stood looking at her, then him, over narrow reading glasses. As a man of words, he was suddenly without them. He hoped he wouldn’t have to speak. Light-blue eyes set in a pretty face seemed to look into his soul. The way her lush lips curled slightly had him searching for air. He hadn’t expected the doctor to be so young and attractive.

  She offered her hand. It was small, warm, and soft, but the handshake firm. He wasn’t prepared for how natural her hand felt in his. She wore business attire, but it failed to hide her tall, shapely, slender body and long, sleek legs. Her dark and flowing hair shone in the office lights. Dr. Victor appeared to be in her late twenties or early thirties. She asked them to sit, and he took a chair. Raine climbed onto his lap.

  “My mommy’s name is Patricia, too,” Raine said.

  The doctor leaned toward her. Raine’s greeting confused Sean, but if it had caught the doctor off guard, she didn’t show it. She threw a perfunctory glance in his direction. Sean cleared his throat and shifted nervously in his chair.

  “And I bet everyone calls her Patty?” She walked behind the desk and sat. “When I was younger, I wanted everyone to call me Patty, which you might think would work since it is my first name. But my parents insisted on calling me by my middle name, Noelle. And over the years, it stuck.”

  Raine’s expression changed, and she fiddled with a button on her light jacket. For a moment, it appeared she might burst into tears. The doctor gave him a questioning look. He opened his mouth to explain, but then thought of Raine’s revelation. “Honey, how did you know Dr. Victor’s name is Patricia Noelle?”

  “Duh, Daddy.” The doctor stood and put her hands on her hips. “From the name on the door?” She turned to Raine. “Right, sweetie?”

  “Right.” Raine laughed and flipped her hair from her face. She turned and gave him a loving look before turning back to the doctor. “My daddy and I say ‘Duh’ a lot, too.”

  The ice was broken. The doctor was in charge. But as pleasant as she seemed, Sean remained cautious.

  The conversation continued for better than a half hour. Most of the time, Sean just listened. He couldn’t seem to get a word in edgewise, although he hadn’t a clue what he would have said anyway. The easy exchange between the doctor and Raine continued through cookies and milk and a sugar-free sucker. The doctor seemed not only impressed with the conversation but delighted as well. Sean was impressed by some of Raine’s responses.

  “And what is your favorite color?”

  Raine gave the doctor that look, as she propped her little hands on her hips. Sean braced for a “Duh.”

  “Red, of course. I am from China, you know.”

  “Of course.” The doctor took it all in stride and didn’t miss a beat. She glanced at her notepad. “And what’s your most favorite thing you and your daddy do together?”

  Raine hesitated and then giggled. “Playing poker on Sunday afternoons.”

  Sean wasn’t prepared for the answer. Reading to her, maybe. Fishing, working on the boat? She could have named a number of things. But poker? In spite of his attempt to brush her answer off, he blushed and smiled nervously. The doctor chuckled and looked at him, which gave him a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  “Interesting.” She turned to Raine. “And who usually wins?”

  “Me mostly. Although sometimes I let Daddy win.”

  The doctor made notes, but the smile never faded. She knew what questions to ask and how to ask them to get the clearest response from Raine. She seemed genuinely interested in Raine’s favorite toy, stuffed animal, and even her favorite food. Sean thought the exchange might never end.

  “Well, I think that does it for now.” The doctor pressed a button on her phone. She informed the receptionist the appointment would be running over a few more minutes and to please handle the next patient for her. “I hope you don’t mind?” She glanced to Sean. It was one of the few times she acknowledged his presence in any way.

  “No, no,” he said, unsure of what to do with his hands, yet strangely happy to have her attention. “Of course not, please continue. I have a few questions, but I assume there will be time for them?”

  “Of course.” She smiled. “Just a few more minutes, and you and I will take some time to chat.”

  Ten minutes later, the doctor summoned the receptionist into the room.

  “Connie, would you please show this delightful young lady to our recreation room for a few moments while I talk to Dad?”

  Sean was reduced to “Dad.” Not Mr. Sampson. Not the man who was paying for all this. Not the signer of the checkbook. Just “Dad.” In spite of efforts to deflect his feelings, he remained cautious and wondered how much more this extra time would cost.

  “Is that all right with you, sweetie?” the doctor asked.

  Raine took Connie’s outstretched hand.

  Alone with the doctor and a hint of an unknown, yet intoxicating perfume, Sean’s pulse quickened, and the uneasiness returned full force. What was going on with all the conflicting emotions? Why was he feeling this way, knowing he might be staring into the eyes of the enemy?

  What the hell do you think you’re doing? Of all the women in the world, why be attracted to this one?

  He was sure he might be a shade crazy. This lady could well be a threat to the quiet life he had worked so hard to create with Raine. All his instincts told him to keep things in perspective and heed the many warning signs.

  Yet he continued to ignore them all.

  “Mr. Sampson, I would like to…” She paused and looked into his eyes. “Mr. Sampson, have we met?”

  He blinked and shifted nervously in his seat. “No, I don’t think so. I’m sorry, forgive me. I was thinking, well, I was just, ah, thinking.”

  Noelle raised her eyebrows.

  “Never mind. Sorry, it wasn’t important.”

  “Of cou
rse.” She leaned forward and touched his arm. “Mr. Sampson, based on my initial interview with your daughter, I’d like to administer some standard aptitude tests. Raine is extraordinarily intuitive and bright. The tests will give us an idea of how bright she is. You and/or your wife could, of course, be present during the tests or watch from the observation room we have at this facility.”

  Sean let the wife comment go. Other questions remained. Besides the costs, his main concern was how Raine would react to taking any kind of tests, and what issues might surface if she didn’t do so well on them or even if she did. He wanted nothing to do with anything that might upset the continuity of their relationship.

  “Doctor, I must be honest.” He made a conscious effort to avoid those eyes. “I’m concerned about testing her. Although you might not believe it because of the way she’s opened up to you, she can be very shy and most times doesn’t relate well to people. I’m afraid if she doesn’t do so well, what it might do to her.”

  “Mr. Sampson—”

  “Please, call me Sean.” He frowned. “The mister part makes me feel old.”

  The doctor smiled.

  God, what a nice smile she had!

  “Of course, Mr…Sean.” She moved a strand of hair behind an ear. Her gaze locked on his for a moment, and she swallowed. “I-uh-I’m sorry, where were we?”

  “I was relating my concern that these tests might frustrate or confuse Raine.”

  “Yes, of course. Sean, you can halt the proceedings at any time during any of the sessions. You can—”

  “Sessions?” What was going on here? On the one hand, he had convinced himself he was doing the best thing for his daughter by being here. On the other he wanted to stop all the proceedings, load up, and go back to the sanctity of their home on Ono Island.

  “I’m sorry,” she replied. “These tests are designed to be given during three sessions. That way Raine doesn’t get so tired. And it also allows for the possibility she might have a bad day, if you will. The tests are pricey, but I believe strongly they’re essential in our evaluation of her and will provide us with great information to determine the best plan for her education and development.”