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Penmanship
Anna Parrish
Listing my books!
I'm working on this one now.
LOVING WINTER
Prologue
They discovered the Mr. and Mrs. Randolph’s bodies one month after they had been slain. Their baby, two year old, Parker, was missing. The authorities searched but gave up the hunt after a week. They considered him either dead from the weather or a wild animal, or abducted. Just in case, he was listed as kidnaped. The word went out through out the galaxy. His parents had belonged to the Fleet.
They never did locate the murderer.
chapter 1
Winter Quinn stared at the med-board. She had to force herself to work, but it was hard. The depression that held her captive for so long was back and taunting her. She didn't care what happened; she just didn't care. She had a daughter who needed her, but right then, she didn't care about that either. It was always hard for her to focus on anything. It was all she could do just to take care of her daughter day to day. She sighed and forced her self to finish her task.
She had Conan's disease. It was incurable but could be held in control. It was a horrible melancholy, a darkness of the soul that would lead to suicide if not kept at bay. She'd have to have another injection soon she knew. She had already pushed it past the time limit by two hours. That was dangerous. Those shots were the only thing keeping her going, of keeping that disease chained up in the black pit it tried to give her. She hated taking them for they made her violently ill, but take them she did for she knew she needed them. The bad thing, she couldn’t take anything to ease the sickness. No matter what it was, it would have interfered with the anti-depressant. She had to let it wear off.
"Dr. Quinn, did you hear?" Philippe asked from her back.
Winter turned, looked at the white haired man. As she did, her golden-auburn hair swished back and forth against her neck. "No, what?" she asked quietly.
"Our new Captain snuck on board. He’s going around the ship, checking things."
"New Captain?" She made a notation on her board.
"Oh, that’s right, you were on Om Three when we got the word that Captain Hector had finally been replaced." Hector had passed away a month ago.
Winter turned slowly and looked at him. "Who is it?"
"Captain Patrick."
Winter swallowed thickly. "Luke Patrick?"
"Yeah. Have you heard of him?"
"We both served on the Magnificent at the same time."
Philippe confided, "Let’s hope he likes the Gillette."
"I’m sure he will." As strong emotion flooded upwards, Winter thought, "He’ll be the sovereign over us; the ruler of his new, little kingdom, giving orders, reprimands. Why wouldn’t he like our ship? I wonder how many of these women will share his bed? I wonder how long he’ll be here before that happens?" Anger threatened to overcome her. She forced it down. It wouldn’t do to vent it here.
"What’s he like?" Philippe wanted to know.
"It’s been nine years. I’m sure he’s changed." And she thought, "God knows he changed fast enough back then." Anguish twisted her heart. She had trusted him back then but he had betrayed her. Winter had felt like such a fool. She had gone to him to tell him about the baby but before she could, he had told her it was over, just like that. No soft, ‘I’m sorry,’ no ‘I made a mistake,’ just, ‘It’s over.’ His harsh words had cut into her soul. She had never trusted anyone since. The woman he had gone to had been her friend. Winter wasted no time transferring to another ship. She couldn’t bear the thought of looking at him with someone else, of carrying his child in front of him, of knowing he wouldn’t care. She had come to the Gillette, and five years ago, had been made the head of Medical, a good step for her. But now he was here, back in her life. Why her ship? He could have gone somewhere else. Why her ship?
The pain must have shown for Philippe asked, "Are you all right?"
"Yes."
"Was it that disease?" he asked, nosy.
Instead of answering, she asked, "Did the new vials of Tremindun come on board?"
"I don’t know. Would you like me to check?"
"Yes, please." He left and she turned back to the board... and just stood looking at it.
Her eight year old daughter came running up. "Mom?
Winter turned to look at her auburn haired child. "Yes, dear?"
"Mom, will you help me decide which one to get?"
"Which one do you like best?" Winter asked softly.
"Both!"
She took the dresses from her daughter. "You turn around. I’ll hold one in front of the other." Lee Ann turned. "Which one am I holding in the front?"
"The red one." Lee Ann swirled around. "The red one!"
"Then you buy the red one."
"Yeah, I guess so. I don’t suppose I can have both?"
Winter shook her head and said, "No."
"Hello, Winter," Luke said softly from behind her.
She felt her heart stop. Without turning around, she said, "Hello, Luke."
"It’s captain now," he teased but she took it the wrong way.
She turned, keeping her face calm and without the hectic emotions that was running through her. God, he hadn’t changed! He was still dark haired, tall and muscular, with dark brown eyes. He still wore that diamond earring in his ear. It sparkled brilliantly in the light. "Hello, Captain Patrick." She thought, "Smug, arrogant bastard. Captain is it? Should I bow down to you? Kiss your feet? I would have done that once, before you revealed your true self to me." She was barely able to keep her feelings private, to keep them off her face.
He told her gently, "You haven’t changed a bit."
Her tone was distant. "You have," and she looked at his beard. He smiled at her and stroked the thick mat of hair on his chin. "Does it itch?"
His eyes danced. "Sometimes. I didn’t know you were married."
"I’m not." His puzzled eyes went to Lee Ann who was staring at him in fascination. Winter repeated without emotion, "I’m not." Thank God Lee Ann was smaller than the other normal children her age. She looked about six. Winter repeated, "Thank God!" She did wonder why he hadn’t looked at her records. The truth was in there. But Luke was never the one to do things the normal way. He probably saw her name, and told himself, "I already know about her," and ignored the data. That was his way.
Luke was obviously disconcerted by her tone, her reception of him. It showed on his face. "Oh. So, you’re the head of my medical."
"Yes, for about five years."
"Your records say you’re doing a good job, and Captain Hector wrote great things about you in his reports."
"I liked Captain Hector."
"I hope you like me," he said softly.
"Is there any reason I shouldn’t?" she asked him.
He wondered about the monotonous tone in her voice. He turned to the girl. "I"m Captain Patrick," he told Lee Ann.
"I’m Lee Ann Quinn." She shook his hand.
Winter looked pointedly back at the screen. Her job was done but he didn’t have to know that.
"I can see you’re busy. Maybe we can see each other later for dinner."
Her tone was icy. She stared at him, daring him to argue. Her jaw tightened. "I don’t think so."
Memories of their breakup came back. She saw the recollection on his face. Yes, he understood. Too much had happened between them, too much unpleasantness. He stiffened. "As you wish." He left.
(This picture is from: http://www.dadonline.it/album/winter/page_01.htm )
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