Married For Now

MARRIED FOR NOW JUST MARRIEDBOOK TWO Megan Linden Website | Newsletter ABOUT THE BOOK IT WAS TOO RISKY… AND YET. Tommy Medina thought he'd left his past behind and managed to start over. He was a few months into his fellowship, he had his hands full in more ways than one, and he had a harmless crush on a hot surgeon. His life was good. But then the news came about his invalid visa. Now, he was about to lose everything he'd worked so hard for. He definitely didn't expect his crush to come to his rescue, that was for sure. Brandon Sherwood couldn't truly tell why he was so determined to help Tommy out. Sure, he'd made a promise to himself once, but was he really going to risk it all now for a barely more than a stranger? Apparently so. At the first glance, they were total opposites, but as their married life progressed, it turned out they fit better than either of them could ever expect. If only everything else was so easy… CHAPTER ONE Tommy Medina should be at the Collins Foundation's winter holiday party right now, in a ballroom full of sharply dressed people, drinking champagne and eating too small portions of delicious food. And yet, here he was, standing in front of his favorite place in Ruth's Children Hospital—the nursery for newborns with minimal or no complications. Normally, he would be holding one of the babies right now, letting them lull themselves back to sleep on his chest, but he needed to calm down first before he could help any of the little ones. So he stood on the other side of the glass, just looking at them, repeating all the baby names in his head, over and over again. Veronica, Isaac, Adele, Roy, Vikram, Kaitlin, Beatrice, David. Veronica, Isaac, Adele… He was going to lose it all. The fellowship training in neonatology he'd barely started, his future, everything. Veronica, Isaac… Without his visa, he couldn't stay in the States. He would have to return to Mexico, a country he didn't even remember because he had been around two when his parents packed their things and moved. Tommy had nobody there, aside from a few cousins he'd never met. He had nothing. He'd done everything right, he'd tried to do everything right, and it still wasn't enough. Nothing he'd done was ever enough and Tommy was tired of it. Every step of the way was hard, harder than it should be, harder than the people around him had it. He'd hoped time and time again that the next step would be easier, but then, like clockwork, something always happened to remind him that no, easy was never in the cards for him. Struggle or give up, those were his choices. Or there was no choice involved at all, like right now. "Hello, love," a quiet voice came from behind him, and a second later Rebecca, the oldest nurse in the maternity ward, appeared at his side. "You decided to skip the party for much better company, I see." Tommy had only been at Ruth's for a few months so far, so he'd never attended the Collins Foundation's party before, but from everything he'd heard, nobody here liked it. It was expected for at least some of them to make an appearance, though, and as the newest addition to the staff, Tommy had been picked to attend. However, a part of him had been looking forward to it, once he'd learned who else drew the short straw. He'd even dry cleaned his suit before his last shift, so it would be ready for tonight. But that was before. Before this morning, before the summons to HR, before the news that changed everything. No valid visa. "Tommy?" He glanced at Rebecca before turning back to the babies. He couldn't stand another look of concern, of pity. He was going to break under the weight of it all. He cleared his throat. "Like you said, the company's much better here," he said, unsure if she knew yet. If the news had already spread to the entire staff. He knew it wouldn't stay a secret for long, but he hoped for a little more time. If he was forced to leave, he didn't want to say goodbye to each and every person he knew here. He was going to be a crying mess as it were. But he also didn't want to make it sound like he shunned the party just because. "I had a hard day, and I couldn't…" He paused, feeling his throat constrict. Damn it. Get it together. "I wouldn't make a good impression. These guys here," he went on, waving towards the window, "won't complain too much." "If anything, they may complain you're not in there." Rebecca curled her arm around his waist and pulled him with her. "Come on, let's get inside. David looks like he's seconds away from waking up the whole crew." Tommy opened his mouth to protest, since he still didn't think he would do any good, shaken as he was, but before he knew it, he was sitting in the armchair in the corner of the room, with bundled-up David lying on his chest and already blinking slowly. "There you go," Rebecca whispered with a soft smile. "Our superhero to the rescue." Tommy swallowed hard, keeping his gaze on the baby. People were so nice at Ruth's, so ready to accept him. As if all he had to do to prove himself was his best, as if his work was really all that mattered—aside from, perhaps, his uncanny talent to put any baby to sleep quickly. That was a knack highly sought after, especially here, so he spent a lot of time in the nurseries, during his shifts but also outside of them. Work consumed most of his time and energy, and usually he didn't even complain, because he had designed it that way himself. But soon, he was