by Caisey Quinn
Valerie May Ransom was quite a handful on the road. A beautiful handful—like her mother. His song writing had improved greatly as she demanded he sing her to sleep every night. And she was an unforgiving audience who didn’t tolerate too many repeats.
They said you couldn’t get sober for someone else. Whoever the hell “they” was. They also said you had to want it for just you. He figured he’d done everything else his own fucked-up way. Might as well stay sober his own way as well. Because it was her he’d let go of the darkness for, her voice that had pulled him from the depthless pits of hell, from the clutches of demons. And it was her he thought of every time temptation reared its ugly head.
Her holding their daughter in that hospital room, her looking up at him with gratitude and love and wonder.
The thought of losing all of that, of losing the two most important women in his life, kept most of the cravings at bay. And when it didn’t, he saw his personal drug rehabilitation counselor immediately.
So maybe he was doing it wrong. But he’d been sober for over a year. So “they” could kiss his ass—right on the tattoo that said “Stella’s.”
They’d kept her rule about always being honest with each other, sometimes brutally so. Which had made getting ink done behind her back nearly impossible. Thankfully Sid knew a guy who traveled and had been willing to work on Van’s tattoo at the crack of dawn.
His skin was still sore from adding the coloring to the tattoo that covered his back. But it was worth it. He couldn’t wait to show her.
She was awake and playing with May when he returned to the bus.
“There’s Daddy,” Stella said, standing and lifting their daughter to greet him.
May chucked a rubber drumstick at him. He kissed her chubby hand. She smiled and his heart swelled in his chest.
What a miracle love was. It had a healing power he never would’ve believed in if he hadn’t experienced for himself.
“Where’d you run off to this morning, Mr. Ransom?”
He allowed himself a gentle kiss on his soon-to-be wife’s lips. Anything more and they’d have to get the nanny to take May for a few hours.
“I have something to show you. Both of you.”
His girls waited patiently as he lifted his shirt up, the same way Stella had once done for him.
The bus was silent except for Stella’s gasp when she saw it.
“It’s us. She’s looking down at us.”
He turned, wiping the tears from her eyes. Sid’s tattoo artist had added yellow sunshine streaming throughout his tattoo of Val. He’d also inked a small smile on her face as she looked down at the three new koi fish swimming together in the water beneath her.
“Watching over us. She must be. It’s the only way I could’ve gotten this lucky.”
“It’s beautiful, Van. I love it. I love you. God, I love you so much,” was all she was able to get out.
Recognizing that she was becoming less than stable, he took the twenty pounds of precious bundle that was their daughter into his arms.
“Breathe, cowgirl. I didn’t mean to make you cry. I just…” He placed a gentle kiss on May’s forehead. “You’ve given me so much. Hope. A family. Your heart. Light in the darkness.” His lips met hers gently. “I wanted to give you something in return.”
“I love it.” Stella stood on her tiptoes and kissed him once more. “I love it so much. But you already gave me something. Something I was empty without for so long.”
He nodded towards May. “Good point. She is pretty perfect. You’re welcome.”
Stella smiled at his playful smirk. “You gave me my soul, Van Ransom. And all the horses and ranches and platinum albums in the world don’t compare to that. Though the adorable daughter is probably a touch more valuable. But I like to think I had a little something to do with that.”
May gurgled some spit and giggled in his arms. “Yeah, you both drool all over me. She’s definitely got your DNA.”
“Wheels up, kids,” Devon, their bus driver, called out as he lumbered onto the bus. “Settle in. It’s going to be a long ride.”
Stella’s bright green eyes turned to him as she slipped her diamond ring bearing hand into his. “That’s what we’re hoping for.”
FALLING FOR FATE
(Second Chance #2)
Fate Buchanan just wants to escape the constraints of her old life. After checking her mother into rehab and catching her fiancé with her maid of honor the night before their wedding, she ran. Angry and hurt, she’s aching to do something reckless.
Dean Maxwell is having one last summer of freedom before taking over his family’s business. When he sees a beautiful woman running down the beach alone after dark, he knows it’s not safe. So he does something impulsive.
When their paths cross unexpectedly after a night of unbridled passion, neither of them can ignore the memory of the affair they shared. What began as one night is about to become a whole lot more.
Coming Fall 2014
Read other books by Caisey Quinn
While writing is something that I do alone, revising, editing, and preparing to launch my books is very much a group effort. I am so very fortunate to have so many wonderful and amazingly talented people in my corner.
Regina Wamba made this cover exactly as sexy and gritty as I wanted the book to be, and she did so based on a jumbled mess of emails and Facebook messages. Because she is truly an artist with ability beyond what I can even comprehend.
My writing and critique partners gave me brutally honest and much needed feedback to make Van and Stella’s story the best it could be! I don’t know what I’d do without y’all. Seriously.
Thank you to Mickey Reed and Rahab Mugwanja for editing and proofreading my mess. I am blessed beyond what I deserve just to know each of you. Big huge hugs of gratitude to Amy, Chelcie, Erica, Stacy, Kelly, Marie, Kristy, and Amy for taking one last look and giving me honest and helpful feedback. Thank you so much, ladies! Each and every one of you means so very much to me! This book is better because of you!
I am typing this knowing I should’ve sent it to Emily Tippetts days ago for formatting. Thank you so much, Emily, and the formatters at E.M. Tippetts Book Designs for being patient with me as I struggle to hand my characters over to you.
I am so grateful to Jessica at InkSlinger for wrangling the beast of a blog tour, and for not telling me to get lost when I said I wanted anyone and everyone interested to be able to participate. For those of you who are bloggers, readers, and reviewers, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all that you do! Thank you for participating in the Meet Van blitz where we introduced my sweet, tortured soul to the world. And for participating in the blog tour, reading an ARC and writing a review even when you had a million other books to read and posts to put up. Y’all literally make my dreams come true.
I am so lucky to have found a husband who doesn’t get completely disgusted when I don’t shower for three days because I’m writing like mad and afraid of “washing the creative off me”. I can’t explain what I morph into when I am finishing a book but it isn’t pretty, nor does it smell good, or cook, or clean, or respond to attempts at communication and human contact. Thanks, J, for letting me be that creature when need be. I know it isn’t easy and I love you for stepping up to be both mom and dad while worrying incessantly about my sanity.
If you read my letter to you at the beginning of this book you know that I am mostly grateful for those folks in my life who have accepted my soul’s shadows and scars and still love me anyway. You are my miracles. I could never begin to thank you adequately for the love and acceptance and support.
To those of you who support me and the members of the indie author community, I appreciate you more than words can say.
Caisey Quinn lives in Birmingham, Alabama with her husband, daughter, and other assorted animals. She is the author of several New Adult and Contemporary romance novels featuring country girls finding love in unexpected places. You can find her online at www.caiseyquinnwrites.
com and at www.facebook.com/AuthorCaiseyQuinn.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations for reviews. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet, without the publisher’s permission and is a violation of International copyright law and subjects the violator to severe fines and/or imprisonment.
Last Second Chance
Copyright © May 2014 by Caisey Quinn
Cover Design by Regina Wamba of Mae I Design
Image: Shutterstock.com
Editor: Mickey Reed
Proofread By: Rahab Mugwanja
Formatted by E.M. Tippetts Book Designs
ISBN-10: 0991265645
ISBN-13: 978-0-9912656-4-0
This eBook is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.
Published in the United States of America
First electronic publication: May 2014 by Caisey Quinn.
www.caiseyquinnwrites.com
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this eBook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this eBook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to the original vendor and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Other Books by Caisey Quinn
Dedication
Author's Note
Quote
Prologue
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
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Epilogue
Coming Soon
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Copyright Notice
About the Book Designer
