Michelle Major - Fortune's Fresh Start

He and Marci, Callum’s beloved stepmother, had been understandably concerned at Callum’s rash decision to move to the small town, especially when his older stepbrother, Steven, younger brother, Dillon, and half sister, Stephanie, came with him. But Callum trusted his instincts when it came to real estate. He had no doubt Rambling Rose was the right decision, and his siblings’ joining him was an added bonus.

He stood with Stephanie in the parking lot of the new Rambling Rose Pediatric Center, which was due to officially open its doors in two days. Callum was proud of everything his crew and the subcontractors he’d hired had accomplished in the past few months.

The building, which was situated about ten minutes north of Rambling Rose’s quaint downtown area, had been almost completely gutted and rebuilt to house a state-of-the-art health facility where local children would receive primary medical, dental and behavioral health care at a facility designed just for them.

“We should go in,” he said before Stephanie asked the inevitable question of whether he saw himself staying in Rambling Rose long-term. She wouldn’t have wanted to hear his answer, but the thought of committing to the town longer than it would take to finish their projects made his skin itch.

Since he’d started his construction company, his modus operandi had always been to go with the work. He focused his efforts on small-town revitalizations but once he’d met his goals in a community, Callum moved on.

He wasn’t a forever type of guy, at least not anymore.

“How are things at the vet clinic?” Stephanie asked as she fell into step next to him.

“On schedule to open next month,” he answered, giving her a gentle nudge. “Don’t worry, Squeak. We’ll make sure you’re still gainfully employed.”

She gave him a playful nudge. “What do I have to do to get you to stop calling me that?”

“The dishes and my laundry for a week.”

“Done.”

He chuckled. “I should have held out for a month.”

“Don’t push your luck. I know how much you hate folding clothes.”

“Been there, done that,” he told her. He’d been three and his brother Dillon two when their father had married Marci. She’d had two boys of her own that she brought to the marriage: Steven, who was two years older than Callum, and Wiley, who was Callum’s age. They’d had Stephanie right away and the triplets had followed five years after that. Marci was a great mother and treated all the kids with the same love and kindness. But the pregnancies had taken a toll on her health.

As a young boy, Callum had found himself responsible for the girls and running much of the household while his father focused on the explosive success of his first video game launch. The role had come naturally to Callum, but the added responsibility had robbed him of much of his childhood. He’d managed laundry for a household of ten from the time he was in elementary school until Marci’s health had improved.

He didn’t regret the time he’d dedicated to his siblings, but it definitely made him less inclined to take on more domestic tasks than were necessary to function as an adult.

“You still can’t fold a fitted sheet the right way,” Stephanie said in the flippant tone she’d perfected as an adorable but annoying little sister.

“No one can,” he countered.

“Martha Stewart has a tutorial on it.”

He shook his head as they approached the entrance of the pediatric center, where a small crowd had gathered. “I’m not watching Martha Stewart.”

A flash of color caught his eye, and he noticed a woman pushing a double stroller toward the entrance. Two toddlers sat in the side-by-side seats, and one girl’s blanket had slipped off her lap. The corner of the fabric was tangled in the wheel and the girls’ frazzled-looking mother struggled to free it.

“There are Mom and Dad, with Steven and Dillon,” Stephanie told him, taking a step toward their family, who stood near the swath of ceremonial ribbon that stretched in front of the center’s entrance.

“Be there in a sec.”

Without waiting for an answer, Callum jogged toward the woman and her two charges.

“Can I help?” he asked, offering a smile to the toddlers, who were mirror images of each other. Twins. No wonder their mom seemed stressed. He remembered what a handful his triplet sisters had been at that age.

The woman, who knelt on the pavement in a bright blue dress, looked up at him. Callum promptly forgot his own name.

She was beyond beautiful…at least to him.

A lock of whiskey-hued hair fell across her cheek, and she tucked it behind her ear with a careless motion. Her features were conventional by most standards—a heart-shaped face, large brown eyes with thick lashes and creamy skin that turned an enchanting shade of pink as she met his gaze. Her mouth was full and her nose pert, but somehow everything came together to make her stunning. The sparkle in her gaze and the way her lips parted just a bit had him feeling like he’d been knocked in the head.

“It’s caught in the wheel,” she said, and it took him a moment to snap back to reality.

“Mama,” one of the girls whined, tugging on the other end of the blanket.

“We’ll get your blankie, Luna.” The woman patted her daughter’s leg. “This nice man is going to help.”

Nice man. Callum wasn’t sure he’d ever heard anyone describe him as “nice” but he’d take the compliment. He tried to remember the definition of the word while forcing himself to ignore the spark of attraction to a stranger who was probably some equally nice man’s wife.

He crouched down next to the twins’ mom and carefully extricated the fabric from the spokes of the wheel. It took only a minute and he heard an audible sigh of relief next to him once the blanket was free.

“Bankie,” the girl shouted as she tugged the pink-and-yellow-checked blanket into her lap.

“Mama,” her sister yelled like she wanted to be in on the action and then popped a pacifier into her mouth.

“Thank you,” the woman said as they both straightened.

Callum was about to introduce himself when she stumbled a step. Without thinking, he reached out a hand to steady her.

“Are you okay?”

She flashed a sheepish smile. “Sorry. I stood up too fast. I didn’t have time for breakfast today but managed two cups of coffee. Low blood sugar.”

Callum had to bite back an invitation to go get breakfast with him even as he surreptitiously glanced at her left hand. No wedding ring, which didn’t necessarily mean anything. Still, he could—

“Callum!”

He turned at the sound of his name. Steven waved at him from across the clusters of people gathered for the ceremony. Right. He was here for business, not to lose his head over a pretty woman.

His turn for an apologetic smile. “I have to go,” he said.

She nodded. “Thanks again.”

“You should eat something,” he told her, then forced himself to wave at the girls and turn away after his brother called to him again.

Odd how difficult it was to walk away from a perfect stranger.

“The pediatric center would just be a dream for this community without the work of Callum, Steven and Dillon Fortune and everyone at Fortune Brothers Construction.”

Becky Averill watched as Rambling Rose’s effervescent mayor, Ellie Hernandez, motioned for the brothers to join her in front of the blue ribbon. How was it possible that Becky’s stroller catastrophe hero was also the man she had to thank for her new job?

When the pediatric center officially opened a few days from now, she’d be the head nurse in the primary care department, reporting directly to Dr. Parker Green, who was heading up the entire center.