Angela Hunt - A Time To Mend

“Hunt deals with medical technology using clear, concise language. A dramatic and touching story that should find an audience in any library.”

—Library Journal

“Hunt has done an excellent job of unfolding a rocky romance in a warm, rich story.”

—Christian Entertainment

“The discovery of breast cancer can bring a sense of panic and loss of control. Jacquelyn Wilkes had lost her mother to the dreaded disease. Now, while working in a clinic as an oncology nurse, she discovers a lump in her own breast, which turns out to be malignant. Jacquelyn and her doctor, Jonah Martin, join forces to fight the cancer invading her body. During this process, she comes to realize that an equally dangerous disease has permeated Jonah’s heart and soul. As God brings healing to both of them, He also brings them together in love. Add this one to the fiction section of your library.”

—Church Libraries

Praise for Angela Hunt

“Angela Hunt is brilliant, and her pen is sharper and more effective than any scalpel I’ve used.”

—Harry Kraus, Jr., M.D., surgeon, and author of For the Rest of My Life

“[Hunt] is truly a premier storyteller!”

—Colleen Coble, bestselling author of Black Sands

“Good books are entertaining, great books are entertaining and thought provoking…. There is a reason Angela Elwell Hunt remains on my ‘must-read’ list. She does more than tell a great story, she makes me think.”

—Alton Gansky, bestselling author of Before Another Dies

Refreshed version of Gentle Touch, newly revised by author

www.millsandboon.co.uk

In memory of Jean Hunt,

whose bright spirit lives on in her son.

When we walk to the edge of all the light we have

and step out into the darkness of the unknown,

we must believe there will be something solid to stand on

or that we will be taught how to fly…

Author Unknown

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

Discussion Questions

An Interview with Angela Hunt

A dazzling white blur of sun stood fixed on the eastern horizon, bathing the enormous Chambers-Wyatt Hospital complex in a sterile light. Jacquelyn Wilkes stepped from her car, adjusted her spotless uniform, then drew a deep, contented breath. Before her stood the concrete and glass cancer clinic, the hospital’s facility for outpatient therapy. Her home away from home. The spot she’d been longing for through two eternal weeks of what was supposed to be a solitary and restful vacation on a Bahamas beach.

“No problem, mon, I’m happy to change gears,” she whispered. “Back to work. Let the rich and famous keep the beaches, I’ll take my job any day.” She lifted her chin, easily slipping back into the disciplined frame of mind through which she had captured the title of “Nurse of the Year” at the hospital’s last two awards banquets. At twenty-seven, she had been the youngest nurse ever to win that coveted honor, and she intended to keep it.

Gaynel Morrow, the receptionist, flashed a warm smile as Jacquelyn entered the building. “Ah, look who’s back! But where’s your tan?”

“Hiding beneath a layer of sunblock, where it belongs.” Jacquelyn paused to sign in. “Skin cancer, remember?”

Gaynel rolled her eyes. “You’re no fun at all, Jackie. You’re the only person I know who could go to the beach for two weeks and come back without a tan—or a man.”

“Red hair and sun don’t mix.” Jacquelyn snapped the pen to the desk. “And I wasn’t looking for romance, I’m perfectly happy with Craig. I wanted to rest!”

In truth, she’d wanted rest about as much as a dog wants fleas, but what else could you do on a solitary vacation?

She sighed in feigned despair as she looked around the reception area. The same old magazines littered the tables, the same morning talk shows droned from the television in the corner. “I see nothing around here has changed.”

“That’s what you think.” Gaynel leaned forward and lowered her voice. “There’s a new doctor in your office. Dr. Kastner finally found someone to replace Dr. Winston.”

“Another one of his old medical school buddies?”

“Hardly.” Gaynel let out a low, throaty laugh. “Jonah Martin is anything but old. He’s—” She grinned. “Well, you’ll have to see him for yourself.”

Jacquelyn felt a disturbing quake in her serenity. She was glad to be back, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to deal with a new doctor. The recently retired Dr. Winston had worked at the clinic for years, and she had grown so used to him she could practically read his mind. But a new doctor would have his own way of doing things, and she’d have to learn to deal with an entirely different set of idiosyncrasies. He might even be one of those bossy types that ordered nurses about with impunity and flung blame on everyone from interns to orderlies when something went wrong….

Jacquelyn leaned against Gaynel’s desk. “What do you know about this new guy?”

“I have his bio right here.” The receptionist pulled a brochure from the papers scattered over her desk. “Dr. Jonah Martin graduated from University of Virginia Medical School with honors seven years ago. He served at UVA Hospital, then transferred to Tidewater General, then to Roanoke Community, followed by the Thomas Morris Cancer Institute in Seattle. Last year he worked at Jackson Memorial in Tallahassee.” She dropped the brochure and lifted an eyebrow. “Now he’s here.”

“So many places.” Jacquelyn frowned. “Don’t you think that’s strange? So many hospitals in how long—seven years? I can’t imagine a doctor moving his family around so much.”

“He’s not married.” Amusement twinkled in the receptionist’s eyes. “And his résumé is impressive—Dr. Kastner says the guy just keeps moving up to bigger and better things. He says we’re lucky Dr. Martin is willing to come here.”

Jacquelyn drummed her fingers on the desk, bracing herself for the day ahead. Not only was she going to have to shift her mental focus from vacation to work, she was also going to have to shift from Dr. Winston mode to Dr. Martin mode, whatever that was….

“Do you like him?” Jacquelyn’s brows lifted at the question.

“What’s not to like?” The phone buzzed on Gaynel’s desk, so the receptionist gave Jacquelyn a parting wave as she answered the call. Jacquelyn’s mind bulged with unasked questions as she crossed the reception area. Gaynel liked the new doctor, and that was a good sign. But receptionists and doctors didn’t work together as closely as doctors and nurses.

A breath of cool morning air blew past her as the wide glass entry doors slid open. Jacquelyn turned and flashed a quick smile at Mrs. Johnson, who led her five-year-old daughter, Megan, by the hand. Megan had gone completely bald from the effects of her treatment, but she gazed up at Jacquelyn with a bright smile and waved enthusiastically.

Jacquelyn gave a quick wave in response, then turned and quickened her pace, sighing in relief when she entered the hallway that led to the nurses’ station. She’d make sure Lauren or Stacy worked with little Megan this morning. The darling kid had been in treatment for two years and the prognosis was not good.