Family Bonds- Ava and Seth (Amore Island Book 5) Read online

  Family Bonds- Ava & Seth

  Natalie Ann

  Copyright 2021 Natalie Ann

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  All Rights Reserved

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  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without a written consent.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Also by Natalie Ann

  About the Author

  Blurb

  Prologue

  1. More To Offer

  2. Security and Stability

  3. Hanging Over Their Heads

  4. Scuttlebutt of Whispers

  5. Make A Plan

  6. Clouds Of Worry

  7. Luck Of The Draw

  8. An Innocent Touch

  9. Ready To Move On

  10. Took Care Of Their Own

  11. Make It Clear

  12. I Like You

  13. Deep Topics

  14. On The Lookout

  15. More On The Line

  16. No Hiding

  17. Other Priorities

  18. Moving Fast

  19. What He Lost

  20. Excited And Giddy

  21. Not Completely Unexpected

  22. Slow Is No Fun

  23. You Need Security

  24. More Important Things

  25. Lost Any Privacy

  26. Watching Me

  27. A Good Job

  28. The Right Decision

  29. Breaking Free

  30. Same Last Name

  31. Goes On And On

  32. Nothing For Granted

  33. See This Yourself

  34. Moment of Awkwardness

  35. Words And Wishes

  36. Why Her

  37. Finally End

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  Author’s Note

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Also by Natalie Ann

  The Road Series-See where it all started!!

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  Lucas and Brooke’s Story- Road to Recovery

  Jack and Cori’s Story – Road to Redemption

  Mac and Beth’s Story- Road to Reality

  Ryan and Kaitlin’s Story- Road to Reason

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  The All Series

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  William and Isabel’s Story — All for Love

  Ben and Presley’s Story – All or Nothing

  Phil and Sophia’s Story – All of Me

  Alec and Brynn’s Story – All the Way

  Sean and Carly’s Story — All I Want

  Drew and Jordyn’s Story— All My Love

  Finn and Olivia’s Story—All About You

  Landon Barber and Kristen Reid- All Of Us

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  The Lake Placid Series

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  Nick Buchanan and Mallory Denning – Second Chance

  Max Hamilton and Quinn Baker – Give Me A Chance

  Caleb Ryder and Celeste McGuire – Our Chance

  Cole McGuire and Rene Buchanan – Take A Chance

  Zach Monroe and Amber Deacon- Deserve A Chance

  Trevor Miles and Riley Hamilton – Last Chance

  Matt Winters and Dena Hall- Another Chance

  Logan Taylor and Kennedy Miles- It’s My Chance

  Justin Cambridge and Taryn Miles – One More Chance

  * * *

  The Fierce Five Series

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  Gavin Fierce and Jolene O’Malley- How Gavin Stole Christmas

  Brody Fierce and Aimee Reed - Brody

  Aiden Fierce and Nic Moretti- Aiden

  Mason Fierce and Jessica Corning- Mason

  Cade Fierce and Alex Marshall - Cade

  Ella Fierce and Travis McKinley- Ella

  * * *

  Fierce Family

  * * *

  Sam Fierce and Dani Rhodes- Sam

  Bryce Fierce and Payton Davies - Bryce

  Drake Fierce and Kara Winslow – Drake

  Noah Fierce and Paige Parker - Noah

  Wyatt Fierce and Adriana Lopez – Wyatt

  Jade Fierce and Brock James – Jade

  Ryder Fierce and Marissa McMillan – Ryder

  * * *

  Fierce Matchmaking

  * * *

  Devin Andrews and Hope Hall- Devin

  Mick McNamara and Lindsey White- Mick

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  Love Collection

  * * *

  Vin Steele and Piper Fielding – Secret Love

  Jared Hawk and Shelby McDonald – True Love

  Erik McMann and Sheldon Case – Finding Love

  Connor Landers and Melissa Mahoney- Beach Love

  Ian Price and Cam Mason- Intense Love

  Liam Sullivan and Ali Rogers - Autumn Love

  Owen Taylor and Jill Duncan - Holiday Love

  Chase Martin and Noelle Bennett - Christmas Love

  Zeke Collins and Kendall Hendricks - Winter Love

  Troy Walker and Meena Dawson – Chasing Love

  Jace Stratton and Lauren Towne - First Love

  Gabe Richards and Leah Morrison - Forever Love

  Blake Wilson and Gemma Anderson – Simply Love

  Brendan St. Nicholas and Holly Lane – Gifts of Love

  * * *

  Paradise Place

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  Josh Turner and Ruby Gentile – Cupid’s Quest

  Harris Walker and Kaelyn Butler – Change Up

  Philip Aire and Blair McKay- Starting Over

  Nathan Randal and Brina Shepard – Eternal

  Ryan Butler and Shannon Wilder – Falling Into Love

  Brian Dawson and Robin Masters – Mistletoe Magic

  Caden Finley and Sarah Walker- Believe In Me

  Evan Butler and Parker Reed – Unexpected Delivery

  * * *

  Amore Island

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  Family Bonds- Hunter and Kayla

  Family Bonds- Drew and Amanda

  Family Bonds – Mac and Sidney

  Family Bonds- Emily & Crew

  Family Bonds- Ava & Seth

  About the Author

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  As always reviews are always appreciated as they help potential readers understand what a book is about and boost rankings for search results.

  Blurb

  Dr. Ava Mills always knew she’d end up on Amore Island, the island her family founded and built. She was just waiting for the position to open up to slide right in. And when it does, the transition is anything but smooth when her identity is stolen and her assets and funds frozen with her reputation on the line.

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  Seth Young moved to Amore Island to have his mother help him raise his daughter after the loss of his wife and unborn child. He’s worked closely with most members of the Bond family at the bank where he is president, just not Ava Mills. And when she applies for a mortgage, he has to break the news that her credit is shot. She needs help and he’s going to give it to her...just maybe not the help either of them had planned.

  Prologue

  “Seth
, I’m bleeding again.”

  Seth Young looked up at his wife, Ellen, in the kitchen of their small home outside of Boston. “A lot?” he asked, looking at his watch. It was after eight and they’d just put their three-year-old daughter, Adele, to bed.

  “More than last week,” she said.

  Ellen was seven months pregnant with their son and in the past eight weeks had started to bleed slightly on and off. Her doctor said it can happen, but after the second time, Ellen was in the office in a panic where the doctor discovered she had placenta previa and told Ellen to try to take it easy while they monitored things.

  Seth felt her doctor wasn’t doing enough to relieve their concerns. “Why don’t you call your doctor’s office now and tell them,” he said. “It can’t hurt to get it on record.”

  “It’s after hours. It’ll go to whoever is on call,” she argued.

  “If you don’t do it then we are going to the ER. This isn’t something to take a chance with.”

  “I know. But I just got Adele down and it’s not that bad.”

  “But worse than last time, you said.” He hated arguing with her, but sometimes she could be so stubborn in not wanting to put others out. He suspected it went way back to being the only child of divorced parents as they remarried and started new lives.

  “Yeah. Okay, I’ll call now.” He waited while he listened to her talking to the service. “They said someone will call me back within thirty minutes.”

  He wanted to grind his teeth over that. Thirty minutes was too long in his head, but then he’d told himself if it was an emergency they’d just go to the ER anyway.

  And twenty-five minutes later, Ellen’s doctor called her back, asked a few questions, then Ellen hung up. “She said if it’s not nonstop then to rest and put my feet up and call the office to come in in the morning. If it starts to flow like a period, to go to the ER right away.”

  Which Seth could have figured out on his own. “Then go lie down for the night. I’ll take care of the dishes when the dishwasher stops. Better yet, why don’t you get ready for bed? We can watch TV early together.”

  “That sounds good,” she said, her voice a little shaky and he wondered if it was worse than she was letting on.

  He pulled her into his arms to hold, then reached down and put his arms under her knees and carried her to their room and put her on the bed. “What do you need? Something to sleep in? Don’t do anything else right now until I get back.”

  She laughed. “You take such good care of me.”

  “That’s a husband’s job,” he said, going to the kitchen. The dishwasher would be done drying any minute and Ellen liked the dishes put away at the end of each night so that the day could start out fresh.

  He wasn’t even halfway through when she started to shout his name and he went running to see blood on the bed.

  He picked up his phone and called 911. There was no way he could get her there fast enough and he wanted her to have help immediately.

  By the time the ambulance arrived, he had a neighbor at the house to stay with Adele. No reason to wake and worry his daughter.

  The minute Ellen was loaded in the ambulance, he jumped in his car and followed them racing to the hospital, and prayed his wife and son would be okay.

  He didn’t get that prayer answered when he had to return home the next morning in a haze of disbelief and confusion, wondering how he was going to break the news to his daughter that it was just the two of them now.

  1

  More To Offer

  Three years later

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  “So, birth control options,” Emily Rauch said to Dr. Ava Mills. They were distant cousins, but that was the case with most of the Bonds on the island of this generation when they crossed family lines.

  “I don’t see where you’ve been on anything other than birth control pills in your file. That was a few years ago?”

  “Nothing in a few years. I’m not really keen on the pill again. I wasn’t a fan of the way it made me feel.”

  “There are plenty you can try if you want,” Ava said.

  “There are other options I think I’d rather explore.”

  “So things are going well with the guy from the fundraiser? Enough that you are looking for birth control options?” Ava asked, wiggling her eyebrows. Lucky dog, her cousin was. It’d been way too long since Ava had any activity with the opposite sex. Heck, it might have been a year since she’d even been on a date!

  “It’s been a few months now. You’ve seen us out to dinner and even came over to get the introduction. I want to know how you got out of that fundraiser.”

  The fundraiser that island matriarchs Helena and Janet Bond oversaw to bring money to Amore Island to help fund the clinics and emergency services that taxpayer money didn’t cover. The island founded by their ancestors many, many years ago.

  The island that she only worked at one day a week in the clinic. For now.

  Ava grinned. “I was on call that week.”

  “That’s your story and you are sticking to it?”

  Maybe she should have offered to go on stage at the charity fundraiser and be one of the women men could bid on for a date if Emily was getting lucky with the guy who’d “won” her. No, no, it just wasn’t for Ava.

  “Exactly. So tell me about your new beau.”

  “Don’t you have other patients?” Emily asked.

  “You’re my last of the day. I’ve got plenty of time to catch the ferry so don’t use that as an excuse either.”

  “It’s only three,” she said. “How can I be your last patient of the day?”

  “I didn’t know I had to report my schedule to you. But I had two cancellations and because I’m off the island, they called and rearranged it so that I could get out after you.”

  Ava liked how accommodating everyone was at the facility where she worked. There were branches in Boston, Plymouth—where she was currently located—Amore Island, and other outlying areas. Her long-term dream had been Amore Island...at some point when there was an opening. It was coming true sooner than she expected though and since her father and brothers were now practicing on the island, she couldn’t wait to join them.

  “It doesn’t bother you coming back and forth this way to work?”

  “It’s only once a week.” Ava looked around as if she was afraid someone might walk in the closed door and hear them. “Until June that is.”

  “What?” she asked. “What is going on?”

  Her smile filled her face faster than when she was hired as an obstetrician less than two years ago. “I’m transferring here full time.”

  “That’s great! I thought you didn’t want to be on the island.”

  “It wasn’t that. I just went where the job was. I like it off the island and coming here once a week, but everyone is here. My brothers are at the hospital, my parents live here now with my father somewhat retired but the surgeon on call. I guess I’m finding the island is pulling me more than I thought. Or at least earlier than I thought it would. One of the doctors here full time wants to leave. She’s got kids starting middle and high school and they play sports and, well, you know how it goes.”

  “I do. There is only so much you can do on the island. There are sports, but activities are limited and the traveling back and forth. It’s not a life for everyone.”

  “You didn’t live here growing up,” Ava said. “Neither did we. But I find that things are different on the island now than they were when we were kids. There is more to do and more to offer.”

  Life in the slow lane was calling her name after years of schooling. Now it was work, work, work and she was fine with that. But going home to her rented condo wasn’t as relaxing as it might be if she had a nice little cottage by the ocean. The next step of her journey would be to reach out to her cousin Drew and see if he knew of anything on the market that was in her range.

  “Or maybe we are older,” Emily said.

  “No clue. But I’m sure you know it�
��s hard to get medical professionals on the island to stay for long. Many come here young to get a job and experience, then leave when there is an opening at another satellite office in Boston or Plymouth. Or they come here when they are ready to retire.”

  “Like your father,” Emily said. “Can we continue this while I’m dressed? I get the feeling you enjoy doing this to rattle me.”

  Ava smiled. “Nothing really rattles you though.” She always did have a warped sense of humor, or so many told her.

  “Talk to me through the door,” Emily said.

  “Nope. I don’t want anyone to hear me as it’s not public knowledge. I just filled the paperwork out last week.”

  Emily jumped down from the table, making sure the gown was covering her bare butt, and ran to the bathroom to change quickly so they could finish their conversation. When she came out, she said, “So why are you telling me? Or you needed to talk to someone other than your parents and brothers?”