Genre: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary
Release Date: February 27, 2014
Digital ISBN 10: 1631120077 ISBN-13: 978-1-63112-007-7
Print ISBN 10: 1631120085 ISBN-13: 978-1-63112-008-4
Home Run
In one moment Christian Keller’s life was changed. Now as he
picks up the pieces he wonders if he can possibly recoup what he lost.
Victoria Lincoln had a promising future with Christian until
an accident took the life of her sister and left her as guardian to her two
small children.
Their lives have gone in different directions, but Christian
and Victoria’s paths will cross again. It will take a lot of change to pick up
where they left off—if either of them can
About Bernadette Marie:
Bestselling Author Bernadette Marie
is known for building families readers want to be part of. Her series The Keller Family has graced bestseller
charts since its release in 2011, along with her other series and single title
books. The married mother of five sons promises Happily Ever After always…and says she can write it, because she
lives it.
When not writing, Bernadette Marie
is shuffling her sons to their many events—mostly hockey—and enjoying the
beautiful views of the Colorado Rocky Mountains from her front step. She is
also an accomplished martial artist with a second degree black belt in Tang Soo
Do.
A chronic entrepreneur, Bernadette
Marie opened her own publishing house in 2011, 5 Prince Publishing, so that she could publish the books she liked
to write and help make the dreams of other aspiring authors come true too.
How to contact Bernadette Marie:
@writesromance on Twitter
Excerpt of Home Run:
There was a pure energy in the car as they drove away from
the arena. Christian Keller had it all, just when he thought he’d lost it.
His career ending injuries were just the start to finding
out he could keep going and that’s what he was doing.
He’d just watched his sister perform with her husband, on
stage at the Bridgestone Arena right there in Nashville. Hometown kids making
it big time.
As his best friend Dave pulled out of the parking lot the
number one country song came on the radio, and wouldn’t you know it, it was
Clara and Warner Wright, his sister and her husband.
Christian’s fiancée Victoria hugged his arm and slid across
the back seat as close as she could to him. “That was the best concert ever.
Your sister and Warner were phenomenal. The
Broke Tourists are one of my favorite bands. And that Savannah and her
hair!”
Ashley, Victoria’s sister, turned in her seat and looked at
her. “I know, right? Do you think we could buy hair like that?”
They both laughed, but Christian just took in the ambiance.
His career as a baseball player was over. He had come to
grips with that. It had caused him a lot of emotional and physical pain, over the
past year, but now he had new things to look forward too.
They were already talking about him coming into the
organization as management. The woman of his dreams had accepted his marriage
proposal and wore his ring. And tonight he’d take her home, to the home he had
built—for them. It was a surprise and he had something very special planned.
“You know,” Victoria continued. “Ali would love a Savannah
wig. We should think about marketing them.”
“My kids and their tastes,” Ashley added.
Laughter filled the car and then a scream pierced the air.
A blinding white light forced him to cover his eyes.
Christian sat up in bed. His heart was racing. His face and
hair were wet. And he was alone.
He threw his head back against his pillow.
Of course he was alone. He’d been alone for almost a year
and the replay of that night wouldn’t give him any peace.
Christian rolled to his side and he looked at his phone on
the night stand. It was five-thirty in the morning. He let out a grunt and
rolled out of bed.
It took a minute for his knee to be stable under him. His
shoulder ached, as it had since the surgery on it after the accident.
He flipped on the light in the bathroom and looked at
himself in the mirror. The jagged scar on his forehead was beginning to fade,
but it would always remind him that on that night he’d lost everything. His
career. His best friend. And even if her life wasn’t taken—he’d lost his
fiancée.
Well that was life now. She had a lot to deal with too.
Christian splashed his face with cold water.
Victoria’s life had changed drastically when that drunk
driver crossed the median. She’d lost her sister in that moment. Her leg was
shattered. And she was the next of kin to her niece and nephew, whom she was
now raising.
A single woman trying to advance her career and plan a
wedding was now guardian to a two year old and a four year old—and he was no
help.
Christian turned on the shower and let it warm.
He’d been so overwhelmed with losing his best friend he’d
nearly lost his mind. And it wasn’t losing him it was watching him die and not
being able to get free from the accident to help him.
Just the thought of it made his heart kick start again.
He slipped off his boxers and climbed into the shower. But
no matter how hot the water was, it would never wash away the pain that day
still caused.
By six thirty he was dressed and sitting in his quiet
kitchen having a cup of coffee. The dress shirt and tie made him uncomfortable,
but it was the way he had to dress for work now. He supposed he owed it to his
brother and uncle for stepping in and giving him a job, though he didn’t care
much about construction.
His entire family had stepped in when he needed them. There
was no way to repay them. His sister Clara and cousin Avery were at his house
daily to make sure he ate. His mother stopped and cleaned the house. His future
sister-in-law Darcy made him freezer dinners and stocked them for him.
It had been like this for a year.
When would it all ease so he could get on with his life?
Before lunch the door to his office creaked open and Darcy
stuck her head in.
“I’m going to lunch with my bridesmaids. Ed is free for
Chinese food. He said to send you his way when you’re done.”
Christian nodded. “I’ll be done in a few.”
Darcy shut the door and Christian was alone, again. It was
funny, he thought, for being so alone all the time there were always people
around him. That was what came with a big family.
A new Chinese restaurant had opened just down the street and
Ed had been dying to try it. Christian figured it would be good for leftovers
and that would warm up for dinner. It was just one less thing to think about.
“So did you look over that proposal I sent you?” Ed asked as
he adjusted the place setting in front of him.
“Yeah. I don’t know if I understand any of it. Could you work
in some baseball terms?”
Ed laughed. “It’s a baseball stadium. I thought you’d want
to be part of that.”
Christian put down his menu. “You’d think huh?”
He lazily looked around the restaurant and that was when a
set of dark eyes caught his.
Victoria waved and was already walking toward them.
It had been nearly eight months since he’d seen her—since
he’d told her that he wasn’t someone who could just take on someone else’s
children and start from there. That was the day she walked out of his life.
God, he was an idiot.
She looked different. Her hair was shorter and there were
dark circles under her eyes, as if she hadn’t slept in eight months. He
probably looked like that too. He never got a good night’s sleep.
“Hello, Chris.” She smiled down at him and then turned her
smile to Ed. “Hi, Ed.”
“Tori!” Ed crawled out of the booth and gave her a hug. “How
are you?”
“I’m good.” Christian wondered if she noticed her voice
quivered.
“How are the kids?”
Christian watched as her jaw tightened and she kept her eyes
on Ed. “Sam just turned three last weekend. He’s into everything. Ali just
started kindergarten.”
“Wow.” Ed looked at Christian. “Kids get big fast, eh,
Chris?”
Christian narrowed his stare on his brother.
“You’ll be at the wedding right?” Ed was touching her arm.
“I thought Darcy said you’d RSVP’d.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Ali can’t stop talking
about it.”
“I look forward to it.” Ed smiled and then both of them
looked at Christian still seated in the booth.
“Guess we’ll see you then,” he croaked out.
Victoria nodded and forced a smile. As she walked past him,
limping just as he did now too, she put her hand on his shoulder. “It was good
to see you, Chris.”
Then she was gone.
Ed sat back down and shook his head. “You’re pathetic.”
“Me? Why?”
“She’s still in love with you.”
“She is not. She dumped me.”
“Because she had to.”
“Had to?” He picked up his hot tea and burned the pads of
his fingers and then his throat. But it was worth it.
Ed opened the package of chop sticks by his plate and tore
the two wooden pieces apart. “She lost a lot that night. Her sister died. Her
brother-in-law died. She got two kids to raise and has no parents to help her.
She’s all alone and all you could tell her was you weren’t ready for a fully
formed family. I didn’t realize you were an asshole, until that day.”
If Christian was the man he used to be, he’d be up from that
table and have pulled his brother out of that side of the booth by his shirt
collar. But as if to remind him that he wasn’t an athlete any more, his knee
throbbed and the pain shot up through his body.
“She didn’t need me around when she was trying to get things
taken care of.”
“You’re right. Six surgeries on your leg and two toddlers at
home is a piece of cake. Why have the man you love getting in the way?”
Christian swallowed hard. He didn’t need his brother poking
at him. It had been a year and he felt bad enough.
Luckily the food arrived just in time for his brother to
shove some in his mouth and shut up. Christian, on the other hand had lost his appetite.
He had become a pathetic loser and he’d lost the only thing
that he’d ever cared about—Victoria.
He took another long, scalding sip of his tea. Maybe Ed’s
wedding would be the perfect place to apologize for being an ass.
It wasn’t in him to be a father right now, but it didn’t
mean he couldn’t be a friend. She looked as though she certainly could use one.
And they’d been friends too—hadn’t they?
Christian tore open his chop sticks and broke them apart. As
he picked up a pot sticker he thought about his parents.
They’d been divorced when his mother was diagnosed with
cancer and her husband had walked out on her to marry another woman and have a
baby. She was alone with three kids.
He tugged at his collar because it was getting hot.
His own father, who was at the time engaged to Kathy, still
stepped up and took care of his mother. Damn, he’d even shaved his head for
her.
That was love. That was commitment.
It was right too. His father’s marriage to Kathy lasted less
than a day and he was back with Christian’s mom and had been married, again,
ever since.
What had Christian done when the woman he loved needed him?
He backed away.
He put down the pot sticker. Again, he wasn’t hungry.
They’d both lost a lot that night when that drunk driver hit
that car. Lives changed in a flash—a bright white flash.
Ed was right. He was pathetic.
But he was done being pathetic. It was time Christian Keller
took his life back—and the woman.
