Steadfast Soldier. Cheryl Wyatt

      It is my duty as a pararescueman to save life and aid the injured. I will be prepared at all times to perform my assigned duties quickly and efficiently, placing these duties before personal desires and comforts. These things I do, “That Others May Live.”

      That creed also meant he’d never give up his duty for any woman. Not even his wife. Just like her dad, his career would always come first.

      Nevertheless, her determination to be involved in this family was about Ivan, not about Chance and not about her. She must really be tired. Otherwise her brain wouldn’t have brought the ridiculous and very premature concept of marriage into the mix.

      If Ivan didn’t start rehabbing soon, he’d never regain use of his hand, which meant he’d never build his beloved chess sets again.

      This case was time sensitive, and she owed Mandy a major favor. More than that, she’d come to care for Ivan.

      Ivan had been worse than ever in his resistance this week. But that only fed her dogged determination. Even though time with Chance’s father cut severely into her planning and research time, plus the other work she needed to do to launch the animal-assisted therapy program proposal.

      Chloe shook her head and punched her fist into her pillow, trying to get comfortable. No matter what opposition bounded in her path, she was determined not to let anything prevent her from going back. Slowly, she closed her eyes, plans marching across her vision as she drifted off to sleep.