Book 17 Victoria & Shannon
She wanted something more, but it may be more than she bargained for.
Gansett Island midwife Victoria Stevens loves taking care of people, in her job and in her personal life, especially when it comes to her boyfriend of one year, sexy Irishman Shannon O’Grady.
Fueled by combustible chemistry, her relationship with Shannon has been H-O-T from the start.
But she’s begun to wonder whether theirs is destined to be a short-term fling or possibly the love of a lifetime.
When she goes looking for answers about his past, she learns something she was better off not knowing and isn’t sure what to do with her newfound information.
What will happen when Shannon finds out she’s been asking questions about him, and will they be able to overcome the obstacles standing between them and happily ever after? Find out in this book, which also includes the arrival of some long-awaited island babies!
Main Characters:
*Victoria Stevens, nurse practitioner-midwife, Gansett Island Clinic
*Shannon O’Grady, deckhand, Gansett Island Ferry Company
*Indicates recurring throughout the series.
Supporting Characters:
*Seamus O’Grady, married to Carolina O’Grady in GANSETT AFTER DARK, guardian to Kyle and Jackson Chandler in LOVE AFTER DARK.
*Carolina O’Grady, grandmother of PJ Cantrell, married to Seamus O’Grady in GANSETT AFTER DARK, guardian to Kyle and Jackson Chandler in LOVE AFTER DARK.
*Jackson Chandler, son of the late Lisa Chandler, living with Seamus and Carolina O’Grady in LOVE AFTER DARK.
*Kyle Chandler, son of the late Lisa Chandler, living with Seamus and Carolina O’Grady in LOVE AFTER DARK.
*Dr. David Lawrence, engaged to Daisy Babson in DESIRE AFTER DARK.
*Katie Lawry, involved with Shane McCarthy in KISSES AFTER DARK.
*Blaine Taylor, married to Tiffany Taylor and stepfather of Ashleigh Sturgil in TIME FOR LOVE, father of Adeline Francine Taylor in VICTORIA & SHANNON.
*Tiffany Taylor, mother of Ashleigh Sturgil, married to Blaine Taylor in TIME FOR LOVE, mother of Adeline Francine Taylor in VICTORIA & SHANNON.
*Maddie McCarthy, mother of Thomas, married to Mac McCarthy in FOOL FOR LOVE, mother of Hailey McCarthy in FALLING FOR LOVE and Connor McCarthy (deceased) in KISSES AFTER DARK.
*Adeline Francine Taylor, daughter of Tiffany and Blaine Taylor, born in VICTORIA & SHANNON.
*Jenny Martinez, married to Alex Martinez in LOVE AFTER DARK, mother of George Alexander Martinez, II, in VICTORIA & SHANNON.
*Alex Martinez, married to Jenny Martinez in LOVE AFTER DARK, father of George Alexander Martinez, II, in VICTORIA & SHANNON.
*George Alexander Martinez, II, son of Jenny and Alex Martinez, born in VICTORIA & SHANNON.
*Luke Harris, married to Sydney Donovan in SEASON FOR LOVE, father of Lily Harris in VICTORIA & SHANNON.
*Sydney Donovan, married to Luke Harris in SEASON FOR LOVE, mother of Lily Harris in VICTORIA & SHANNON.
*Lillian Alice Harris, daughter of Luke Harris and Sydney Donovan, born at home in VICTORIA & SHANNON.
*Mac McCarthy, Jr., married to Maddie Chester in FOOL FOR LOVE, father of Thomas Chester McCarthy in MAID FOR LOVE, Hailey McCarthy in FALLING FOR LOVE and Connor McCarthy (deceased) in KISSES AFTER DARK.
*Shane McCarthy, involved with Katie Lawry in KISSES AFTER DARK.
*Francine Saunders, grandmother of Ashleigh Sturgil, Thomas McCarthy, Hailey McCarthy and Connor McCarthy (deceased), married to Ned Saunders in GANSETT AFTER DARK.
*Ned Saunders, married to Francine in GANSETT AFTER DARK, grandfather of Ashleigh Sturgil, Thomas McCarthy, Hailey McCarthy and Connor McCarthy (deceased).
*Ashleigh Sturgil, daughter of Tiffany Taylor and Jim Sturgil, stepdaughter of Blaine Taylor in TIME FOR LOVE.
*Erin Barton, lighthouse keeper, involved with Slim Jackson in DESIRE AFTER DARK.
*Daisy Babson, engaged to Dr. David Lawrence in DESIRE AFTER DARK.
*Paul Martinez, married to Hope Russell and stepfather to Ethan in DESIRE AFTER DARK.
*Hope Martinez, mother of Ethan, married to Paul Martinez in DESIRE AFTER DARK.
*Ethan Russell, son of Hope, stepson of Paul Martinez in DESIRE AFTER DARK.
*Chelsea Rose, bartender at the Beachcomber, involved with Dr. Kevin McCarthy in LOVE AFTER DARK.
*Dr. Kevin McCarthy, father of Riley and Finn, involved with Chelsea Rose in LOVE AFTER DARK.
*Niall Fitzgerald, Irishman, performer at the Beachcomber.
Victoria & Shannon Headlines:
Victoria wants to know about Shannon, finds out his first love, Fiona, was murdered!
Adeline Francine Taylor is born!
George Alexander Martinez is born!
Victoria doesn’t know what to do with this new information about Shannon!
Lillian Alice Harris is born at home!
Shannon punches Seamus for telling Vic about Fiona!
Vic and Shannon break up, and he moves out!
Meet Niall Fitzgerald!
Gansett Island Soundtrack
In the Rare Old Times
Victoria Stevens sets out on her lunch break from the clinic to get some answers.
For the last year, she and Shannon O’Grady have had what most would consider a great relationship.
They’ve lived together, laughed often, hardly ever fought and had the hottest sex of her life almost daily.
Unfortunately, she can’t get Shannon to open up to her.
She feels like they have a lovely surface relationship, but she craves true intimacy.
Since Shannon won’t talk to her, she goes to see his cousin, Seamus, and finds out that Shannon’s first love, Fiona, was murdered, and Shannon has never been the same.
His family has worried endlessly about him.
“Then he came here and met you, and he’s been different.”
“How so?” she asks. “How has he been different?”
“He smiles again. He laughs. He participates. You have no idea what a huge improvement those things are from the way he was for so long.”
Armed with this upsetting news, Victoria returns to the clinic to find one of her pregnant patients, Tiffany Taylor, is in labor.
As a certified nurse-midwife, she cares for all the expecting mothers on the island.
Tiffany’s husband, Blaine Taylor, the island’s police chief, is stressed when he reports, “We were in bed, and she woke up in a puddle.”
“Any contractions?”
“Over the last day or two, I’ve had like a rolling ache that comes and goes pretty regularly, but since it didn’t feel like the labor pains I had with Ashleigh, I thought they were Braxton-Hicks contractions. Not the real thing.”
Victoria performs an internal exam and discovers Tiffany is fully dilated and effaced. “You work fast, Mrs. Taylor. You’re about to have this baby.”
“Right now?” Blaine asks, sounding panicked. “She’s not due for another week. This was supposed to happen on the mainland.”
“Well, it’s happening right here and now.”
Two hours later, Tiffany’s sister Maddie McCarthy comes rushing in from a trip to the mainland for her own high-risk pregnancy. While Victoria and Katie Lawry, a nurse practitioner, care for Tiffany, Dr. David Lawrence gets Jenny Martinez settled into another room to deliver her baby.
Tiffany delivers a beautiful baby girl, Adeline Francine Taylor, who’s the image of her big sister, Ashleigh, and her mother.
“Three of them will be the death of me,” Blaine says as he contends with a flood of tears.
While Jenny Martinez progresses through labor, Victoria takes a break to eat dinner. David asks why she was crying earlier. She tells him what she learned about Shannon from Seamus. She’s not sure what to do with the information, but she knows she wants more with Shannon.
Victoria, David and Katie tend to Jenny Martinez throughout the night. With Alex and her friend Erin Barton by her side, Jenny delivers an almost nine-pound baby boy, named George Alexander Martinez, II, honoring Alex’s father.
After a few hours of sleep, Victoria gets a call that Sydney Donovan is in labor at home.
Victoria and David rush to the Harrises’ home, where Luke is frantic and Sydney is ready to deliver.
Katie Lawry goes to the clinic to gather supplies and brings them to the Harris home.
Sydney delivers a beautiful baby girl, Lilian Alice Harris, named after both her grandmothers.
Shannon, a deckhand for the Gansett Island Ferry Company, makes his way to the bow of the boat, his favorite place to stand during the ride.
He loves his job and the life he’s found on the island with Victoria, Seamus, Carolina and all their friends.
He was a shell of a man after his beloved girlfriend was murdered, until being with Victoria healed something in him.
Seamus tells Shannon about Vic coming to see him and her questions about Shannon.
“What did you tell her?”
“What she needed to know.”
“Seamus! Are you fucking kidding me right now?”
“Relax. I only gave her the big picture. None of the details.”
Shannon’s mind races as he tries to absorb the implications. This is why she was so tense last night. “You had no right.”
“I had every right. She cares about you. She wants to understand you.”
“It’s not your place to fill in the blanks for her.”
“Whose place is it, then? You’re never going to do it.”
“How do you know that?”
“It’s been a year, Shannon, and she’d never heard Fiona’s name.”
White-hot rage ripped through him. “And now she has?”
“Now she has.”
Shannon doesn’t think before he reacts, punching Seamus in the face and earning a three-day suspension from work.
“For nine long years,” Seamus says, “we’ve stood by you and tried to support you as best we could through an unimaginable tragedy.
In the last year, I’ve seen you come back to life, back to the man you were before you lost Fi.
That’s because of Victoria. You lost Fiona through no fault of your own.
If you push Victoria away because she’s gotten too close, that’ll be your own tough shit. ”