The Pet Doctor

  Emerson Pass Contemporaries, Book Three

  Tess Thompson

  Praise for Tess Thompson

  "I frequently found myself getting lost in the characters and forgetting that I was reading a book." - Camille Di Maio, Bestselling author of The Memory of Us.

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  "Highly recommended." - Christine Nolfi, Award winning author of The Sweet Lake Series.

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  "I loved this book!" - Karen McQuestion, Bestselling author of Hello Love and Good Man, Dalton.

  * * *

  Traded: Brody and Kara:

  "I loved the sweetness of Tess Thompson's writing - the camaraderie and long-lasting friendships make you want to move to Cliffside and become one of the gang! Rated Hallmark for romance!" - Stephanie Little BookPage

  * * *

  "This story was well written. You felt what the characters were going through. It's one of those "I got to know what happens next" books. So intriguing you won't want to put it down." - Lena Loves Books

  "This story has so much going on, but it intertwines within itself. You get second chance, lost loves, and new love. I could not put this book down! I am excited to start this series and have love for this little Bayside town that I am now fond off!" - Crystal's Book World

  "This is a small town romance story at its best and I look forward to the next book in the series." - Gillek2, Vine Voice

  "This is one of those books that make you love to be a reader and fan of the author." -Pamela Lunder, Vine Voice

  * * *

  Blue Midnight:

  "This is a beautiful book with an unexpected twist that takes the story from romance to mystery and back again. I've already started the 2nd book in the series!" - Mama O

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  "This beautiful book captured my attention and never let it go. I did not want it to end and so very much look forward to reading the next book." - Pris Shartle

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  "I enjoyed this new book cover to cover. I read it on my long flight home from Ireland and it helped the time fly by, I wish it had been longer so my whole flight could have been lost to this lovely novel about second chances and finding the truth. Written with wisdom and humor this novel shares the raw emotions a new divorce can leave behind." - J. Sorenson

  * * *

  "Tess Thompson is definitely one of my auto-buy authors! I love her writing style. Her characters are so real to life that you just can't put the book down once you start! Blue Midnight makes you believe in second chances. It makes you believe that everyone deserves an HEA. I loved the twists and turns in this book, the mystery and suspense, the family dynamics and the restoration of trust and security." - Angela MacIntyre

  * * *

  "Tess writes books with real characters in them, characters with flaws and baggage and gives them a second chance. (Real people, some remind me of myself and my girlfriends.) Then she cleverly and thoroughly develops those characters and makes you feel deeply for them. Characters are complex and multi-faceted, and the plot seems to unfold naturally, and never feels contrived." - K. Lescinsky

  * * *

  Caramel and Magnolias:

  "Nobody writes characters like Tess Thompson. It's like she looks into our lives and creates her characters based on our best friends, our lovers, and our neighbors. Caramel and Magnolias, and the authors debut novel Riversong, have some of the best characters I've ever had a chance to fall in love with. I don't like leaving spoilers in reviews so just trust me, Nicholas Sparks has nothing on Tess Thompson, her writing flows so smoothly you can't help but to want to read on!" - T. M. Frazier

  * * *

  "I love Tess Thompson's books because I love good writing. Her prose is clean and tight, which are increasingly rare qualities, and manages to evoke a full range of emotions with both subtlety and power. Her fiction goes well beyond art imitating life. Thompson's characters are alive and fully-realized, the action is believable, and the story unfolds with the right balance of tension and exuberance. CARAMEL AND MAGNOLIAS is a pleasure to read." - Tsuruoka

  * * *

  "The author has an incredible way of painting an image with her words. Her storytelling is beautiful, and leaves you wanting more! I love that the story is about friendship (2 best friends) and love. The characters are richly drawn and I found myself rooting for them from the very beginning. I think you will, too!" - Fogvision

  * * *

  "I got swept off my feet, my heartstrings were pulled, I held my breath, and tightened my muscles in suspense. Tess paints stunning scenery with her words and draws you in to the lives of her characters."- T. Bean

  * * *

  Duet For Three Hands:

  “Tears trickled down the side of my face when I reached the end of this road. Not because the story left me feeling sad or disappointed, no. Rather, because I already missed them. My friends. Though it isn't goodbye, but see you later. And so I will sit impatiently waiting, with desperate eagerness to hear where life has taken you, what burdens have you downtrodden, and what triumphs warm your heart. And in the meantime, I will go out and live, keeping your lessons and friendship and love close, the light to guide me through any darkness. And to the author I say thank you. My heart, my soul -all of me - needed these words, these friends, this love. I am forever changed by the beauty of your talent.” - Lisa M.Gott

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  “I am a great fan of Tess Thompson's books and this new one definitely shows her branching out with an engaging enjoyable historical drama/love story. She is a true pro in the way she weaves her storyline, develops true to life characters that you love! The background and setting is so picturesque and visible just from her words. Each book shows her expanding, growing and excelling in her art. Yet another one not to miss. Buy it you won't be disappointed. The ONLY disappointment is when it ends!!!” - Sparky's Last

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  “There are some definite villains in this book. Ohhhh, how I loved to hate them. But I have to give Thompson credit because they never came off as caricatures or one dimensional. They all felt authentic to me and (sadly) I could easily picture them. I loved to love some and loved to hate others.” - The Baking Bookworm

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  “I stayed up the entire night reading Duet For Three Hands and unbeknownst to myself, I fell asleep in the middle of reading the book. I literally woke up the next morning with Tyler the Kindle beside me (thankfully, still safe and intact) with no ounce of battery left. I shouldn't have worried about deadlines because, guess what? Duet For Three Hands was the epitome of unputdownable.” - The Bookish Owl

  * * *

  Miller’s Secret

  “From the very first page, I was captivated by this wonderful tale. The cast of characters amazing - very fleshed out and multi-dimensional. The descriptions were perfect - just enough to make you feel like you were transported back to the 20's and 40's.... This book was the perfect escape, filled with so many twists and turns I was on the edge of my seat for the entire read.” - Hilary Grossman

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  “The sad story of a freezing-cold orphan looking out the window at his rich benefactors on Christmas Eve started me off with Horatio-Alger expectations for this book. But I quickly got pulled into a completely different world--the complex five-character braid that the plot weaves. The three men and two women characters are so alive I felt I could walk up and start talking to any one of them, and I'd love to have lunch with Henry. Then the plot quickly turned sinister enough to keep me turning the pages.

  Class is set against class, poor and rich struggle for happiness and security, yet it is love all but one of them are hungry for. ......Where does love come from? What do you do about it? The story kept me going, and gave me hope. For a little bonus, there are Thompson's delightful observations, like: "You'd never know we could make something this good out of the milk from an animal who eats hats." A really good read!” - Kay in Seattle

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  “She paints vivid word pictures such that I could smell the ocean and hear the doves. Then there are the stories within a story that twist and turn until they all come together in the end. I really had a hard time putting it down. Five stars aren't enough!” - M.R. Williams

  Also by Tess Thompson

  CLIFFSIDE BAY

  * * *

  Traded: Brody and Kara

  Deleted: Jackson and Maggie

  Jaded: Zane and Honor

  Marred: Kyle and Violet

  Tainted: Lance and Mary

  Cliffside Bay Christmas, The Season of Cats and Babies (Cliffside Bay Novella to be read after Tainted)

  Missed: Rafael and Lisa

  Cliffside Bay Christmas Wedding (Cliffside Bay Novella to be read after Missed)

  Healed: Stone and Pepper

  Chateau Wedding (Cliffside Bay Novella to be read after Healed)

  Scarred: Trey and Autumn

  Jilted: Nico and Sophie

  Kissed (Cliffside Bay Novella to be read after Jilted)

  Departed: David and Sara

  Cliffside Bay Bundle , Books 1,2,3

  * * *

  BLUE MOUNTAIN SERIES

  * * *

  Blue Mountain Bundle, Books 1,2,3

  Blue Midnight

  Blue Moon

  Blue Ink

  Blue String

  * * *

  EMERSON PASS

  * * *

  The School Mistress of Emerson Pass

  The Sugar Queen of Emerson Pass

  * * *

  RIVER VALLEY

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sp; * * *

  Riversong

  Riverbend

  Riverstar

  Riversnow

  Riverstorm

  Tommy's Wish

  River Valley Bundle, Books 1-4

  * * *

  LEGLEY BAY

  * * *

  Caramel and Magnolias

  Tea and Primroses

  * * *

  STANDALONES

  * * *

  The Santa Trial

  Duet for Three Hands

  Miller's Secret

  Copyright © 2022 by Tess Thompson

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  1. Tiffany

  2. Breck

  3. Tiffany

  4. Breck

  5. Tiffany

  6. Breck

  7. Tiffany

  8. Breck

  9. Tiffany

  10. Breck

  Chapter 11

  12. Breck

  13. Tiffany

  14. Breck

  15. Tiffany

  16. Breck

  17. Tiffany

  18. Breck

  19. Tiffany

  20. Breck

  21. Tiffany

  22. Breck

  23. Tiffany

  24. Tiffany

  Also by Tess Thompson

  About the Author

  1

  Tiffany

  2011

  * * *

  Under the shade of an aspen, I waited to be summoned. Bees buzzed from flower to flower feeding on sweet pollen. Free to fly, those bees. In the quiet of the warm afternoon, I imagined the sound of their tiny wings. But no, it was more likely the buzz from the electric fence that surrounded the compound.

  I drew my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. Sweat dribbled down the back of my spine and dampened the rough material of my skirt. I glanced behind me at the double doors of the elders’ building. When would they come to fetch me? What did the elders do before the girls were presented on Promise Day? Shine the floors? Feast on a meal of roast beef and potatoes?

  The elders’ building was our finest. White paint and pillars, perched atop the only elevation on the entire compound. Aspens in a line like soldiers protected it from wind, and hedges were perfectly trimmed by the groundskeepers. Small windows like narrowed eyes, seeing everything. It had been built in the Georgian tradition, Martha, my dad’s first wife, had mentioned to me once, pride in her voice. She hadn’t been born in here. She knew of the outside world.

  Inside the white building, the elders had their private quarters. I’d never seen one of these residences. I would soon, though. On my wedding night, I would have the privilege of spending my first night with Elder Ryan. I’d only been in the hall where they gathered as a council to make big decisions. And the location of Promise Day.

  The crude buildings where the women and children spent most of our time matched the color of the dirt paths that ran between the cafeteria and schoolhouse. Each set of wives had a house. The order of which was kept sacred by the first wife. The lucky one.

  I would be the sixth wife to Elder Ryan. If he found nothing wrong with me today, that is. What if he did? What would happen to me then? There had been a few girls in the past few years who had been rejected. They’d been given menial jobs and sent to live in the house at the farthest end of the property. Shamed outcasts instead of beloved wives.

  Matthew. The boy I loved but could not have. He was an underling, a stray they’d found on the streets. A runaway, he’d told me, from a bad situation. Here he was fed and clothed and had a bed to sleep in. No one touched him here. He’d accepted the society as it was. Perhaps had even been grateful. Until he fell in love with me. Now we knew what was missing. What we would miss once I married Elder Ryan.

  I tightened my arms around my knees, holding myself, trying not to weep from fright. Waiting and waiting. The last month had raced by, days of my innocence waning away one by one until it was today. I could no longer hide. Everything would be bared before them.

  I tilted my head back until I could feel the bark on my scalp. Light filtered through the leaves. The sky was pure blue. My father said it was the kind of sky that only existed in Colorado. I had to take him at his word, on that and everything else. If there were other shades of blue I wouldn’t know. I’d never been outside of the compound.

  Who knew what horror awaited me? I’d learned in the sixteen years of my life to take in the beauty of my surroundings whenever they presented. Soon enough, invariably, I would witness the opposite of beauty. That was life within the electric fence of the compound.

  Out of curiosity, I’d recently looked up the word beauty in the thesaurus to find the antonym. It was nothing but the word ugliness. Which I found limiting. There were many ways in which the opposite of beauty manifested and thus as many words. All was equal in that way, this balance of beauty and ugly. As far as I knew, anyway. Was it different out there? I’d probably never know.

  Still, this was all mine to contemplate. They couldn’t take my thoughts from me. My thoughts were as free and vast as the sky itself. Someday, my soul would be free. For now, I must accept my fate, as all the girls here did. As long as they remained inside my mind and not uttered from my mouth, I could think and think and think. My mother had not been as discreet. She’d died rebelling. What good had come of that? A motherless girl? Surely not.

  A sheet on the line swayed gently in the breeze. An ant wandered lazily onto my big toe. On a branch, somewhere unseen, a bird sang. These juxtapositions might have fascinated me if I hadn't been terrified. Today marked one month until it was my turn to be married. As much as I wished they wouldn’t, these days raced by, folding one after the other, bringing me closer to the time when he would call me to his bed. In a month’s time, I would be Elder Ryan’s sixth wife.

  We all wore the same long skirt and long-sleeved dress. I had been trained specifically to be one of the dressmakers. My fingers were nimble and careful, the perfect combination. I could whip up a dress faster than the other two seamstresses. This should have been a source of pride but made me ashamed instead. If I were brave like my mother, I would throw the material at their faces and let them shoot me trying to climb over the electric fence.

  Today, exactly a month before our marriage, I would be presented to Elder Ryan one last time. During this inspection, I would be stripped completely of clothes so that he could inspect me carefully. The elders said it was only fair. They should be able to see if anything had gone amiss in the two years since the first inspection. We couldn’t expect them to marry a girl with flaws.