TJ Meridian is a woman with a pain-filled past. She has no family to speak of. Her mother and her abusive father are dead. Her brother was killed in the same robbery that left TJ paralyzed and in a wheelchair. During TJ's recovery, her two friends Paula and Erin were the only "family" in her life—until she moved back to her childhood home and met the town veterinarian, Mare Gillespie.

Mare changed TJ's life, and TJ changed hers as well. Without each other, Mare would never have found her father, and TJ might not have ever learned about a half-brother. But the road they travel toward finding family and creating family is not smooth. In this sequel to True Colours, TJ must learn and truly believe that her inability to walk doesn't make her a lesser person. Mare needs to trust that sometimes things can't be fixed, and that all she can do is offer support and be understanding. TJ's dear friends Paula and Erin have to discover that it's okay to let go of people and let them continue on their own journeys.

Together, TJ and Mare—and Paula and Erin as well—must work through the problems of the past. Can they overcome old ghosts and discover new depths to their relationships? Each has a road of her own to travel. Will they ultimately find ways to journey together?

In this excerpt, TJ is in the hospital, recuperating from an accident. Tom Raphaele, the brother she doesn't know she has, appears at the ranch incognito.

Mare parked in the driveway, jumped out of the truck, and loped to the house. Pushing open the door, she hurried through and almost ran smack-dab into Paula.

Paula grabbed her shoulder and brought her to a halt. "Whoa, Mare. What's your hurry?" She gave a short puff of laughter. "Hey, you don't know how long I've waited to say that."

"Yeah, I'll bet. That's not the worst of what I caught as a kid." She made a face at the momentary recollection. "But I'm dying for a cup of coffee."

Paula let go of her. "You've come to the right place. I just made some fresh. Have you spoken to TJ at all today? I tried to get through to Erin but only got the nurse's station. They were running some tests on TJ, and both of them were away from the ward." Paula poured two cups of coffee, set them on the table with the cream and sugar, then sat down.

"Nope. I rang early this morning, but TJ was still asleep, so I left a message with the nurse." Mare sank gratefully into a chair and fixed her coffee. "Sorry I almost ran you down. I just seem to be jumpier than usual." The hot coffee nearly burned her lips, and she quickly wet them with the tip of her tongue. "Hey, I brought Barry out here for lunch, but you weren't here."

"Yeah? Sorry I missed him. I took a little walk to get some fresh air. Wasn't so easy with the crutches, but I get antsy sometimes, too. I was tempted to try riding Runny, but I took one look at that hoist and soon got over that idea. How does TJ do it? And ride? I don't think I could ride a horse that I couldn't snug my legs against."

The front doorbell rang, and Mare and Paula exchanged inquisitive looks. Mare raised a hand to keep Paula seated, swallowed a quick gulp of her coffee, then got up to answer the door.

She paused briefly at the front window and saw a tall, slim shape, wearing jeans and a blue T-shirt, facing away from her. When she opened the door, a young man turned toward her and dipped his head for a moment, then lifted it and looked right at her. "Hello, ma'am. Mr. Jacobs sent me. Are you Miss Scott? Or Miss Tanner?"

He wasn't a man at all, just a boy. A tall, dark and handsome boy with a face she recognized from a photo. And blue eyes that astonished her. My God, it's TJ's brother!

"I…uh…hello. No…I…" Mare stopped and swallowed. "Sorry, my mind was out of gear for a minute. I'm Dr. Gillespie. Come on in and have a seat. I'll get Miss Tanner for you, Mr.…?" She held the door wider and he entered.

"Russell. Tom Russell."

Mare noticed his broad shoulders and smooth walk, as he moved to a chair in the living room and sat down. She hurried into the kitchen and found Paula still seated, now talking on the phone she had moved from the counter to the table. Making a "T" with agitated hands, she demanded Paula's attention. "Paula, time out!"

Paula looked up, surprised at the urgency in Mare's tone. "Hold just a minute, please." She pushed the hold button and her eyebrows rose. "What is it?"

"He's here."

"Who's here, for Pete's sake?"

"TJ's brother. He just came to the door and asked for you. Said his name is Tom Russell." Paula's eyes widened as she and Mare just stared at each other for a minute.

Paula jabbed the phone button. "Sorry, I'll have to get back to you later. Good-bye." She cradled the phone. "What the hell is going on?"

"Maybe he thinks TJ is here, and he wants to see her—find out who she is. He's probably just as curious about her as we are about him, maybe more so. After all, they are related."

"Why not just say, 'I'm TJ's brother'?"

"Come on, Paula. We were concerned what finding out she had a brother might do to TJ. Maybe he's got sense enough to worry about that, too. He doesn't know anything about her or how she would react." Mare grimaced. "We know her pretty well, but even we don't know the answer to that one." She walked over and put her hand on Paula's shoulder. "He's in the living room, waiting for you. Why don't you go see what he wants?"

Paula leaned onto her own hand for a moment and rubbed her forehead. She stood up, took a deep breath, and blew it out audibly through pushed-out lips. "Right. You coming with me?"

"You bet. Wild horses couldn't keep me away."

Paula reached for her crutches, then threw an arm around Mare's shoulders. Giving her a quick hug, she grinned. "I'm glad you're here. With TJ hurting and my not getting much chance to be with Erin, I need all the support I can get."

Mare slipped an arm around Paula's waist and hugged her back. "Well, you've got my support, absolutely."


Alone in the living room, Tom felt like his heart was beating a mile a minute. His mind went back over his last day at home. He had told his mother that he didn't want to start college right away. He wanted to experience a bit of life for a while. But that had been only a small part of the reason. His mother didn't know that he had had his computer set up to gather any reference to the name "Meridian" found on the wire services and that it had fed him information about his father's other family. Tom recalled his exact thoughts when his mother asked him why he was so set on not starting college right away.

"I want to know how other people live," he had said, but his thoughts had streamed unchecked. He had a sister who was in a terrible accident two years ago. She was almost killed then, and she could have been killed in the accident she just had. He wanted to meet her, to see what she was like, to get to know her—before anything else happened and he lost her for good. Like he lost his brother, a brother he never met. But he couldn't tell his mother that. He knew she had signed some papers when his father was alive, agreeing not to interfere with his other family or the Meridian Corporation, and his father gave her Raphaele Consultants in return. But he wasn't his mother. He hadn't signed anything. He wanted to meet his sister! He had cherished the dream for years.

Now, in this room, that dream was nearer to becoming a reality. This was where TJ lived. He was sitting in her living room. Tom looked around and examined his surroundings more closely. A shelf against one wall of the living room held several photos. He moved closer and was delighted to find that one was a portrait of his sister. From magazine images, he already knew that her eyes were similar to his, but this photo made him catch his breath. Their eyes were practically identical. Getting some wraparound sunglasses looked like a good idea. He heard women's voices coming nearer, and he hurried back to his seat on the couch.