Crossroads

Crossroads Plot Summary

Introduction

The emergency room's harsh fluorescent lights cast cold shadows across Dr. Hollis Monroe's exhausted face as she delivered yet another premature baby. Her hands, steady as a surgeon's should be, guided new life into an unforgiving world while the mother hemorrhaged beneath sterile drapes. This was her domain—high-risk pregnancies, split-second decisions, the razor's edge between life and death. She specialized in short-term relationships with her patients: eight months of careful monitoring, one critical moment in the operating room, then goodbye. Clean, professional, emotionally distant. Twenty-four-year-old Annie Colfax lay bleeding on that same table four years ago, her water broken, her baby coming too early. She'd begged Hollis to wait, to trust her body's natural rhythm, but time was a luxury neither mother nor child could afford. In those desperate minutes, Hollis made the choice that saved two lives but shattered Annie's dreams of natural childbirth and future fertility. Now fate brings them together again—the surgeon who believes in medical intervention and the midwife who champions nature's way. Their professional collision threatens to reopen old wounds, but beneath their philosophical differences burns an undeniable attraction that neither woman expected nor wants to acknowledge.

Chapter 1: Scars of the Past: Annie and Hollis's Fateful First Meeting

The memory haunted Annie Colfax every time she drove past Philadelphia Medical Center. Four years had dulled the physical pain but sharpened the emotional scars from that September night when everything changed. She'd been a naive twenty-year-old from a Mennonite farming community, pregnant and alone after her professor-lover abandoned her. The contractions had started during her anatomy studies, waves of agony that sent her rushing to the emergency room in blind terror. Dr. Hollis Monroe had appeared like an avenging angel in surgical scrubs, her dark hair framing intense blue eyes that demanded trust. "You're having quite a bit of bleeding and we're going to need to operate," Hollis had said with clinical authority. "The baby needs to come out and we need to get the bleeding stopped." Annie had refused, clinging to her faith that her body knew what it was doing, that waiting was the natural way. But as her blood pressure crashed and her baby's heart rate faltered, Hollis had leaned close with fierce urgency: "Trust me." Those two words became Annie's salvation and damnation. She'd surrendered to the knife, and Hollis had delivered beautiful Callie in a cascade of blood and emergency surgery. But when the bleeding wouldn't stop, when the uterus refused to contract despite every intervention, Hollis had made the choice that haunted them both. "I had to remove your uterus, Ms. Colfax," she'd said afterward, her voice gentle but unwavering. "It was the only way to stop the bleeding and save your life." Annie's response cut deeper than any scalpel: "I never would have agreed. And I never should have trusted you." Now, four years later, Annie worked as a certified nurse-midwife, helping other women experience the natural births she'd been denied. She specialized in home deliveries, trusting women's bodies to do what they'd done for millennia. Her daughter Callie was the light of her world, but the shadow of that night still fell across every birth she attended. She'd built a life around never being vulnerable again, never depending on anyone else's choices. The last person she ever wanted to see was the surgeon who'd saved her life while destroying her dreams.

Chapter 2: Professional Collision: Midwives and Surgeons at the Crossroads

The conference room at Philadelphia Medical Center felt like neutral territory, but Annie knew better. Hospital administration had decided that midwives and obstetricians should work together on high-risk pregnancies, and she'd been chosen to explore this unholy alliance. Her supervisor Barbara Williams believed cooperation would lower insurance costs and provide better care, but Annie saw it as surrendering their independence to the medical establishment that viewed birth as a disease to be cured rather than a natural process to be supported. She opened the office door expecting some anonymous bureaucrat and found herself staring into the familiar ice-blue eyes that still appeared in her nightmares. Dr. Hollis Monroe sat behind an institutional desk, looking every inch the successful surgeon in her pressed white coat, her dark hair now shorter and more severe. The years had sharpened her already angular features, adding lines around her eyes that spoke of too many nights spent fighting death in operating rooms. "I'm afraid this won't work," Annie said immediately, gripping her briefcase like a shield. The old anger rose in her throat, mixed with something else she didn't want to name. Four years had passed, but Hollis still radiated that same dangerous combination of competence and authority that had once made Annie believe she could trust someone with her life. Hollis's expression remained carefully neutral, but Annie caught the flicker of pain that crossed her features before the professional mask slid back into place. "That might be a little premature," Hollis said quietly. "Why don't we take a few minutes to discuss things. I just found out about this myself." The conversation that followed was a verbal battlefield. Annie accused Hollis of being a "blade-happy surgeon" who saw every birth as an excuse to operate. Hollis defended her medical training and experience, insisting that sometimes intervention was the only thing standing between life and death. They circled each other like wary combatants, each protecting wounds the other had inflicted years before. "You don't know me well enough to make that kind of assumption," Hollis said when Annie questioned her ethics. But Annie's laugh was bitter as old grief. "Really? I think I know you just about as well as anyone can, from personal experience." The words hung between them like smoke from a burned bridge, and both women knew their professional relationship was doomed before it began.

Chapter 3: Cautious Hearts: Building Trust Beyond Professional Boundaries

Against all odds, their paths kept crossing. A shared patient emergency forced them into the same trauma bay, where Annie watched Hollis work with calm precision to stabilize a woman in premature labor. Despite her resentment, she couldn't deny Hollis's skill or her genuine care for patients. When Hollis suggested they grab lunch to discuss their working relationship, Annie found herself saying yes. Hollis's Victorian house surprised her with its thoughtful restoration and lived-in warmth. Over homemade omelets, they discovered common ground in their dedication to their patients. Hollis spoke passionately about preserving the architectural integrity of her home, while Annie found herself sharing stories of her Mennonite upbringing and the courage it had taken to leave everything she'd known. The woman across from her seemed different somehow—less intimidating, more human. The revelation came slowly, emerging through carefully guarded confessions. Annie spoke of her professor-lover Jeff, who'd urged her to abort Callie, then disappeared when she refused. She described the loneliness of raising a child while finishing school, building a career from nothing while everyone she'd once trusted turned away. Hollis listened without judgment, her eyes growing soft with understanding rather than pity. When a summer storm drove them to shelter in a pool house during a neighborhood barbecue, Annie felt something shift between them. Standing close enough to feel the heat from Hollis's body, watching her gentle interactions with Callie, Annie began to see past her own prejudices. Here was a woman who noticed a four-year-old's careful coloring, who remembered which patient liked cinnamon raisin bagels, who carried the weight of life-and-death decisions with quiet grace. The realization terrified her more than any surgical complication ever could.

Chapter 4: Shadows of Abandonment: Confronting Fear and Guilt

Over dinner at a Mexican restaurant, with Callie chattering between them, something dangerous began to bloom. Hollis had brought crayons and a coloring book for Callie—not flowers for Annie, but a gift for her daughter. It was a gesture that spoke of thoughtfulness and understanding that cut straight to Annie's carefully guarded heart. She found herself laughing, relaxing, feeling almost like part of a family. But when Hollis walked her to her car afterward, when she leaned close with clear intention of kissing her, panic seized Annie's throat. This was too much, too fast, too reminiscent of how Jeff had swept her off her feet before abandoning her when she needed him most. "I can't," she whispered, pulling away from the promise in Hollis's eyes. "I'm not ready for this." The disappointment in Hollis's face made her feel like she was drowning, but she held her ground. Better to hurt now than to risk being destroyed later. The next day brought revelations that explained Hollis's own careful emotional distance. While driving through the city, Hollis's composed facade cracked when she spoke of her older brother Rob, the golden boy who'd taught her to ride bikes and believe in herself. He'd been a firefighter who'd rolled out on September 11th and never came home. Worse still was the story of his pregnant wife Nancy, who'd fled to a commune in West Virginia after his death and delivered their baby without medical care. The baby had died, another life lost to circumstances that proper medical intervention might have prevented. "I was supposed to meet him for breakfast that morning," Hollis confessed, her voice hollow with guilt. "I canceled at the last minute because I was still in bed with my girlfriend. Rob died because I couldn't drag my ass up to meet him." Annie's heart broke for this woman who carried such impossible guilt, who'd devoted her life to saving others because she couldn't save the ones who mattered most. But when Annie tried to comfort her, Hollis pulled away with the practiced ease of someone who'd learned not to need anyone. The walls between them seemed higher than ever.

Chapter 5: The Retreat: When Past Trauma Threatens Present Connection

Professional duty demanded they continue working together despite their emotional turmoil. When Annie's patient Linda went into premature labor during a helicopter rescue, both women found themselves in the emergency room, forced to collaborate on her care. Hollis recommended immediate intervention while Annie advocated for waiting, their philosophical differences playing out over Linda's hospital bed. But something had changed between them. Annie watched Hollis examine Linda with gentle competence, saw how she listened to Annie's input without dismissing it out of hand. When Hollis deferred to Annie's judgment about Linda's home birth plans, despite her obvious concerns, Annie glimpsed the respect that could exist between them. They weren't just clashing ideologies anymore—they were two healers trying to do what was best for their patient. The tentative peace shattered when Annie attended Hollis's clinic and met with another physician, Dr. Ned Williams. Hollis's obvious jealousy both thrilled and terrified her. She wasn't used to being the object of such intense focus, wasn't prepared for the possessive edge in Hollis's voice when she asked if Ned had "hit on her." The attraction between them was undeniable now, crackling in the air whenever they were together. That evening, Hollis arrived at Annie's door with takeout food and an invitation to a picnic in the park. Surrounded by families and children, feeding ducks with Callie, Annie felt the walls she'd built around her heart beginning to crumble. When Hollis spoke tenderly of delivering Callie all those years ago, describing her as "gorgeous" with "a full head of hair," Annie finally understood that she hadn't been alone that night after all. Hollis had been there, holding her daughter first, witnessing the miracle Annie had missed. The circle of that night finally felt complete.

Chapter 6: Emergency Reunion: Crisis Brings Perspective

A late-night phone call shattered Annie's careful equilibrium. One of her patients was in trouble—a breech presentation that couldn't wait for nature to take its course. As she rode in the ambulance with Kathy, a woman desperate for a natural birth, Annie made the hardest decision of her professional life. She called Hollis, the surgeon she'd once blamed for stealing her choices, and asked for help. Hollis appeared in the emergency room like an answer to unspoken prayers, her presence both commanding and reassuring. As they worked together to assess Kathy's condition, Annie marveled at how seamlessly they functioned as a team. Hollis listened to her concerns, respected her relationship with the patient, and included her in every decision. This was what collaboration could look like—not surrender but partnership. In the operating room, watching Hollis deliver Kathy's baby with skilled gentleness, Annie finally understood the truth she'd been running from for four years. Hollis hadn't stolen her choices that night—she'd made the choice that kept both Annie and Callie alive. The hysterectomy hadn't been medical arrogance but desperate necessity, performed by a surgeon who understood the weight of what she was taking away but chose life over fertility when she couldn't have both. Standing in the hospital corridor afterward, Annie felt the last of her anger drain away. "Thank you," she said simply, "for my daughter." The words released something that had been locked inside her chest for years, a forgiveness she hadn't known she needed to give. When Hollis offered to drive her home, Annie accepted, ready at last to stop running from the woman who'd saved her life.

Chapter 7: Trust Falls: Choosing Love Despite Uncertainty

The drive home should have been awkward, but Annie found herself opening her heart in ways she'd never dared before. Four years of careful emotional distance crumbled as she confessed her deepest truth: "I'm still afraid, and I hope that one day I won't be. But what I'm afraid of now isn't what has made me shut away parts of myself since before Callie was born." Hollis listened with the same focused attention she gave her patients, her surgeon's hands steady on the wheel as Annie laid bare her fears. She spoke of learning to trust again, of recognizing that needing someone wasn't the same as being helplessly dependent on them. Most importantly, she admitted what her heart had been trying to tell her for weeks: "I'm falling in love with you." The confession hung between them like a bridge waiting to be crossed. Hollis pulled over, her own defenses finally cracking as she admitted her deepest fear: "If I let you in, I'll need you more than you could know." But Annie was ready now, ready to risk her heart on this complicated, caring woman who'd been part of her story from the very beginning. Their first kiss tasted of forgiveness and new beginnings, of trust rebuilt from the ashes of old pain. When Annie invited Hollis inside, she wasn't just opening her door—she was opening her life to the possibility of love. Hollis's hands on her body felt like coming home, like finding the missing piece of herself she hadn't known was lost. In the darkness of her bedroom, they discovered that healing could be as intimate as any wound, as necessary as breath itself. Later, curled together in the aftermath of passion, they made plans for a future neither had dared to imagine. Hollis spoke shyly of wanting to be a family—her, Annie, and Callie together. Annie's answer came from the deepest truth of her heart: "You don't have far to go." They'd found their way to each other across professional differences and personal trauma, proving that sometimes the most unexpected love stories begin with the word "trust."

Summary

In the end, their love story becomes a testament to the healing power of second chances and hard-won trust. Annie moves into Hollis's Victorian house, bringing Callie and her dreams of family to rooms that had echoed with loneliness for too long. They establish a joint clinic where midwives and physicians work side by side, proving that different philosophies of care can strengthen rather than threaten each other. Their professional collaboration becomes a model for others, showing that respect and understanding can bridge even the deepest ideological divides. Their personal healing mirrors their professional growth. Hollis learns to forgive herself for her brother's death, understanding at last that love means accepting the choices others make, even when those choices lead to loss. Annie discovers that vulnerability doesn't equal weakness, that trusting someone with her heart doesn't diminish her independence but enhances her capacity for joy. Together, they create something neither could have achieved alone—a love built on mutual respect, shared purpose, and the kind of trust that can only come from surviving the worst and choosing to hope for better. At Callie's bicycle races and family barbecues, in operating rooms and birthing centers, they write their own definition of what it means to heal, to trust, and to love without reservation.

About Author

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Radclyffe

Radclyffe delves into the role of literature in providing a lifeline for the LGBTQ+ community, underlining its importance in offering support and validation. Her extensive body of work, which includes over forty-five romance novels and a paranormal romance series under the pen name L.L. Raand, serves as a testament to her commitment to celebrating the LGBTQ experience. By founding Bold Strokes Books, she not only publishes numerous authors but also ensures a platform for diverse voices. Radclyffe's writing explores themes of identity and belonging, as demonstrated in her edited collections like Best Lesbian Romance from 2009 to 2015, where she showcases stories that resonate deeply with readers seeking connection and understanding.\n\nHer literary approach is complemented by her engagement with community-building initiatives, such as the Flax Mill Creek Writers Retreat, which offers workshops to writers at various stages in their careers. This focus on nurturing talent underscores her belief in the power of storytelling as a means to foster personal and collective growth. Readers benefit from Radclyffe's works as they navigate themes of love, intrigue, and self-discovery, while also gaining insight into the complexities of LGBTQ+ lives. Her accolades, including being an eight-time Lambda Literary Award finalist and receiving the Dr. James Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist award, further highlight her significant impact on both mainstream and LGBTQ+ literature.\n\nThe author’s bio reflects a career marked by both critical acclaim and an enduring commitment to her community. Radclyffe’s novels, alongside her editorial projects, not only offer engaging narratives but also serve as a source of empowerment and visibility for LGBTQ+ individuals. Her dedication to uplifting marginalized voices and her role in broadening the literary landscape resonate with a wide audience, making her work both relevant and influential in contemporary discussions of identity and representation.

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