title: The Hand of Fate
author: Antypowich, Gloria
description: Tim glared at Christina. “I guess I get the floor.” “Quit being an ass and get a grip on yourself. There is no need for anyone to sleep on the floor. I’m sure we are mature enough to make the best of this rotten situation. I’m not going freak out if your leg touches mine. It’s not as if either of us is interested in anything other than sleep and keeping warm.” He stared at her. “Are you suggesting we share the bed?” Thirty-eight-year-old Christina Holmes is the office manager at Swift Current Accounting and Bookkeeping Services. On the surface, she is a happy person that everyone likes, but in her heart, she carries pain. She has MRHK syndrome. Her marriage had deteriorated because of the rare congenital condition, and it ended in humiliation for her. The experience is a secret that Christina has not shared with anyone since she came to Swift Current. She has avoided intimate relationships, feeling less than a woman, and ashamed of the hand that nature dealt her. She has allowed her condition to define her, making her certain that no one will love her as she is. Forty-eight-year-old Tim Bates came to Swift Current four years ago, when Colt Thompson hired him to manage Cantaur Farm. Forsaken by his stepfamily, Tim was reeling from a contested family will, and an ugly divorce filed by his wife who had never truly loved him. He was bitter and angry, trusted no one and despised women. When he first arrived, Christina thought of Tim as a cold fish, and Tim saw Christina as an officious bitch. However, during the past four years the two of them have developed a comfortable relationship: but it isn’t the kind that comes with intimacy, or fringe benefits. When Tim Bates finds a picture on the old ranch hand’s desk at Belanger Creek Ranch, he is stunned. He reacts with suspicion that turns into feelings of betrayal and anger. The picture becomes the focus of a mystery that involves people at the ranch: people who have been friends for years. The answers could forever change the lives of those involved. Tim discovers that what he has always believed about his birth is not true. Shaken, he turns to Christina for friendship and support. Sometimes The Hand of Fate intervenes. Will it bring unexpected miracles into the lives of these two friends? This is a story of family ties, unconditional love, loyalty, powerful friendships, sacrifice, mystery and the realization of dreams that seem impossible. This can be read as a stand-alone book in the Belanger Creek Ranch Series. The lives of Colt and Frank Thompson (The Second Time Around, Book One) and Shauna Lee and Brad Johnson (Full Circle, Book Two) intertwine with those of Tim Bates and Christina Holmes in this work of fiction.