The Baby Gift: 9 Months Later

by Bethany Campbell

A good mother will do anything to save her child. Briana Morris is definitely a good mother.

Josh Morris travels the world in search of its stories. Briana Morris's whole world is a single small farm. They met and married and divorced in little more than the wink of an eye. But together they managed to create one perfect thing—their daughter, Nealie.

Now Nealie has been diagnosed with a rare and dangerous form of anemia. Her best hope for survival is a transfusion from a sibling. But Nealie has no siblings. To save her daughter's life, Briana must do the unthinkable—contact Josh and convince him to father another child.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Harlequin

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 18, 2003

About the author

Sally McCluskey (aka Bethany Campbell) was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, as an only child. She attended college beginning as a chemistry major, after quickly switching her major to English. She obtainded a B.A. from Wayne State Teachers College, and an M.A. in English from the University of Arkansas. She met her husband, Dan Borengasser, while both were graduate students at Northern Illinois University, where she obtained a Ph.D. in English.

Sally taught and in her spare time wrote, but after marriage, the couple moved to an area where teaching jobs were scarce, and she turned to writing full time. She wrote poetry, articles, short stories, and contributed to textbooks, but finally decided to try a romance novel at the urging of her mom and aunt, both avid romance fans. To Sally’s amazement, Harlequin bought her story After the Stars Fall and published it in 1985 under the pseudonym Bethany Campbell. She has also written as Lisa Harris. She has won three Romance Writers of America (RWA) RITA Awards, three Romantic Times Reviewer Awards, a Maggie Award, and the Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence.

She lived with her husband in northwest Arkansas. Her husband, who serves as Vice President of Ozark Film & Video Productions, also writes, and has had several short films and plays produced.

Reviews

[Melody Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very good story and realistic as this type of treatment is being used regularly in the US.

Briana is a strong yet weak woman. Her weakness is her family, obeying her father's every demand/command and letting it ruin her marriage. She lives on a small farm and has the heavy burden of her family depending on her alone to run the farm and keep the books, stretching her very thin. Her daughter, Nealie, has been diagnosed with a rare form of life threatening anemia but she is keeping it a secret. Her father is one of the most controlling men I have ever read about and she has allowed him control over her life. She is so blind when it comes to her family's control issues and demand on her life. She cant,or refuses to see it and believes she can never leave the farm are her whole family's living will be in jeopardy.

Josh is a famous photographer that travels the world, wherever he is sent. After a whirlwind courtship and marriage to the love of his life, Briana, he asks her to make a choice...her and their baby travel the world with him or she stays on her family's farm and do everyone's bidding. Stupidly she chose her family and farm and she and Josh divorce.

This could have been a 5-star read for me but I had a couple of issues. Briana was a very smart, intelligent woman but could not see what her family was doing to her and her own family. Even after Nealie's health issue was diagnosed and Josh came home, she cow-towed to her family's whims, staying all night with her father most every night because he didn't "feel well" while her own daughter was at home with Josh slowly dying. Though she claimed to love Nealie with her whole heart, she was not the kind of mother or wife she should have been, especially when her daughter was so ill. Poppa and the farm came first...not good and what a poor example for her child.

To me, the story seemed to drag in places and was very frustrating at times. I pushed through because I was anxious to find out the ending but I could have skipped many pages and had the same result.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good second chance story. Josh and Briana had married in a whirlwind of love and passion. But Josh's globetrotting lifestyle as a photographer didn't mesh well with Briana's deep-seated roots on her family's farm, and they divorced nearly as quickly. But one blessing came from their marriage - their daughter, Nealie. In spite of their divorce, Josh and Briana maintained close ties. When Nealie was diagnosed with a dangerous illness, her only chance of survival was a controversial treatment. The only thing Briana can do is reach Josh and ask him to come home and help her conceive the sibling needed to save Nealie's life.

I love that this is a story where the parents have maintained a good relationship, rather than the antagonistic one portrayed in so many other books. Both Josh and Briana refrain from badmouthing each other and support each other instead. Josh was shocked by Briana's request and the method by which it would happen. He had some serious reservations, but he would do anything to save Nealie's life. This also put Josh and Briana in each other's company for an extended time.

I liked Josh. Nealie means the world to him, and he didn't hesitate to drop everything and come when Briana called. He was a terrific dad, and it showed in the love that Nealie had for him. I think that Josh matured a lot from when he and Briana first married, but it was still difficult to deal with her family's attitude toward him. He had a few less than stellar moments, but most of the time it was understandable. I had a harder time with Briana. She is a good mother to Nealie, and pure mama bear when it came to doing whatever necessary to save her. But her inability to see her father for the controlling and selfish SOB that he was drove me nuts. She did redeem herself by the end, thank goodness.

I liked the rekindling of the relationship between Josh and Briana. It was evident from the start that they still had feelings for each other. Unfortunately, they also still had the same challenges that tore them apart. They are also older and more mature, and possibly better equipped to handle those challenges. Once Josh committed to helping Briana, he was all in. I liked his support of Briana as they went through all the necessary medical procedures. The time spent together increased the sparks between them and gave a boost to the feelings that had never died. I loved seeing them grow closer, but that same closeness also created problems. Briana's father did everything he could to keep them apart and was aided and abetted by the aunt of a rival for Briana's love. I ached for Josh, who couldn't seem to catch a break. Fortunately, Briana finally began to see her father for what he was and grew enough backbone to stand up to him. I ached for Briana too, because she was afraid to risk her heart again. She knew the kinds of danger Josh faced and was terrified of loving and losing him. I liked Josh's persistence and patience in getting past her walls. But it took a photography assignment gone bad to open both their eyes to the mistakes of the past and the hopes of the future. I really liked the ending.

[Jacqueline J · Rating 2 out of 5]

second chance at love that didn't work for me

[Clarke · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.7 Stars. Public Library 1/29/15. I didn't care for this story for many reasons. Due to the description I knew why the couple was getting back together but as the story went on it took a genetic engineering turn with some philosophy thrown in. While a lot goes on personally most of it has to do with the extended family even the neighbors and their meddling not the couple. Most of the story is spent running around hiding things and lying. Between the small town drama and the farm little was done for the romantic relationship. There is no doubt I felt the couples desperation but their romantic love was lacking. For the amount of time spent worrying over the illness, the baby, and the couple's job/living conflict the wrap up came off as insincere and rushed. I probably should've given it more stars since it isn't a bad story but I didn't care for it. I'm not sure if it's the story, the character development, or the author I didn't like... probably a combination of all three. Give the story a try for yourself some of the support characters are delightful including the little girl Nealie.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay I finished it... and it kept my interest enough... but I was pretty much passing the time. Not overly well written... story line was fine... but a serious miss in the angst department. Should have been crying at every turn, heart breaking and frustrating situation potential yet... it never really progressed that far. So yes I read hoping it would get better and finished because heck I was half way invested by the time the writer missed the boat.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me longer than I intended to read it... usually are a quick read for me. but this was an exceptional book. A bit different from the usual romances. A worthy read.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harlequin romance.