The Baby They Longed For
One night in the surgeon’s arms...
One miraculous surprise!
Obstetrician Addie and surgeon Noah’s relationship has always been...complicated since he broke the news that her fiancé had jilted her! Years later, finding themselves working and living together, they both agree to keep things professional. Until one intense day leads to one magical night, resulting in the miracle neither ever believed possible! Now they must put the past behind them if they want to build a future...together.
MARION LENNOX has written over one hundred romance novels, and is published in over one hundred countries and thirty languages. Her international awards include the prestigious RITA® award (twice!) and the RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award for ‘a body of work which makes us laugh and teaches us about love’. Marion adores her family, her kayak, her dog, and lying on the beach with a book someone else has written. Heaven!
Also by Marion Lennox
Meant-To-Be Family
From Christmas to Forever?
Saving Maddie’s Baby
A Child to Open Their Hearts
Falling for Her Wounded Hero
Stranded with the Secret Billionaire
Reunited with Her Surgeon Prince
The Billionaire’s Christmas Baby
Finding His Wife, Finding a Son
English Lord on Her Doorstep
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.
The Baby They Longed For
Marion Lennox
www.millsandboon.co.uk
ISBN: 978-1-474-08974-6
THE BABY THEY LONGED FOR
© 2019 Marion Lennox
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk
Contents
Cover
Back Cover Text
About the Author
Booklist
Title Page
Copyright
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
Extract
About the Publisher
CHAPTER ONE
HAPPY IS THE bride the sun shines on.
Happier still was the bride’s mother.
Addie’s mum had been beaming ever since she’d read the weather forecast. Actually, she’d been beaming from the moment Addie and Gavin had announced their engagement.
Dr Adeline Blair should be beaming, too, but right now she was struggling. In truth, Addie seemed so far away from her normal, workaday self it was like she’d moved into another body.
She didn’t belong...here?
Why? Surely everything was perfect. She was about to marry her childhood sweetheart. She was making her mother gloriously happy. With luck, she and Gavin might even have a baby before...
Don’t go there. Not today.
She glanced sideways at her mum, sitting beside her in the bridal limousine. Cancer. Metastases. Maeve seemed well today, but tomorrow...
No.
‘This is the happiest day of my life,’ Maeve breathed, and Addie hugged her—which, considering the amount of tulle she was wearing, plus the weight of her over-the-top veil, took some doing.
The car pulled to a stop. The church looked picture-postcard perfect. An arch of roses framed the entrance. Guests were presumably tucked up inside, waiting for the arrival of the bride. A photographer stood ready.
Addie had no extra attendants, no bridesmaids. Her mother was being bridal attendant as well as giving her away, an all-in-one package.
In some ways, it was almost her mother’s wedding.
‘Oh, Addie.’ As the chauffeur opened the car doors, her mother’s eyes were like stars. ‘I can’t believe this is happening.’
And Addie finally relaxed. Her mother was happy. Gavin was waiting. She knew she loved him—she always had. The reservations that had prevented this happening years ago were surely dumb.
This was as good as she could make it.
But then...
She lifted the load of tulle from around her ankles, swung herself out of the car—and straight into Noah McPherson.
Noah. Surgical consultant at Sydney Central. Gavin’s immediate boss.
Gav’s best man.
Noah was tall, dark and imposing in his beautifully cut dinner suit. He was in his early thirties but his skill and gravitas made him seem older. Addie saw lots of gravitas now.
Why wasn’t he with Gav?
‘What’s...what’s wrong?’ she managed, but she knew almost before she spoke.
‘Gav can’t do it.’
‘Can’t do...what?’
She couldn’t believe this. She was standing in brilliant sunshine, in her fairy-floss dress, and she was asking a question she already knew the answer to. She’d known the answer since she’d seen Noah.
‘Gav says he can’t marry you,’ Noah said, quite gently. ‘I’m so sorry.’
Silence.
There should be bells, Addie thought, almost hysterically. Her mother and Gav’s mother had organised bell-ringers. Addie had paid for them.
Maybe the bells had moved to her head. She felt like it was about to explode.
Gavin was...jilting her? This wasn’t real. It didn’t happen.
It couldn’t happen.
‘I... Did he give you any explanation?’ She was weirdly proud that she’d got the question out without gibbering.
‘He did. But you don’t want to hear it now.’
‘Tell me,’ she commanded.
Whoa...
Once upon a time Adeline Blair had had a temper, but not now. She’d had years of living in a house where every outburst would be greeted with, ‘Oh, Addie, what would your father say? You’ll break my heart even more.’ Her mother’s tears had pretty much shoved Addie’s temper into a dark cellar, tethered it with chains and left it to its own devices.
But right now she could feel the chains snapping. ‘Tell me,’ she hissed again, and Noah flinched.
‘Addie, we can do this later. We can find somewhere private—’
‘I need to know now. Tell me why.’
He took a deep breath and visibly braced. ‘Gav said...all his life he’s been ruled by women. Their grief and their need. And now your mum’s ill... He couldn’t tell you. He didn’t wish you—or your mother or his—any more unhappiness, but he’s decided that he can’t keep on being needed. He wants his own life.’
‘His own life.’
‘That’s what he said.’
‘So he’s decided...’ Temper or not, she was struggling to find her voice. She had to try a couple of times before she succeeded. ‘He decided to wait to tell me until five minutes before he was due to marry me? And then he didn’t even tell me himself?’ She was fighting rising hysteria. Stay calm, she told herself, but herself refused to listen.
‘I guess... Look, would you like me to drive you anywhere?’
‘Go jump,’ she hissed. ‘He didn’t even have the courage to phone?’
‘He thought you’d talk him out of it.’ He considered his words. ‘Or into it. Whatever.’
‘He sees me as what...the enemy?’
‘Maybe you need to see it from his point of view.’ It seemed like Noah was trying to make this whole scenario logical. ‘He says you depend on him. He doesn’t want to hurt you, but he feels like he’s been blackmailed by your mother’s illness. By your need.’
What the... ‘He w-wants to m-marry me,’ she stammered. ‘He’s been asking me almost once a week since I was seven.’
‘Maybe he thought you’d never say yes. I don’t know. All I know is that he’s finally realised that he can’t go through with it. He says he can’t be controlled any more by what he calls...’
‘What he calls what?’ She didn’t recognise herself. She didn’t recognise the anger.
‘Addie...’
‘What d-did he call me?’ Addie stammered.
‘Not only you. I think it’s you, your mum, his mum.’
‘So what did he call...us?’
‘This isn’t helpful.’
‘Say it.’
He sighed—and then he said it. ‘He called you...a monstrous regiment of women.’
Silence.
People were starting to make their way out of the church, wondering what was happening. Rebecca was way out front. Rebecca was Noah’s wife, wheelchair bound and beautiful beyond belief. She was also the source of any vitriolic hospital gossip she could find. Right now her face was alive with speculation. Pleasure?
All their hospital friends were behind her.
Gavin’s mum was with them. Lorna looked appalled.
Her mum was beside her, looking ashen.
‘You’ve been with Gav for the entire morning, listening to this drivel,’ Addie managed at last, struggling to keep her voice from being heard by anyone else. ‘He doesn’t want to be needed? I’ve cared for his mum as well as mine, for as long as I can remember. And now... You work with me and you didn’t even have the decency to warn me...’
The chains were definitely snapped now, and her package of temper, bundled up and controlled for all these years, was suddenly running amuck. All she could see was crimson.
‘Addie, I’m sorry.’
‘Of course you’re sorry,’ she said, distantly now. ‘That’s why everyone’s heading this way. Everyone’s sorry. Oh, and here’s Rebecca, ready to soak up every detail. Explain it to your wife, will you. And everyone else. A monstrous regiment of women? His mum? My mum? Me?’
‘Addie...’ He put a hand on her shoulder.
And then Adeline Blair did what she’d never done in her life and would never do again.
She struck his hand, and, as he didn’t release her, she shoved away. And as he instinctively held on—to comfort, maybe, who knew?—she reached out and slapped his smug, sorry face, a slap so hard the sound rang out over the churchyard to the town beyond.
And Dr Adeline Blair, dutiful daughter, doting fiancée, or ex-fiancée, jilted bride—oh, and obstetrician as well—hitched up her bridal gown, tugged off her veil and kicked off her stupid satin shoes.
‘Look after Mum,’ she called over her shoulder to Gavin’s mother, because even then she was a dutiful daughter.
And then she ran.
CHAPTER TWO
Three years later
‘WE’RE VERY GLAD to welcome you to the staff. Six months is great. Have you seen enough of the hospital? Terrific set-up, isn’t it? Let’s show you to the doctors’ residence and get you settled.’
Noah had looked at this place on the internet and liked what he’d seen. Now, in reality, the hospital met his expectations and more. It was small but it seemed excellent.
Currawong Bay was two hours’ drive from Sydney, tucked between mountains and sea on New South Wales’ south coast. It was a hazardous drive to the next major medical centre, or a fast helicopter flight if weather conditions permitted, so the hospital was geared to independence. For the last few weeks that independence had been compromised. They’d been lacking a surgeon.
Luckily the role of temporary surgeon was a job Noah needed. It was six months before his court case could be heard. Until then he had no access to his daughter.
No. Seven-year-old Sophie was not his daughter, he told himself, for what must surely be the thousandth time. She was the daughter of his ex-wife and he had no legal claim.
But how could he stop caring for a child he’d loved since she was a toddler? He couldn’t, which was why he’d needed to leave Sydney. He needed a busy, hands-on workload to keep him sane.
‘There’s only one other occupant in our doctors’ house.’ Henry, the hospital’s middle-aged administrator, was bluff and genial. ‘But the house is good. Because of our isolation we’re often dependent on locums, and this helps attract them. The place is set up to give privacy. It’s right on site. You can share the living rooms, or stick to your own rooms if you wish to be by yourself.’
‘Who’s living there now?’ He hadn’t planned on sharing at all. The advertisement had said self-contained quarters. How did that fit?
‘Our obstetrician.’ Henry seemed oblivious to his qualms. ‘She’s been here for almost three years now and because of the nature of her work the doctors’ house is a good fit. Hopefully she’ll be home now. Come through and I’ll introduce you.’
But then Henry’s phone rang. He took the call, glancing out at the gorgeous day outside. When the call ended he sighed but the sigh didn’t sound too unhappy. ‘Sorry, Noah, but there’s been a hitch. One of my golfing mates forgot his anniversary tonight, so tee off has been brought forward.’
It was Saturday afternoon. The bay was a glistening sheet of sapphire, the golf course lying enticingly in the distance. This had to be one of the most beautiful places for a hospital in the world. Henry’s choice was obvious.
‘If you head down the veranda and across the walkway, third door on your left, you’ll find everything you need,’ he said hurriedly. ‘You’re expected. Introduce yourself and make yourself at home. Settle in, explore the bay, do what you want until we start throwing work at you on Monday. By the way, do you play golf? No? Shame. Gotta go, though. Welcome to Currawong.’
He was gone and Noah was left to his own devices.
Which suited him fine.
He walked out to the veranda and took a few moments to soak in the view. This was a good decision, he thought. A busy country hospital in a beautiful place. All types of surgery. A great place to live until the courts came down on his side.
Please...
Meanwhile he had a housemate.
That wasn’t great. He’d prefer to be by himself. He needed to get his head sorted.
To prepare himself for losing Sophie?
He walked slowly along the veranda, taking time to appreciate the wicker armchairs set out for recuperating patients to sit in the sun and admire the view to the beach beyond. The doctors’ accommodation was linked to the hospital by a breezeway, a separate house, simple, wooden, with wide French windows opening to the sea.
A window at the far end was open, the curtains wafting out in the breeze.
He reached the door, raised his hand to knock and then paused.
A moan... Stifled. Coming from the window at the end.
Was his housemate ill?
Knocking and demanding entrance if she was vomiting didn’t seem such a great idea.
The glass doors led to what looked like a living room. No one was inside. He tried the door and found it unlocked.
The house was old-fashioned, furnished for comfort rather than style, with high ceilings, worn wooden floors and faded rugs. The living room was full of overstuffed furniture, big, comfortable, homey.
A vase of crimson poppies sat on the sideboard. They still had a band around their stems, looking like whoever had put them in the vase hadn’t had the energy to let them free. He looked around, liking what he saw—and then there was another groan.
Uh-oh. This wasn’t a gastro-type groan. He’d been a doctor long enough to differentiate.
This was pain. Sharp pain.
And even as he thought it, the door opened. A woman stood framed in the doorway, slight, mousy-brown hair, heavy glasses, wearing a faded nightgown.
Clutching her stomach.
‘Who—?’ She stopped at what was obviously her bedroom door and seemed to gather strength. ‘Who...?’
‘I’m Noah McPherson.’ He frowned with concern. She was bending with pain, and while he watched, one hand went from her stomach to her shoulder. ‘Surgeon.’
‘Surgeon,’ she gasped. And then she paused and tried to focus. ‘Oh, hell... Noah?’
And he got it. He’d worked with her. He’d watched her as a jilted bride. She’d slapped him, hard.
‘Addie,’ he said blankly.
But she was no longer listening. She was clutching her side, focussing inward. ‘Noah...’ She struggled to find words. ‘Oh, help. Noah, I don’t want... Of all the people... But I think I need...’ Her knees seemed to buckle and she dropped to a crouch.
And any confusion he was feeling faded in the face of medical need. He stooped before her, pushing the tangle of curls back from her eyes. ‘What’s happening? Addie, tell me.’
‘I think... No, I know that I’m pregnant,’ she gasped, struggling to breathe. ‘Test...positive. Ten weeks. I haven’t had an ultrasound yet but now...pain like you wouldn’t believe. My shoulder hurts. And... I’ve started... I’ve started to bleed. I’ve had...endometriosis. It’s a risk and these are classic symptoms. I think my pregnancy’s ectopic. I want her so much. Oh, Noah, I’m losing my baby.’
* * *
His brief tour of the hospital with Henry had been enough for him to find the right people, fast, and without exception Currawong Bay’s nursing staff were appalled.
No one seemed to have guessed Addie was pregnant. From the orderly who came running to help him get her across to the hospital, to the nurses, even to the hospital cook who appeared from the kitchen because she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard, they were horrified.
Noah was horrified himself, but he had to put his dismay on the backburner. The hospital used the town’s family doctors as backup. They could care for their own patients when they were in hospital, but it seemed none had specific surgical training.
If this was indeed an ectopic pregnancy, then this was his call.
‘I need...a scan,’ Addie breathed as they wheeled her along the veranda.
‘I’m onto it,’ he told her. He touched her face, lightly, in an attempt at reassurance. ‘Addie, let me do the worrying. You know I’m a surgeon. I might not know as much as you do about pregnancy complications but I know enough to cope with this. Trust me?’
‘I... Yes.’ And she caught his hand. For a moment he thought it was to push it away but instead it turned into a death grip as more pain hit. ‘I don’t...have a choice.’
She didn’t. It was, indeed, an ectopic pregnancy.
A scan showed an embryo growing in the right fallopian tube rather than the womb. Such pregnancies were doomed from the start, and internal bleeding was now threatening her life.
He didn’t have to explain it to Addie. She watched the screen with him, her face racked with distress. Pain relief was kicking in. The nurses were prepped, the theatre was ready but they were waiting for the anaesthetist. Apparently he was on his way, pulled from his son’s football game.
‘I wanted this baby so much,’ she breathed. ‘Oh, Noah... I have endometriosis. Scarring. If the other tube’s damaged...’
She’d know the odds. Rupture meant an increased risk of future infertility, and if she already suffered from endometriosis the odds were even worse. It was a hard call, treating a doctor, Noah thought. It was impossible to reassure her when she knew the facts.
She’d also know that he was a second-best doctor right now. What she needed was a specialist obstetrician, and the hospital had only one. Addie.
But if Noah hadn’t decided to come a couple of days early there wouldn’t be any surgeon within an hour’s reach. For the first time Noah was hit with the drama of country medical practice. Him or no one.
‘Please...’ Addie was weeping in her distress. Once more her hand caught his. ‘I know I’ve lost my baby but I can’t...please, I can’t be infertile.’
‘I’ll do what I can,’ he said gently. ‘Addie, you know I can make no promises.’ He was administering pre-meds, willing the unknown anaesthetist to hurry.
‘You can repair the tube.’ Her voice was blurred from the drugs and pain and shock. ‘You must. Please.’
He knew he couldn’t. So must she if she was thinking straight. If they’d caught things before the rupture then maybe but now...
‘Addie, you know...’
‘I do,’ she whispered. ‘But please... I’m sorry I slapped you.’
And that made him smile. Of all things to be thinking... ‘If I’d been you that day, I might have slapped me, too.’
‘It should have been Gav.’ She took a deep breath, fighting for strength, but there was still spirit. ‘To let me get to the church... Toe rags, both of you.’
‘We were indeed toe rags,’ he said gravely. ‘Addie, is there anyone we should be contacting? You need some support. Your mum?’ He hesitated. ‘The baby’s father?’
‘No.’ It was a harsh snap.
He wanted to stop but he had to know. Addie was suffering internal bleeding. Where the hell was the anaesthetist? If they didn’t get in soon... ‘Addie, we need next of kin at least.’
‘Next of kin’s this baby.’
‘Addie...’
‘There’s no one,’ she snapped. ‘Mum died three years ago. Gav’s mother doesn’t speak to me, and Gav’s long gone. And this baby’s father is a number from a sperm bank. So if I die on the operating table feel free to donate everything to the local cats’ home. But, oh, Noah...’ Her voice shattered on a sob and her grip on his hand tightened. He was no friend but he knew her from the past and it seemed that right now he was all she had.
‘You will... The tubes... You will try.’
‘I will.’
‘Despite the slap.’
‘Maybe even a little because of the slap,’ he said ruefully. ‘You were treated appallingly that day.’
And then he looked up as a redheaded beanpole burst through the door.
‘Hey,’ the beanpole said, heading for Noah and holding out his hand in greeting. ‘You’ll be our new surgeon. Noah? I’m Cliff Brooks, anaesthetist.’ He grasped Noah’s hand and then turned his attention to the patient. And stilled in shock. ‘What the...? Addie!’
‘It’s ectopic,’ Addie said weakly. ‘I’m... I was... Oh, Cliff, it’s ectopic.’