No.
Maturity had its advantages and she’d be a fool to ignore her fundamental needs. That was for the young.
She wasn’t prepared to go with him for anything less than love. The fact that he didn’t love her, that he would never love her, twisted like a knife and she pulled her hands from his. ‘No.’
Nash stared at her resolute gaze. ‘So what now?’
She pushed the box towards him with one finger, like it was full of red-back spiders. She didn’t want a duty ring from him. ‘You go home to bed and we talk another time.’
Nash nodded. He didn’t want to go home. He’d grown accustomed to sleeping with her and hated going back to his Maggie-less apartment.
He picked up the box, pocketed it and stood. ‘Okay. But this isn’t over, Maggie May.’
He moved towards her, crouching beside her chair and placed his hand over hers. Hands that seemed to almost permanently cradle her belly these days. He threaded his fingers through hers. ‘Not by a long shot.’
And then he stood again and turned away, once again leaving with things unresolved. But one thing he knew for sure — as messed up as it was, Maggie was carrying his baby and he would take care of his child.
CHAPTER SEVEN
It was hard getting out of bed at three a.m. under the best of circumstances and Maggie knew in a few short months she was going to have to get used to it, but when you were exhausted and morning sickness had kicked in with a vengeance, it was that much harder.
Alas, she was on retrieval call and a four-year-old child in Rockhampton with epiglottitis needed intensive care.
So she dragged herself out of bed, threw up in the toilet, brushed her teeth, donned some jeans and a T-shirt, pulled a comb through her hair and drove to the hospital.
‘Hell, Maggie, you look awful!’ Linda exclaimed as Maggie entered the unit.
‘It’s three in the morning,’ she grouched. The festive decorations failed to distract her precarious constitution or her mood.
Linda gave her a this-is-my-third-night-I-have-six-kids-and-I’m-almost-a-decade-older-than-you look but wisely commented no further about Maggie’s early morning roughness.
‘Nash is already here,’ she announced.
Maggie almost threw up again. God, not Nash. Please, not Nash. ‘Great,’ she muttered under her breath as she walked to the retrieval room where all the equipment was stored.
Nash had already started loading what they needed into a large trolley, which would accompany them to the airport. His broad back was facing her and her gaze was automatically drawn to the way his retrieval shirt pulled across the width of his shoulders and how his Levi’s lovingly hugged the contours of his butt.
A rush of love welled in her chest, stirring her nausea, and she took a deep, cleansing breath. ‘Hi.’
Nash turned at the sound of her voice, the neutral greeting he’d been practising since he’d learned they’d be going out together tonight dying on his lips. It had been four days since he’d seen her and she looked like hell. He took a step towards her. ‘Are you okay?’
Maggie gave him an exasperated look. ‘It’s three a.m.,’ she said, wishing she’d taken the time to slap on some make-up.
Couldn’t a girl look a little rough around the edges after a rude early morning wakening? How the hell he managed to look so good she’d never know. Her heart was doing a crazy love-sick dance just looking at him.
Nash’s heart thudded in his chest. He’d seen her early in the morning both at work and at play so he knew it wasn’t that. ‘Is everything okay with...the baby?’
Maggie glared at him, taking a quick look behind her to see if anyone had overheard. ‘Baby’s doing just fine,’ she said tersely.
She, on the other hand, was not. Another wave of nausea hit her and Maggie prayed for a smooth flight.
‘Maybe Linda should call someone else in?’ Nash suggested.
‘There isn’t anyone else,’ she replied irritably. ‘I’m it.’
Maggie had no idea how long her morning sickness was going to last but knew she couldn’t afford excessive time off work now she was looking down the barrel of single motherhood.
Like a million other women before her, she knew she just had to push through.
‘Have you had something to eat?’ Nash asked, not liking how peaky she looked.
Maggie placed a hand across her mouth, her stomach revolting at the thought. It gave a funny lurch that, for once, had nothing to do with him. ‘Not a good idea right now.’
‘It might help.’
She shook her head. At the moment nothing seemed to help. Sleep was the only relief she got. ‘Let’s just get this over with.’ Then she could lose herself in the blissfully nausea-free world of slumber.
‘You okay to keep doing this while I change?’ she asked.
Nash lifted a navy pack. ‘Sure. Almost done.’
They were loaded into a hospital transport van twenty minutes later. Thankfully at this early hour traffic was non-existent and they were at the airport in fifteen minutes. Another fifteen minutes saw them airborne and Maggie was glad for the engine noise in the little fixed-wing plane making conversation impossible.
Being buckled in next to Nash in the cramped confines was bad enough and she shut her eyes, determined to stave off the nausea by dozing for the paltry hour and a bit it would take to get to their destination.
Nash inspected her face, her black lashes throwing shadows on her cheekbones. She looked exhausted, her creamy complexion wan, her cheekbones a little more prominent. The pregnancy was obviously already taking its toll on her.
‘Here,’ he said, raising his voice to be heard over the noise of the engines as he nudged her arm.
Maggie opened her eyes reluctantly, to find Nash holding up a stick of chewing gum. Before she even knew what she was doing she was reaching for it. Something sweet that wouldn’t sit in her belly like a rock.
A lifesaver!
‘Thanks,’ she said, ripping off the wrapper and stuffing it in her mouth before closing her eyes again.
Nash blinked as it disappeared in one second flat and made a mental note to always have a packet on him. And then he sobered when he remembered he was only here for a few more weeks.
He’d been thinking a lot the last few days and wasn’t any closer to a solution. But maybe if they actually talked about it?
Rationally? They did have an hour...
He lowered his mouth to the vicinity of her ear. ‘Are we going to talk or just ignore each other?’ he asked.
Maggie opened her eyes and turned to face him. He was disturbingly close, his mouth within easy reach. The gum was having a marvellous effect on her constitution but with all the extraneous noise she really wasn’t up to a discussion they’d have to yell at each other anyway.
‘Ignore each other,’ she confirmed, returning her head to its neutral position and closing her eyes.
Nash smiled despite himself. Okay, fine. It wasn’t exactly easy to talk in the plane. But they were going to talk have this conversation - today.
They landed in Rockhampton and jumped into the waiting ambulance with their equipment for the two-minute drive to the hospital.
Thankfully, the pick-up was easy enough with everything already pretty much done for them. The quick actions of a local anaesthetist had diagnosed the surgical emergency and performed a tracheostomy, so all the child needed was transport to a primary care facility.