Maggie smiled, her heart filling with love. She pushed against his chest and they both struggled into a sitting position. ‘Not even the promise you made to yourself after your sister died? Great Ormond Street’s the best, Nash. The best.’
‘Yesterday it was the best. Today it’s just another hospital on the other side of the world, keeping me away from you.’ He slid his hand to her stomach. ‘From the baby.’
She rested her head against his chest as his words swelled, a lump of pure emotion expanding her chest to an unbearable tightness. He really did love her. He was reforging his set-in-stone career path for her.
‘It won’t be on the other side of the world if we’re there with you.’
‘Maggie.’ Nash placed a finger under her chin and lifted it so he could see straight into her eyes. ‘It’s not important. I know you don’t want to go.’
She smiled at him, cupping his face in her hands. ‘I do. I do if you love me. If you want to commit, if you want to be a family with me and the baby, I’ll follow you anywhere, Nash. I just didn’t want to go on some whim to appease your sense of honour and responsibility. I didn’t want to travel to the other side of the world just to see how it panned out. But, Nash, you loving me makes all the difference.’
Nash’s heart beat painfully in his chest, fighting for room past the constriction in his throat. ‘Really?’
She nodded. ‘Of course. Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be.’
‘Even in the middle of the outback where the nearest supermarket or movie theatre is hundreds of kilometres away?’
‘Especially there,’ she whispered.
Nash shut his eyes and placed a hand over hers. He opened them again and looked into her eyes. The tree lights danced in her irises. ‘What did I do to deserve you?’
‘Something good, I think.’
Nash smiled. ‘Looks like Santa came early,’ he murmured against her mouth.
Maggie gave a soft laugh, their lips touching. ‘It’s going to be Christmas all year from now on.’
Nash chuckled. ‘Ho, ho, ho.’
THE END
EPILOGUE
Maggie managed to convince Nash the next morning she was perfectly capable of going into work for her shift. They drove to his place so he could change his clothes and then headed into work full of Christmas spirit, despite not getting much sleep.
And she was pleased she did. They were able to give Alice and Brett the best Christmas gift they were ever going to get — they extubated Toby. With the tube out, Toby’s silent cries finally had a voice, if a little croaky.
He was even able to get out of bed and have a proper cuddle with his parents. Best of all, for the first time in weeks, safely snuggled in his mother’s arms, he gave them all a great big smile.
‘This is just the best,’ Alice said, looking down at a happy Toby with tears in her eyes. ‘There were a couple of times I thought this day would never come.’
Nash and Maggie exchanged looks. Toby’s parents hadn’t been alone in their pessimistic view.
After lunch Nash sidled up to Maggie. ‘Thanks for my gift,’ he murmured, rubbing the gum nuts together. ‘Guess we’ll both be able to keep in touch with our roots while we’re over there.’
Maggie nodded, the smell of eucalyptus wafting towards her. ‘Guess so.’
‘You missed your Secret Santa gift,’ he said.
She frowned. ‘No, I didn’t. I opened it while you were on round. I got a coffee mug.’
Nash raised an eyebrow. ‘Really? But I just saw one under the tree for you.’
Maggie looked puzzled as she walked towards the tree. ‘I must have missed it. It’s probably part of the first gift. They must have become separated,’ she mused as she bent to retrieve the small package wrapped in a red ribbon.
‘Hmmm,’ Nash said noncommittally, grinning like an idiot behind her.
Maggie opened the second gift without giving it a lot of thought, pretty sure it’d probably be some kind of accessory to the first. Maybe a box of tea bags or something.
It wasn’t until she hit blue velvet that she realised the gift wasn’t from her Secret Santa. But from Nash. She turned to face him, her hands shaking.
‘Nash?’
Nash smiled down at her. ‘Open it,’ he murmured.
Maggie’s fingers were trembling so badly it seemed to take an age to prise the lid open. When she finally managed it, the ring took her breath away. A large square cut blue sapphire sat on the plump velvet cushion.
‘Oh, Nash,’ she whispered, unable to tear her gaze away from it.
Nash, his own fingers a little on the trembly side, took it out of the box. He’d made such a hash of the last proposal he was determined to make this one special.
‘Will you make me the happiest man in the world, Maggie? Will you marry me?’
Maggie couldn’t believe it. The background noise of the unit faded as the world narrowed down to just the two of them in this moment.
In a few short months all her dreams had come true. She, the man she loved and their baby were going to become a family. ‘Yes.’ She smiled, looking into his incredible blue eyes. ‘Yes.’
Applause rang out around the unit as they became aware of their surroundings again. Nash grinned at her as he placed the ring on her finger. ‘Merry Christmas, Maggie May.’
Maggie stood on tiptoe and wound her arms around his neck. ‘This is going to be a hard Christmas to top.’
‘Maybe, but I’m going to spend the rest of my life doing just that,’ he promised.
And they kissed again in front of their very appreciative audience.
Read on for Ch 1 of Prognosis Bad Timing.
PROGNOSIS BAD TIMING – Chapter One
Two more weeks. Two more weeks. Two more weeks.
The words reverberated around Charlie Wentworth’s head in time with the squeak in his back wheel.
Two more weeks until he could start living again.
The regular Sunday visit with his parents had left him with that familiar bitter taste in his mouth. Between his family’s overt disapproval, the uncertainty over his health and tomorrow’s invasion from the hospital administrator, he had a lot on his mind.
All he had to do was get through the next fortnight. Go through the motions. Co-operate with the hospital hatchet-wielder. See his patients. Keep focused. Go get the blood test. Wait for the results. Which would be negative. Then he could get on with living.
Unless they were positive...Then what the hell was he going to do?
He stepped on the accelerator out of pure frustration, the ancient Mazda straining and protesting. His life had been on hold for what felt like years - the separation, the divorce and now this. Gaining steadily on the car in front, Charlie eased his foot off the pedal. Blowing the gearbox wouldn’t bring the next fortnight to a close any faster. He just had to be patient. Once upon a time he’d had that in abundance.
Not so much at the moment...
Carrie Douglas flicked her gaze to the rear-view mirror and tensed as the car behind surged closer. Her headlights stabbed into the darkness and she prepared to dip her high beam for when it overtook. It didn’t, though, falling back to a safe distance again and she relaxed.