The Surgeon's Doorstep Baby (14 page)

A sexy negligee?

But she walked out of the bathroom and Blake was stirring something at the stove. He was wearing jeans and an apron. He turned and smiled at her and his smile said it didn’t matter one whit what she was wearing. She could be wearing nothing.

She loved this man with all her heart. She’d loved this man around the world and back again—and she’d come home.

‘Will you marry me now?’ he asked, and her world stood still.

‘I think I might just have stuffed that,’ he said ruefully as the silence stretched on. ‘Patience is not my strong suit. I thought...dinner. Champagne. Something romantic playing in the background. It’s just... I look at you and I can’t...’

He stopped. He took off his apron. He took the eight steps that separated them and took her hands in his.

‘I got it wrong,’ he told her. ‘I’ve had months to think about it, almost a year, and I know exactly how I got it wrong. I told you I needed you. Maybe I do; maybe that’s part of the equation, but it’s not the main thing here. The main thing, the huge, overriding elephant in the room, or more than elephant if I can think of anything bigger, is that I love you, Maggie Tilden. I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you. So...can you cope without the violins and roses? Can we look past the need? Can you forget that I ever needed you and can you just love me?’

And how was a woman to answer that?

With an open heart.

‘I...I always have,’ she whispered. And then, more firmly, because the joy in her heart was settling, fitting into all the edges with a sweetness that made the path ahead seem sure and true and right, ‘My love, I always will.’

And they looked at each other, just looked, and something passed between them, so sweet, so strong that Maggie knew a bond was forged right then that would last for ever.

‘I’m not asking you to be mother to Ruby,’ he said. ‘I’ve organised—’

‘Hush,’ she told him, and she placed her finger on his lips. ‘I’m not asking you to be a brother to my siblings either, but I have a feeling you already are. And Ruby’s as much mine as yours. If you’re willing to share.’

‘Maggie, to ask you to take us on...’

‘I don’t think it’s taking on,’ she managed. ‘It’s loving. It’s different.’

‘Six months ago...’

‘I wasn’t where I am now,’ she said, steadily, lovingly, because she’d had six months to think this through and every night as she’d talked to Blake she’d become more and more sure of where her heart lay.

‘I’ve been surrounded by love since I was born. Trapped by it, in a sense. What you’ve done for me, Blake...you’ve set me free so I can choose love. I’ve had six wonderful months of being by myself, but I wasn’t by myself. I had the kids in the background. I had Ruby. I had Corella Valley. They were my rock, my base, my knowledge that of all the places in the world, there was a place for me. But most of all there was you. My one true thing. My love.’

‘Maggie...’ He held her, tenderly though, as if she was fragile. As if she might evaporate. As if she might still gather her things and head out that door, back to the world. ‘Maggie, are you sure?’

‘I’ve never been more sure,’ she whispered.

‘I’ve organised it. I’ve cut back, hard. I’m a part-time doctor until Ruby reaches school age. She’s my responsibility, Maggie, not yours.’

‘I’ll be a part-time nurse, too,’ she said comfortably. ‘If you don’t mind sharing.’

‘Maggie...’

She pulled back and looked at him—really looked at him. Needing him to see the whole package. ‘I still need to stay in Corella Valley,’ she said.

‘Of course you do,’ he said. ‘Just lucky there’s a fabulous homestead and enough work for both of us. I’m getting on brilliantly with the hospital staff—they’ve called on me already, and you should see the new bridge!’

‘You’d stay there?’

‘The Valley needs an orthopaedic surgeon. It also needs a fabulous district nurse-cum-midwife. How lucky’s that?’

‘Lucky?’ she whispered. ‘Or meant?’

‘I guess meant,’ he said as he tilted her chin and gazed into her eyes. ‘Maggie, I’ve loved you to the ends of the earth and back and I always will, but now will you come home with me?’

‘I... Something’s burning on the stove.’ How had she noticed that when all she could feel was him?

‘Maggie...’

‘Yes, I will,’ she said, positively, absolutely, and she wrapped her arms around this man she loved with all her heart. Who cared if the apartment burned—this was more important. ‘I may travel again but it’ll take ages to collect enough cans. Double this time because wherever I go, you go. Plus Ruby. Plus whoever else needs us.’

‘That’s a lot of can collecting,’ he said unsteadily. ‘I wonder if champagne bottles count.’

‘I’m sure they do.’ The smell was getting stronger. Maybe she could be practical Maggie for a moment. ‘Blake, the dinner...’

‘I s’pose,’ he said, and sighed dramatically and swept her up into his arms and held her close. Two strides took him to the cooker and the gas was turned off.

‘Disaster averted,’ he told her. ‘But I’m not thinking dinner right now.’ He was carrying her towards the bedroom, laughing down at her, loving her with his eyes. ‘So, Maggie Tilden, love of my life, woman of my dreams, will you marry me? Will you take me on as well as all the other wonderful loves you hold in your heart?’

‘You’re the biggest,’ she said, and she smiled back at him. She smiled and smiled, at this lovely, sexy, toe-curlingly gorgeous man who promised to be a part of her life for ever. ‘You’re the biggest and the best, and you’re my for-ever love. Of course I’ll marry you.’

And then they reached the bedroom and there was nothing else to say.

Two people were one.

They were Maggie and Blake, and they were starting their whole life together.

* * *

And in Corella Valley...

‘I’ve got two hundred and three,’ Susie announced, looking at her pile of cans with satisfaction.

‘I’m up to four hundred and sixty,’ Chris crowed. ‘And Liselle says her dorm’s up to a thousand. How many do you reckon before we can all go?’

‘I’m guessing trillions but we can do it. Maggie’ll be so happy.’

‘Maggie
and
Blake,’ Chris corrected her. ‘But you’re right. Gee, it’s going to take a lot of cans for all of us.’

‘We’ve got time,’ Susie said in satisfaction. ‘If we just keep collecting and collecting we’ll be able to do anything we want. Do you reckon they’ll mind that we’ve filled Maggie’s bedroom with cans as a homecoming present?’

‘Nah,’ Chris said. ‘They’ve got loads of bedrooms. I reckon they’ll only want one from now on.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah,’ Chris said with thirteen-year-old wisdom. ‘I think Maggie’s given up being alone.’

* * * * *

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ISBN-13: 9781460304426

THE SURGEON’S DOORSTEP BABY

First North American Publication 2013

Copyright © 2013 by Marion Lennox

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Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents
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