She probably couldn’t, although she would get herself tested as a potential donor for a stem cell transplant, of course.
But maybe she wouldn’t even need to do that.
They both heard the gentle tap on the door of Lachlan’s hospital room. Flick didn’t get off the bed, so she was still in Lachlan’s arms as his twin brother came into the room. He wasn’t alone. He was holding Stevie’s hand as they came in and she had her arm around the shoulders of a young boy.
Josh’s eyes widened as he took in that Lachlan and Flick were so closely entwined.
‘We’re interrupting something, aren’t we? Maybe we should come back some other time?’
‘No...it’s okay.’ Flick moved, sitting up and sliding her legs off the bed so she ended up just being perched on the side. As she pushed tousled hair off her face, she caught Stevie’s gaze. The shared look was that of two women who were totally in love with the men they were with. A look of understanding. And joy. And...hope?
‘Sorry I couldn’t take your call before,’ Josh was saying to Lachlan. ‘We had a bit going on there for a while when Mattie here went AWOL.’
‘Hi, Mattie.’ Lachlan smiled at the serious-looking boy. ‘I’m guessing that Stevie’s your mum, yes?’
Mattie nodded. And then a smile broke out and lit up his face. ‘And Josh’s going to be my dad. And...and that means you’re going to be my uncle.’ He made an obvious effort to contain his excitement. ‘I’m sorry that you’re sick...’
Lachlan and Josh were looking at each other now and Flick could sense a similar kind of silent communication happening that she’d just shared with Stevie. Tears prickled at the back of her eyes as she realised that both these men, with a shared distrust of families and associated happiness, had found someone they could love—who loved them—enough to change their lives. Something else they would have in common from now on? A bond that was creating another little miracle by giving them both an extended family. She touched her belly as she smiled at Mattie. This family was already growing...
‘That is what we came here to tell you.’ Josh put his hand on Mattie’s shoulder as he smiled down at him. ‘But it’s not the only thing.’
‘Josh’s going to get himself tested.’ Mattie looked as though he was bursting with pride. ‘He’s going to have a hole put into his bones.’
‘Just one bone,’ Stevie put in. She was looking just as proud of Josh as Mattie was. ‘To see if he’s a match.’
‘He will be.’ Mattie was beaming now. ‘Josh says that nobody could be a better match than an identical twin and it’s really lucky that he met you in time because it’ll mean that you can hang around and be my uncle for ever.’
That made all the adults in the room laugh. Josh and Stevie were gazing at each other over Mattie’s head. Flick turned to find Lachlan gazing at her and the laughter faded into something that wrapped itself around her heart so tightly she knew it was going to be there as long as she had breath in her body.
Lachlan was going to do everything he could to hang around for ever.
So he could be an uncle to Mattie.
And a brother to Josh.
Maybe even a son to Josephine McKendry.
But, most of all, he was going to be the man who loved her. The father of her baby. Her husband...?
‘Hey...’ Flick was still holding Lachlan’s gaze. ‘Did we forget something?’
‘Yeah... I reckon.’
They were both smiling again as they spoke at exactly the same time. ‘Will you marry me?’
They were both laughing as they spoke again, in unison.
‘Yes...’
EPILOGUE
Nearly two years later...
THE BLUEBELL SEASON was at the peak of its glory in the woodlands of the McKendry family’s Cotswold estate.
There were no small, lonely boys there, gathering a bouquet of the flowers to give to their mother.
There were no sad people there, either, quietly holding each other to share comfort or strength.
Instead, this patch of woodland, which was bathed in the amazing colour and scent of these iconic flowers, had a small and very select group of people, treading carefully when they moved to avoid squashing a single bloom as photographs were being taken to commemorate a wedding service that had just taken place in this magical setting. There were also two dogs who weren’t being nearly as careful with the flowers.
‘Come here, Cocoa,’ Lady Josephine ordered. ‘Just because the ceremony’s over, it doesn’t mean you can wreck all Jack’s hard work.’
Tilly might have been delightedly working for many weeks on the wedding feast awaiting everybody back at the house but her husband had also been busy and he’d constructed a wonderfully rustic arch from fallen branches he’d been collecting in the woods and had then decorated it with ivy and tiny, white roses from the gardens he’d nurtured for decades.
Flick had some of those roses in her wedding bouquet, as well. Along with a cloud of gypsophila and highlighted, of course, with what were now her favourite flowers on earth—the humble bluebell. The tiny lace flowers attached all over the silk chiffon skirt of her wedding dress matched the pattern of the lace bodice but there was nothing to detract from its simplicity. The dress had only spaghetti straps. Her shoes were white ballet slippers and she wore no veil—just a wreath of tiny, white flowers that nestled into her loose, tumble of shoulder length golden waves.
‘I’d like one with all the boys this time.’ The photographer was grinning. ‘If you think you can cope with that, Lachlan?’
‘Are you kidding? I’ve got toddling twins. I’m learning to cope with anything.’ He ran to scoop up one of the boys, Liam, who was running after Cocoa, and then turned to try and see where his twin, Ben, had got to.
‘I’ve got him,’ Josh called.
‘And I’ve got Lucky.’ Mattie had his beloved, scruffy white dog in his arms. ‘He’s a boy too, isn’t he?’
‘Sure is.’ Josh was trying to brush dirt off Ben’s hands. ‘Where do you want us?’ he asked the photographer.
‘Under the arch? No...that old log over there is much better. You sit in the middle, Mattie, and see if Lucky will sit at your feet. We’ll have Dad on one side, Uncle on the other and they can each hold a twin.’
It took a while to set the photograph up to his satisfaction but Flick was more than happy to stand and watch all the boys in her life as they laughed and tried to get close enough to make the photo work.
Stevie came to stand beside her and she was clearly loving this as much as Flick.
‘How gorgeous is that?’ Her smile was misty.
‘We’re outnumbered.’ Flick shifted her gaze to the impressive roundness of Stevie’s belly. ‘Thank goodness you’re having a girl.’
‘If you’d waited a bit longer, she could have been a flower girl for you. How cute would that have been?’
‘It feels like we waited too long already. It’s been nearly two years.’
‘I know. And I know Josh and I rushed off to the registry office in no time flat but that was for Mattie’s benefit as much as anything. He needed to trust that us becoming a family was really going to happen. And it had to be just us because...well, you know...’
Flick nodded. ‘Seems like for ever ago, thank goodness, but it was a rough few months, wasn’t it? Especially getting to that hundred days after the stem cell transplant without any setbacks like infection.’
‘Things were just getting manageable and then you went and had twins.’
Flick laughed. ‘Who would have guessed that we had another surprise waiting in the wings? At least that was a happy one. And maybe that’s why it hit me so suddenly and I fainted that day in the hospital.’
Her smile faded into something far more poignant as she let her gaze settle on her husband. ‘Or maybe that was just the shock of thinking I cou
ld lose the love of my life...’
As if he felt her gaze on him, Lachlan looked up from where he was trying to prise Liam’s fingers off one of his shirt buttons. The smile the two of them shared seemed to be the reason that Stevie had to brush a tear from beneath her eye.
‘Josh always said that he was going to get a perfect result from being lucky enough to have a twin brother as a donor and look at him now—I reckon he can cope with anything at all. He’s looking so well. And so happy...’
A peal of baby laughter came from the group on the log as Lucky leaned out of Mattie’s arms to lick Liam’s face.
‘That’s going to make a gorgeous photo.’ Lady Josephine had come to stand beside Flick and Stevie. ‘Just as well I put Cocoa back on her lead, though. She would have knocked them both over.’
The six-month-old chocolate Labrador had proved a valuable addition to the therapy that Lachlan’s mother had been more than prepared to embrace as her contribution to the building of a new family. Now, nearly two years later, she was barely recognisable as the lonely, older woman who’d struggled with mental health issues for far too long. She was a beloved grandmother, not only to the twins but to Mattie as well. And Stevie was as much a part of this family as Lachlan’s twin brother.
‘It’s a shame your mother wasn’t up to travelling yet after her hip surgery, Stevie. But Josh tells me you’ve almost got the cottage ready for her to move into.’
‘Just a few final touches to make.’ Stevie nodded. ‘It all took far longer than we expected. The council can make you wait a long time for permission to do things to listed houses but it’s all worked out perfectly in the end. Mum will have moved in by the time this one arrives—’ she patted her belly ‘—and it was even better than the Big Brother programme for building a bond between Josh and Mattie as they tackled all their projects. I gave them matching leather tool belts that first Christmas we had together and they were both over the moon.’
The photographer had finished that shot. ‘Let’s have one more of the bride and groom,’ he called. ‘How ’bout you sit amongst the bluebells—or will that ruin your dress?’
Lachlan carried Liam towards his mother. ‘Can you take him for a minute, Grandma?’
‘Might be safer if someone else did.’
Lachlan’s eyebrows rose. ‘You’re not feeling unwell, are you? Did you check your BGL this morning?’
‘Of course I did. You know perfectly well my diabetes is under excellent control. I just happen to be holding a rather large and not particularly well-behaved young dog.’
‘I’ll take him.’ Mattie had grown several inches in the last two years. ‘I’m going to be a big brother soon, so I could kind of use the practice.’
Lachlan handed the toddler over. ‘You’ll be a fabulous big brother. Just like your dad.’
‘How do you know I was born first?’ Josh was grinning as he joined them.
‘I was talking about how you met Mattie in the first place. Don’t think you were born first, mate, but I guess that’s something we’ll never know.’
‘Just as well. We need something to argue about.’ Josh smiled down at Mattie as Lachlan took Flick’s hand to lead her back to the photographer. ‘How ’bout we take these wee fellows into the house? It’s getting a bit colder.’
‘That’s where I’m heading.’ Mrs Tillman was walking past. ‘I need to see what’s going on in my kitchen.’
‘Let’s all go.’ Stevie smiled. ‘I reckon our bride and groom might appreciate a quiet moment on their own when their photos are finally done.’
But they were actually getting a quiet moment already, as the photographer set up a longer distance shot and everybody else set off on the woodland track that would lead them back to the house.
Flick was watching them leave. Her mother-in-law, who she had such a special bond with, given how much they understood of each other’s past lives. Her brother-in-law whom she loved anyway for being so like Lachlan and she could never thank him enough for making Lachlan’s complete cure a possibility. She had to thank him for marrying Stevie, too, because the two women had become far more than sisters-in-law. They were best friends. And family. There were her two beloved sons as well, peering back over their uncle and cousin’s shoulders, watching as they were taken temporarily out of sight of their parents.
And then Flick looked up at the person who was closest to her. Not just physically but a part of her heart and soul. The man she loved so much she’d had tears of joy on her face as they’d exchanged their vows, using their own twist on vows that hadn’t lost their beauty by becoming so well known.
‘You will feel no rain, because I will be your shelter...’
‘You will feel no cold, because I will be your warmth...’
‘You will never be lonely, because even when we’re not together I will be with you, in your heart...’
‘We are two people but we have one life before us.’
‘I love you...’
She had tears shining in her eyes as she held Lachlan’s gaze now.
‘Do you remember the first time you brought me here to see the bluebells? Because you said they smelt even better in the woods?’
‘How could I ever forget?’ Lachlan’s smile was as tender as the kiss he bent to place on Flick’s lips. ‘I was already in love with you—I just didn’t realise it.’
‘Do you remember what I said?’
‘Tell me again.’
‘That we all have our stories and real life isn’t a fairy tale so they don’t always have happy endings.’
‘I remember.’
‘But it’s not true, is it? Not for us, anyway.’ Flick’s smile wobbled. ‘The day I arrived here and we had some of Tilly’s wonderful food in the kitchen and I was half-asleep from jet lag, I really did think I’d stepped into some kind of fairy tale. And maybe it’s been hard and it’s not an ending but just a beginning but... I’ve never felt this happy in my life.’
‘Neither have I.’
Lachlan kissed her again and it was so quiet in the woods they could hear the camera clicks of this moment being recorded for ever from the other side of the clearing. But they both felt as if they were totally alone together as they ended that kiss and smiled mistily at each other.
‘Am I the prince?’ Lachlan asked.
‘I guess you have to be.’ Flick nodded.
‘That makes you my princess, doesn’t it? Mind you, I already knew that, because...you know...you’re wearing that gorgeous dress.’
‘I am.’
‘Are you going to be able to dance in that dress? Mother’s expecting us to show off that perfect waltz we’ve been practising.’
‘I know. I’d better hope I don’t get nervous and stand on your toes like I did the first time.’
‘I don’t care if you do.’ Lachlan swept Flick up into his arms, turning towards the photographer so that he could capture what had to look like pure joy, because that was exactly what it was. ‘I love you, Mrs McKendry.’
‘I love you, too, Mr McKendry.’
‘Do you think it’s time we went and found the rest of our family?’
‘I do.’
‘Maybe I’d better carry you. Just so you don’t stand on my toes.’
Flick snuggled into his arms so that her head fitted into that delicious hollow just over his heart where she could feel it beating against her cheek.
‘I think that’s a very good idea...’
* * *
If you missed the previous story in the Twins Reunited on the Children’s Ward look out for
A Pup to Rescue Their Hearts
And if you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Alison Roberts
Falling for the Secret Prince
The Paramedic’s Unexpected Hero
Saved by Their Miracle Baby
All available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from The Doctor’s One Night to Remember by Charlotte Hawkes.
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The Doctor’s One Night to Remember
by Charlotte Hawkes
CHAPTER ONE
‘WHICH ONE OF them is faking it, do you think?’ Isla Sinclair wondered breezily, as she eyed the honeymooning couple frolicking together on the Chilean beach.
Her stepsister Leonora—former stepsister, if Isla was going to be strictly accurate—put down her summer cocktail and turned gracefully to look.
‘Don’t let what Brad-the-Cad did turn you into some hardened cynic, Isla.’ Leo smiled softly. ‘Maybe they’re actually in love?’
‘And you’re such a hopeless romantic.’ Isla grinned, making a conscious effort to thrust any unwelcome memories of her ex-fiancé out of her head. ‘You know as well as I do that someone is always faking it. If they’re really lucky, then they’re enjoying a mutually advantageous marriage, like my mother and your father had.’
Or at least it had been mutually advantageous for a blissful five years, ending perfectly amicably thirteen years ago, when Isla and Leo had been nineteen.
Onwards and upwards. Certainly that was a lesson Isla had learned at the knee of her beautiful, charming mother who had bounced her, cooed to her and whispered to her just what had to be done in order to negotiate for her next, richer, even more well-connected husband.
Marianna Sinclair-Raleigh-Burton had always seen marriage more like a business negotiation, with each party agreeing in advance what the other would bring to the table.
A Surgeon with a Secret Page 15