The Doctors' Christmas Reunion

by Meredith Webber

  The temptation had been too great for the two lads. They’d got a lift down to the coast with a friend, and right in front of them was a car, keys inside, just waiting for them.

  Although they’d gone a fair distance before they’d realised they’d had a passenger, and then only when she’d cried.

  One of them now admitted having younger siblings and knew enough to assume the baby was hungry so they’d stopped in Croxton, gone to a chemist and bought a bottle and some baby formula, fed the baby and, for lack of any other idea, driven on.

  Undaunted by this lack of a plan, they’d told themselves they were doing the baby a favour as she shouldn’t have been left in the car in the first place—everyone knew that children could die in hot cars...

  From that point on their stories varied. They were taking the baby to the nearest police station when they had the accident, or were turning to go back and leave the car where they’d found it. Either way, the baby remained safe.

  ‘But what happened to the nanny?’ Ellie demanded, as Chris was explaining all of this to her, Andy and Chelsea, who was now back from school and delighted by the baby.

  ‘Well, she was too frightened to admit that she’d lost her charge so she ran off to a friend’s house. It was the friend who convinced her to contact the police and the parents.’

  ‘She’d have panicked, that’s only natural,’ Ellie said. ‘But at least she did the right thing in the end.’

  ‘Anyway, the parents are on their way. They should be here in a couple of hours,’ Chris told them. ‘Are you okay to keep her here?’

  Andy smiled at him.

  ‘I think you’d be hard pushed to get her away,’ he said, nodding to where Chelsea now rocked the baby in her arms.

  But when Chris left to get back to work, Andy suggested they put the baby into her car seat to sleep.

  ‘Babies can get very heavy when you’re holding them for a long time,’ he added, smiling at Chelsea, who nodded but let go reluctantly, watching to see Andy carefully secure the little one in her seat, talking quietly to her as he did it, although she was asleep.

  And with the job finished, he stayed there, squatting in front of her and reaching out to run a finger down her cheek, and touch her tiny hand.

  ‘I’ve got homework,’ Chelsea announced, when they were all happy that the baby had slept through the move.

  ‘And I could do with a cup of coffee,’ Andy said, straightening up and walking swiftly away from the distraction. ‘I have to go back to the hospital, but it’s been such a weird day I feel a need a break to catch up with myself.’

  ‘Sit down and I’ll get it,’ Ellie told him, and as she pottered around the kitchen, turning the machine on, getting out mugs, she felt more at ease with Andy than she had for months.

  ‘So, what was your impression of Chelsea and the baby?’ Andy asked, the question so unexpected she needed a moment to process it.

  ‘Well,’ she began cautiously, ‘it could just be normal teenage girl reaction to a baby. With all the hormonal stuff going on inside them, I think that’s only natural.’

  ‘You don’t sound too sure,’ Andy said, smiling at her teasingly, because he knew she was usually definite in her opinions.

  ‘I’m not,’ she admitted, ‘and neither, I imagine, is Chelsea. It’s probably created all kinds of emotions inside her, and raised so many doubts and issues in me, so I hope her homework is very difficult, and absolutely has to be done for tomorrow.’

  She sighed.

  ‘We might talk about it over dinner,’ she suggested, and Andy nodded, finished his coffee, and stood up.

  ‘Lacking any very difficult homework, I’d better get back to work.’

  And just like that he left, Ellie staring after him, puzzling over his words.

  Could he really be saying he’d felt something in his heart as he’d held the baby, secured her safely in her seat and knelt in front of her for those extra minutes...?

  A longing?

  Or just sadness?

  Ellie knew she was frowning.

  Ellie went down to the surgery to check on the next day’s patients and finish off some paperwork. She really had to get Chelsea in for an ultrasound sometime soon, and suspected she was putting it off as it was going to make the baby more real to both of them.

  And for all she told herself that Chelsea was just a patient like any other, she couldn’t help but feel connected to the new life growing inside their guest.

  Was she jealous?

  She didn’t think so.

  Just uneasy, somehow...

  ‘Forget it!’ Ellie muttered to herself, checking the appointments book on the computer and putting Chelsea down for a scan after school the following Monday. ‘Think about Andy instead!’

  And this second order made her smile, although there was definitely a little flutter in the region of her heart.

  She was saved further speculation by the sounds of arrivals, as at least two vehicles pulled up outside.

  She slipped out of the surgery, locking the door behind her, in time to hear a man saying in a determined voice, ‘And just where are these so-called lads? I’ll need their details. I’m going to sue them, you know. Get them for the pain and torment they’ve caused Melissa and I.’

  ‘Melissa and me,’ Ellie corrected beneath her breath, already disliking this pompous man who, as far as she was concerned, definitely didn’t deserve such a beautiful daughter.

  ‘The law will take care of the lads,’ Chris said firmly. ‘It’s the baby you’ll both be wanting to see.’

  ‘She’s just upstairs,’ Ellie said. ‘I was going to give her a quick sponge over before you came. It’s been a hot, dusty day.’

  Andy arrived from the hospital at that stage, full of his usual good cheer.

  ‘I’ll do that,’ he said. ‘Now, come on up, you’ll be anxious to see her.’

  The newcomers followed, and even when they arrived in the living room and saw their daughter safe and sound—in her car seat—the only reaction from the mother was, ‘Why is she wearing that old singlet?’ although she did go and kneel by the chair and kiss the forehead of her sleeping child.

  ‘It was all we had at the hospital that was cool,’ Andy said.

  ‘Did you bring clothes for her?’ Ellie asked.

  Both shook their heads.

  She paused, and Andy, only half-aware of what she might be about to say, held his breath.

  ‘I’ve got some clothes you can have for her. In fact, if Zeke wouldn’t mind going back to the hospital for more formula, you could bath her and change her here, then feed her and she should sleep on the trip back.’

  ‘Leave the bath to me,’ Andy said, aware that the offer of clothes must have caused Ellie enough pain and wanting to distract any attention from her.

  ‘Well, I suppose as a doctor you can do this kind of thing,’ the father said, and Andy had to close his lips on the retort that most men could do it.

  ‘Actually, I’m happy to do it,’ he growled. ‘Babies are great.’

  Zeke had disappeared on his errand and Ellie had also left the room, but he knew where she’d be, and knew what clothes she’d find for the baby.

  He followed her into the small room off the side of the room Ellie used. Thank heavens they had been too busy settling in to decorate it in preparation for their baby. It was bad enough that it still had a small chest of drawers, filled with baby clothes and gifts from friends and relations when they’d left the city...

  Ellie had the second drawer open and was running her fingertips over the contents.

  ‘It’s a good thing we’ve got intelligent friends so we were given clothes in every size from preemie to two years old.’

  He could hear the battle she was having to keep her anguish out of her voice.

  Andy came fully into the small room a
nd wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly, feeling the tension drain from her body as tears she’d tried to hold back slid down her cheeks.

  ‘It will be all right,’ he whispered against her hair. ‘We’ll work things out. You know I love you—I always have and always will—the rest’s just been a distraction.’

  She looked up into his eyes, her own pinkened by her tears.

  ‘You really believe that?’

  He tightened his grip on her, and kissed her lips, the softness of them startling his nerves and tightening his body.

  ‘You know I do,’ he said against them, and felt her mouth open, her tongue touch his, electrifying every cell in his body.

  ‘We should get going,’ she whispered to him, when it seemed they’d stood like that for an age.

  ‘We probably should,’ he said, but he continued to hold her, just a little longer, while all the memories of the passion they’d shared welled up in their bodies until the effort of breaking apart was one of extreme willpower.

  ‘Later!’ he murmured in her ear, then he wiped the tears from her cheeks and took the tiny garments from her as she lifted them carefully from the drawer.

  ‘I’ll get some warm water to sponge her down,’ she said, her voice shaky but determined. ‘And a couple of towels.

  * * *

  Glad to have something to do, Ellie hurried to get what Andy would need, depositing the towels and water on the coffee table, spreading one towel so Andy could put the baby on it.

  Aware that her eyes would be red and tears not far away, she then retreated, going into the kitchen and staring unseeingly into the fridge because she was fairly sure she should be doing something about dinner.

  But the feel of Andy’s arms around her, the hardness of his body as he’d held her close, stayed with her, stirring her senses and tightening her body.

  She was still staring at the meagre contents of the fridge when Chelsea breezed into the kitchen.

  ‘Is it okay if Zeke takes me to the Thai place for dinner? A few of the soccer team are going. Someone’s birthday, I think.’

  ‘As long as you’re home by ten,’ Ellie said, glad to be distracted from the tumult of her body. ‘It’s a school night, remember.’

  ‘Yes, Mum,’ Chelsea teased, and she slipped away, pausing as she passed the living room to call out, ‘Goodbye, baby!’

  Ellie closed the fridge and sat down at the kitchen table, resting her elbows on it, with her head in her hands. She heard the sound of movement and knew the unwanted guests were departing, but she felt no obligation to speak to them again, so she was still sitting there when Andy returned to announce that everyone was gone.

  He slumped into a chair opposite her.

  ‘I can’t believe that was so hard,’ he said, staring up at the ceiling.

  ‘The baby?’

  He nodded, then turned to her, reaching out to take her hand.

  ‘And I can only imagine what you felt, taking that little outfit out of the drawer and handing it over. Your baby’s clothes—our baby’s clothes. Oh, Ellie, darling, it’s been one shit of a year, hasn’t it?’

  He stood up now, and walked around the table to pull her to her feet, take her in his arms, hold her tightly.

  ‘I thought my heart would break back then.’

  The words startled Ellie so much she couldn’t speak, only hold him as close as he was holding her.

  ‘I didn’t know,’ she whispered. ‘I didn’t know how you felt. I was too wrapped up in my own misery to even think about the man I loved.’

  ‘Well, at least you knew you still loved him—me,’ he whispered, ‘at times I even wondered about that.’

  ‘Oh, Andy, what a mess we’ve made of things—I’ve made of things. I was so exhausted, so lost, but I should have made time for you.’

  ‘No, you were right the first time—we made the mess—and it’s understandable when you think about how traumatic it was for us at the time.’

  She raised her head and looked at him, at the face she knew so well, the dark eyes smiling quizzically at her, the love he felt for her there, shining in them.

  ‘Take me to bed, Andy?’ she said quietly, and he turned with his arm around her shoulder and slowly and silently they walked through to the bedroom.

  By which time Ellie was shaking so badly she wasn’t sure she’d manage to take off her clothes, but Andy, who seemed to have similar tremors, somehow managed to get them both naked. In a matter of moments they stood, running their hands over each other’s bodies, learning them again through touch, then taste as their lips met, desperately seeking each other, teeth clashing, tongues twining, lips moving over skin now—

  ‘Bed?’

  Andy breathed the word into her ear, and within minutes their hunger for each other had them joined in a frantic coupling, murmurs of love and pleasure providing a soundtrack to their passion.

  They lay spent, their bodies still entwined, remembering the feel of skin on skin, the cries of their release; remembering how things used to be...

  And could be again?

  Ellie smiled, knowing it not only could but would.

  ‘Hungry?’ Andy asked, and when she nodded sleepily against him, he eased away and she heard him rattling around in the kitchen. She was half-asleep when he returned, bearing a tray with two small but perfect omelettes on it, cutlery for two, two wine glasses, and a bottle tucked under his arm.

  It was if the last few months had never been—as if it was only yesterday Andy had cooked an omelette for her, and brought it to her in bed.

  They talked of the weird day they’d had, of Ted Buckley, and Rudi the dog, about everything but the baby and the clothes she had worn as she’d left the house.

  Then sleep overtook them both, but it was deep and dreamless, their bodies still curled together, once again...

  But as the dawn chorus of the magpies and butcher birds woke them, to a pink sky announcing the coming dawn, they turned to each other, and slowly, languorously made love again.

  Taking their time to learn each other again, prolonging the passion that built between them until it consumed them in a fiery blaze of lust and left them sated, exhausted on the sweat-drenched sheets, with no words for this reunion—this miracle of love returned...

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  COULD IT REALLY have been so simple? Ellie wondered a week later. Could she and Andy have slipped back into their old passionate relationship so easily?

  Even thinking about what happened in bed excited her, sending warmth flooding through her body and desire tautening her nerves.

  At work, she had to concentrate to put thoughts of Andy right away, but not as far away as they had been...

  She took the tests Madeleine would need for the specialist in Sydney, arranging for her to get copies of the results. She scanned Chelsea’s bump but didn’t reveal the sex of the baby, something Chelsea had decided she didn’t want to know.

  Work was less busy as people prepared for Christmas. The stores along the main road were bright with lights, each trying to outdo each other with their Christmas decorations.

  But the phone call from the local newspaper was totally unexpected.

  Would she please judge the decorated houses? They had prizes for the best house and the best street, where neighbours got together to light up the skies with Christmas cheer.

  ‘I’m not sure I’d be up to that,’ she told the young man who’d phoned her.

  ‘It’s simple,’ he said. ‘The other Mrs Dr Fraser always did it. The judging is tomorrow night. I can pick you up at seven if that’s okay?’

  Tomorrow night?

  Andy came home as she was frowning over this latest assignment.

  ‘I’ve got to judge the best decorated house,’ she told him, and he laughed.

  ‘It’s easy, Mum always did it. She reckoned the winner
always stood out.’

  ‘Oh, yeah? Well, I think I’d better have a practice run tonight. Will you come with me?’

  ‘If you really think it’s necessary.’

  Andy was hardly enthusiastic, although when they finally set out, Chelsea having joined them, it turned into a riotous affair, with all of them choosing different houses, then changing their minds about it when they saw the next one.

  The decorations were unbelievable. Santa rode his light-festooned sleigh across one rooftop, and was clambering down a chimney on another. In some gardens he’d be surrounded by his elves, all animated so they seemed to be making toys, while others were more a light and sound show with Christmas carols playing against lights that changed and seemed to dance with the music.

  Even the mine was decorated. Although some kilometres out of town, the tall structure that operated the lift was ablaze with coloured lights.

  ‘You’re both hopeless and no help at all,’ Ellie told them, when they’d completed the circuit of decorated houses for the second time.

  But the following night she was glad she’d checked them out, because it became easier to see who’d put the most work into the colourful spectacles, and she settled on the house with Santa’s sleigh on the roof. The sheer effort of getting it and a rotund Santa up there deserved a reward.

  But seeing how much effort people put into their decorations made Ellie realise she and Andy had done nothing to decorate their own house. So finally she found the courage to investigate the shed where she knew Andy’s parents had left their Christmas decorations, claiming there were far too many for the small apartment they’d moved to at the coast.

  Maureen had already decorated the surgery with tinsel and baubles and a small tree, which had all been stored away to be used year after year.

  So it was left to Ellie and Chelsea—and Logan, who’d turned up to do some gardening—to decorate the house. Andy was still too involved in shifting people about in his soccer team, or teams as it was now, to be much help. They began on the veranda, stringing lights along the railing and hanging twinkling stars from the posts that supported the roof.