Reawakened by the Italian Surgeon

by Scarlet Wilson

  Her nose wrinkled as he stopped the car and she pressed her nose to the window again. ‘Where are we?’

  ‘Just where we need to be.’

  The rain hadn’t lessened as he led her across the grass in one of the parks in Rome.

  She laughed out loud when he sat down on the grass. ‘Which one of us is crazy?’

  He patted the sodden earth next to him. ‘You said you wanted to play. We are going to play.’ He held out his hands and tipped his head back. ‘A bit of wet weather isn’t going to stop us.’

  Autumn looked completely confused. But, ‘Okay...’ she said as she sat down beside him. ‘Anything for the man I love.’

  Giovanni didn’t doubt for a second that he was doing entirely the right thing. He plucked a few simple flowers from the grass and used his short nail to split each of the stems, then threaded them together.

  Autumn bent her head close to his, dripping even more water over his delicate operation. Her shoulders started to shake. When her gaze met his, her eyes were gleaming. ‘You’re making me a daisy chain?’

  He shook his head. ‘Oh, no. This is special. This is the first time I’ve ever done this. I’m making you...’ he held it out ‘...a daisy ring.’

  She stopped laughing, her eyes wide.

  Giovanni took her trembling left hand. ‘Autumn Fraser, will you do me the honour of making a life with me, and with my daughter—wherever that will be in the world—and filling our lives with love and joy for ever?’

  She didn’t hesitate for a second, throwing her arms around his neck. ‘You have my complete heart,’ she whispered in the rain. ‘Take care of it. I can’t afford for it to be broken. But somehow...’ she pulled back and ran her finger down his cheek and beard ‘... I think I’ve picked the perfect keeper for my heart.’

  She held out her hand and he delicately placed the now slightly squashed daisy ring on her finger. ‘You should know,’ he said quietly, ‘that not only did Sofia pick you, she also told me I had to give you a daisy ring when we got engaged.’

  He couldn’t wipe the smile from his face. The longest day of his life had turned into the best.

  ‘The girl’s got taste,’ laughed Autumn. ‘And now,’ she said, and shook her head, ‘would you do me a favour and take me home?’

  ‘It will be my pleasure,’ said Giovanni, and they walked slowly, covered in bits of grass and mud, back to the car and into their new life together.

  EPILOGUE

  HER BROTHER HAD insisted on paying for the wedding and flying all the guests to the venue—his castle in Scotland. Today Scotland had been blessed with good weather and the sun was high in the sky.

  Sofia was beside herself. ‘I’m a princess,’ she kept saying as she twirled around in the cream satin dress with a peach waistband that she’d chosen herself. ‘Are we ready now?’ She was bouncing on her toes and glancing out at the people in the gardens beneath their room.

  Autumn smiled down at her engagement ring. The central yellow diamond was surrounded by glistening white diamonds, and looked as near to a daisy as possible. Giovanni had presented her with the specially commissioned ring a few months after their daisy chain engagement.

  ‘There’s Lizzy and Leon and their baby!’ said Sofia. A few moments later she turned with a deep frown. ‘My aunties are fighting.’ She laughed, ‘Ooh, Eleonora and Bella have the same colour on!’

  Autumn tried to stifle a grin as she finished fastening her rose gold earrings—a wedding gift from Giovanni. She stood up and smoothed down her own satin gown, straightening the peach tie that matched Sofia’s around her waist.

  She picked up her bouquet of peach roses and handed the smaller version to Sofia. ‘We’re ready to go now.’

  Sofia ran back to the window. ‘Daddy’s there!’

  Autumn’s heart fluttered. She couldn’t believe she’d actually reached this moment, when she would give herself wholeheartedly and completely without fear of losing control.

  It hadn’t come easily. Losing a lifetime of learned habits and behaviours had taken time. She’d had some counselling, and Giovanni and her brother had been with her every step of the way.

  She bent down in front of Sofia. ‘I can’t wait to marry you and your papà,’ she said sincerely, trying not to cry and ruin her make-up. ‘It’s going to make me the happiest person on the planet.’

  Sofia was grinning and she flung her arms around Autumn’s neck. ‘You’re my best friend,’ she said with a few sniffs.

  ‘And you’re mine,’ agreed Autumn. She straightened up and held out her hand to Sofia. ‘Let’s go.’

  They walked down the aisle with Autumn’s brother at her other side. Matteo and Gabrielle Bianchi were in the third row, Hope and Grace on their knees. Both girls were still small, but clearly thriving. Autumn blew them both a kiss as she walked past.

  Sofia took things very seriously, timing her steps and waiting until she reached the front before she gave a big sigh of relief, hugged her papà, then sat on the red carpet under the floral arch.

  Giovanni beamed at his bride. ‘You made it,’ he whispered.

  ‘You thought I might get lost?’ she asked, and smiled at her handsome groom in his tailored grey suit.

  ‘I know you like to keep me guessing,’ he said as he leaned over and kissed her cheek, the short beard that she’d insisted he keep scratching her skin.

  ‘Hey...’ the celebrant laughed ‘...doesn’t that come at the end?’

  Giovanni put his hands on Autumn’s satin-covered hips and pulled her close. ‘Should we tell her?’ he teased.

  ‘I think so,’ said Autumn as she put her hands on his shoulders.

  They both turned at the same time. ‘We’d like to start the way we mean to continue.’

  Then they laughed, and kissed again, before the ceremony had even started.

  * * *

  If you missed the previous story in the Double Miracle at Nicollino’s Hospital duet, then check out

  A Family Made in Rome

  by Annie O’Neil

  And if you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Scarlet Wilson

  His Blind Date Bride

  Family for the Children’s Doc

  Cinderella and the Surgeon

  All available now!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Unlocking the Rebel’s Heart by Alison Roberts.

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  Unlocking the Rebel’s Heart

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  CHAPTER ONE

  THERE WAS NO way to avoid the collision.

  Paramedic Benjamin Marshall might have had quite a few years’ experience speeding around the rural roads of Central Otago in New Zealand, sometimes pushing his ambulance to the limits on sharp bends, steep hills or even gravel surfaces if he was on the way to an emergency but this time, there was nothing he could do but slam on his brakes and hope for the best when he came around a blind bend to find a car barely off the road, with its driver’s door wide open.

  Far worse than the horrible thud and screech of metal being mangled as the front bumper of the ambulance tore the door off the car and shunted the whole vehicle forward was the sight of a pair of flailing arms from a person who’d been standing directly in front of the car. Ben got a blurred impression of a slim body, a rope of long, dark hair and arms that were looking oddly graceful as they swam through the air. Arms that vanished at alarming speed as the body disappeared into the deep ditch of a water race that ran along the side of the road as part of the local farm irrigation system.

  The shocking thought that he might have just killed someone was foremost in B
en’s mind but he couldn’t simply jump out of the ambulance to go and find out. He knew, all too well, what could happen if he didn’t take the few seconds needed to do something to protect others. He’d seen it happen before. One accident on top of another that had caused totally avoidable fatalities. Slamming his vehicle into reverse, he hit the switch for the beacons before he began moving, to provide a visual warning for anyone else that might be approaching that blind corner. At least any vehicles coming around the bend from the other direction had more than enough room on the other side of the road. Fortunately, the road on this side was still clear and he was able to stop the ambulance, fast enough to skid in the loose gravel on the verge, in a position that could be seen from a distance and would prevent another accident. Ben was already running at the same instant his feet hit the ground as he jumped from the driver’s seat. Pushing the car further off the road was an urgent task as well, he noted as he ran past it, but that was nowhere near as imperative as finding out if there was someone drowning in that ditch.

  ‘Hey,’ he called loudly. ‘Where are you? Are you hurt?’

  The silence was ominous. The kind of silence you only got on a road like this, surrounded by farmland for endless miles in every direction, framed by an impressive mountain range in the distance that still had heavily snow-covered peaks in this first month of spring. Ben could hear the tremulous bleating of a newborn lamb that was somewhere close. He could also hear what sounded like a loud sniff of someone who...was crying? Or trying not to, perhaps.

  Two more strides and he was on the edge of the water race. The water at the bottom wasn’t deep enough to completely cover the sheep that was lying in the ditch but its head was certainly under water and probably had been for some time.

  ‘It’s dead...’ The woman hunched on the edge of the bank rubbed at her nose. ‘It was my fault. I killed it.’

  ‘It happens.’ Ben crouched in the long grass of the verge beside her. ‘The sheep shouldn’t have been on the road and it’s lucky that you didn’t try and swerve which could have put your car into the ditch and killed you.’ He was looking at her carefully, trying to assess how badly she might have been hurt when she’d been hit by her own car. Or was he making an assumption, here?

  ‘Were you alone in your car?’

  She nodded. ‘Of course I was.’

  Oh? Why was it something that should have been obvious? Was she always alone in her car? In her life? Ben blinked away the blip of curiosity.

  ‘Where were you headed?’

  It was good to keep her talking. He could see that she wasn’t having any trouble breathing. Her colour looked okay and a quick body scan didn’t reveal any sign of major blood loss happening. The bottom of her jeans and the ankle boots she was wearing looked soaked, however—as if she’d already been in the ditch to try and help the sheep before climbing out to go back to her car.

  Maybe if he’d been a few seconds later, she would have already driven away from the scene. But he hadn’t been later and he couldn’t leave this woman to wait until any other help arrived. He still needed assurance that she wasn’t injured and that wet clothing meant she was going to need some shelter very soon. The sleeves of the neat fitting jumper were also wet but at least that was woollen and would offer some protection against a breeze that still carried the bite of winter temperatures.

  ‘Cutler’s Creek,’ she responded. ‘I don’t think it’s that far away.’ She turned to look over her shoulder at the crumpled bonnet of the car. At the driver’s door that was almost completely detached and was twisted enough to be mostly lying on the grass. She screwed her eyes shut as if she rather not see the evidence of what had just happened. She also let out her breath in an unhappy sigh.

  ‘You’re right,’ Ben said. ‘You’re not far away. Not that you’ll be going anywhere in that car. Let me check you out and then I’ll call for some help.’ The relief that he hadn’t caused a major injury was wearing off and Ben was starting to feel seriously annoyed that this woman had done something as stupid as creating an obstacle on the road that could have killed someone else. ‘Our local cop, Bruce, is a dab hand at sorting stuff like this,’ he told her. ‘You’d be surprised at how often this kind of thing happens. Especially to tourists.’

  ‘I’m not a tourist.’ She had the nerve to sound offended.

  ‘Then maybe you should’ve known better than to leave your car in the middle of the road.’ Ben was quite used to keeping his tone calm no matter how much someone annoyed him. He needed that ability when you couldn’t know what else might be going with a patient—like a head injury, perhaps. Or low blood sugar. But this woman didn’t look as if her brain function was compromised in any way. She was looking at him as if he was the culprit when it came to doing something stupid. He sucked in a measured breath. ‘Nobody coming round that bend had a hope of seeing your car in time to stop safely.’

  ‘I tried to get off the road but I could see there was a ditch. And I had to stop—I’d just hit something...’

  ‘And you needed to leave your door wide open as well?’

  She looked startled. Ben could see the moment that she realised she’d done something dangerous because she hadn’t even thought about any potential repercussions. She looked more than startled, actually. The way her eyes widened and her lips parted made her look horrified.’

  ‘So... Are you injured? Do you have any pain anywhere?’

  It only took a blink for her to refocus. ‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘I don’t need checking out.’

  ‘You just got hit by a vehicle.’ Ben couldn’t resist a verbal nudge. ‘Like that sheep.’

  ‘Shunted is a more accurate description. It barely touched me. I just lost my balance and fell into that ditch.’ She was looking at the unfortunate sheep again. ‘I landed on my feet. I’m fine.’

  ‘I’m a paramedic. It’s my job to make sure you’re really fine.’

  ‘I’m a doctor,’ she flashed back. ‘And if I was hurt, I could take care of myself.’ She was struggling to get to her feet as she spoke and Ben could see her wince in pain as she put weight on her left foot even though she was clearly doing her best not to let it show.

  He could also see her face much better now that she had turned. Her eyes were almost as dark as that long braid hanging over her shoulder. So dark, they were making her face look paler. Or maybe that was due to the pain she was obviously in.

  ‘Where’s it hurting?’

  ‘It’s nothing. Just a bit of a sprain, I expect.’

  ‘You’ve got X-ray vision, then, Dr...?’

  ‘Hamilton.’ The polite response to his query about her name was almost reluctant. ‘Joy Hamilton. And you are...?’

  ‘Ben Marshall. Station manager for the local ambulance service.’

  She was looking almost disconcerted now which was a bit odd but maybe it was embarrassment instead, as the realisation that she’d done something so stupid was sinking in. Why was she heading for Cutler’s Creek anyway? Ben wondered. Was she a friend of one of their local hospital’s medical staff?

  ‘You a friend of Liv’s?’ he asked.

  ‘Who’s Liv?’

  ‘Wife of the head of our local hospital, Isaac Cameron. Daughter of the local legend who’d been running the place for decades until Zac arrived. Plastic surgeon. She came from Auckland but if you’re on the way to visit her, you’re out of luck. She’s in Dunedin, what with the baby still being in NICU.’

  Dr Hamilton was looking bemused. ‘I’ve never met Liv. Never heard of her.’

  ‘Oh...sorry.’ Ben shrugged. ‘Guess you look like you belong in a big city.’

  She did. Those were obviously designer jeans and expensive boots. She had the points of a white collar sitting neatly on either side of the neckline of her bright red jumper. She looked very neat all over, Ben decided, especially with her hair so tightly plaited. It gave the impression that she
belonged somewhere like a library rather than anywhere in a busy hospital. Maybe her doctorate was in something like archaeology. Or philosophy? Not that it was any of his business and besides, he was aware of something else now. He could still hear the bleating of that lamb and the sound was getting louder. Distressed, even.

  ‘I do know Isaac Cameron,’ Joy Hamilton said. ‘I spoke to him on the phone before I decided to take...’ She stopped speaking as she noticed Ben tilting his head, looking for the direction the bleating was coming from. He had to give her credit for the speed with which she cottoned onto exactly what he was thinking.

  ‘Oh...that must have been why that sheep was on the road.’ Her brow was suddenly furrowed with deep concern. ‘There’s a baby here somewhere.’

  She turned to start walking along the edge of the ditch. Or rather, limping heavily. It was Ben’s turn to frown as he tried to assess how bad that injury to her lower leg might be but then she turned her head to glare at him.

  ‘Why are you just standing there?’ she demanded. ‘Help me look for it.’

  * * *

  There was a sharp pain in her ankle every time she tried to put weight on it but Joy Hamilton wasn’t about to admit it. Not when Ben the paramedic would probably give her another one of those looks that told her she was too stupid to be allowed out of a city.

  And maybe she was. She’d murdered a sheep. She hadn’t given a thought to any blind bend in the road behind her as she’d slammed on her brakes after that horrible thud and...how could she have been thoughtless enough not to make sure her door was shut properly after she’d jumped out of the car? She never did anything without thinking about potential consequences. She was the most careful person on earth, in fact.

  How could she not be when she’d been brought up having to atone for the fact that her mother had been the complete opposite? She knew how to tick every box and to never miss any important details, which was exactly what made her so good at her job in emergency medicine.