by Annie O'Neil
Midway through the now familiar chorus, her small fingers squeezed his. Amira’s eyes were still shut tight, but her forehead was crinkling in a show of confusion at first, then suddenly her eyes shot wide open, so quickly Idris forgot to keep singing.
“Keep singing, keep singing,” Robyn encouraged, tears forming in her eyes as she took Amira’s other hand.
Amira turned to her as she spoke and it was at that moment Idris understood that the surgery had been a success. Tears he’d never spilled flooded his eyes, blurring the beautiful expression on his daughter’s face as she took in the same information he was processing.
She could hear.
Robyn had done exactly what she had promised. She’d made his daughter’s near impossible dream a reality.
“Would you like to try talking?” Robyn asked Amira.
The little girl nodded, her features crumpling into sobs of understanding at the enormity of the moment. Idris, unable to bear even the tiniest sliver of fear his daughter might experience, forced himself to sing again, his voice so gruff with emotion, but it didn’t matter. Not if it would help Amira take the first of many scary steps as she adjusted to the panoply of changes she would experience over the coming months. When his voice cracked, or faltered, Robyn joined in, her soft alto ribboning around his, giving him the strength and confidence to be the man he needed to be in this moment.
Amira’s lips parted, her dark almond-sloped eyes shifting in wonderment between the pair of them, now singing like a couple of giggling teens.
“I can hear you,” she finally said, tears pouring down her cheeks. “I can hear the song I felt you sing!” She pressed her hands to each of their chests in utter amazement that one beautiful thing had transformed into the other—into sound!
Her head whirled around, eyes narrowing as she sought the source of the other noises in the room. She played the air drums for a minute and signed to Robyn she didn’t understand.
“It’s music. You’re hearing music coming from the speaker.”
Amira’s lips shaped into an astonished O as she looked at the small phone in disbelief.
“It’s just how I imagined it! Beautiful!” she signed, then again and again made the beautiful swooping sign that meant music, shifting her fingers into the little bird that symbolized Robyn’s name.
“Thank you,” she said, turning her full attention to Robyn. “Thank you.”
“I am so happy for you,” Robyn signed back, her voice catching with emotion. “You deserve all the joy you receive in your new life.”
“I’m so happy for all of us!” Amira shouted, then winced at the volume of her voice. “Have I always been this loud?” she whispered sheepishly.
Their collective laughter swirled up and around them, and before Idris could get his head around the fact his daughter had heard his voice for the very first time, she was clambering out from under the covers and tugging him and Robyn into a tight hug as she sobbed and sobbed with disbelief and joy.
As soon as she could bear to break herself away, Robyn excused herself.
She stood at the doorway, watching father and daughter grasp and explore the new world Amira was beginning to inhabit, then turned and fled knowing the happy tears she had shed would now be weighted with sorrow.
* * *
“He wants to what?” Robyn had only just managed to splash water on her face, mortified her blotchy, tear-streaked face was going to have to appear on television! “No. Absolutely not. He can do it on his own. Amira is his daughter. This is their moment.”
“That’s not what he thinks, Robyn.” Victoria fixed her with a friendly glare if ever such a thing were possible.
“Who? Dominic?” Robyn’s face screwed up in a show of confusion. “Is he putting you up to this?”
“No, silly. Idris Al Khalil—you know, the multibillionaire Sheikh of Da’har—thinks so. He chose you out of dozens of possible surgeons to operate on his daughter. You’ve done what no one else in the world has managed and now you don’t want him to sing your praises to the world?”
“Not on television, I don’t.” Not anywhere. It would be too much to bear. She didn’t want to hear kind words when the paths their lives were taking would now split and veer off in very different directions.
“Stop being ridiculous. They’ve already set up a press podium outside the hospital. Half the staff are out there already.”
“What?” Robyn recoiled from the friendly hand her friend was rubbing along her arm. “In front of all the Castle’s supporters and the press? Have you gone absolutely stark-raving mad? No, no, no, no, no.” Her jaw clamped shut as she rigorously shook her head. Absolutely not. Humiliation one-on-one with Idris was one thing. But in front of all those people?
“Do I need to repeat the billionaire part or the groundbreaking surgery part?” Rosie intoned.
“I never agreed to do this for the money,” Robyn grumbled. She’d never known she would lose her heart, either, but that hadn’t stopped her from performing the surgery. Or from a whirlwind of heartbreak picking her up and swirling her around and around in the wake of Idris’s rejection. She’d done too much acquiescing to His Excellency as it was. His Glowering Grumpency was more like it.
“Are you going to let a few jitters keep Paddington’s from getting the well-deserved publicity your surgery could garner?” Victoria could scarcely keep the disbelief from her voice and Robyn didn’t blame her. It was why she’d chosen her to front the campaign. She embodied everything Robyn didn’t—confidence, the ability to have a baby, fall in love...
Ugh! Anger, anger, anger.
She didn’t do anger, but it seemed to work for Idris—so it was going to have to work for her.
“Robyn.” Victoria plopped her hands on each of her friend’s shoulders. “You can do this. It’ll be five minutes in and out and then you can hide away in the operating theater for the rest of your life if you please. Five. Minutes.”
Robyn nodded, a sheepish smile creeping onto her face despite herself. “All right, you win!” She rocked back on her heels, tugged a tissue out of a nearby box and gave Victoria an impressed smile. “Dominic didn’t stand a chance with you, did he?”
Victoria, to her credit, flushed with pride, her hands gliding across the ever-increasing swell in her belly. A baby, a fiancé—the paramedic’s life seemed fairy-tale perfect after the storms she’d weathered. Robyn was seized by an impulse and pulled her into a hug. “Thanks for everything. You and Dom have done an amazing job handling the Save Paddington’s campaign.”
“Are you—” Victoria began, her voice muffled in Robyn’s shoulder, then pulled back, her lips pressing into a frown as she inspected her tearstained face. “You didn’t have a disagreement with the Sheikh or anything, did you?”
“Idris? No!” Robyn protested, throwing in a hand-wave, as if the gesture would punctuate the message she was trying and failing to get across. She was cool. Everything was fine.
She muffled a little sobby hiccup behind a fistful of tissues.
Victoria shot her a look, making it clear Robyn was going to have to work on her fake happy face. But it was the only face she had and all it could do was tell the truth. Her heart was no longer safely tucked away. She’d taken it out to play and had lost the game.
She gave her shoulders a little shruggy shake. “C’mon. Hanging out here isn’t doing Paddington’s any good. Let’s give Idris his press conference and then I could do with a nice glass of wine over at the Frog and Peach if you’re willing!”
“It’s soda water for me,” Victoria gently reminded her, an apologetic wince scrunching her features together when Robyn’s eyes flooded with tears. “Maybe we could go somewhere else. Somewhere less...doctory?”
Robyn nodded, knowing if she spoke it would all come out. Her battered and bruised heart that had opened and fallen in
love, not just with Idris but with Amira. The gut-wrenching pain at having to say goodbye after feeling, for the very first time in her life, like she was part of a family of her own.
“C’mon. Hand over your makeup bag. Let’s get you all freshened up so you can dazzle the masses!”
She let Victoria riffle through her small makeup bag. Powder, a bit of blusher and a fresh swipe of mascara improved things a little bit. They both turned and stared at her reflection. Back to cheery-faced Robyn!
At least on the outside.
“Ready for a bit of stiff upper lip and a smile for the cameras?” Victoria asked.
“As I’ll ever be!”
* * *
The speed with which the press had gathered made Idris wonder if they’d been here all along. Awaiting the outcome of his daughter’s surgery as anxiously as he had.
Good.
All the better. Paddington’s deserved all the publicity in the world for their achievements today. For Robyn’s achievements.
He turned to face the crowd with renewed vigor.
“The diligent care Dr. Robyn Kelly gave my little girl was above and beyond the treatment any parent would expect for their child.”
Idris caught Robyn’s eye for just a moment and took heart from her soft, beautiful smile. He hoped she knew he was speaking from the heart and not just trotting out niceties for the sake of a few moments on television. “I think Dr. Kelly knows me well enough by now,” he continued, his voice suddenly constricting with a depth of emotion he never displayed in public, “to understand how very much giving the gift of hearing to my daughter meant not only to me but to her. As the future leader of Da’har—” He stopped, forced himself to blow out a steadying breath. “As the future leader of Da’har, my daughter’s keenest wish was to be able to hear the voices of the people she would one day lead. In speech...” He turned to Robyn, knowing the only approval he needed was from the woman right next to him. “And in song. Today, not through a miracle of modern medicine but through the sheer determination, intelligence and unparalleled skills of Dr. Kelly and her team, Amira heard her father’s voice join with her own in song.” He choked back a sob and sucked in a deep breath before plunging forward. “Which is why I would like to announce my intention to make a donation to Paddington Children’s Hospital, which should enable them to stay right here in the heart of London where they belong.”
Robyn’s eyes widened, only just containing a surge of tears.
The instinct to pull her into his arms told Idris everything he needed to know. History was just that. Now was the moment he needed to turn his full attention on the future.
“What surprised me the most along this journey we have taken with Dr. Kelly... Robyn...” He turned to her, stepping away from the podium, and reached out a hand. Reluctantly, her eyes darting to the crowd and the cameras, Robyn extended her hand to meet his. Electric shock waves crackled through him, assuring him he’d chosen to do the right thing.
“Robyn, you have not only restored my daughter’s hearing, but you have restored my belief in love.”
* * *
Conflicting emotions slammed into one another as Robyn tried to process what Idris was saying.
The rush of blood roaring between her ears all but drowned out her ability to hear him and she nearly laughed at the irony of it all—wishing he was signing as he spoke. She forced herself to focus on his lips—that beautiful mouth she had once kissed so passionately. She blinked as she saw his lips shape and form four words, then press together, an expectant, hopeful look lighting up those dark eyes of his. The hundred or so people watching the press conference gave a collective gasp as cameras whirred and clicked like mad.
“I’m sorry.” Her fingers flew to her lips, not entirely sure she’d heard him correctly. “Would you mind repeating that?”
She flushed as a wave of laughter rippled across the crowd, swirling and circling around her, proving, once again, that she absolutely did not belong in the limelight.
Idris smiled warmly, lovingly, stroking a hand across the back of Robyn’s shaky palm.
“I asked you, my love, if you would do me the honor of marrying me.” Idris smiled up at her, looking every bit the ardent lover he had been on that one precious night they had shared. Everything fuzzed and blurred around him. Was he...did he love her?
Scrunching her eyes together tightly, she popped them open again to make sure this wasn’t a dream.
“But I thought...” She clamped her lips tight, not wanting the world’s press to know they’d shared such an amazing night together that had ended in a humiliating rejection. He didn’t want her. He’d made that clear. Hadn’t he?
“I’ve learned so much in our time together,” Idris said, his voice so quiet she had to strain to hear him. “Today I saw a future you were not a part of and I couldn’t bear what I saw.”
He rose, her amber eyes traveling along with his until her chin was tipped up, gazing into his face, seeking answers to myriad questions jockeying for pole position.
“You, Robyn Kelly, more than anyone I have ever met, have taught me the power of love. My country, my daughter and I all need you. We need your light, your laughter, the joy you bring to any situation. Your song is my song. Amira’s song. Please say you will be my wife. A mother to Amira.” He pressed a tender kiss upon the back of her hand and looked into her eyes, which had more light in them than ever before. “Let’s become a family.”
“A family?” Robyn repeated the words in a daze. “With you?”
Idris threw his head back and laughed. “Yes, with me! I’ll gladly duel anyone who tries to step in and steal my woman.” His voice softened again. “If you’ll have me.”
Robyn’s head began to nod in infinitesimal little yeses. They gathered speed until she was nodding and shaking her head, tears springing to her eyes and scattering upon her cheeks.
“Yes!” she finally managed through the joy coursing through her every fiber. A family. “Yes.”
Six months later
“I think you should be the one to cut the ribbon, Idris.” Robyn decisively handed the ceremonial scissors back to her new husband. “You designed all of the changes.”
“And you made all of the important suggestions!” he persisted, refusing to accept the silver-plated shears.
“I have a better idea,” Robyn said, her smile growing as the possibilities it unleashed took flight. “Let’s have Amira do it.”
“Open the center?”
“Absolutely!” The idea grew and shone even brighter the more she thought about it. “Come.” She grabbed ahold of his hand and took him back a few steps before turning to look at the former palace—once so cold and empty—now virtually abuzz with activity. “Look at what you’ve created. The Persian Gulf Language Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. It will be amazing.”
“You’re the one who’s amazing,” Idris play-growled, nestling into the crook of his wife’s neck, enjoying the tickly tease of her blond curls on his face as he did.
“We’re amazing,” she agreed with a big grin, wrapping her arms around his waist and giving him a kiss on his caramel-smooth cheek. “I never knew how much strength came from being a family. Thank you.”
Idris laughed again. “We could go on like this all day, but we’ve got a center to open! A universal Arabic sign language to invent! Come.” He safely secured her hand in one of his own and set off toward the front doors of the center. “Let’s go find our daughter, see who she’s torturing with her newfound listening skills now.”
“Da’har beware!” Robyn laughed, taking a skip to catch up with her husband’s long-legged strides. “Our girl is going to make the country—and her parents—very, very proud.”
She relished the squeeze she received from Idris’s hand at her words and, unable to wipe the smile off her face, turned to
face the press who were already beginning to gather for the ceremony and gave them a happy wave.
* * * * *
Collect all six books in the PADDINGTON CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL series
THEIR ONE NIGHT BABY
by Carol Marinelli
FORBIDDEN TO THE PLAYBOY SURGEON
by Fiona Lowe
MOMMY, NURSE...DUCHESS?
by Kate Hardy
FALLING FOR THE FOSTER MOM
by Karin Baine
HEALING THE SHEIKH’S HEART
by Annie O’Neil
A LIFE-SAVING REUNION
by Alison Roberts
All available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from A LIFE-SAVING REUNION by Alison Roberts.
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