Healed Under the Mistletoe

by Amalie Berlin

  They all took a moment to pass around Noelle, whose name Lyons had suggested, and which had taken on double the meaning for Belle. Even before she knew how much her daughter would look like the pictures of the two of them as babies. It took her breath at least ten times every day.

  “She’s not really a Christmas baby,” Belle said, sitting down on the plush sofa by the fire, tired despite her excitement.

  “She was born a year to the day since we met, and you decided to give me gifts for Christmas,” Lyons said, leaning over to kiss her temple. “She’s a Christmas baby. Perfectly named.”

  “Christmas starts in September anyway,” Wolfe chimed in, then asked Lyons, “Do you want to get a ride before it gets dark?”

  The stables. Scene of the first part of last Christmas’s explosion. Belle didn’t say anything, just looked up at her husband, who shook his head. “I want to get our bags, and rest with the family. The horses can wait.”

  The men went to retrieve the luggage, leaving her and Angel in the kitchen, each with a cup of tea Angel had just brewed, and her new sister holding the sleeping newborn and staring down at her, stars in her eyes. The way anyone should look at a baby. Especially a mother. Angel wasn’t a mama yet, but in a few months...

  “Lyons gave me a gift early,” Belle said softly, prompting Angel to look over. “He found my mother. She’s alive. Apparently settled down, has a family. He didn’t contact her—told me it was up to me. But, I don’t know.”

  Angel’s brows shot into her hairline. “He doesn’t go halfway on the gifts, does he?”

  She laughed a little, and shook her head. “I think we’re still trying to figure gifting out.”

  “Are you going to do it?”

  “I don’t know,” Belle said again, looking at the sleeping baby. It still felt like a betrayal to Noelle, her sister, but for her daughter who was here, and who deserved as big a family as Belle could safely provide her? “I think I will. Lyons said he’s vetted them. They’re safe.”

  “If he’s convinced, pretty sure they’re safe. It’s up to you.”

  Belle reached for her cup. “I just hope it works out.”

  “You hope what works out?” Lyons asked, sitting beside her and taking her hand to give the knuckles a kiss. “And say it quick—you’re tired and need to go lay down.”

  “I hope it works out with Mama. That they’re... That they’ll be good for us. For Noelle.” She swallowed, then added, “I can stay up a little longer, visit awhile. I’ve been stuck at home for over a week. Noelle’s not good at girl-talk yet.”

  “But she’s sleeping, and Wolfe set up a new crib for her in our room. If we want to sleep, might be best to move now,” Lyons softly protested.

  Wolfe dried his hands from a fresh wash, and sat beside his wife, hands out for the baby. “We can watch her. Uncle’s pleasure.”

  “We do need the practice,” Angel added.

  “Not that she’ll be enough of a workout for us.” Wolfe grinned at his wife and then tilted his head toward the two of them.

  Lyons looked doubtful and joked, “You haven’t seen her diapers.”

  Relieved of the baby, Angel stepped away to retrieve a little folder from the other room, then waddled back in to place it before them.

  Belle opened the file to a sonogram image, but before she could determine what she was looking at, Wolfe said too loudly while holding the baby, “Two. Boys. You wouldn’t believe how hard it was to sit on tha’ for three months.”

  Noelle let out a scream at being awakened by a non-daddy male voice, and Lyons went to take her from his brother. “You do seem to need practice speaking at new-dad volume.”

  It would’ve sounded like a criticism, except for the way Lyons grabbed his brother by the back of the neck and hauled him against him for a hug once he had his daughter cradled in the other arm. “I’m happy for you. You have the love of a wonderful woman, and you’ll both be great parents.”

  Belle’s throat burned, and when she looked at Angel, she could see the dampness in her eyes mirrored there.

  This was it. This was the feeling she’d been missing for so long. This was Christmas with family. Even if it was time for the non-traditional Christmas Eve recovering mommy nap.

  “We also bought and set up a really pretty wooden rockin’ cradle for when we’re all downstairs, if she needs to lie down and rest while y’all are sleeping. And we’ve got everything set up for dinner, ordered ahead, so whenever you’re ready we can eat.”

  “And open presents,” Wolfe said, stepping back from his brother’s embrace to swipe his eyes.

  “I thought we decided on Christmas morning?” Angel said, watching Wolfe as she approached Lyons to reclaim Noelle, now that she’d been calmed with a good, safe Daddy snuggle.

  Wolfe made some grumpy sound that basically amounted to, I’m impatient and I want to do presents.

  She couldn’t fault him. The three of them never really had those childhood Christmas wishes fulfilled. If their inner five-year-olds wanted presents tonight, that was fine with her. Belle threw Wolfe a line. “Tomorrow will be pretty full with all the cooking and feasting. Tonight might be better.”

  He pointed at her, grinning at the backup, and it was settled before Lyons saw her to the room they’d share until after New Year’s.

  Just as they settled in on the comfy bed, his arms around her, nose in her hair, he sang in a whisper in her ear, “Do you hear what I hear?”

  She chuckled, shaking her head. “No?”

  “Silence. I suspect we’ll have an hour before one of us has to go settle her down when Wolfe gets too loud again.”

  “Shh. I only have an hour to sleep before you get up to go settle Noelle down.”

  He quieted, but before either of them drifted off, she whispered, “Merry Christmas, my love.”

  “Christmas will be better next year.” He said to her the words she’d said at her sister’s grave and gave a gentle squeeze.

  Again, her throat thickened, and she closed her eyes, squeezing his arm draped over her.

  No matter how perfect this Christmas already seemed, every day with him was a gift, better than the day before, and next year they’d have a one-year-old to rip open presents.

  His words last year were the only ones that fit, and she whispered them back. “I know it will.”

  * * * * *

  If you missed the previous story in the Scottish Docs in New York duet, look out for

  Their Christmas to Remember

  And if you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Amalie Berlin

  Back in Dr. Xenakis’ Arms

  The Rescue Doc’s Christmas Miracle

  The Prince’s Cinderella Bride

  Dante’s Shock Proposal

  All available now!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from The Army Doc’s Christmas Angel by Annie O’Neil.

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  The Army Doc’s Christmas Angel

  by Annie O’Neil

  CHAPTER ONE

  “YOU PLANNING ON wearing a track into the floor?”

  Finn looked across at his boss, startled to see him in the hospital given the hour, then gave a nonchalant shrug. “Maybe. What’s it to you?”

  Theo barked a good-natured laugh. “I paid for that floor. I was hoping we could keep it intact for a few more years before your lunking huge feet are embedded in it.”

  Finn looked down at the honey-colored floorboards then up at his boss as he scrubbed his hand through the tangles of his dark hair. About time he got a haircut. Or invested in a comb. It had only been...oh...about fourteen years since he’d given up the buzz cuts. Didn’t stop him from thinking of himself as that fit, adrenaline-charged young man who’d stepped off the plane in Afghanistan all those years ago. Once an army man...

  He took a step forward. The heat from his knee seared straight up his leg to his hip. An excruciating reminder that he was most definitely not an army man. Not ever again.

  He gave Theo a sidelong look. “What are you doing here, anyway? It’s late.”

  “Not that late.” Theo looked at his watch as if that confirmed it was still reasonable to be treading the hospital boards after most folk were at home having their tea. “I could ask you the same question.”

  It was Avoidance Technique for Beginners and both men knew it.

  They stared at one another, without animosity but unwilling to be the first to break. Lone wolf to lone wolf...each laying claim to the silence as if it were an invisible shield of strength.

  Heaven knew why. It was hardly a secret that Finn was treating one of the hospital’s charity patients who was winging in from Africa today. He just...he was grateful to have a bit of quiet time before the boy arrived. His leg pain was off the charts today and once Adao arrived, he’d like to be in a place where he could assure the kid that life without a limb was worth living.

  “Want to talk about it?” Theo looked about as excited to sit down and have a natter about feelings as Finn did.

  “Ha! Good one.” Finn flicked his thumb toward the staff kitchen tucked behind the floor’s reception area. “I’ll just run and fill up the kettle while you cast on for a new Christmas jumper, shall I?”

  Theo smirked then quickly sobered. “I’m just saying, if you ever want to...” he made little talky mouths with his hands “...you know, I’m here.”

  “Thanks, mate.” He hoped he sounded grateful. He was. Not that he’d ever take Theo up on the offer.

  It wasn’t just trusting Theo that was the issue. It was trusting himself. And he wasn’t there yet. Not by a long shot. Days like today were reminders why he’d chosen to live a solitary existence. You got close to people. You disappointed them. And he was done disappointing people.

  Christmas seemed to suck the cheer—what little he had—right out of him. All those reminders of family and friendship and “togetherness.” Whatever the hell that was.

  He didn’t do any of those things. Not anymore.

  All the jolly ward decorations, staffrooms already bursting with mince pies, and festive holiday lights glittering across the whole of Cambridge didn’t seem to make a jot of difference.

  He scanned the view offered by the floor-to-ceiling windows and rolled his eyes.

  He was living in a ruddy 3D Christmas card and wasn’t feeling the slightest tingle of hope and anticipation the holiday season seemed to infuse in everyone else.

  Little wonder considering...

  Considering nothing.

  He had a job. He had to do it. And having his boss appear when he was trying to clear his head before Adao arrived wasn’t helping.

  He’d been hoping to walk the pain off. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes, like today, it escalated the physical and, whether he cared to admit it or not, emotional reminders of the day his life had changed forever.

  Should’ve gone up to the rooftop helipad instead. No one ever really went there in the winter. Although this year the bookies were tipping the scales in favor of snow. Then it really would be like living in a Christmas card.

  “Why are you here? Was there some memo about an all-staff welcoming committee?” Finn knew there wasn’t. He was just giving his boss an out if he wanted it. Bloke talk came in handy for a lot of emotional bullet dodging.

  Theo sighed. “Ivy.”

  Finn lifted his chin in acknowledgement. Her mystery illness had been the talk of all the doctors’ lounges. “Gotta be tough, mate.”

  “’Tis.” Theo flicked his eyes to the heavens, gave his stippled jaw a scrub and gave an exasperated sigh. “I hate seeing her go through this. She’s five years old. You know?”

  Oh, yeah. He knew. It was why he’d retrained as a pediatric surgeon after the IED had gone off during a standard patrol. The loss of life that day had been shameful.

  All of them children.

  Who on this planet targeted children?

  At least he’d had an enemy to rail against. Theo was shooting in the dark at a mystery illness. No wonder the guy had rings under his eyes.

  “Had anything good today?” Topic-changing was his specialty.

  Theo nodded. “A few interesting cases actually.” He rattled through a few of them. “Enough to keep me distracted.”

  Finn huffed out an “I hear you” laugh. Work was the only way he kept his mind off the mess he’d made of his personal life.

  You’re on your own now, mate. Paying your penance, day by day.

  “The diagnostician. She managed to clear her schedule yet?”

  Theo nodded. “Took a bit of juggling but she’s here now.”

  Finn waited for some more information—something to say what Theo thought of her—but received pure silence. Any topic related to Ivy was a highly charged one so it looked like his boss was going to reserve judgment on the highly touted globetrotter until she’d had a bit more time with his daughter.

  “What’s her name again?” Finn tried again when Theo obviously wasn’t going to comment further. “I heard one of the nurse’s call her Godzilla.”

  Theo gave a sharp tsk.

  He didn’t like gossip. Or anything that stood in the way of the staff acting as a team. “She’s a bit of a loner. Might give off a cooler edge than some of the staff are used to. Particularly around the holidays. But she’s not yet had a chance to get her feet on the ground, let alone establish a rapport with the entire staff.” He gave Finn a quick curt nod, making it very clear that he let facts stand. Not rumor. “She’s called Madison Archer. Doesn’t get much more American than that, does it?”

  “Short of being scented like apple pie, I guess not.” Finn smiled at Theo, trying to add a bit of levity, but raised his hands in apology at Theo’s swiftly narrowed eyes.

  More proof, as if he needed it, that Finn was no star at chitchat. He called a spade a spade, and other than that his conversational skills were operating on low to subterranean.

  Theo’s expression shifted to something indecipherable. “It’s at times like this I understand how the parents feel when they walk in the doors of our hospital. Makes it that much more important we treat each other with respect. Without that, how can we respect our patients? Ourselves?” He lifted up his hands as if seeking an answer from the universe then let them fall with a slap against his long legs.

  They looked at one another a moment in silence. This time with that very same respect he’d just spoken of.

&nbs
p; Theo was a class-A physician and this hospital—the hospital he’d built—was one of the finest in the world, and still not one of them could put a finger on what was behind Ivy’s degenerating condition. Lethargy had become leg pain. Leg pain had escalated to difficulty walking. They were even considering admitting her full time, instead of dipping in and out, things were so bad.

  How the hell Theo went about running the hospital day in, day out when his little girl was sick...it would’ve done his head in.

  Precisely why being on his own suited Finn to a T. No one to worry about except his patients. No emotions holding him back...as long as he kept his thoughts on the future and his damn leg on the up and up.

  He gave his head a sharp shake, silently willing Theo to move on. A wince of pain narrowed the furrows fanning out from his eyes as he shifted his weight fully onto his right leg.

  The infinitesimal flick of Theo’s eyes down then back up to Finn’s face meant the boss man knew precisely what was going on. But he knew better than to ask. Over a decade of wearing the prosthetic leg and he still hadn’t developed a good relationship with the thing. The number of times he’d wanted to rip it from his knee and hurl the blasted contraption off the roof...

  And then where would he be? In a wheelchair like Ivy?

  Nah. That wasn’t for him.

  Helping children just like her—and Adao, who’d learned too much about war far too soon—were precisely why he kept it on. Standing beside the operating table was his passion. And if that meant sucking up the building pressure and tolerating the sharp needles of pain on occasion? Then so be it.

  “Well...” He tried to find something positive to say and came up with nothing so fell back on what he knew best. Silence.

  After a few minutes of staring out into the inky darkness he asked Theo, “You heard anything about the boy’s arrival time?”

  Finn was chief surgeon on the case, but Theo had a way of knowing just that little bit more than his staff. Sign of a good leader if ever there was one.