A marriage worth fighting for
Obstetrician Nick Jarvis and midwife Liv had the perfect marriage—until not conceiving the baby they ached for tore them apart.
But separation has only compounded how much they need each other, and now they’re working together again, delivering babies every day! It could be their chance to rekindle their relationship, but only if they can rediscover the sheer joy of loving—the one thing that will make their marriage whole and give them the courage to try for a baby again.
She hesitated, her gaze holding his, then said quietly, as if she was afraid of his reaction, “Do you know what I really want more than anything? A hug. I’ve really missed your hugs.”
“Oh, Liv...”
His voice hitched, and he turned the light out and lay down, reaching out his arms and folding them gently around her, and as she wriggled closer, he pressed his lips to her forehead and squeezed his eyes tightly shut.
She wasn’t the only one who’d missed this, and the feel of her body against his made something deep within him that had been out of kilter for two, maybe three, years fall back into place.
He felt her hand slide up his chest and settle against his jaw, her fingertips resting against his neck, right over the pulse.
“What happened to us, Nick?” she asked sadly, her fingertips stroking soothingly over the beating artery. “How did we end up in this mess?”
He swallowed hard. “I have no idea. I just know I miss you every single day.”
“I miss you, too. You were my best friend.”
“Don’t—”
His arms tightened around her, cradling her against his heart, and he blinked away the stinging tears and pressed another kiss to her hair.
Dear Reader,
I felt moved to write this book to try to understand the roller coaster of emotions that is infertility. My daughters are of an age where they and their friends are having families, and it seems that for quite a few of them the road is far from straightforward.
What do they go through? How do they feel? How on earth do they cope with the endless setbacks, the inevitable despair that every failed attempt at pregnancy must give rise to? And when it takes its toll, as it often must, what then?
For Nick and Liv, with a brilliant marriage and so much love to share, working in the business of babies means they are constantly surrounded by the “success” of others while they are “failing.” And they did what many couples seem to do: they stopped communicating, withdrew into themselves and in doing so destroyed their marriage.
Did they miss each other? Yes. Did they miss the endless rounds of hope and despair? Not at all. And that was the stumbling block. They weren’t happy apart, but they hadn’t been happy together. So what now? I had to get them back together and throw them headlong into a situation where they had no choice but to talk. Enter fate, me playing God again and then sitting back and waiting for them to work it out—but it wasn’t easy for any of us.
Did I succeed? I hope so. I’ll let you be the judge...
Caroline x
THE MIDWIFE’S LONGED-FOR BABY
Caroline Anderson
Books by Caroline Anderson
Harlequin Medical Romance
Yoxburgh Park Hospital
Their Meant-to-Be Baby
From Christmas to Eternity
The Secret in His Heart
Risk of a Lifetime
Harlequin Romance
The Valtieri Baby
Snowed in with the Billionaire
Best Friend to Wife and Mother?
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
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For all those whose infertility stories have touched my heart, and for the very many more whose stories I have never heard but who are themselves traveling this emotionally challenging and courageous road. My heart aches for you.
Praise for Caroline Anderson
“When it comes to writing emotional, engrossing and irresistible contemporary romances that tug at the heartstrings, Caroline Anderson simply cannot be beaten. This outstanding storyteller has once again penned a compelling tale that is as hard to put down as it is to forget!”
—Goodreads on Risk of a Lifetime
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
EPILOGUE
EXCERPT FROM ONE NIGHT THAT CHANGED HER LIFE BY EMILY FORBES
CHAPTER ONE
‘LIV, HAVE YOU got a minute?’
She hesitated, about to say no, but Ben wasn’t one to waste time and if he wanted to talk to her...
‘If it really is only that? I need to check on a mum soon.’
‘That’s fine, it won’t take long. I just want to run something by you. Can we go in my office?’
His office?
‘Is this about Jen?’ she asked as Ben closed the door.
The fleeting smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. ‘In a way. Did you know she’s got cancer?’
‘Yes, Simon told me yesterday. I was gutted. She’s such a lovely person and it seems so unfair. He said they’re moving home so their families can help with the children while she’s having treatment. So what is it you want me to do?’ she asked, thinking flowers, a gift voucher, something for the kids—
‘Nothing, but what I do could affect you, because yesterday was Simon’s last day and his compassionate leave’s pretty open-ended so we need a locum, and I’d like to talk to Nick about it.’
‘Nick?’
Of all the things he’d been going to say, her ex husband’s name was so far down the list it wasn’t even on it, and just the sound of his name made her heart beat faster. And he wasn’t officially ex, because she’d never quite been able to follow through on that—
‘Are you still in touch?’
Ben nodded. ‘Yes, we’re in touch. I speak to him quite often. He always asks about you,’ he added gently.
Her heart lurched. ‘Does he? How is he?’ she asked, trying not to sound too needy and failing hopelessly.
‘He’s OK. He’s well, keeps himself busy.’ He frowned, hesitating, then went on, ‘I know it’s none of my business, Liv, and I’m not asking any questions, but I was really sorry when you two split up.’
She felt her eyes fill and blinked as she looked away. ‘Me, too, but it wasn’t working.’ Any more than this was, this awful aching emptiness where her love for Nick had been...
‘I know. I could see there was something wrong, so I wasn’t surprised, just saddened for you both. Look, don’t worry about it. I’ll try and get someone else. I only thought of him because he’d be perfect for the job, but I don’t want to make things difficult for you—for either of you, really.’
The shock had worn off now, swamped by a tidal wave of mixed emotions that she couldn’t quite work out. Longing? Dread? She didn’t have a clue. Both, maybe, but confusion was fighting its way to the top of the pile.
‘I don’t understand how he coul
d do it anyway. Doesn’t he have a job?’
He must have. He was paying the mortgage on their house—
‘Not any more, as far as I know. His existing locum post’s about to come to an end and I haven’t heard that he’s got anything else lined up so I wanted to get in soon if we were to stand a chance, but it’s probably too late anyway.’
He was locuming? He’d been made a consultant at Yoxburgh Park Hospital a few months before they’d split up. How had he ended up working as a locum? Although it was only a year ago since he’d left. Maybe nothing had come up, nothing as good anyway. Nothing that would do him justice...
‘Can I think about it? Before you ask him, or get anyone else. It’s just—it’s the last thing I expected you to say and I can’t quite get my head round it.’
‘I know, I can see that. And I realise you might need to talk to him first.’
No way. She hadn’t spoken to him since that horrible day that she’d regretted ever since, but this wasn’t the time or the way to do it. She shook her head. ‘No, I don’t need to do that. How long can I have?’
Ben shrugged. ‘The rest of the morning? I’m sorry, I know it isn’t long, but if you think you can deal with it I really don’t want to hang about in case we lose him. It’s right up his street—mostly obstetrics, but there’s some of the fertility clinic work as well, which is why I thought of him.’
That stopped her mind in its tracks, and she felt her jaw drop. She just couldn’t picture him in a fertility clinic, of all the ironic places, but of course Simon’s job partly involved it.
‘I didn’t realise he knew anything at all about infertility.’
Apart from their own, but she wasn’t saying that to Ben.
‘Yes, that’s one of the reasons why we want him, because of Simon’s role here. Plus he’s a damn good obstetrician, of course, but he’s a perfect fit. He’s been running the fertility clinic in his hospital since last May, and it shuts any day now.’
Her heart was beating so fast she could feel it thudding against her ribs. Of all the things for him to do, running a fertility clinic was so out of left field she’d never have seen it coming. Why would he choose to punish himself in that way? Unless he’d had no choice. Had he been driven to it just to earn a living? Her guilt over the mortgage ramped up a notch.
‘I had no idea,’ she said numbly. She took another moment, letting it all sink in a little, and then took a deep breath and made a decision she just hoped she didn’t regret.
‘Talk to him, Ben. Ask him if he’s interested. If he is—well, I’m sure we can be civilised about it.’
‘Are you sure? I realise it’s a big decision for you.’
‘But it isn’t really mine to make. It’s yours, and his, and if he’s the right man for the job, who am I to stand in the way? And anyway, it’s not permanent. Ask him, Ben. Just keep me in the loop, OK? I don’t want any surprises.’
‘Of course I will.’ He opened the door and stared down thoughtfully into her eyes. ‘Thank you, Liv. I do appreciate it and I know it can’t be easy for you.’
Did he? She wondered how much he knew about their break-up, about the why and the how. Had Nick spoken to him about it? Surely not. If there was one thing her marriage had taught her, it was that Nick didn’t talk about his feelings. Not to her, and certainly not to his boss.
She found a smile from somewhere. ‘You’re welcome. Just let me know his reaction.’
‘I will.’
* * *
‘Nick? It’s Ben Walker. Are you OK to talk? I want to ask you something.’
‘Yeah, sure. What d’you want to know?’ he asked.
‘Nothing. I’m headhunting you. I know your clinic’s shutting any time now, and we need a full-time locum consultant to cover Obs and Gynae and some of the fertility clinic workload and I thought it sounded right up your street, unless you’ve got your next job lined up already?’
Ben was asking him to go back? With Liv still there? At least, he assumed she was. He hadn’t heard otherwise and Ben would have told him, he was sure. Would he be working with her?
His heart rate rocketed, and he hauled in a deep breath and let it go, consciously engaging his brain instead of his adrenal glands.
‘Whose job is it? It sounds like Simon’s.’
‘It is. His wife’s got cancer and he’s gone off on compassionate leave with immediate effect. They’re moving back to their home town so their parents can help with childcare.’
‘Oh, no, that’s horrendous. Poor Jen. Poor all of them. And poor you, because it’s obviously left you in the lurch, but I’m not sure I’m the man for the job. Does Liv know you’re asking me?’
‘Yes. I asked her first. She said she thought you could be civilised about it.’
Civilised?
He’d be right under her nose, working with couples to solve the very thing that had left their marriage in tatters. Civilised wasn’t the word he would have applied to that situation.
A minefield, more likely.
Or an opportunity to build bridges? He knew so much more now than he had then, but the pain was still raw and no amount of knowledge was going to make that go away.
Could he do it? It wasn’t as if they’d be working together, and it was only temporary in any case. They could keep out of each other’s way if necessary, but it might give them a chance—
‘So, are you still free?’
‘Yes, technically. I haven’t got anything lined up yet, at least, and I’m seeing the last patients today, but I had thought I’d take a break. When would you want me to start?’
Ben made a sound that could have been laughter. ‘Tomorrow? And by the way, that was a joke, but—ASAP, really. We can cover it for a few days but after that it’ll get really tricky. Every woman in Suffolk seems to be pregnant or trying to be at the moment.’
His chest tightened. Not quite every woman. Not his Liv...
‘Why don’t you come and talk to me about it?’ Ben went on. ‘See how you feel?’
He had no idea how he’d feel. Confused? Desperate to see Liv? Afraid to see her, to find that she was happily settled without him when he was still miserable and lonely and struggling to make sense of it all? But maybe she was happy, which would mean he’d done the right thing by leaving without a fight. Maybe he needed to know that so he could move on?
There was no real reason why he couldn’t go. When the clinic closed its doors at five that evening, he’d be jobless. He’d planned a holiday, something reckless and adrenaline-soaked, but he hadn’t booked anything and now Ben was dangling this opportunity to go back to Yoxburgh right in front of his nose.
Yoxburgh, and Liv.
They’d been so happy there at first in the pretty Victorian seaside town, but it had all gone horribly wrong for them and now the only memories he had of it were sad ones. Did he really want to go back?
He’d made changes in his life, tried to get it back on track, but although his diet and lifestyle had undergone a radical overhaul, his heart hadn’t moved on. He’d just shut it away, buried it under a massive pile of work and endless runs around an inner-city park, and going back was bound to open a whole new can of worms. Did he really want to do that? The sensible answer was no—or was that just the coward’s answer?
And Ben needed him. He had no commitments or ties, no reason why he couldn’t go, except that Liv would be there, and maybe that wasn’t a good enough reason to stay away.
Even though it was a minefield, even though they hadn’t spoken in over a year, even though he knew it was rash and stupid and ill-considered, he realised there was a massive part of him that wanted to see her again.
Needed to see her again.
It was high time they had the conversation he’d been putting off since they’d split up. The conversation he owed her—and t
he one she owed him, like why after more than a year she still hadn’t started divorce proceedings...
‘Let’s just go for it,’ he said, suddenly decisive. ‘I can’t do tomorrow, but why don’t I come up on Friday? That gives me a day to tidy up here and pack, and if I can sort everything out with your HR first thing on Friday morning I can start work right away. My paperwork’s all in order, so once HR have seen it I’ll be good to go. Then you’ll only have to deal with tomorrow, and I can spend the weekend finding somewhere to live.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes, absolutely,’ he said without giving himself time to back out of it. ‘Let’s do it. I’ll drive down early so I’m with you for eight and I can be in HR as soon as they open.’
‘Nick, thank you. I can’t tell you how grateful I am,’ Ben said, and the relief in his voice made Nick realise just how much pressure his old clinical lead was under. ‘And don’t worry about finding anywhere to live,’ Ben added, ‘you can stay with us as long as you need to, Daisy’d love to have you. Come here, to the hospital. You know where to find me. They’ll page me when you get here.’
‘Sure. Thanks. I’ll see you then.’
He hung up, slid the phone into his pocket and stared blankly across the room.
He was going back.
He wasn’t sure he was ready to see Liv again, because he’d never managed to get any emotional distance and his heart was still as raw as it had been the day she threw him out, so it was going to be tough. Very tough. But maybe he could use the opportunity to find out if she was happy without him, because he sure as hell wasn’t happy without her...
There was a knock on the door and a nurse popped her head into the room. ‘Mr Jarvis? Mr and Mrs Lyons are waiting to see you.’
He nodded, gave himself a mental shake and got to his feet. ‘Show them in, please.’
* * *
He was coming back today.
Taking Simon’s job, at least in the short term. She still couldn’t work out how she felt about that. Confused, more than anything. Confused and nervous and tingling with apprehension. Lots of that.
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