Maybe she could hold the news until her last day at work? She was in no hurry for him to reject her. She’d been there once before with Eric. She was in no rush to hear it a second time.
Even though she suspected Matt would probably want to do the right thing, him being the kind of person she knew him to be, a small part of her was worried that he would not. Lily was the most important thing in his world, and another baby, with another woman, was not ever going to be part of his life plan. It would throw him completely. And he would tear himself apart trying to do the honourable thing and yet also bear the weight of his betrayal to his wife.
She would wait. She still had time before there were any signs of her pregnancy.
Shoulders back, chin up, she grabbed the first patient’s chart and headed back to work.
* * *
The letter was stark and to the point. She was leaving. Brooke was going to leave the London Grace!
Just the idea of that was...
He had no words for how it made him feel. His heart had jumped when he’d seen her at his office door. He’d been hoping that she had reconsidered. Was now willing to listen to his explanation. But she’d been brusque and kept their conversation short.
But she was here now. He had a month to get her to listen to him. And he didn’t have to send her letter of notice up to Personnel just yet. He would hold on to it for a while.
Maybe he wouldn’t be able to stop her from leaving, but he was determined that somehow he would get her to listen to him. Even if it changed nothing between them, he needed to tell her how he felt. How their relationship had blossomed into something that he’d never expected. How his feelings for her had grown into something he couldn’t control and how that had made him feel.
Another knock on his door interrupted his thoughts and he stood up abruptly, hoping it might be Brooke. Only it wasn’t. An old man stood there. A man who looked familiar.
‘Arthur?’
It was Patricia’s husband. The man who had brought in his wife after a stroke.
‘You remember me?’
The old man shuffled in and Matt indicated that he should take a seat.
‘Of course. How are you?’
Still reeling from Brooke’s news, Matt forced himself to focus as he sank back into his chair.
‘I wanted to come here to thank you, Doctor. You and your team.’
‘Oh, well, there’s no need—we were just doing our jobs. How is your wife?’
Arthur’s eyes darkened slightly. ‘She passed away a day or two after we returned her to the care home. It was peaceful. Her funeral was yesterday.’
‘Oh. I’m so sorry for your loss.’ He knew how Arthur must feel right now. He’d lost his wife. Had had to bury her. But he’d only had a few years with his wife. Arthur had had sixty-three years of marriage. He couldn’t possibly imagine the level of loneliness the old man must be feeling.
‘It was expected. The stroke took a lot out of her, I think.’ Arthur cleared his throat and wiped his nose with the proper handkerchief he’d drawn from his jacket pocket. ‘But I just wanted to say thank you for giving me a few extra days with her. They were important, all those minutes and hours we had, because she was sometimes lucid.’
‘She was?’
Arthur nodded, smiling. ‘Not for the entire time, but here and there—over the two days... You gave me back my wife. The stroke should have done her in, but you doctors—all your medicine, all your technology—gave her back to me. Just for a little while. I’d been afraid of her being lucid again. She’d been so upset the last time, discovering what was happening to her, but after the stroke it was like she came back to say goodbye. And that was precious to me, Dr Galloway.’
Matt gave a smile, but it was tinged with a resolute sadness.
‘You never know how long you’ll get with your loved ones on this planet, but when it comes to the end it’s never enough, don’t you think? We spend so much of life worrying about what other people think, what other people say, but when it comes to your final days is that what you worry about? Is that the most important thing? No, it’s not. It’s being with those you love. And if you’re lucky enough to love, you embrace it. That’s what Patty and I had in those final days. Love. And I needed to come here today to thank you for that.’
Arthur’s words sank deep into Matt’s soul.
He was right. The old guy was right! All the petty day-to-day worries that he’d allowed to fester away in his skull meant nothing when he thought about it. If he was on his deathbed right now would he be worrying about what everyone thought of his feelings for Brooke? No! He’d want to be lying there holding her hand. Telling her how much he loved her! And knowing that she loved him!
Who were other people to judge when he should love again? Why was he allowing guilt to determine his feelings for her? Because, looking at himself right now, he saw that guilt was making him feel damned miserable! And who wanted to be miserable? When he was with Brooke he felt joy and contentment and happiness. Why couldn’t he have that? Why couldn’t they?
It didn’t diminish the love he’d had for Jen. Not by one iota. And if other people thought that it did, then that was their issue.
Love—true love—was rare and beautiful, and if you were lucky enough to discover it you should embrace it, as Arthur had said. Not hide from it, nor feel guilty for having it. And there wasn’t a clock or a timer on love. It could spring from anywhere. Unexpected and surprising. And didn’t that make it all the more special?
‘Thank you, Arthur. For coming here today. I really appreciate it.’
‘Well, we appreciated you, Doc. That’s it, really. I don’t want to keep you. I know you’re busy. Saving lives.’
Arthur was right. He had to save his own life. Because for the last few days he’d been drowning in guilt and grief and dying inside. No more!
He shook Arthur’s outstretched hand and watched him go, and then he hurried off to find Brooke. He had to tell her everything. And if he hadn’t messed it up too much he could be about to change both their lives.
* * *
It was hard to concentrate. Handing in her notice, knowing she was pregnant a second time and still not in a solid relationship, weighed heavily. But Brooke did her best. No matter what was going on in her personal life, she still had to put her patients first.
She was good at that. Putting other people before herself. It was something she’d had to do as a child and she’d chosen it as a profession. But though it usually brought her joy and satisfaction she felt no happiness today.
For her, contentment was a long way away, and she knew she would have to travel many a mile—both mentally and geographically—before she found her happy place.
Her current patient should not even be in A&E. He had only come here because he couldn’t get an appointment at his GP for another three weeks and he was concerned about a pain that he kept getting in his knee.
She did her best. She examined the knee. Couldn’t see or feel anything wrong with it. Her patient could put weight on it, and he had a full range of movement, but he kept getting ‘a painful twinge’ that would make him gasp out loud when it struck.
Brooke suspected he might possibly be developing arthritis. The man had it in his family history. So she wrote him a prescription for some painkillers and told him to see his GP if it got worse. There was nothing else she could do for him now.
Her patient left, grumbling under his breath about shoddy patient care, and though normally that would have angered her today she had no energy for it. She had no energy for anything. Since she’d fallen out with Matt it was as if the life had gone out of her. All her vim, all her pep, was gone.
‘Brooke? I must speak with you!’ Matt came barrelling down the small corridor like a man on a mission.
She turned away. ‘I’m not
retracting my notice, so please don’t ask.’
It hurt that he wouldn’t just let it be. Couldn’t he accept the fact that she was walking away to save her heart? Her soul? It was painful to be here with him and not be able to wrap her arms around him freely and share his kisses. It hurt that he’d shown her what love between them could be like and then cruelly torn it away.
She tried to pick up her stride. To get back to the doctors’ desk, write up her notes, and then see her next patient. Anything that would make him go away—because it hurt too much to have him here and not be allowed to love him.
‘I’m not here about your notice. I’m here about you. And me.’
Brooke turned to look at him, despair written across her features. ‘I really don’t think there’s anything left to say. You’ve made it clear how you feel about us.’
‘No! I haven’t!’
She almost flinched at his raised voice, and she looked about them and noticed that some people were listening in—Kelly from the cubicle she was in, applying a splint; Michael the senior nurse, who was restocking a trolley, and further away the healthcare assistant, Michelle, who was bringing in a pile of blankets.
Feeling her cheeks colour, and not used to being the centre of everyone’s attention, she glared at him. ‘Keep your voice down.’
He lifted his chin. ‘I will not. I don’t care who hears. In fact, they all need to hear it.’
‘Hear what?’
‘That I love you, Dr Brooke Bailey. I’m in love with you and I will always be in love with you.’
Brooke swallowed. ‘What?’
‘I made a mistake. I’m human. I’m fallible. I panicked when I realised just how much you were coming to mean to me.’
‘Matt—’
‘I know I hurt you. It was never my intention.’ He made her lock eyes with his. ‘That New Zealand job... It was a dream that Jen and I once had. For Lily. Since Jen died I’ve tried to do everything in my power to make sure that Lily will know who her mother was. I put her in the crèche that Jen would have taken her to. I took her to the classes she signed her up for, and I took her job, so that Lily would know the place and the people who shared her mother’s life. I rock her to sleep at night, telling her stories about her mother. And then I met you.’
Brooke could see there were tears in his eyes, and it made her feel like crying too.
‘You were like a cyclone in my ordered world. You were at the crèche. You were here at work, and even at home. When I was alone my thoughts were of you. And after that night we spent together—’
Brooke blushed.
‘I didn’t know what to think. I felt guilty, yes. Not for what we did. What we had was beautiful and magical and perfect, and I’ve never felt that way with anyone. But I felt guilty for the fact that I wanted to stay with you. Stay in your flat and never leave. Take every part of you that you might offer. I forgot Jen for a few hours. And that made me feel so...’
He couldn’t find the word he wanted.
‘I had to soak up my old life. Remind myself of what I thought was important. What other people would expect of me. To be the grieving widower. To show respect—to take years, not months, before I fell in love with another woman. But feeling like I’ve lost you has almost killed me. I’ve been miserable. Ask anyone—they’ll tell you. Lily’s kept me going, as she did before, but she shouldn’t have to be my crutch. Like you were for your father. I want her to feel loved and celebrated and valued and cherished—the way that I... I feel for you. You kept telling me I was honourable and brave but I didn’t believe it. I’ve only just begun to believe that I am, and I feel that way, because of you. I love you, Brooke, and I want us to be together. You and me. For ever.’
Tears trickled down her cheeks as she heard his words. They were real. Heartfelt. Honest. And all around them the staff were smiling. Waiting for her reaction. She looked down, saw his hands. His wedding band was gone.
‘You let me down, Matt.’
‘I know. But if you just let me love you I promise, on my life, that it will never happen again.’
‘I want to believe you. I do.’
‘Then take a chance on us.’
She took in a breath. Then another. Tried to steady her frazzled nerves. ‘I want to, but I’m scared.’
He stepped forward and took her hands in his. ‘So am I. But that’s okay, because I think we’re meant to be scared. Nothing worth having is ever risk-free, but I think if we’re scared together then we can face anything that life throws at us.’
She looked down at their hands, stroked the pale stripe on his finger where his wedding band had used to sit. ‘Life has thrown a lot at us, hasn’t it?’
He squeezed her fingers in response. ‘It has.’
She looked up into his eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes that she knew so well and saw in her dreams. Wasn’t this what she wanted? His love? And he’d announced it to everyone! No hiding. No shame. He had admitted his feelings for her in front of them all. All she had to do was be brave enough to accept it.
He was speaking again. ‘A wise man told me recently that all that matters in this world is love. That if you have it you should embrace it, tell the person who’s your everything that you love them. Because at the end of the day—at the end of life—that’s all any of us ever want to say. I want to tell you I love you every day, Brooke Bailey. Every single day.’
A hesitant smile lifted the corners of her mouth. Reached her eyes. It was as if lights were slowly being turned on inside her, and she could feel warmth filling her once again as she opened herself up to the possibility that everything was about to turn out all right.
‘I love you, Major Matthew Galloway.’
He smiled, joy lighting his eyes. ‘You do?’
She nodded.
‘Then let’s be together. For ever.’
He lifted her hands to his lips and kissed the backs of her fingers, one after the other, and then pulled her close and kissed her properly.
Brooke sank into his embrace, feeling as if all the missing pieces of her puzzle were found. She was complete. Whole. It was terrifying, yes, but they would face the fear of this journey together.
Being back in his arms felt wonderful. It was soothing to her frazzled and exhausted body, and just by pressing up against him she could feel her energy returning. As if he was recharging her spent batteries with the depth of his emotion. His embrace, his touch, was everything. And she would never have to be without it again.
‘There’s one more thing,’ she said.
He pulled back, looked at her. ‘What is it?’
She lowered her voice so that only he could hear it. ‘I’m pregnant.’
His eyes widened in surprise and then, barely milliseconds later, he lifted her off her feet and began swinging her around in happiness.
Brooke squealed and laughed and begged him to put her down—which he did.
‘You’re pregnant? That’s amazing!’
‘It’s still early days. Anything could happen.’
He nodded. ‘But we’ll face it together.’ He linked his hand into hers. ‘Have I told you today that I love you?’
She smiled. ‘Once or twice.’
‘Well, I do. I do, I do, I do.’
‘Well, Major, that’s a good thing. Because I love you, too.’
They fell back into each other’s arms, and all around everyone who knew them smiled with happiness.
There was no judgement.
Just joy.
For them.
As there always would be.
* * * * *
If you enjoyed this story check out these other great reads from Louisa Heaton
REUNITED BY THEIR PREGNANCY SURPRISE
CHRISTMAS WITH THE SINGLE DAD
SEVEN NIGHTS WIT
H HER EX
ONE LIFE-CHANGING NIGHT
All available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from SAVING BABY AMY by Annie Claydon.
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Saving Baby Amy
by Annie Claydon
CHAPTER ONE
HOSPITAL GOSSIP WAS a bit like the wind: unpredictable and prone to sudden gusts in one direction or another. Information could easily end up at the furthest corner of the hospital before it came to the notice of the people involved. So it was no particular surprise to Chloe Delancourt that she’d walked all the way over to the canteen before hearing a piece of news that quite obviously pertained to her.
Their Double Baby Gift Page 16