‘Because what that paper printed was true?’ she said sickly.
‘No! Because the people who read it believed that it was true!’
He grasped hold of her arms and she could feel his fingers biting into her flesh. ‘It doesn’t matter a damn if that story was true or not. I was accused of killing my own brother by driving when I was drunk, and that’s the only thing that people care about!’
‘No, you’re wrong because it matters to me, Nick. I care if it’s true because I care about you.’ She reached up and touched his face, feeling the shudder that ran through him, and her heart suddenly overflowed with tenderness. She had no idea if Nick was guilty as charged but it no longer mattered.
She looked deep into his eyes, hoping he could see that she meant every word. ‘Don’t you understand, Nick? I love you and anything that hurts you hurts me as well.’
‘You love me?’
Katie saw the rest of the colour drain from his face and realised that she’d been wrong to blurt it out like that. It certainly wasn’t what she’d planned on doing when she’d set off that morning and the thought that she might have embarrassed him was more than she could bear. She pulled away from him and hurried to the door.
‘Katie, don’t go. I know I’ve made a complete and total mess of everything but, please, don’t leave like this.’
‘I shouldn’t have come,’ she said brokenly. ‘If I’ve embarrassed you, Nick, I’m sorry because I didn’t intend to do that.’
‘Embarrassed me?’ The incredulity in his voice made her turn and her heart began to race when she saw the expression on his face, all the wonderment that was so clear to see. ‘I’m not embarrassed, my love. I’m elated!’
‘You are?’
‘Uh-huh. And if you come back here I’ll show you just how happy I am.’
Katie flushed when he smiled at her because it was such a sensual smile that it sent an immediate wave of desire rushing through her body. She took a hesitant step away from the door then gasped when Nick swiftly covered the rest of the distance that separated them and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her hard and hungrily, leaving her in no doubt whatsoever about his feelings, but obviously he didn’t intend there to be any more mistakes.
He drew back and looked into her eyes. ‘I love you, too, Katie Denning. I’m absolutely crazy about you, in fact, and these past few weeks apart from you have been a living hell.’
‘For me, too,’ she admitted shakily. ‘I thought you didn’t care and that’s why you didn’t get in touch with me.’
‘And I’ll never, ever forgive myself for that.’ He kissed her again with such tenderness this time that tears spilled down her cheeks and she heard him sigh.
‘I am so sorry, Katie. I never meant to put you through such heartache.’
‘I know, and I forgive you. It doesn’t matter so long as we can sort this out, and we can, can’t we?’ she added uncertainly.
Nick pressed another kiss to her mouth then led her to the settee and sat down, drawing her into his arms as though he couldn’t bear not to touch her. ‘I hope so, but I want you to promise me that you will think about what you’re doing and what it could mean for your life if you marry me.’
‘Marry you,’ she repeated dazedly.
‘Of course,’ he said with a touch of arrogance. ‘I love you and you love me so obviously we’re going to get married.’
‘I think we should discuss that after we’ve sorted out all the other issues,’ she told him firmly, though her heart was turning cartwheels with joy.
‘That sounds ominous but I won’t argue with you right now.’ He kissed her again then sighed. ‘Where shall I start?’
‘At the beginning. Tell me what happened to your brother.’
‘Yes, you’re right. It’s time I did that. In fact, I was going to tell you the night before the paper printed that story. I was actually on my way to see you when I was summoned to A and E to deal with a patient.’
‘If you were going to tell me then why did you change your mind?’
‘Because it just seemed too much to ask of you. I’ve had to live with this for ten years and I know how damaging it has been. It didn’t seem fair to drag you into it.
‘It wasn’t the first time the press had printed that story, you see. There was a lot of media interest after Mike died so, in a way, I’m not surprised the story surfaced again. The problem was that the reporter didn’t check his facts properly. Yes, Mike was killed because the driver of the car he was travelling in was over the limit and, yes, the driver’s name was Nicholas Lawson, but it wasn’t me. It was my father. He was driving at the time and I blame myself for that.’
‘Why?’ Katie demanded incredulously. ‘How can you be at fault if you weren’t driving the car?’
‘Because Mike had asked me if I’d pick him up from his friend’s house that night and I’d refused. I’d made plans to go to the cinema, you see, so I told Mike that he’d have to get a taxi home and thought no more about it.’
‘So what happened? Why did your father go for him?’ she prompted when he fell silent. She took hold of his hand and held it tightly because she knew how difficult it must be for him to talk about the tragedy.
‘Apparently, Mike phoned up and told Mum that he couldn’t get a taxi so she sent Dad to fetch him.’ He shrugged. ‘What none of us knew at the time was that Dad had started drinking heavily. His business was going through a bad patch and he’d turned to alcohol as a crutch.
‘He was well over the limit that night and must have known it, too, but he didn’t tell Mum because he didn’t want her to know that he had a problem. He picked Mike up but on the way back ran off the road and crashed into a ditch. Mike was killed outright but there wasn’t a scratch on Dad, amazingly enough.’
He took a deep breath but Katie could hear the strain in his voice. ‘I found them when I was coming home. Dad was just sitting by the car in a daze. I don’t think he really knew what had happened. There was nothing I could do for Mike. He was already dead. He was just nineteen at the time, two years younger than me.’
‘Oh, Nick, how awful for you!’ She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.
‘It was awful. On top of the shock of losing Mike there was all the rest to contend with. Mum blamed Dad for driving when he was drunk and they ended up getting divorced because of it. Somehow or other the papers got the idea that I’d been driving so they printed my details.’ He shrugged when she gasped in dismay. ‘It was an easy mistake because I was at the hospital with Mike and then I went to the police station afterwards. They probably confused the name and the age of the driver, but a lot of people read the report and believed that I was the guilty party. Then an old girlfriend of Mike’s sold some stupid story to the press about me having a history of drinking and driving.
‘It was a pack of lies, of course, but everything was such a mess at home, with Mum and Dad rowing, that it didn’t seem worth worrying about what the papers were saying. I knew that once the case went to court the truth would come out eventually. Anyway, if I hadn’t been so bloody selfish in the first place it would never have happened.’
‘That’s not true! It wasn’t your fault, Nick. You didn’t know your father was drinking, let alone that he’d be stupid enough to drive when he was over the limit.’
‘Maybe not, but if I’d picked Mike up he’d be here today. He’d be getting on with his life, doing all the things he’d planned…’
His voice broke and he couldn’t go on. Katie gathered him close and held him while he cried out his grief and pain. She couldn’t begin to imagine how hard it must have been for him these past years, continually blaming himself for his brother’s death. Guilt had been eating away at him and she could only hope that it would help to have got it out into the open at last.
He ran his hands over his face and sighed. ‘So now you know the whole sorry tale. Not very pretty, is it?’
‘No, it’s very sad. But you must see that punishing yourself won�
��t change what’s happened. It won’t bring your brother back.’
‘I know that. I also know now that Mike would hate to think of me being unhappy. He was such a great guy. He was going to change the world and he’d have done it, too.’
‘And you’ve been trying to fulfil his dreams for him?’ she suggested softly.
‘I’ve tried. Oh, Mike wasn’t interested in medicine. Engineering was his thing and he was particularly interested in working in developing countries. That’s one of the reasons why I joined the aid agency because in my own way I felt that I, too, could make a difference…’ He broke off and gasped. ‘I’m supposed to be on my way to the airport! I’ve agreed to go on another mission to Ethiopia.’
‘Ethiopia?’
‘I know, I know. The timing couldn’t be worse, could it?’ He grinned at her. ‘You’ve just told me that you love me and here I am about to fly to the other side of the world!’
She chuckled. ‘It does seem a bit unfortunate.’
‘Unfortunate?’ Nick rolled his eyes. ‘I’m desperate to get you into bed and show you how much I love you and you call it unfortunate.’
‘There’s a time and a place,’ she advised him primly, standing up.
‘And this is neither,’ he finished for her. He stood up and took her in his arms. ‘I love you, Katie. I want to spend my life with you so do you think you could wait for me? I promise to get back to England just as soon as I can. Scout’s honour.’
‘Oh, I’m not sure about that,’ she teased, then gasped when he kissed her. She was trembling when it ended and Nick looked smugly at her.
‘You were saying, sweetheart?’
‘You are far too full of yourself, Nick Lawson!’
‘But you love me anyway?’
‘I suppose so,’ she admitted grudgingly.
‘That’s all I needed to hear.’
One last kiss then he let her go and picked up his bag. ‘Fancy a trip to Heathrow? It’s a three hour check-in so once I’ve got rid of my baggage we could find some place to while away the time.’
‘What did you have in mind?’
‘Well, if my memory serves me correctly there are some rather nice hotels at Heathrow. How do you fancy seeing if there’s a room free?’
Katie laughed. ‘On one condition.’
‘And that is?’
‘That we discuss that proposal you intend to make.’
‘The one that involves going down on one knee and asking for your hand in marriage?’
‘That’s the one.’
‘Then you have a deal. One proposal coming right up!’
He kissed her again, just briefly but with a wealth of promise, and Katie sighed. They might only have a couple of hours to look forward to at the moment but she intended to make the most of them.
EPILOGUE
THREE months later…
‘You look stunning, Katie.’
‘Do you think so? Are you sure the dress is all right? I wasn’t sure if it was a bit much…’
‘It’s your wedding day! No bride can be too dressed up on her special day,’ Mel said firmly, and Katie laughed.
She smoothed down the skirt of the glorious ivory silk gown and sighed with happiness. Her wedding day promised to be the culmination of three months of pure bliss. Life had been so perfect, in fact, that sometimes she had to pinch herself to prove that she wasn’t dreaming.
Nick had spent just a month in Ethiopia before the agency had found a replacement for him. He’d flown home to England and moved straight back to Dalverston and into the flat she’d found for them. He had rescinded his resignation after Niall had offered him his job back once he’d explained what had really happened to his brother.
Nick had also decided to make sure the story would never surface again and had contacted the newspaper and demanded that they print a retraction as well as an apology, which they had done. Everyone had been very supportive since then and a few people had apologised to Nick for ever doubting him. It was all over and done with now and Katie knew that a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders since he’d shed the burden of guilt that he’d carried for so long.
Life on the maternity unit had gradually settled down although Abbey had decided to leave once she had completed her training. She had taken a job as a community midwife attached to a practice in Cumbria and was slowly getting her life back on track after all the upset. The police had interviewed Gary Hutchins after several people had mentioned seeing him with Abbey at the ball. When a woman living in the same building as Abbey identified Hutchins as the man she’d seen leaving Abbey’s flat the day after the ball, the police had authorised DNA tests to be carried out on him. A positive match had been found with one of the samples taken from Abbey so the police had charged him. They had also checked back through their records and discovered a similar incident that had occurred during Hutchins’s previous rotation at a different hospital so they were looking into that as well. Hutchins had been suspended until the case came to court and the BMA would review his position after the trial ended.
So much had happened in a few short months, in fact, and so many lives had changed. Now Katie knew that she was about to face the biggest change that had ever happened to her. She took a deep breath before she turned away from the mirror but she didn’t have any doubts about what she was doing. She was going to marry Nick that day and she didn’t intend to keep him waiting!
‘Are we all set?’ she demanded, picking up the hand-tied bouquet of lilies of the valley.
‘It’s tradition for the bride to be late,’ Mel pointed out, picking up her own posy of flowers. Katie had been a little bit worried about having to tell Mel about her and Nick, but her friend had taken the news in her stride and had thrown herself into the wedding preparations with great enthusiasm.
‘Maybe it is, but this particular bride intends to be right on time,’ Katie told her firmly, opening the front door. She’d decided not to have anyone give her away on the day so she and Mel travelled together in the limousine that Nick had insisted on ordering for her. The wedding was being held in the hospital’s chapel and it looked as though every member of staff who wasn’t on duty that day had turned up to witness the marriage when they arrived.
Katie had eyes for only one person, however, the most important person in her life. Nick was standing beside the front pew and the expression on his face as she walked down the aisle towards him filled her with joy. He took her hands and bent to kiss her when she reached him.
‘I love you, Katie Denning,’ he whispered, before he led her to the altar where the minister was waiting.
Katie clung to his hand as they repeated their vows in front of all their friends. She meant every word and knew that Nick meant them, too. When the minister declared them to be man and wife, a great cheer erupted as Nick swept her into his arms. Katie smiled up at him, all the love she felt clear to see in her eyes. This was a new beginning for both of them, their future to be spent loving and caring for one another, and she could hardly wait for the next phase of her life to begin.
‘I love you, too, Nick. Now, always—’
‘And for ever,’ he finished for her, then kissed her, putting the final seal on all the promises they’d made.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-5800-9
THE MIDWIFE’S NEW YEAR WISH
First North American Publication 2004
Copyright © 2004 by Jennifer Taylor.
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The Midwife's New Year Wish Page 16