Prognosis Temporary

by Andrews, Amy

  Neither Callie nor Sebastian said anything to the other but Callie was hyper-aware of him. His biceps occasionally brushed hers, the feather-like touch coursing electricity through her entire body until it was practically humming. And his male scent blasted towards her on the waves of heat radiating from his body, intoxicating her already elevated mood further.

  How had it taken her so long to figure out what was now patently obvious? Had determination alone so blunted her to the possibility of falling in love that she hadn’t even recognised it when it had slapped her in the face?

  She could pinpoint the exact moment it had happened. That night in the restaurant. Facing down a superior yuppie to champion a homeless man.

  Her hero.

  No wonder she’d gone home with him.

  Although maybe it had happened even before that. Earlier that day, on the bridge. There had been an unmistakable connection as they’d clashed. An instant awareness of him that she’d never had with another man. It had been easy to dismiss as irritation given his steely resolve that day but maybe, even then, deep down she’d known something in her gut.

  The baby protested as it was taken from Ginny to be snugly wrapped by one paramedic as the other expertly sited an intravenous cannula in the back of Ginny’s hand.

  Callie slipped her hand over her abdomen. Deep inside her, beneath her palm, her own baby grew.

  Their baby grew.

  Another, more intimate connection with Sebastian.

  And her love for him intensified again. She’d only been aware of it for the last ten minutes but just like that it had doubled...trebled.

  She’d been so busy pretending they were having an adult relationship that didn’t need romantic, messy things like love and happily-ever-afters to define it that she hadn’t realised she’d gone and fallen in love anyway.

  Deep, foolish, messy love.

  ‘Okay, let’s rock and roll,’ the paramedic said as they helped Ginny onto the trolley and strapped her in. Brad passed the swaddled baby to Ginny and she took the bundle as if she’d just been handed the secret to eternal life and the Holy Grail combined.

  ‘What are you going to call her?’ the paramedic asked.

  Ginny looked at Sebastian and Callie. ‘Well, I think after all that’s happened we’re going to have to name her after our impromptu midwives, Seb and Callie.’ Her gaze switched to her husband and she held out her free hand to him. ‘What do you think about Sallie?’

  Brad took her hand and smiled. ‘I think that’s really pretty.’

  Ginny smiled. ‘Sallie it is. Is that okay with you guys?’

  Callie nodded because the lump in her throat had also trebled and she didn’t think she could speak without bursting into tears. Sebastian grinned. ‘It’s perfect,’ he said.

  ‘Congratulations, you two,’ the paramedic said as he slapped Sebastian on the back. ‘You’ve just been immortalised.’

  Sebastian chuckled. ‘We’ll try not to let it go to our heads.’

  ‘Rightio, let’s shake a leg.’

  Callie and Sebastian followed the procession to the front door. ‘Would you mind locking up?’ Brad asked, absently handing his keys over, eyes only for his wife and daughter.

  Sebastian took them. ‘Of course. Go, don’t worry about it. We’ll bring the keys up in a bit once your girls are settled.’

  Brad looked at Sebastian then at Callie. ‘My girls...’ He shook his head. ‘I’m a father,’ he said, his voice full of wonder and pride.

  Callie smiled. Both Ginny and Brad were sporting that strange mix of exhaustion - astonishment and elation - like they were the only two people in the world to have ever performed such an amazing feat.

  ‘Go,’ she urged as Ginny and the baby were loaded into the back of the ambulance.

  Brad didn’t need any further encouragement and Callie and Sebastian watched as he practically ran to the waiting ambulance.

  Sebastian laughed. ‘That is one proud daddy.’

  ‘I’m so happy for them,’ Callie said. So happy she could burst into tears.

  The paramedic shut the door and Callie turned to go back inside, her gaze falling to where the neatly packed hospital bag had been before.

  ‘Sebastian,’ she said urgently. ‘The bag. It’s in our car. She’ll need it.’

  ‘Crap, hang on.’

  He took the stairs two at a time, Callie laughing at him as he dashed to the car, her heart overflowing with love and all the beautiful things she had witnessed today. Not even entering the living room which looked like a war zone killed the buzz.

  Callie set about picking up the packaging the paramedics had left strewn around. Donning another pair of gloves, she gathered the soiled linen. She could hear the low rumbling idle of the ambulance and saw Sebastian chatting to one of the paramedics through the window.

  She picked up the towels in the hallway as well and made her way quickly to the laundry. Now the excitement was over she was nervous and activity gave her something else to do other than think about Sebastian and his wild promises from earlier today.

  Thinking about their baby.

  Callie threw the towels into the washing machine, added soap powder she found in a cupboard and started the washing cycle. She made a mental note to let Brad know that the towels would be waiting for him when he got home. After that was done she gathered the linen that hadn’t been used and put it back in the linen cupboard.

  One item remained. A soft baby-pink muslin wrap. Callie looked down towards the end of the hall to where the pink glow beckoned. She turned towards it, the wrap clutched to her chest, her feet not under her conscious control. A mere hour ago she’d wanted to flee the nursery so badly she’d practically run from it when she’d had the chance. But now it called to her.

  Like a homing beacon.

  She reached the doorway and hesitated for a moment before tiptoeing into the middle of the room. It was so...pink. Yet what had seemed too much an hour ago suddenly seemed just right. The perfect room for a perfect baby girl. Even the pink unicorns didn’t seem over-the-top now.

  Callie lifted the muslin to her face and inhaled deeply. The soap and powder smell was intoxicating and she dragged in another enormous lungful of pure baby essence.

  ‘Smells good, doesn’t it?’

  Callie startled, dropping the wrap as she whirled to face the door. ‘Sorry, I didn’t hear you.’

  He crossed to her and bent to pick it up, bringing it to his face as he also sucked in the aroma before handing it back to Callie. ‘It’s been a big day,’ he murmured.

  Callie turned toward the cot. All during Ginny’s labour she’d deliberately tried not to think about the baby. Their baby. But standing in this pink room, next to this man, looking at the cot, it was impossible not to.

  Her hand fell to her belly, her fingers spreading down low. She sensed Sebastian crossing the distance between them and she shut her eyes as the heat of him hovered just behind.

  ‘Are you thinking about the baby?’ he asked.

  Callie dragged in a breath. It would be easy to play dumb and pretend that Sebastian was talking about Sallie but they both knew what he meant.

  She nodded. ‘I think she’s going to be tall.’

  His breath released in a husky rush like he’d been holding it in. ‘She?’

  Callie pressed her hand against her belly harder. ‘I know it’s strange but somehow I just know it’s a girl.’

  ‘I’d love a little girl,’ he said quietly. ‘With your amber eyes.’

  Callie swallowed at the picture in her head. She’d like that to. Giving into the urge, she eased back, leaning into the hard strong wall of his chest, the steady thump of his heart in the centre of her back strong and reassuring.

  ‘And your gorgeous hair,’ she whispered.

  Tentatively his arm came around her waist and Callie snuggled into him a little more.

  ‘A lot’s...happened today,’ he said.

  Callie laughed. Now there was an understatement. ‘W
e delivered a baby.’

  ‘Yes, we did.’

  She heard the roughness, the uncertainty, in his voice. He was being cautious and she couldn’t blame him. It had been a day of high emotion. It would be easy to conflate what had happened with what they felt.

  But she wasn’t doing that. She wasn’t transferring, she was taking off the blinkers. ‘And I fell in love.’

  Given the proximity of his mouth to her ear, the hitch of Sebastian’s breath was like the tolling of a bell. ‘With our baby?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes.’ Callie nodded then slipped the hand that had been resting low on her belly onto his forearm. ‘And you.’

  He didn’t move for a moment. He didn’t speak. Hell, Callie wasn’t sure if Sebastian even took a breath. In fact it seemed like an age before she heard a long slow inhalation.

  ‘May I?’ he asked as he lowered his hand from her waist.

  Callie’s heart did a funny little doo-wop in her chest. ‘Of course.’ She covered his hand with hers and slid them both down low on her belly, pressing his palm against the place where their baby was safely cradled.

  His hand tightened for a beat or two and a surge of emotion filled Callie’s chest, and pricked at the backs of her eyes. ‘We won’t be able to feel anything for ages,’ she murmured, even though she was pretty sure he already knew that.

  ‘I can’t believe we made a baby,’ he whispered.

  Callie shook her head. ‘Neither can I.’

  He nuzzled her ear, dropped a kiss just behind. ‘I love you.’

  A well of emotion rose in her chest prickling at her nose and tear ducts. ‘Are we being crazy, Sebastian? Is this just about the baby?’

  His chin scratched against her hair as he shook his head. ‘No. Absolutely not. It was the bridge for me. You were so damn pushy.’ He pressed a kiss to her temple. ‘I know hardened criminals that wouldn’t have dared speak to me the way you did. But you were so...ballsy. I’m just sorry it took me so long to figure out.’

  Callie smiled. She had been pretty annoyed that day. ‘It was the restaurant for me. The homeless man. It was such an ugly scene and you were so...heroic that night. But I guess I just wasn’t wired to think like a normal person. I was comfortable with being on my own. It never occurred to me that I’d ever find my one...my soul mate. Especially not so late in life. It was easier just to think of you as a sexual attraction thing.’

  He chuckled and little puffs of air disturbed the fine hair at her temples. ‘Hey, no complaints from me.’ He turned her around, kissing her forehead, her eyes, her nose and finally her mouth. ‘And just think,’ he murmured against her lips, ‘we wouldn’t have our little girl if you hadn’t ruthlessly exploited the sexual attraction thing.’

  He eased away slightly, his hand returning to cradle her stomach again and Callie swallowed at the sight of his big hand so gentle yet so possessive.

  ‘I think actually, deep down, that was the main reason I avoided getting involved with anyone. Because I knew that eventually, no matter how much I told myself I didn’t want any of that, I would want it. The whole shebang. A wedding ring, suburbia, a white picket fence and babies.’

  She looked at him, his expression soft as he stared at his hand and it took her breath away. ‘And I couldn’t disregard my family legacy. The mental illness history. How could I expose a tiny baby to all that potential?’

  He looked up, returning her gaze. ‘Does it still worry you?’

  The thought tore at her heart. She would never want a child of hers to go through the rigours of mental illness. ‘Of course,’ she whispered. ‘Looking after Zack all those years, worrying if he’s got more than his father’s athletic ability... the thought of passing something like that on frightens the hell out of me.’

  His hands smoothed up her body to her face, cupping her jaw, his thumbs stroking the hollows beside her mouth. ‘Don’t,’ he murmured. ‘We wipe the slate clean. You and I.’

  ‘But what if — ’

  ‘Shh.’ Sebastian placed a thumb against her lips. ‘There are no guarantees in life, Callie. You and I both know this child could get any number of horrible illnesses. So could we. But we can’t live our lives like that — in constant fear. We just love our kids and we love each other and we hope like crazy it all works out. And no matter what, we’ll deal with whatever life throws us.’

  Callie’s hands came up to grasp Sebastian’s wrists. He was right, of course he was. Life was for living — they both knew that, probably better than most. ‘I love you,’ she whispered.

  He smiled, using his thumbs to tilt her jaw back. ‘I don’t think I’m ever going to tire of hearing you say that.’

  ‘Good,’ she murmured, ‘cos I’m not ever going to tire of telling you.’

  He dropped a kiss on her upturned mouth. And then another. And another, until they melded into one and were swept away for long drugging minutes. ‘Just promise me one thing,’ he said, eventually pulling away.

  ‘Anything,’ Callie agreed, her head spinning from the kiss.

  ‘Can we tone down the pink?’

  Callie laughed as she looked around the room. ‘Actually, it’s kind of grown on me.’

  Sebastian groaned. ‘Fine. Can we at least have yellow ducks?’

  She nodded. ‘Absolutely. I promise.’

  And she sealed it with a kiss.

  THE END

  Read on the first chapter of Amy’s next release - Prognosis So Done – another hot medical romance.

  PROGNOSIS SO DONE

  Prologue...

  It’s nearly seven in the morning and I can’t sleep. Today is the last day of our medical team’s rotation in this war zone. One of many over the years. The team and I operated for sixteen hours straight yesterday and didn’t finish until well into the night.

  But I don’t mind — I thrive on the challenge. And as great as it is to leave, it won’t take me long to miss it again. I love being part of this great team of people.

  Sure it can be dangerous, but what we do makes a difference to so many lives.

  So why am I lying here awake when I should be sleeping? It’s Harriet. My wife. I’m losing her. I can’t put my finger on it, but last night, as we were standing together side by side and she was passing me instruments, I could feel her pulling away from me.

  We’ve been reconciled for two months now and I thought we were past the baby stalemate. Why is it that I can fix broken bodies with my eyes shut, but can’t seem to fix the rift in my marriage?

  I love Harriet. From the moment I saw her, I’ve never wanted anyone else. The year we were separated was hell. Worse than living in a war zone. Our marriage had been perfect, an extension of our operating style — flawless with a poetic symmetry. But suddenly she wanted a baby. And I didn’t. And we were at an impasse.

  When she came back, I thought the issue had been resolved but...maybe not.

  And so now I have a day to pull her back. It’s not much time, but a lot can happen in twenty-four hours — particularly here and I simply can’t bear the thought of losing her again...

  CHAPTER ONE – 0700 hours

  The divorce papers burnt a hole in her hand as she carried the large yellow envelope to her soon-to-be ex-husband’s sleeping quarters. Nausea threatened and she swallowed hard to dispel it.

  Just knock on the door, hand it over, then leave, Harriet lectured herself as her rubber-soled shoes squeaked loudly on the aged linoleum in the hushed corridors. Do not stop for a chat. Do not go in for coffee. Do not let him make love to you.

  She tossed her head and clamped down on the irony that threatened to bubble up in her chest and escape as sarcastic laughter. Sex, Harriet.

  Have sex with you.

  Their days of love-making were long past and she couldn’t afford such romantic stupidity.

  They were getting divorced. The end. Finito. Period. They were just having a little difficulty remembering their differences in the haze of lust that descended upon them every time they got a little too close
.

  Harriet hadn’t yet worked out the co-ordinates of that invisible line — the one that separated close and too close — but she certainly knew when she’d crossed it. Except by then it was usually...always...too late.

  She stopped in front of his door, gripping the envelope tighter. Tomorrow. She would be gone tomorrow and his signature would be on the papers and she could get on with her life.

  So she had to do this now.

  She’d had the papers since she’d arrived in this country over two months ago but part of her had held back. Somewhere inside there had still been a small kernel of hope. A little Pollyanna ray of sunshine that had believed she could truly convince him to change his mind.

  But two months of alternating between fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants medical drama and snatched moments of incredible can’t-get-enough-of-you sex hadn’t resolved anything.

  Sex they were great at. Marriage not so much.

  Harriet took a moment to tie her wavy hair back in a hastily constructed ponytail. He was going to look all messy-haired and sleepy and sexy as hell, so she desperately needed to look no-nonsense.

  He hated her hair tied back. And for this task she needed him to hate her a little.

  Harriet knocked on the door. The noise echoed loudly down the corridor and she hoped she hadn’t woken anyone else. All the surgical teams had been up until 1 a.m. and she didn’t think they’d appreciate such an early wake-up call. But this had to be done.

  It’d been put off too long already.

  She heard a mumbled expletive on the other side of the door and smiled to herself as she pictured Gill emerging from under his pillow, staring at the clock and frowning.

  Please, have a shirt on.

  The door opened abruptly and Harriet was confronted with his magnificent naked chest. She looked into his grumpy face and watched as he bit off a retort and a slow lazy smile warmed his sleepy face.