‘Sounds like it’s back. Hang on, I’ll see if you can go and sit with him.’
She came back with a smile, and led them through to Nick. He was lying propped up, his arm now in the right place resting on his chest, the cut on his head held together with little white strips, and he greeted them with a tired smile.
‘Hi there,’ he said, sounding slurred. ‘You all OK?’
‘We’re fine,’ she said, and the children huddled closer.
‘Are you going to die?’ Harry said, and he shook his head as if to clear it, sat up and bent over, pressing a kiss to Harry’s head.
‘No, Harry, I’m not going to die. I have far too much to do—starting with convincing Georgie that I really do want to marry her.’
‘Job done,’ she said, her eyes filling. ‘You aren’t getting rid of me that easily.’
‘Thank God for that,’ he said, and lay back and closed his eyes.
‘Right, we need to strap him up, and then you can take him home,’ the doctor said cheerfully, and Georgie and the children trooped out, the baby seat hanging from Georgie’s battered fingers, and met her father in the corridor.
His face creased with emotion, and he gathered them all into his arms and hugged them fiercely. ‘How is he?’
‘He’s going to be fine,’ she said, and then burst into tears.
‘Are you OK?’
Nick’s eyes fluttered open and he held out his good arm to her, gathering her against his chest. ‘I’m fine. How are the kids?’
‘OK. They’re sleeping. They’re both in Harry’s bed, and the baby’s in their room with them. I’ve fed and changed her and she’s settled down. Are you really OK?’
‘Bit sore, but better than it was. Georgie, I’ve got something to tell you.’
She sat up and stared down at him, fear clawing through her. ‘Sounds serious,’ she said, trying for a light note and not feeling in the least bit light.
‘I’ve lost the ring—you threw it at me and I put it in my pocket and now it’s gone, washed away. I’ve lost it. I’m so sorry.’
‘Is that all? Oh, God, Nick, I thought you were going to tell me you didn’t love me, didn’t want me…’
His arm tightened, hauling her down against his chest. ‘No way. When that wave caught me and dragged me under, all I could think was that I was going to die and nobody would help you, and you’d be washed away, and Dickon would be sitting there on the wall alone—’
‘And the baby was in the house with nobody to hear her—I know,’ she said. ‘I went through it all. And all I could think was that you’d died thinking I didn’t love you. The ring doesn’t matter, it’s just a ring, but if I’d lost you—’
‘Come to bed,’ he said hoarsely. ‘I need to hold you—need to talk to you about the children.’
So she slipped off her clothes and snuggled into bed beside him in her underwear, and he wrapped his arm round her. ‘I’m so sorry you found out like that about the adoption thing,’ he said, ‘but I promise you, I didn’t mean to spring anything on you. It was only an idea. Mum was worried sick, her leg’s going to take ages to heal because she’s got an infection in the bone, apparently, and I couldn’t see a better way. I said it really to reassure her, and it wouldn’t affect who the children lived with, but as soon as I said it it seemed such a good idea, so simple and obvious I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before. I never dreamt you’d think I’d cooked up our whole relationship to trap you. I still can’t believe you’d think it of me.’
‘I don’t. I didn’t, not really, that’s why I was so shocked, but when Martin’s wife became ill and he ended up with the children, he suddenly decided he was in love with me and wanted to marry me. And they were so sweet, the same age as Harry and Dickon, and then his wife got better and he got us all together and told us that she wanted the children back, and so they’d be going back to her. They were delighted, of course, because they missed her, but then he said I wouldn’t be there any more and they wouldn’t see me, and—oh, Nick, I’ll never forget the look in their eyes. They thought I’d betrayed them, and I was devastated. And then when our relationship was just beginning to go somewhere, Lucie died and you had the children. And then you told me you loved me, and out of nowhere you asked me to marry you just when Una decided she couldn’t stay any longer, and then Dad said you wanted to adopt them—’
‘And it all seemed to fit. Except it doesn’t, you know. Get my wallet.’
‘What?’
‘My wallet—it’s on the chest of drawers there.’
She slipped out of bed and picked it up, bringing it back to the bed and handing it to him.
‘Open it—look in the zipped bit at the back. There’s a receipt.’
‘This one?’ she asked, mystified, and handed it to him.
‘That’s the one. Open it.’
She unfolded the sheet of paper and stared at it. ‘It’s the ring and necklace—my God! Nick, the price of it!’
‘Forget the price of it. Look at the date, Georgie.’
‘April.’ She looked up at him. ‘You bought it in April.’
‘Before Lucie died. I was going to propose to you the weekend of Simon’s party, but I’d forgotten about the party and so I was going to do it over breakfast on Sunday morning.’
‘Only Lucie went into labour.’
‘And everything fell apart.’
She dropped the receipt and closed her eyes. ‘Oh, Nick, I could have lost you. I so nearly did, and all because I didn’t dare to believe you could really love me.’
‘Oh, I love you. I’ve loved you since you ripped my head off for not checking into the site office. I’ve loved you since you howled your eyes out because I’d cleared your debts and then took me out for breakfast at lunchtime. And I don’t intend to stop loving you.’
‘Thank goodness for that,’ she said, sliding back into bed beside him, ‘because you’re going to be stuck with me for the rest of your life, and it’ll make it a lot more fun if you love me back.’
He chuckled ruefully and hugged her closer.
‘I like the sound of that,’ he said, and, pressing his lips to her hair, he sighed softly and fell asleep…
The Tycoon's Instant Family Page 14
