The Doctor's Double Trouble
Page 15
‘Abigail Bateman, I love you and I hope, with all my heart, that you will agree to marry me, to be by my side as together we raise those two gorgeous children who need us. Please, Abbey? Be my wife?’
‘Joshua.’ Abbey sucked in a few breaths, unable to speak due to the choked emotions he’d evoked with his eloquent words.
‘Say yes,’ he urged.
‘Yes.’ The word was whispered and it was all she was able to get out before he brought his mouth to hers, sealing their love with a powerful, all-consuming kiss. ‘I love you, Joshua,’ she finally said after many more glorious kisses. ‘I have for quite some time but I simply couldn’t allow myself to accept your proposal the other day knowing you didn’t feel the same way.’
‘I was a fool.’
‘A fool for love.’ She kissed him back. ‘Thank you for loving me and for giving me the one precious gift I could never give you—a family.’
‘It’s about time someone gave to you, Abbey and I’m honoured to be that person. I promise to give you my love, for ever.’
‘For ever,’ she sighed, and allowed herself to be gathered close into his arms as they sealed their love with another heart-searing kiss.
Epilogue
‘I’M VERY excited, Mummy,’ Becka told Abbey as they sat at a table in the Yawonnadeere Creek pub.
‘I’m excited, too,’ Jimmy added. ‘She always gets in first. I’m always about to say something and then Becka goes and says it first. It’s not fair.’
Abbey laughed. ‘That’s enough you two, now finish off your special milkshakes because it’s time to get you both home and into bed.’
‘Aww, Mummy,’ they complained in unison. ‘Do we have to?’
‘Yes,’ their father said, coming up behind Abbey, a papoose over his shoulder as he patted the six-month-old baby inside that he’d finally managed to get to sleep. ‘Listen to your mother.’ Joshua bent down and pressed a kiss to his wife’s lips.
‘Is he asleep?’ she asked, peering around the inside of the baby sling.
‘He is asleep. Now we’ve just got to get these two monkeys to bed and we could settle in for a quiet evening together.’ He waggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively and Abbey couldn’t help but blush.
‘I can’t believe it,’ Giselle remarked, coming over and clearing the plates from their table. ‘You have been married almost one year and he can still make you blush.’
‘You’d better believe it.’ Joshua kissed his wife again and patted the baby held close to his heart. He hadn’t believed he had the love inside him to shower on another child but little Charles, cradled within, had proven him wrong. One of Abbey’s friends who worked closely with PMA in Tarparnii, had helped them arrange the adoption of Charles who had been left an orphan two weeks after his birth.
Now, he was part of their family, the twins taking on even greater responsibility with a young baby to care for.
‘I can’t believe we’re going to be four, tomorrow.’ Jimmy clapped his hands with utter glee.
‘The sooner you get to sleep, the sooner you can wake up and be four years old,’ Joshua encouraged, trying to get them out of the place so he could go home and spend some time with Abbey. He’d always known she would make the most wonderful mother and he hadn’t been wrong. To see the way she loved and cared for all three of their children was incredible. She had so much to give and in giving, she received so much in return.
‘And you’ll decorate the house like a magical fairyland again, won’t you, Daddy?’ Becka asked as they waved good-bye to everyone in the pub.
‘Twinkle lights again? It feels like only yesterday you actually let me take them down,’ he protested. ‘Aren’t you a little old for a magical fairyland?’
‘Daddy! Bite your tongue.’
‘Fairylands are special, Dad,’ Jimmy pointed out matter-of-factly.
Joshua looked longingly at Abbey. ‘Looks as though we’ll have to wait a little longer before having our special time together.’
‘We can get the kids off to bed and then hang the lights together,’ she whispered close to his ear. ‘You can wear just your denim jeans, like you did last year but this time I’ll get to touch your body, explore those contours and—’
‘Fine. We’ll hang the lights,’ he told his daughter, his wife laughing happily as they headed into the house.
Abbey organised for the twins to brush their teeth and then settled them in their beds, their room now decorated differently from twelve months ago. This was now more of a pre-schooler’s room, with drawings and paintings, some done by Abbey, some done by the twins, hanging around the room.
As she kissed her children good-night, Abbey’s heart turned over with love for them. How powerfully she did love her family, the recent addition of Charles being the icing on their already overflowing cake.
Once the twins were settled, she went into Charles’ room and looked at him in his cot, bending down to kiss him sweetly on the head. ‘Goodnight, my son. Mummy loves you very much.’
‘Hey there,’ Joshua said from behind her and she turned, her smile wide as she saw her husband, dressed only in his old denim jeans, posing in the doorway. ‘Ready to light up my world, Mrs Ackles?’
Abbey chuckled and slowly walked towards him. Thanks to Joshua, she no longer felt incomplete. He and their children had filled the void in her life, making her the happiest woman in the world.
‘Lead the way, sexy man, and I’ll be forever following.’
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
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First published in Great Britain 2010
Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,
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© Anne and Peter Clark 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4089-1820-3
Table of Contents
Excerpt
Title Page
About the Author
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Epilogue
Copyright