Promising to get professional help, Chrissie said goodbye.
Emotionally drained, Alex struggled back to the rooms, where Brian Lane insisted he’d take the afternoon patients and do the ward round.
‘After all,’ he said, ‘I’ll be gone for good in a couple of weeks. My wife will take that long to pack up the kids and the house, and I want to see each and every one of our patients so they know you have my full support.’
He smiled at Alex, then added, ‘Not that most of them need it. The way the phone’s been ringing, I might regret leaving the practice.’
Alex thanked him and departed, driving slowly home, enjoying the ferry journey.
Friday, and Will was off duty so he and Charlotte were coming to stay over so they could go out on the river early in the morning, before it got too hot.
Alex had been very uncertain about this arrangement, but when they’d talked to Charlotte about it and showed her Alex’s old room, where she would sleep, she’d asked, ‘But where will you sleep, Daddy? Will Alex let you sleep in her bed? Because that room’s nicer than the other room.’
‘It’s as if she’s blessed us,’ Will had said, and Alex knew he was probably right.
They came at dusk, Will laden down as ever with bags of toys and clothing.
But this time Alex had cooked dinner for them, spaghetti and meatballs at Charlotte’s request.
With Buddy on her shoulder and tweaking at her hair, the little girl played happily on the deck while Alex finished the dinner and Will made a salad to go with it.
Charlotte ate and immediately asked to go to bed.
‘But with Buddy in his cage as well,’ she insisted.
* * *
Finally alone, they stood on the deck, looking at the river, silvered by the light of the moon.
‘Have I ever mentioned that I love you?’ Will murmured, kissing Alex on the temple.
‘Not often enough,’ Alex whispered, leaning into him and turning so his lips could meet her mouth.
The kiss was different, not a prelude to passion, as so many of their kisses had become, but more a declaration of the love they shared and a promise of what was to come.
Together they had faced the pain of the accusations against Alex and come through it, their love stronger for being forged in devastation.
Slowly, they made their way upstairs, opening the gate at the top that Will had installed to keep Charlotte safe. They stopped at the door of Alex’s old room and looked at the sleeping child, Buddy in his cage on the desk at the end of the bed and Alex’s old toy galah clasped in her hands.
‘She’s a precious gift,’ Alex whispered. ‘Thank you for sharing her with me.’
‘You’re the gift, to both of us,’ he countered. ‘You gave me back the gift of love.’
They made love quietly, ever aware of the sleeping child just down the hall, and Alex fell asleep with her hand on Will’s shoulder, secure, for the first time, in a relationship.
A relationship that exceeded all her dreams.
EPILOGUE
ALEX COLLECTED CHARLOTTE from kindergarten, laughing as the little girl hugged her around the legs.
‘That baby’s taking up too much room and I can’t hug you properly,’ Charlotte complained.
‘But not for much longer,’ Alex promised her. ‘One more week, that’s all you have to wait.’
The dark eyes, so like Will’s, looked up at her.
‘And you really will let me help look after him?’
‘Or her,’ Alex reminded Charlotte. They’d decided not to know the sex of the child she carried for all Charlotte was convinced it would be a boy.
‘And, yes,’ Alex added, ‘we’ll need you to help. When the baby’s out on the deck in his pram, you’ll have to keep Buddy from bouncing on him and waking him up.’
‘I can do that easily. Buddy loves me,’ Charlotte declared, as Alex fastened her into her car seat.
And Buddy did indeed love the little girl who’d come to live with them. He was her constant companion when she was at home, and even greeted her before he greeted Alex when the pair of them came in together.
‘And we’ll call him Bob.’ Charlotte wasn’t finished with the baby conversation and her favourite television character was named Bob.
‘We’ll see,’ Alex responded, glad Charlotte wasn’t old enough to understand a parental ‘We’ll see’ often meant no.
Or even ‘No way’.
‘So how’s my family?’ Will asked, coming out of the house to greet the pair.
‘What are you doing home?’
Alex’s question was lost in Charlotte’s cries of delight as she flung herself into his arms.
‘I thought my wife stopping work, even if it’s only for a few months, was a special enough occasion to deserve a celebration so I skived off, leaving Josh in charge, and cooked our dinner. You sit out on the deck and put your feet up, and I’ll bring you a small libation of French champagne.’
‘French yet!’ Alex teased, finally getting her turn in her husband’s arms.
But she was happy to sit on the deck and put her feet up. There’d be little time to rest after the baby arrived. She’d taken three months’ maternity leave then Will would take the next three months off work, so the baby would have a parent at home all the time.
After that a nanny would come two days a week, with both Alex and Will working alternate short weeks.
Alex looked out at the river and sighed.
In theory it sounded good, but would it work?
‘You’re worrying again,’ Will scolded, as he brought out their drinks, the champagne cooling in her parents’ ice bucket.
She touched the side of it, thinking back, remembering her parents in happier times, aware that all the pain and bitterness she’d felt had vanished through the power of love.
Will’s love!
And the smile of a little girl who already called her Mummy…
‘Happy?’ Will asked, as he sat down beside her and took her hand.
‘There should be a better word,’ Alex said, smiling as Charlotte and Buddy joined them, both having sensed there might be biscuits on the table.
‘We’re calling the baby Bob,’ Charlotte announced to her father.
Will raised one quizzical eyebrow at Alex.
‘This too shall pass,’ she said. ‘We know that now. With the love we share we’re strong enough to cope with anything. Even a little girl called Bob…’
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781460381748
The One Man to Heal Her
Copyright © 2015 by Meredith Webber
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