‘For God’s sake, Molly, we have a hundred people downstairs,’ he said through tight lips. ‘Do you really expect me to drop everything and fly halfway around the world with less than five minutes’ notice?’
Molly tried to see it from his perspective. It was a lot to ask at short notice. It was wrong to expect him to drop everything. She wouldn’t like him to ask it of her if the tables were changed.
‘You’re right,’ she said, releasing a breath. ‘I’m sorry. I’m just all over the place with this.’ She pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to keep her emotions under some semblance of control. ‘What about in a few days’ time?’ She dropped her hand from her face to look at him again. ‘Will you come then?’
His frown was heavy and forbidding. ‘Molly...’
‘What about early next week or the week after?’ she asked. ‘It will give you time to clear your diary, find a locum or someone to step in for you.’ Please, just say you’ll try, she silently begged.
His eyes moved away from hers. ‘It’s not that simple, Molly. I have patients, responsibilities. I have people depending on me.’
‘But what about me?’ Molly asked, trying to hold back tears. ‘Aren’t I important enough for you to put those responsibilities aside for just a few days to be with me when I need you most?’
He looked back at her again, but his expression was masked. ‘Your flight leaves in a couple of hours,’ he said. ‘I’ve put you in business class so you can sleep.’
‘But I can’t afford to fly business class.’
‘I’ve paid it for you.’
‘I’ll send you the money when I get home,’ she said.
‘Consider it a gift.’
Molly gave him a cynical look. ‘A parting gift, Lucas?’
He thrust his hands in his trouser pockets, his expression still as blank as a brick wall. ‘Are you coming back for the rest of your term?’ he asked.
Molly closed her bag with a click that sounded like a punctuation mark being typed at the end of a sentence. ‘You’ll have to find someone else,’ she said. ‘I’ll send you a formal resignation as soon as I get home.’
He gave a businesslike nod. ‘Would you like me to drive you to the airport?’
I’d like you to tell me you love me, Molly thought as her heart gave a tight spasm. I’d like you to tell me you can’t bear the thought of me leaving. Tell me you love me. Tell me you can’t live without me. ‘No, thank you,’ she said. ‘It’ll be quicker if I just leave. I’m sorry to leave you with Mittens. I’ll try and sort something out. I’m not sure what the quarantine arrangements are if I were to ship him home. It might be too stressful for him. Cats are funny like that. Maybe one of the nurses at the hospital will take him.’
‘It’s fine,’ he said. ‘He might get confused if he was taken somewhere else. This is his home now.’
‘Right...well, I’d best get going, then,’ Molly said. ‘Will you give my apologies to everyone? I’m sure they’ll understand it’s an emergency.’
‘Of course.’ He looked at her then, his eyes dark and unreadable. ‘Goodbye, Molly.’
Molly came up to him and going on tiptoe gently placed a soft kiss on his lean cologne-scented jaw. ‘Goodbye, Lucas,’ she said, and then she turned and walked out the door.
* * *
Lucas closed the front door as the last of the guests left. He looked at the emptiness of his house now that the party was over. It was like a big ship after a luxury cruise had ended or a kid’s birthday party room after all the children had gone.
Empty.
Even the decorations looked exhausted. Some of the balloons looked as if they had let out a sigh of disappointment now that everyone had stopped playfully punching them about the dance floor. A black balloon bounced listlessly across the floor towards his foot. He gave it a half-hearted kick and let out a string of curses his mother would have washed his mouth out for when he was a kid.
Mittens came mewing through the house. He had stayed away while the party was in full swing. He gave Lucas a quizzical look and peered around as if looking for Molly.
‘She’s gone,’ Lucas said, bending down to pick him up. He held him against his chest and stroked his velvety head.
‘Prrrput?’ Mittens said, and head-bumped his hand.
Lucas blinked to clear his vision but still the tears kept coming as if a tap had been turned on somewhere deep inside him. ‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘This place sucks without her.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘YOU’RE ACTUALLY GOING on leave?’ Jacqui asked, swinging round to face Lucas in the office a week later.
Lucas took off his stethoscope and dropped it on the desk. ‘Why are you so surprised?’ he asked. ‘I’m entitled to some time off, aren’t I?’
‘Well, yes, of course, but you haven’t even taken sick leave in I don’t know how long,’ she said. ‘Where are you going?’
‘Nowhere special.’
Jacqui folded her arms as she leaned her hips back against the desk. ‘So it’s finally happened.’
He shot her a quick sideways look as he straightened the papers on the desk. ‘What’s finally happened?’
‘You’re finally ready to go home.’
Was he ready?
No, not really. It was a hurdle he had to face’a bridge to cross. He wasn’t sure of his reception on the other side but he couldn’t waste another moment worrying about it. He wanted to be where Molly was, tell her how much he loved her, how he couldn’t bear the thought of the rest of his life without her in it, making him smile, making him feel loved, making him live again.
How had he thought he could survive without her? This past week had been one of the loneliest weeks of his life. Even Mittens had joined him in his misery by moping about as if the sun was never going to come out again.
Molly was his sunshine, his only light in the darkness of what his life had become.
She was his second chance, his only chance.
‘I have a little favour to ask you,’ Lucas said.
‘Sure,’ Jacqui said, eyes twinkling. ‘What is it?’
‘Do you know anything about cats?’
* * *
‘He’s beautiful,’ Molly said as she looked at little baby Oliver Matthew Drummond lying in the neonatal crib.
Jack Drummond brushed at his eyes with his hand, carefully juggling his crutches to do so. ‘Yeah, he is,’ he said. ‘You were too. You were the prettiest baby in the nursery. I felt so proud. Scared out of my wits, though.’
Molly gave him a quizzical look. ‘Scared? Why?’
‘There weren’t a lot of females about the place while I was growing up,’ he said. ‘Your gran died when I was twelve. Dad had to do things pretty rough and ready, bringing up four boys on his own. Having a daughter terrified me. I guess that’s why I left a lot of it up to your mother. I knew how to handle a son because I’d been one myself and I’d had little brothers to help rear. But a little girl dressed in pink? Well, I guess I didn’t always get it right with you, did I?’
Molly was still not ready to forgive him. ‘No, you didn’t.’
He cleared his throat, looking exactly what he was’a rough-and-tumble country man, out of his depth with showing emotion or even witnessing it in others. ‘Thanks for coming, love. I reckon the little tyke held on just so he could meet his big sister. The doctors reckon he’s out of danger now.’
‘I’m happy for you and Crystal,’ she said. ‘I really am.’
He cleared his throat again. ‘Yeah, well, I wanted to talk to you about things.’ He let out a long breath. ‘I’m a stubborn old goat. Your mother will tell you that’Crystal too, if it comes to that. I wish I’d handled things differently. Not just with the divorce but just...things...’
‘You were wrong about
Lucas,’ she said, looking at the sleeping baby again. ‘You were so wrong.’
‘I know,’ he said. ‘I’ve been wanting to talk to you about that all week.’
Molly turned and looked at him again with tears springing into her eyes. ‘I love him, Dad. I’m not going to apologise for it. He’s the most wonderful man I’ve ever met. He’s suffered so much for what happened with Matt. It wasn’t his fault. You know it wasn’t. I can’t bear to think of him over there all alone. He just works, that’s all he does. He works and works and works. He has no life. I want him to have a life. I want a life with him. I know it will be hard for you, but I can’t live without him. I don’t want to live without him.’
‘I never really thought of how it was for him until I saw that car suddenly veer in front of me,’ Jack said. ‘It must have been like that for him when he rounded that bend and that roo jumped out in front of him. In that split second you don’t have time to think. You just react. He was a young, inexperienced driver. He did what any young driver would do. It wasn’t his fault.’
‘Do you really mean that?’ she asked.
He looked at Molly with red-rimmed eyes, his throat moving up and down like a tractor piston. ‘It wasn’t his fault. I want to tell him that. I know it’s seventeen years too late, but I want to call him and tell him that. Do you have his number?’
Molly couldn’t control the wobble of her chin. Her eyes were streaming and her throat felt raw with emotion but she thought she had never loved her father more than at that point. ‘Of course I have his number,’ she said. ‘Let’s go to the relatives’ room so it’ll be more private.’
Jack handed back her phone a few minutes later. ‘He’s not answering,’ he said. ‘I would’ve left a message but I’d rather speak to him person to person.’
Molly checked her watch. ‘He’s probably still at the hospital. He works the most ridiculous hours. I told you he was a workaholic.’ She looked up at her father and frowned when she saw his expression. ‘What?’
Jack gave a crooked smile. ‘I wouldn’t want him to come anywhere near my little girl if he wasn’t dedicated and responsible. He saves lives, Molly. What could be more important than that?’
Molly blew out a breath. ‘I’ll try the hospital,’ she said, and scrolled down for the number. ‘If he’s not there then I haven’t got a clue where else he would be.’
She hung up the phone half a minute later. ‘He’s on leave.’
‘Where?’
‘No one knows,’ she said. ‘He didn’t say but, then, he wouldn’t. He never tells anyone anything.’
‘I’d better get back to Crystal,’ Jack said. ‘You’ll let me know if you hear from him?’
Molly’s shoulders dropped on a sigh. ‘Yes, but don’t hold your breath.’
* * *
Lucas breathed in a lungful of hot air as he walked out of Mascot airport. He couldn’t get over the Australian accents surrounding him. Even the airport announcements had sounded exaggerated, as if the person on the loudspeaker was pretending to be an Aussie. He hadn’t realised his accent had changed until he’d jumped in a taxi and the guy had asked him if it was his first time visiting the country. His brothers had been ribbing him about it for years but now he realised he was one of those ex-pats who didn’t really know where they belonged any more.
He checked through his messages as he headed to the taxi rank. There were dozens from the hospital but that wasn’t unusual. It was probably hard for the staff to get it into their heads that he was actually on leave.
There was one message he was particularly thrilled about, however. Tim’s latest scan had shown some definite activity and his mother had felt his fingers curl around hers when she spoke to him. It was just the sort of response he had been hoping for. The recovery might be slow but he was hopeful it would be like Emma’s.
There was a missed call from Molly’s phone but no message. He wasn’t sure what to make of that. Maybe she had just wanted to let him know she had got home safely.
He headed straight to the private hospital in the eastern suburbs. He had done a quick phone around to track down Molly and her family. It really helped, being part of the medical profession. One of the guys he’d worked with at St Patrick’s was now a neonatal specialist at Sydney Metropolitan. He had given Lucas an update on Molly’s little half-brother. The little guy was out of danger now. That was great news but Lucas still wasn’t sure how he would be received, turning up in the middle of a family crisis. But he couldn’t stay away. He wanted to be with Molly, not just now but always. How could he have thought otherwise? His life without her was like his house without a party or a cruise ship without passengers.
Empty.
It was weird, walking into a hospital from the other side of the counter, so to speak. He was just a visitor here, not one of the top specialists. An officious nurse gave him directions to the neonatal ward. Lucas assumed Molly would be somewhere near her little brother.
And he was right.
He saw her from a way off. She was standing outside the unit, looking in through the glass window.
But she wasn’t alone.
Lucas stopped in his tracks. He didn’t want to cause a scene in the middle of the neonatal unit. But neither did he want to slink away as if he was scared to stand up to Jack Drummond. But before he could take a step forwards or backwards Jack turned and saw him.
‘Lucas?’
Molly swung around and her mouth dropped open. ‘Lucas?’
‘Did you call me?’ Lucas said. It was the first thing that came into his head. There were a thousand things that he should have said instead but it was all he could think of at the time. It was so good to see her. She looked gorgeous. Tired, but gorgeous. She was dressed in tight-fitting jeans and a loose jersey top that had slipped off one of her shoulders. He wanted to crush her to him, feel that soft little body against his hard one and never let her go.
‘What are you doing here?’ Molly asked.
‘I came to see you,’ he said. ‘To tell you I love you.’
Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. ‘You came all that way to tell me that?’ she said. ‘Why didn’t you tell me the night of the party?’
‘I was an idiot that night,’ Lucas said. ‘I was caught off guard. I’d worked myself up to you leaving in another three weeks. I wasn’t prepared for you to just up and go like that.’
‘Can I say something here?’ Jack stepped forward.
‘Dad.’
‘No, let me speak,’ Jack said. He turned to Lucas. ‘I was wrong to blame you for Matt’s death. I don’t expect you to forgive me. I’ll never forgive myself. You were like another son to Margie and me. I can’t believe I treated you the way I did. For all these years I’ve blamed you for something that was never your fault.
‘I just want you to know that I’m sorry. It’s too late to undo the damage I did to Margie. How she still speaks to me is testament to the sort of person she is. But I don’t want Molly to suffer any more. She’s just like her mother’loving and generous to a fault. I want her to be happy. I think you’re the only person who can make her so.’
‘Can I have a word with you in private?’ Lucas said to Jack. ‘There’s something I want to ask you.’
Molly put her hands on her hips. ‘Excuse me?’ she said. ‘Hello? Don’t I have some say in this?’
Jack grinned from ear to ear as he slapped Lucas on the shoulder. ‘She’s all yours, mate,’ he said. ‘She’ll drive you nuts and make you tear your hair out at times, but she’ll stick with you through thick and thin. She’s a good girl. I’m proud of her. I’m proud of you, too. You’re a good man. I’ll be proud as punch to call you my son-in-law.’
Molly glowered at her father. ‘Dad, you’re jumping the gun here. He hasn’t even asked me.’
‘I’m getting to it,
’ Lucas said with a melting look. ‘But you know me, darling, I don’t like being rushed.’
Molly felt her heart give a little flip like a pancake, but she still wasn’t going to capitulate without a show of spirit. ‘You’re assuming, of course, that I will say yes?’ she said with a pouting, you-hurt-me-and-I’m-not-quite-ready-to-forgive-you look. ‘I’ve been crying myself to sleep for the past week. You didn’t even send me a text.’
‘I know,’ Lucas said. ‘I just couldn’t say what I wanted to say in a text. I wanted to see you.’ He brought her up close, his arms wrapping around her securely. ‘Will you marry me, Molly? I want you to be my wife. I want you to be the mother of my babies. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to love you, laugh with you, fight with you, celebrate and commiserate with you. I even want to party with you. I want to live life with you no matter what it dishes up. I just want to be with you.’
‘For God’s sake, Molly, put the poor man out of his misery,’ Jack said.
Molly smiled as she flung her arms around Lucas’s neck. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Yes, yes, yes, a thousand million squillion times yes.’
Lucas laughed as he swung her around in his arms. It was the first time he had laughed since he’d been a teenager. It felt good. It felt really good.
It felt right.
* * * * *
Connect with us for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!
Sign up to our newsletter
Share your reading experience on:
Mills & Boon Australia site
Facebook
Twitter
Watch our reviews, author interviews and more on Mills & Boon TV
IMPRINT: Medical eBooks
ISBN: 9781460898482
TITLE: THEIR MOST FORBIDDEN FLING
First Australian Publication 2013
Copyright © 2013 Melanie Milburne
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilisation of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the permission of the publisher, Harlequin Mills & Boon®, Locked Bag 7002, Chatswood D.C. N.S.W., Australia 2067.
Their Most Forbidden Fling Page 15
