Midwife's Baby Bump

by Susanne Hampton

  Flick felt so angry and hurt and humiliated that she had believed the kiss to be real when his mouth had met hers. She’d mistakenly thought that Tristan had feelings for her when he had just been trying to prepare her for the devastating news. News that he’d had no right to ever hide from her.

  ‘My feelings for you have been real since that night we spent together, only I buried them, but since you’ve moved in it’s been getting harder each day to ignore how I feel.’

  ‘And I’m supposed to just blindly accept this double confession? You tell me that you care for me and our baby might die in the same breath. I don’t know what to say … or to feel.’

  ‘I know my timing isn’t great.’

  ‘Your timing is appalling.’ Without saying another word, she threw the blanket to the floor, climbed to her feet and walked into her room. She stood by the window, looking out into the darkness with her head and heart spinning at lightning speed and threatening her sanity. The rain had subsided, and the sky was lit softly by the cloud covered moon, but she saw none of it.

  ‘We need to talk,’ he said as he followed her to the doorway. ‘My feelings for you are real and we can work through this.’

  She turned and crossed back to where he was standing, with a calmness that belied the turmoil inside her. ‘We have nothing to discuss. The risk hovering over our child, a risk I knew nothing about until now, is why you asked me to live here, and your kiss was some sort of buffer to what your conscience forced you to divulge tonight. If it wasn’t for the possible medical problems with my baby, who knows where I’d be living? You never thought of me as anything more than the accidental mother of your child and guilt made you bring me here. So if the baby’s healthy you can walk away then. Is that how this will pan out? This isn’t something long term or real.’

  Tristan stood firm in the doorway. ‘Our baby is real and the night we spent together was real—’

  ‘The baby is real and that’s where it ends,’ she cut in angrily, as she slammed her door shut.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  TRISTAN DIDN’T HEAR Flick pack her belongings or make her way to the front door but he heard the car leave his driveway at six in the morning. He’d stayed up until the early hours of the night, trying to make sense of what had gone wrong and he’d fallen asleep sitting upright on the sofa just before five o’clock. He knew that waiting to tell Flick had been a risk and he had played it badly.

  She would send for the rest of her belongings later, Flick told herself as she headed down the still-dark street, not sure where she would go but sure she had to get away from Tristan and his deception. Her heart was breaking, and tears were trickling down her face as she realised she had trusted too soon. She felt so foolish and little better than her mother. She didn’t want to call Megan. Broken relationship news was something Flick and her sister had been given by their mother at all hours of the day and night throughout their lives and she wasn’t about to repeat that selfish behaviour and drag Megan into her drama.

  They hadn’t had a chance to celebrate the news of her pregnancy, which in itself had been a bombshell. Flick had hoped to fly to Sydney and share every detail in person and have a huge sisterly hug. After the news Tristan had dropped, it would be commiserations and a time filled with anxiety about her baby’s future, so she needed time to put the pieces together in her mind and sort through what she intended to do before she burdened Megan.

  Now, she just needed a place to stay. Mr Papadothomakos had already let her apartment so she couldn’t go back there. Her phone rang so she checked her rear-view mirror and carefully pulled over to the side of the road under a streetlamp. She was in no rush since she had no idea where she was going. Pulling the telephone from her bag, she saw the caller ID. It was Sophia.

  ‘Hello, Sophia. Is everything okay?’

  ‘You tell me, Flick. What happened between you and Tristan?’

  Flick was stunned that her friend was privy to the argument. ‘How did you find out so quickly? Did he call and tell you what happened?’

  ‘He apparently heard your car take off a few minutes ago and called me. He said that he screwed up badly and that you left his place and he thought you might have come to me. He didn’t want to ring you and have you any more upset if you were driving. What on earth happened between you, Flick? Is there something more to this than a convenient relationship for the sake of your baby? By the tone of his voice, it sounded to me like something far more serious. He sounds desperate to make it up to you. I did worry that you two living under one roof might spell disaster.’

  Flick sighed as she collapsed back into the car seat. ‘I thought yesterday there was something between us but not any more. I can’t live with him and raise this baby together. He’s not the man I thought he was. He hid something from me that I deserved to know and now I do there’s no chance we can work it out. I just need to find a place to stay for a while till I can find an apartment to rent.’

  ‘Come here,’ Sophia implored. ‘You know where I live. I’ll put the kettle on and you can tell me all about it when you get here. There’s a guest bedroom with no expiry date so you can stay until you have found the perfect place. Besides, I’m your midwife so I can keep an eye on you. Arguments and stress like this are not good for you or the baby.’

  ‘But what about Aiden? You’re planning a wedding and a honeymoon in little more than a month’s time. There’s so much happening in your lives, I don’t want to intrude.’

  ‘Aiden won’t mind. He’s only met you a few times but he thinks you’re a sweetheart, which I happen to agree is true, so he’ll be happy for you to stay as long as you like,’ Sophia said. ‘And he left about an hour ago for the early shift so you can pour your heart out without him hearing a word. I’ve got a few hours till I have to leave for work so get your tush over here now. It’s freezing out there, the ducted heating’s on already and I’ve got porridge and toast on offer.’

  Flick saw Sophia’s porch light on when she approached the house twenty minutes later. She felt blessed to have such a good friend who would open her home so readily in a time of need. There was no way she would stay more than a day or so. There had to be a place to rent that would be suitable for her and the baby and which she could move into immediately. She had no intention of being a burden on her friend and dampening her joyful wedding plans.

  ‘Get inside before you get frostbite, we can get your other things from the car later,’ Sophia ordered, as she opened the front door to her old home. She had heard Flick’s car pull into the gravel driveway and ushered her in quickly. She could see Flick had been crying and the tears were recent. From the dark circles under her eyes, it looked like their predecessors had kept her awake all night.

  ‘Winter’s going to be hideous this year,’ Sophia commented, to avoid the subject of her friend’s distraught appearance as she closed the door. Then, putting her arm around Flick’s shoulder, she walked her into the country-style kitchen. Flick could smell the percolating coffee and raisin toast that had just popped up from the toaster. It was comforting to her rumbling stomach.

  Sophia took Flick’s oversized handbag and put it on the arm of the chair that she had pulled out for her friend.

  ‘Sit down and I will feed you and bubs while you tell me what the hell has happened between you and Dr Tristan Hamilton. What could he possibly say to get you into this state, Flick?’

  Flick didn’t know where to begin as she sat in the comfort of the warm room. Sophia was still dressed in her pyjamas and fluffy slippers, with her deep red wavy hair piled high on her head in an a-hoc ponytail arrangement, and was busy buttering the warm toast.

  ‘It’s complicated.’

  ‘If it involves a man, it usually is complicated,’ Sophia said, as she put a large mug of coffee in front of Flick with a plate of toast and pulled a chair out for herself. She reached across the large wooden kitchen table and patted Flick’s still-cold fingers. ‘Now, tell me between mouthfuls. I can deal with bad table manners.
If you tell me everything, I’m sure we can find a solution. If two intelligent women put their heads together, they can generally solve any mess a man has made!’

  ‘I’m not so sure.’

  Flick wanted to unpack her thoughts slowly and not blurt them all out to Sophia. She ate her breakfast, saying little. She was grateful that Sophia didn’t push her for details and she promised that she would explain everything that evening but wanted to have a shower and then start on her search for a place to live. She was not going to stay with Sophia and Aiden.

  Alone in the house, she wandered around, thinking about everything that had happened since the fateful day on the beach when she’d opened her heart to a man she hadn’t known. Her life had looked so different in her daydreams. She’d pictured it with a man who loved her and would never walk away. A man who cherished her and their children. A man who equally trusted and confided in her and one who would make her childhood longing for stability disappear.

  She tugged at the sleeves of her top as a chill ran over her. Life wasn’t going to be anything close to what she had imagined only a few hours ago. He had kept something very serious from her and he’d had no right. On the drive home, she’d thought her world was safe and then after the kiss her heart had raced away and let her think life was wonderful and perfect and storybook. Her cold fingers touched her warm lips and she hated that she could still taste his kiss. She had fallen in love with a fraud. A man who couldn’t commit, who didn’t want to commit, and who had been driven by guilt to invite her into his home. There was nothing else. Nothing deep, nothing solid or permanent. She was pregnant with a child who might carry a gene bringing insurmountable challenges.

  With tears spilling from her eyes, she sat down, her head drooping into her hands. She loved her baby but she wished she had never gone walking on the beach that morning, and wished even more that she had never invited Tristan into her bed. He was a selfish man who thought of no one but himself. And he would never change.

  Her phone rang and she stirred from where she had fallen asleep in the living room. The night with little sleep had forced her tired eyes closed and she had dozed for an hour. She pulled it from her bag as she slumped into a chair by the window.

  ‘Hello.’

  ‘Miss Lawrence?’

  ‘Yes, who is this?’

  ‘It’s Thomas Daniels from Barrett and Associates, family practice attorneys.’

  Flick was still only half-awake. ‘I don’t need a lawyer. Why are you calling me?’

  ‘Yes, I’m afraid that Dr Hamilton omitted a few details in the paperwork and I need to confirm them with you.’

  ‘Dr Hamilton? What sort of paperwork?’

  ‘His will.’

  ‘His will,’ she repeated incredulously. ‘Why on earth are you calling me? You should be calling him. Goodbye.’

  ‘Don’t hang up. Please, this is about you, not him.’

  Flick sat up and rubbed her eyes with her free hand. ‘Truly I have no idea what this is about.’

  ‘Miss Lawrence, you and your child have been made sole beneficiaries of his will.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘Three and a half weeks ago Dr Hamilton came to see me and drew up a new will,’ the attorney replied. ‘He wanted to ensure that you and his child were well taken care of should anything happen to him. Understandably, he has no life insurance as that is not possible for a heart-transplant patient. However, Dr Hamilton has substantial stocks and bonds and a real-estate portfolio valued at over three million dollars, and he wants that to go to his new family, you and the baby. There are also his three sponsor children and he appointed you to oversee the financial affairs of Aditya, Danh and Lucia if he was not around to do so. For that reason, he has put you down as power of attorney.’

  Flick was stunned. Tristan had done all this when they hadn’t even been talking. When she had told him to stay away he had still thought of her and his baby as his family. He’d never said a thing. He hadn’t tried to sway her feelings by telling her about his plans. He’d just silently ensured she and the baby would be safe if he wasn’t there.

  Tristan wasn’t moving on or taking their relationship lightly.

  ‘There’s no need to provide proof of paternity, Miss Lawrence. Dr Hamilton assures me the child is his so I just need your date of birth. You obviously have a very strong relationship built on trust for him to make all these decisions.’

  In a daze, Flick provided the details before she dropped the phone. Her head was spinning.

  The man she had walked out on had never doubted her. Not for a moment, and long before the kiss or the promise of another night together he had chosen to take care of her and the baby for ever. And trusted her to oversee the futures of Aditya, Danh and Lucia.

  Before that moment, she hadn’t thought about Tristan’s belief in her. It had been all about her doubt of him. He had accepted her word from the day she’d arrived unannounced in his office and told him she was pregnant. He’d never asked for any proof or questioned that he was the baby’s father. He’d stepped up and accepted responsibility because he believed in her. She hadn’t appreciated the trust he had shown.

  Perhaps he’d had his own reasons for not telling her about his medical history. She suddenly realised that she had never given him the chance to explain. She’d been up on her high horse, ready to be Miss Independent and think the worst about him, when he had never done the same to her. She had been waiting for him to disappoint her. Like all the men who had disappointed her mother. But he wasn’t like them. He was nothing like any of them.

  Tristan had never swayed in his belief in her, despite her lack of faith in him.

  She grabbed her bag and her keys. She needed to see him and talk to him properly and without blame. It wasn’t about the money, she would have been just as impressed if he’d had a hundred dollars to his name. It was everything about him that was wonderful and that she had overlooked. It was as if secretly she had been waiting to be let down. To have him walk away, and when he hadn’t, she had pushed him. She was shaking with disappointment in herself.

  Suddenly she heard a car pull into the driveway and she could see through the window it was Tristan. She ran to the door, opening it wide to see him standing on the porch. His eyes were red and Flick suspected she wasn’t the only one who had shed tears overnight.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Flick,’ he began. ‘I was wrong not to be completely honest with you from the very beginning. Please, believe me when I tell you I didn’t want the shock and the worry to cause you to lose the baby or make your pregnancy harder on you than it already was. That’s the truth. It’s that simple and that stupid. I should have trusted you would be strong enough to deal with what lay ahead but I didn’t … I know now that I should have told you sooner but I thought I was doing the right thing for you … and for our child.’

  ‘No, it’s me who should be apologising,’ she cut in. ‘I should have trusted you enough to know there was a reason for what you did.’

  ‘No, you shouldn’t. I was a fool to think I could walk away from you after our night together. I don’t want to lose you, or our baby. I can’t live without you.’

  Flick wrapped her arms around his neck and silenced him with a kiss. ‘We’re not going anywhere. No matter what the future holds, we’ll be together.’

  ‘Then there’s only one thing to do.’ Carefully, Tristan pulled a pale blue box tied with a white bow from his jacket.

  Flick’s hand covered her mouth instinctively. She had never dared to dream that after their crazy impulsive meeting four months before they would have a fairy-tale ending.

  ‘I’ve had this on my bedside cabinet for a week. I wanted to give it to you in bed last night but we didn’t get there …’

  ‘That was my fault.’

  ‘No, it wasn’t. It was my mistake, thinking that I needed to hide something we need to face together. And thinking it was the right thing to do when what I really needed to do was be honest with
you and let you make the decision. I know now that I have to stop making decisions that aren’t mine to make. You’re a strong woman, Flick, and you don’t need me, but I hope you want me.’

  ‘I do want you.’

  ‘Then, knowing all the facts, Flick Lawrence, will you marry me and make me the happiest man alive?’

  ‘I will,’ Flick said without an ounce of hesitation.

  His mouth met hers passionately. She had no more questions about his feelings. His kiss told her everything she would ever need to know.

  ISBN: 978-1-474-00448-0

  MIDWIFE’S BABY BUMP

  © 2015 Susanne Hampton

  Published in Great Britain 2015

  by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited

  Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

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