One Perfect Night

by Rachael Johns

  Good God!

  He hadn’t thought it possible but somehow, while he’d been busy having sex and trying so desperately not to form any kind of emotional attachment to Peppa, somehow he’d fallen in love.

  Totally in love with her generous nature that was almost in direct opposition to her temper but which joined together to make her the captivating woman that she was. In love with her smile and cheery disposition that shone bright even after everything she’d been through. In love with her voice and the way she entertained both him and children at parties. In love with her green thumb and the way her talented fingers also played him so deliciously.

  And he’d sent that love away. Treated her with absolute contempt. He was no better than that lousy ex-boyfriend of hers.

  He only hoped it wasn’t too late to make amends.

  “You look like you’ve just run the City to Surf marathon,” Izzy said when Peppa returned to the studio.

  “Can we not talk about it?” Peppa slunk back into the recording box and replaced the headphones. She knew she must look terrible—her face blazed, her limbs still shook and a burning pain had erupted in her belly.

  She needed to calm down so as not to put any stress on the baby. And she needed to finish her day’s work and keep coming back so she’d be able to give her child a roof over its head and food to eat. Although Cameron had offered to pay the baby’s way—probably hers as well—she didn’t want to owe him anything. If he wasn’t going to be with her whole-heartedly, parenting as one, they didn’t need him at all.

  “Whatever.” Izzy shoved her headphones on and turned to face her computer. She was clearly annoyed but Peppa didn’t have the energy to deal with that right now.

  She peered at the screen, looking for the place where they’d left off but the words blurred and fuzzed. She blinked and took a deep breath. It didn’t work.

  “Are you okay?”

  Just as Izzy spoke, a sharp shooting pain—like a knife spearing into the side of her womb—rendered Peppa unable to answer. Her headphones clunked to the floor as she dropped into the chair and cried out. “No.” Please, God, no!

  Izzy burst into the tiny cubicle. “Oh my goodness, what’s wrong?”

  She looked up at her friend, her throat so choked she could barely speak. “I need an ambulance,” she managed before doubling over and clutching at her belly, powerless to stop the flood of tears accompanying the pain.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cameron strode out of his office to tell Molly he’d be unavailable for a while due to something important that had just come up. But Molly wasn’t there. Flummoxed because Molly didn’t even grab a cup of coffee without telling him she’d be gone for a few minutes, he strode over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and stared down on to the hectic street. A blur of flashing lights way below halted his thoughts.

  Looked like an ambulance right outside their building.

  He flexed his fingers back and forth, an uneasy feeling gathering momentum in his gut.

  It was probably nothing. It had to be his encounter with Peppa that had him so strung out. Still, there was definitely something going on down below and he shouldn’t let thoughts of his shambles of a personal life distract him. As CEO of Lyrique, it was his business to make sure the ambulance wasn’t for one of his employees.

  He stepped out of the elevator into the lobby and a crazy sea of people. “What’s going on?” he asked the first person he saw.

  “One of the voice talents is really sick. Looks like appendicitis.”

  The sensation in Cameron’s gut exploded into one of dread. Not waiting for the lady to elaborate, he charged through the crowd and stepped out onto the pathway just in time to see the ambulance tearing away from the curb.

  Molly and Izzy hung behind, watching the emergency vehicle leave, their faces mirror images of panic.

  “What’s going on?” he demanded.

  Molly answered immediately. “It’s Peppa Grant. She’s got acute stomach cramps. I’ll follow to the hospital now.”

  Cameron’s heart lurched to a halt. Peppa? His Peppa? Bitter cold shot through every bone in his body. His hands froze into fists as he tried to keep control, but fear crept and circled. “No. I’ll go.” He ignored the looks of surprise that flashed across the women’s faces. He’d been so damn awful to Peppa and he couldn’t rid the feeling that somehow he was responsible for her pain. He’d never forgive himself if something really terrible happened. What if she lost their baby? Or worse, her life?

  He tried to steady his breathing as a cold sweat swept over him. Appendicitis would almost be a blessing. As far as he knew since the advent of modern medicine, people rarely died of the condition.

  But two percent of women still died of pregnancy complications.

  “Have you got your car keys?” he asked Molly.

  She shook her head. “They’re in the office.”

  Dammit. “I’ll just have to run up and grab mine.”

  “You can borrow mine,” piped up Izzy. She jangled the bunch of keys hanging round a sparkly purple chain on her neck. “It’s in the car park, just near the fire escape.”

  “Thank you.” Taking the keys, he asked, “Make and color?”

  “A purple polka-dotted Mini. The old model.”

  He located the vehicle quickly, managed to fold himself into its miniscule space but then promptly forgot about feeling cramped due to the nausea that had suddenly floored him. It took three attempts to shove the key into the ignition and then he stalled twice.

  He hadn’t stalled a car since he was seventeen and learning to drive.

  Pull yourself together.

  But it was easier said than done. An image of Penelope in the hospital, alone, physically in agony and emotionally a mess, built a barrier to sanity.

  Not knowing which streets he took, he somehow made it to the hospital. As he locked the car and glanced up at the foreboding building, it hit him that he hadn’t been in a hospital since Kristen had been taken there, too late.

  “Can I help you?” asked a nurse as he entered the emergency department reception. Her badge read Tash and she looked as starchy as her uniform.

  “Penelope Grant. She came in an ambulance.”

  Nurse Tash nodded once like he was an imbecile she couldn’t quite decipher.

  “I just want to know how she’s doing. Is she going to be okay?”

  She sighed and picked up a clipboard. “And who are you in relation to the patient?”

  He opened his mouth to say “her boss,” but stopped just in time. They wouldn’t tell him anything unless… “I’m her boyfriend.”

  Tash offered a smile he hadn’t thought her capable of and her eyes lit up in a dreamy manner. “In that case, you’d better follow me.”

  They came to a curtain. Without a second to prepare himself, Tash whipped it open. “Sweetheart, I’ve brought someone special.”

  Cameron stepped out from behind the nurse, his lungs relaxing as his gaze focused on Peppa. He smiled meekly. “Hi.”

  A look of pure anger crossed her face—the expression kicked him in the gut. Her hands rushed to cover her bare belly as if he’d never seen her delicate skin before. “What are you doing here?”

  A man, whom Cameron assumed to be a doctor, swiveled around from his position at a screen next to the bed and offered his hand. “I’m Doctor Tyler. And you must be the father. You’re just in time.”

  Peppa scoffed but none of the medical staff seemed to notice. He took her hand and leaned up close to her bed as Doctor Tyler raised an ultrasound wand and then pressed it against Peppa’s stomach.

  Peppa tried to steal her hand away but Cameron held on tight, offering a gentle squeeze as the telltale signs of a tiny jellybean bobbed up on the screen. Peppa stopped struggling and they both stared together at the image. Cameron’s heart stopped. It felt as if he were a bystander watching this magic unfold in someone else’s world.

  A minuscule but strong beat echoed around the curtained space.
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  The doctor’s voice rattled around him but he couldn’t have repeated anything that was said. He simply stared, his eyes watering. His baby was inside this wonderful woman’s stomach. Peppa would make an amazing mother and he’d been given the gift of being able to parent alongside her.

  How had he ever thought he could walk away from this? From her?

  He tore his eyes from the screen and looked at Peppa. Her hair tied back, her cheeks flushed, her eyes fearful and swamped with tears, she looked beautiful and vulnerable. All he wanted to do was take her in his arms, wrap her up in some kind of bubble for the next nine months and never leave her side.

  If he lost her…If he lost her like he’d lost Kristen…

  “As you can see and hear, the baby is thriving. Everything—”

  Relief swamped him. He was about to open his mouth and thank the doctor, when Peppa spoke. “You can go now, Cameron.”

  “No, I…”

  “I don’t want you here.” Her voice was raised as she snatched her hand from his grip. “Please make him leave,” she begged the medical staff.

  Before he knew what was happening he was escorted from the examination room like some kind of criminal.

  His first instinct was to fight. To demand to be let back in and demand Peppa listen. But she didn’t need him making a scene. She needed rest. And he needed to work out just what he should do to make everything right again.

  “Thanks.” Peppa tried for strong as she thanked the nurse for sending Cameron away, but it didn’t work. Instead, sobs flooded, shaking her whole body.

  “Oh, sweet, what’s the matter?” Tash ditched her clipboard on a side table and wrapped her arms around Peppa. “It’s all going to be fine. Your baby is a perfectly healthy six-week fetus. And don’t worry, the surgeon knows what he’s doing. You’ll both be fine.”

  Peppa nodded, her lips pursed in an aim to halt any further hysterics. That news should be music to her ears.

  But right now, all she could think about was the look on Cameron’s face when their baby had popped up on the screen! He’d been happy, at least he’d looked that way. Totally mesmerized. You couldn’t fake such a look and, anyway, she couldn’t work out why he’d want to. So far, he’d been pretty clear on what he could and couldn’t offer them and the expression on his face didn’t make sense.

  It was cruel. Deep down she knew that, no matter what her heart wanted to believe, no matter what him turning up at the hospital seemed to mean, he didn’t want her and she couldn’t start believing that he did.

  As the nurse wheeled her into the operating room and prepared her for surgery, Peppa found herself confessing everything—from the fender bender in the car park to the fact she never wanted to see Cameron again. Ever. As long as she lived. Not in a million years.

  Laden with flowers from the hospital gift shop, Cameron stared dumbfounded at the nurse. “What do you mean she doesn’t want to see me?”

  “It’s as simple as that,” replied Tash with an even but shallow smile. “She requested before going into surgery that you not be allowed anywhere near her following the operation.”

  “What? What operation? I thought the baby was fine.”

  Tash puffed air between her teeth. “The baby is fine, but if we didn’t remove the ruptured appendix, they’d both be at risk.”

  A shooting pain slammed into his head as if he’d just been hit by a bowling ball.

  “She has appendicitis as well?” Although one of his employees had suggested this, he’d dismissed this idea, assuming the pain was complications to do with her pregnancy.

  This could not be happening. He needed to be in there, with her. He needed to tell her how she’d snuck in under all his defenses and stolen his heart. He needed to make sure she had the best damn treatment possible.

  “I have to see her,” he said, attempting to stride past Tash.

  For a whippet of a nurse, she was quick and strong. “Mr. McCormac, I’ve already told you that won’t be possible,” she said, blocking his way. “If you insist on causing a scene, I’ll have no choice but to summon security.”

  “Security, hey?” With the adrenalin pumping through his body he’d be more than a match for any guards she could throw at him.

  She nodded, her eyes raised like that of an irate school marm.

  He didn’t want to back down. He thought about thrusting the flowers at her and making a run for it, but sense gripped him at the last moment.

  “Alright then.” He took a step backward but did offer the flowers. “Can you please give her these and let her know I’m thinking about her.”

  “Hmph.” She snorted, but took the flowers anyway. “I’ll think about it. But I think it’ll take a lot more than flowers to dig you out of this mess.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  More pain in her abdomen woke Peppa from the anesthesia. Not even opening her eyes, she crept her fingers down over her stomach.

  Had the operation been a success? Was her baby okay?

  Her eyes snapped open. The room was dim and the gap in the curtain told her it was dark outside now too. She’d asked the nurses not to call her parents as she didn’t want them to find out about the baby this way, but now she wished she’d had someone to wake up to. Someone to tell her everything was going to be okay.

  Sniffing back more waterworks, she felt around for the nurse call button.

  “Can I get something for you?”

  She almost leaped from the bed—only pain stopped her—at the deep, devastating voice. Her heart walloped against her chest but somehow she found the know-how to speak.

  “I thought I told them I didn’t want to see you.”

  “Yes, you made it quite clear.” Cameron rose out of the visitor chair and his determined features shone in the tiny glow from a safety light.

  Perhaps if she shut her eyes he and his handsome face would disappear.

  “But I’m not very good at listening to instructions. Especially not when they are in direct opposition to what I want.”

  Willing him away hadn’t worked so she’d have to solicit assistance. Sitting up as much as she could, Peppa turned on the lamp at her side and scanned the bed frantically. “Is this what you’re looking for?” Cameron held up the red call button attached to a long cord.

  She thrust out her hand. “Give that to me.” Anger at him for disturbing her peace, for disturbing her emotional equilibrium simply by being near, bubbled deep within.

  “Not until you hear me out.”

  “You’re damn lucky I’m incapable of leaping off this bed at the moment, Cameron McCormac, because if I were…” As her voice rose, so did her chest.

  “Calm down, Peppa.” He didn’t sound cocky, more anxious as he reached out to brush his fingers across her arm.

  “Why?” She wanted to scream. Instead she settled for shaking him off. She didn’t want to be placated.

  “Because you’ve just had a serious operation. You need to relax.”

  She shook her head in fury. “Like you give a damn.”

  His voice was level in reply. “If I didn’t give a damn, do you think I’d have snuck in here and waited half the night for you to wake up?”

  Having always had an answer for everything, Peppa suddenly couldn’t think of one. Well, she could think of the obvious reason but that was out of the question. Cameron had made his feelings—or lack of them—perfectly clear.

  “I’m sorry, Peppa. I’ve been a jerk from the day we met.”

  She fought the urge to shake her head—that wasn’t quite true. There’d been moments in their brief liaison when he’d been anything but a jerk. Those were the moments she’d let down her guard and fallen in love with him.

  He continued, “I can’t change my past actions, or probably even make up for them. But I regret the things I said to you and the way I treated you more than anything I’ve ever regretted before. The only good thing that came of my unforgivable treatment of you is that you got to say your piece. Your home truths woke m
e up. They made me realize that you mean everything to me.”

  He paused for a moment and then added with a roughened voice, “I’m in love with you, Peppa.”

  Her traitorous heart skipped a beat. Love?

  And then sense, followed by angry pride, prevailed. He’d used her nickname—probably a calculated ploy. Words were easy.

  “That’s pure codswallop. You’re only here because you feel you have to be.” She pressed her hand against her belly, spurred on by her love for her unborn child and ignoring the fact her heart felt as if it were about to launch into failure. “Whereas I want our baby more than anything. And I love this miracle already.”

  Cameron stood, and she froze as he sat down on her bed. She wanted to tell him to leave but being in such close proximity paralyzed her. He held her hand and she was helpless to stop him.

  “You’re right,” he whispered. “This baby is a miracle but it’s you that’s finally awoken me to my own blind stupidity.”

  “What do you mean?” His cryptic words threw her.

  “When Kristen died we’d just started trying for a baby.”

  “Oh, Cameron, I don’t know what to say.”

  Cameron squeezed her hand in a rush of grateful emotion at her support. Everything he felt about Kristen had been bottled up inside for so long. Too long.

  “Losing her and the opportunities we’d dreamed of together almost ruined me. I threw myself into work and made a vow never to fall in love again. I told myself it was because I didn’t want to be happy if Kristen couldn’t be and I don’t usually fail when I set my mind to something. I didn’t want to live fully when Kristen didn’t have the chance. But really it was because I’m scared. Just like you said.”

  A tear trickled down Peppa’s cheek. He didn’t know if it was for him, for Kristen or for herself. He reached up his thumb and brushed it away.

  “For three years, it’s been easy to keep that vow. As you know my nightmares worsened when Kristen died and, as well as being a constant reminder, they actually became like a physical barricade stopping me getting close to anyone. Until you.” He paused, lifted her hand to his lips and placed a kiss upon her knuckles. “This baby, our baby, she or he is like the icing on the cake—but it’s you I want. I was coming to find you.”