When he entered the room only the baby was there wrapped up in a bunny rug in the Perspex cot. A name card tucked into the end read, ‘Elsa, baby of Georgia, five pounds two ounces.’
He reached across and stroked the baby’s cheek and her downy skin was silky soft beneath his finger.
CHAPTER THREE
MAX FROWNED and strode quickly down the corridor as he saw the man enter Georgia’s room.
He knew most of the consultants across the hospital but not this one. Some latent protective instinct raised the hairs on the back of his neck and all he could think about was that Georgia might need him.
His suspicions firmed at the sight of the man bent over Elsa’s cot.
Max loomed in the doorway. His voice came out low and hard. ‘Can I help you?’
Sol straightened slowly and he lifted his chin. ‘No. I don’t think so. Thank you.’
The man smiled but something about his phoney amusement increased Max’s own wariness and disquiet.
Max moved to one side of the doorway to allow a free exit from the room—though only if the man left Elsa in her cot.
‘Are you a friend of Georgia’s?’ Max enquired politely, yet the hint of steel suggested it wasn’t a frivolous question and he required an answer.
‘I’m more than that.’ Sol smiled gently. ‘Are you her doctor?’
‘You could say that.’ Max looked up as Georgia opened the bathroom door and his instincts firmed as her eyes widened and then closed for a second as if her worst nightmare had come true.
Her hand hovered over her mouth. ‘Sol?’ She shook her head but no further words came.
‘My dear wife.’ Sol smiled.
Georgia shook her head again and the words burst out in a vehement whisper. ‘I’m not your wife.’
Sol smiled again, and from the outside he looked quite pleasant yet something made Max take a step closer to Georgia in support.
Sol ignored him. ‘You’ll always be my wife. But I do see this is not a good time so I’ll leave you. Our daughter is beautiful.’ He placed the chocolates squarely on the bedside table.
‘Good day.’ He turned nonchalantly and sauntered away.
Georgia belted the robe as she rushed to Elsa to check she was fine. ‘Thank God you were here.’
Fighting back tears, she looked at Max. ‘Did he try to take her?’ She lifted and hugged Elsa to her as she sank onto the bed as if unable to support the weight on her legs. Her hands shook violently.
Max didn’t know what to do to comfort her.
‘No. He didn’t pick Elsa up. He just looked at her.’ What the hell was all that about? Max thought, and he glanced at the door through which Sol had disappeared. He’d love to ask the sleaze but he’d gone and Georgia needed him.
Max sat down beside Georgia on the bed and slid his arm around her shoulders. She quivered under his arm like a new lamb.
‘I’ll put safeguards in place. Your ex-husband won’t be able to get to you if that’s what you want.’
She shook her head and shuddered as she wrapped her arms around her baby. ‘I don’t want to stay here.’
Max squeezed her shoulders. ‘Where do you want to go?’ Her distress affected him in a way he hadn’t expected and he’d like to have shaken the truth out of the other man.
Georgia’s free hand was at her throat. She could barely speak because of the panic she was trying to control. ‘I was afraid this would happen. There is something I need to explain. Something I haven’t told anybody.’
She hesitated with reluctance to dwell on the whole distressing nightmare but it had to be spoken of. Her reluctance had almost cost the ultimate price. Elsa.
Sol would take her baby if he possibly could. He’d threatened her in those silky tones of his and the thought terrified her, made her sick to her stomach, and now it grew to epic proportions, like a phobia about spiders—except her phobia was all about Sol.
Even what he had done to her before was nothing to this fear that he might take her baby, and even though a tiny spark deep in her brain whispered she was being irrational, she had no control over the dread that was rising in her throat.
Georgia drew a deep breath and her voice sounded weak and strained even to her own ears.
No wonder Sol could smile.
And no doubt Max would hear the paranoia too but there was nothing she could do about that except try and master it at a later time when she had time to regroup. At this moment she just needed Max to understand.
She hadn’t progressed to why that seemed so important at this moment.
‘Before I met Sol I was happy in my work, a senior midwife in my unit and studying for my master’s in midwifery.’
Max nodded. ‘Harry said you were well respected and then you became sick—is that right?’
‘In the end I began to think I was sick. I need to start the story before then.’
She closed her eyes for a second to gather her thoughts. ‘I met my husband, the new senior consultant at our hospital, Sol Winton, and he swept me off my feet. He promised nothing would change, and marriage would only enhance my full life, and that he couldn’t live without me.’
She laughed without amusement. ‘I was flattered. I’d passed thirty waiting for Mr Right. I’m no raving beauty and he was distinguished, handsome, and I’d begun to think I’d missed out on love and marriage and children. He caught me at a vulnerable time and I thought I loved him.
‘In truth I was married for two years to a man who wanted to own me, body and soul, and rule my life down to the smallest degree.
‘In the beginning I believed his excessive protectiveness was because he treasured me but I soon realised it was because he felt I was his prized possession and he was training me to jump.’
Georgia drew a shuddering breath and her shoulders shook until Max edged back closer and leant against her. ‘You OK?’
The tremor stopped and she nodded. ‘I don’t like to go over it but I have to so that you’ll understand.’
Max shook his head. ‘Not if you don’t want to.’
‘I have to,’ she said with resolve.
‘OK.’ Max pressed harder against her as if he knew she needed that support.
She felt strangely safer with Max’s hip and shoulders touching hers, which was ridiculous but it helped her to go on. ‘I tried to make Sol see that marriage wasn’t a power game and I needed to be my own person, but my charming ex-husband, the highly esteemed obstetrician, informed everyone I was a paranoid depressive. That’s not an easy thing to dispute if you have reason to be unhappy.’
‘That would explain what Harry said about your marriage getting you down.’
‘Harry mentioned it, did he?’
She saw the look on Max’s face and sighed. ‘This is what I meant about disputing people’s opinions. Sol made it seem I protested too much.’
Max frowned. ‘It’s OK. I believe you. Go on.’
‘I was a professional woman with a career and friends before Sol. But he became more and more demanding. He isolated me from my friends and began to dictate my daily routine. He would change it at a whim.’ She clutched Elsa to her as she remembered.
‘He cancelled my appointments with my uni, pulled my shifts so that when I turned up, cases had been replaced by another midwife, and that was when I realised people had begun to talk. He’d arranged a visit to a psychiatrist and circulated that I suffered from an anxiety-driven mental illness. The saddest thing was that I almost began to believe him, but I kept telling myself it was his problem, not mine, and refused to take medication. Finally I left him.’
‘Leaving was a good thing.’ Max nodded.
‘I left him for a year but I had to stay at the hospital because they were paying for my master’s. The day the divorce papers hit Sol’s desk he upped his campaign to win me back but I knew I would never go back to him. That was when he finally realised it wasn’t just another extended game.’
She laughed without humour. ‘Sol wanted me back, a
nd had everyone at work on his side, and then he threatened my best friend’s credibility over a drug order that he’d tampered with. He’d moved on to blackmail.’
‘So prove it.’
‘It was her word and mine against Sol’s, and he said he’d drop his case if I went back to him.’
‘You went back?’ Max leaned forward incredulously.
‘I thought I had it all worked out. I prepared safeguards against any problems. I was going to stay with him until she was safe. Stay only until she couldn’t be charged.’
She looked away so he couldn’t read her face. She didn’t mention the horror of what Sol had forced her to endure and that she doubted she’d ever want to make love with a man again.
She didn’t mention the fact that she woke up at night in a lather of sweat and a pounding heart. Or that now she had an even bigger fear. ‘Well, in the end, she wasn’t charged. I left again. Later I found out I was pregnant.’
Max raised his eyebrows. ‘Why didn’t you discredit him?’
‘Sol is a powerful man. People believe him.’ Georgia could feel palpitations in her chest and unconsciously she rested her hand there. He’d said he would take her baby at birth. He’d said he would if she didn’t come back.
All the old fears and uncertainties and even unreasonable guilt that she’d heaped on herself began to surface and she fought to keep them away. She needed to conquer this. Elsa needed her to conquer this. ‘It seemed easier just to leave and never go back.’
Max muttered an oath under his breath.
She went on because the sooner she did so, the sooner she could stop thinking about those horrible few weeks.
‘Sol had been here to tell Harry I was depressed and paranoid. He covered himself in case I told them what he was really like. He is very plausible and dangerous.
‘When Harry suggested I move in with them, I decided it would be good for my baby to know family because she would never know her father if I could help it.’ She kissed the top of her daughter’s head.
She could see Max was trying to understand and at least he was trying. It was more than a lot of other people did.
Max squeezed her shoulder. ‘We’ll all help you feel safe again.’
She looked at him and he read the disbelief in her face. ‘A month ago I received a repeated threat on my mobile phone against my unborn child. He would find a way to take her if I didn’t come back to him,’ she whispered.
That wiped the smile off Max’s face and he felt his hand tighten protectively over her shoulder. ‘Mongrel.’
She sighed under his arm. ‘The police said nothing could be proved because Sol had used a public phone to make the call. All I could do was change my number.’
Max shook his head. ‘He’s put you through hell. I wish I’d known when I had him here.’
She shuddered. ‘He’s seen her now. I’m losing control of my life again. I left Sol because I needed to get control back.’ She looked at him with determination in her eyes. ‘And I will. I am. Just.
‘I decided to move here and start again because I need family for my baby and I can make a good life for myself and my daughter. But now I’m scared again.’
He could help her. He felt the shift. She needed help and his gut tightened. He barely knew the woman but suddenly it all felt ordained. No doubt there would be flak along the way and the ex-husband sounded like a loony, but suddenly all that was unimportant if he could protect her. There was something about Georgia that he truly admired and was irresistibly drawn to.
Now their closeness during Elsa’s dramatic birth and today’s near abduction made him realise that she probably needed him more than he needed her.
Win-win situation.
It was a strangely satisfying feeling for Max that had nothing to do with suddenly being eligible for the job again if she agreed. That he could protect Georgia was paramount. ‘We could help each other.’
Georgia looked up at him. ‘How?’
‘Your divorce was finalized, wasn’t it?’ He tilted his head hopefully.
‘Yes. I made sure that happened.’ She frowned. ‘Why?’ The guy bounced all over the place and she couldn’t keep up. ‘I’m beginning to think Tayla had a lucky escape.’
He shrugged. ‘Tayla was getting exactly what she wanted. An indulgent life with me to parade every now and then at her charity functions, and I had a wife I needed for my job. Neither of us planned on having children.’
No children, no living together, all for the sake of a job. What was wrong with these people? ‘Wrong era,’ she said, with barely concealed distaste. ‘Employers can’t make you marry any more.’
Max shrugged. ‘The directors wanted a married man because they’ve had so many problems with people leaving the role. The last one ran off and eloped when he was most needed. The powers that choose knew of my impending marriage and that gave me the edge.’
He shrugged. ‘Unfortunately, the idea of living with Tayla just won’t gel any more for me either.’ He said the words as if he he’d decided to change his brand of deodorant.
‘And you’re telling me this because…?’ She couldn’t keep the disappointment out of her voice. She’d liked him and he wasn’t worthy of that. Despite everything, she still believed true love was out there for most people, and Max cheapened it when he talked like that.
He lifted his head and captured her gaze with his own as if he sensed her disapproval and it mattered to him. His golden eyes warmed. ‘I’d been having second thoughts about marrying Tayla earlier. Even before your water broke.’
Georgia winced at the memory of that time in the church. That certainly wouldn’t go down as a highlight of her life!
He grinned. ‘Don’t be squeamish. You’re a midwife. As an obstetrician I think labour is great, as long as your baby is due.’
She watched him pull himself back to the topic, and she had to smile as he went on.
‘You’ve made me realise how close I’d been to disaster with Tayla. I can see now I want more in a wife than convenient paperwork.’
How had they started this conversation? Now she was confused at a time when she most needed clarity. ‘You want to tell me what you want in a wife?’ Suddenly she felt like crying. She knew what she didn’t need in a husband.
He went on and she tried to blink away her tears before he could see them.
Max was getting to the point. He just hoped she saw it the way he did. ‘Ah. Yes. The big question. Now I want a partner. Someone who understands what I do and even has a passion for it. I can’t fight Tayla every time someone has a baby out of hours or obstetrics have an emergency.’
He noticed the way her hand tightened over her baby and he couldn’t begin to imagine how she must feel to have been so close to losing her daughter a second time.
Maybe he had stumbled on someone he could come home to or meet at work and bounce problems off. Someone who had a social conscience and a warm heart. Someone like Georgia.
He couldn’t help the glimmer of hope that maybe the last twenty-four hours had all worked out the way they had for a reason—or with divine intervention, as requested.
No doubt he was mad, but the idea he’d just had wouldn’t leave. He could even salvage the job from something Georgia had said if he played up the business aspect, but suddenly that wasn’t as important as protecting Georgia from the creep. He paused and looked at her again. ‘You could marry me.’
She held up her hand. ‘You don’t know me.’
He sat forward. ‘I know enough. I’m sure you are a sensible woman and wouldn’t normally entertain the idea. That’s why I’m pursuing you now when your guard is down.’
She huffed humourlessly. ‘My guard isn’t down that much. I’ve just seen my ex-husband and my protective instinct hormones are surging. I don’t need to waste another couple of years of my life finding out if the next guy I marry is a jerk, or worse.’
She had a point, but Max didn’t believe he was a jerk. ‘What about a temporary marriage wit
h, say, a year’s contract? You save me and I’ll protect you.’ He frowned with concentration as he marshalled his best arguments.
‘I’m serious, Georgia. I need to be married and after today I only have one week left. I’ve a friend I can get a dispensation form to get a licence in forty-eight hours, and you would be out of your ex’s reach until you are stronger.’
He sat back a little in case he was crowding her. ‘It doesn’t look like I will fall madly in love at my age and I like you. I like you a lot. I need a temporary wife and Harry said you were looking for a job after the baby. You could work with me when you’re ready.’
‘It all sounds so coldly clinical.’
‘We could warm it up.’ He saw her face close and he backed off quickly. ‘I’m sorry. Joking. We won’t go there.’ He paused and risked a lighter comment. ‘Especially as you’ve just given birth.’
She had to smile and he knew it. But he was intrigued.
‘Would it help if I told you I think we would deal very well together? Much better than expected?’
‘Much better than whom?’ She shook her head. ‘You and Tayla? Two selfish, immature, rich people who think marriage is a sham or an excuse to wear feathers?’
He held up his hands. ‘The feathers were not my idea. In fact, a condition of marrying me is that you are not allowed to wear feathers.’
‘I’m not marrying you, Max.’ She turned her shoulder on him. ‘I’m not even sure I like you after this conversation. And I can’t believe that Harry was a part of this whole sell-my-daughter-to-aloveless-marriage thing.’
‘Harry wanted to have Tayla safely married before he was much older.’
He saw the moment she understood, and the sudden sadness in her eyes as she sat back against him, all else forgotten. ‘Why the urgency?’
‘That’s for Harry to tell, not me.’ It was Harry’s secret, not his.
‘Poor Uncle Harry.’
He squeezed her shoulder. ‘Leave it. He is dealing with this in his own way.’
She stared and shook her head. ‘So that’s why Harry agreed?’
‘One of the reasons.’ He smiled sympathetically and then went off at a tangent again. ‘I do have one burning question that’s puzzled me.’
The Midwife's Baby Page 3
