A Single Dad to Heal Her Heart

by Caroline Anderson

  ‘No. We need to go straight to mine. I’ll get you a taxi home, but maybe we can have supper first. Or you could stay?’

  ‘That’s becoming a habit.’

  ‘Not all habits are bad.’

  He reached out a hand, and she threaded her fingers through his and he lifted them to his lips. ‘Feeling better now?’

  She rested her head back and smiled contentedly. ‘Much. Tired, though. I spent rather too long sitting on your balcony last night.’

  ‘I know. I was watching you. Why don’t you close your eyes and go to sleep? I’ll wake you when we get there.’

  * * *

  Amber ran to her when they walked in, wrapping her arms around her hips and hugging her.

  ‘You’re here again! Can we do some more colouring?’

  ‘Darling, it’s your bedtime and anyway, I expect Livvy might be tired,’ Matt’s mother said, her eyes concerned, but Livvy smiled at her.

  ‘I’m fine. Really.’

  ‘Really fine?’ she asked, and Livvy realised Matt must have told her.

  ‘Yes. I’m really fine,’ she said, and then watched as Jane’s eyes welled with tears.

  ‘Well, that’s wonderful. I’m so pleased. Right, if you don’t need me, I’ll go home and leave you all to it.’

  Matt kissed her. ‘Yes, sure. Thank you so much for today. I’m sorry we’re so late.’

  ‘Don’t be.’

  She kissed his cheek, then hugged Livvy and left, and Matt told her to find herself a drink and took the children upstairs.

  He was an age, even though he didn’t bath them, and sitting in the kitchen near the open door she could hear him and Amber talking. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but there was a little shriek of excitement at one point, and he shushed her, and then she heard the door open and Amber say, ‘Please let me ask her!’

  ‘No, Amber. It’s better coming from me. Go back to bed.’

  She heard a little protest, then his deep murmur, then his footsteps running lightly down the stairs. He came into the kitchen, pushed the door to and walked towards her, his face solemn, and she frowned in puzzlement.

  ‘What was that about? What’s better coming from you?’

  She didn’t know what she was expecting—another dress-buying favour, a trip out, a manicure? But he looked too serious for that.

  ‘Something Amber apparently feels very strongly about, but I thought exposing you to her charm offensive would be emotional blackmail, and I didn’t think that was fair because, yes, it affects her and Charlie, but ultimately it’s between us, and I need you to feel you can be honest.’

  He took her hand, and then to her surprise he went down on one knee, and her heart hitched.

  ‘Are you offering me a piggy-back down a mountain?’ she asked, trying to lighten it, but he just shook his head and smiled.

  ‘No. I’m offering you a piggy-back through life, Livvy, because whoever we are, whatever’s going on, there are always ups and downs, and we need someone to do that for us, to keep us going when the going gets tough, to lift us up when we’re down—you could always return the favour.’

  ‘I don’t think I could lift you,’ she said unsteadily, but he shook his head, his eyes tender.

  ‘You lift me all the time. In the short time I’ve known you, you’ve made me happy in a way I thought I’d never be happy again. You’ve brought me so much hope, so much joy, so much love, and I want you to give me—to give the children—a chance to give that back to you, to give you some of what you’ve given us. Will you marry me, Olivia? Not because I feel sorry for you, or because I’m lonely, or because I feel guilty, but because I love you, with all my heart, and I can’t bear the thought of not having you in my life, in our lives, because you’ll make them so much richer. And I know it won’t be easy, marriage never is, you have to take the rough with the smooth, but that’s what life’s about, and I want to share mine with you for as long as we have, whatever happens and whatever it brings us.’

  He lifted her hand, holding it flat against his heart, and his eyes were burning with love.

  ‘Marry me, Livvy. I need you, I love you, and I don’t want to spend another day without you. Please don’t make me. And if that sounds like emotional blackmail, it isn’t meant to. It’s just the plain, honest truth.’

  She couldn’t speak. The tears were welling so fast his beautiful eyes were going out of focus, and she could hardly breathe.

  ‘Y-yes,’ she said, and then, just in case that wasn’t clear enough, she said it again, lifting his hand to her lips and kissing it. ‘Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you, I don’t want to spend another day without you, either. I love you. All of you, so very, very much.’

  Behind him the door opened, and Amber ran in and hugged him.

  ‘I told you she’d say yes, Daddy!’

  Livvy laughed and swiped away the tears that were streaming down her cheeks, and he got to his feet, Amber in his arms, and handed her a tissue.

  ‘I think I might need more than one. Maybe you should buy the company.’

  ‘Or stop making you cry. That might be better.’

  ‘Not if I’m crying with happiness.’

  ‘Maybe not. Amber, say goodnight to Livvy and then go up to bed, please. It’s way past your bedtime and we have things to talk about.’

  ‘Like the wedding?’ she said excitedly.

  Livvy smiled at her, knowing how much the little girl was going to love helping them plan the wedding. ‘We can talk about the wedding later, Amber,’ she said gently. ‘There’ll be lots of time to do that.’

  ‘But can’t we do it now?’ she pleaded,

  ‘No. It’s late and you’re tired and it’s time for bed,’ he said, and Livvy bent down and kissed her, then holding her hand she led her upstairs and into her room, tucked her into bed and kissed her goodnight.

  ‘I’m glad you said yes. I really wanted you to be my new mummy,’ Amber told her, clinging to her hand, and she smiled, her eyes welling again.

  ‘I’m glad I said yes, too, and I’ll do my best to be a good mummy to you and Charlie.’

  ‘Can I call you Mummy?’

  Oh, heavens. Livvy’s eyes overflowed, and she blinked hard. ‘I think we need to talk to Daddy about that,’ she said, wondering if he might have strong feelings about it.

  She kissed Amber again, then stood up and turned, to find Matt standing there, his face awash with emotion.

  ‘Night-night, little one,’ he murmured, bending down to kiss his daughter, and then he turned and ushered Livvy out of the room.

  ‘Finally,’ he said, shutting the door, and taking her hand he led her through his bedroom and onto the balcony, turned her into his arms and stared down into her eyes.

  ‘You see what I mean about the charm offensive?’

  ‘No. She’s delightful. She even—did you hear? She asked if she can call me Mummy.’

  ‘I know. And, yes, of course she can, if you don’t mind.’

  ‘Mind? Why should I mind? I was worried about you. You don’t feel—well, that it’s not my place?’

  He shook his head. ‘No. She needs a mummy, and I’m only too happy that it’s going to be you. But don’t be fooled. She can be a tiny bit manipulative. Are you sure you don’t feel press-ganged?’

  She shook her head, unable to keep the smile off her face. ‘I don’t feel press-ganged. I just feel wanted.’

  ‘Oh, you’re certainly wanted, my darling.’ He dropped a tiny kiss on the end of her nose. ‘You need to phone your parents and put them out of their misery.’

  ‘How do they know—? Oh, you sneaky thing! That’s what you wanted to talk to him about!’

  ‘Of course. You have to do things properly. But there’s something I have to do first before I let you go,’ he murmured, a slow, sexy smile playing around his mouth as he bent his head
and kissed her...

  * * *

  If you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Caroline Anderson

  One Night, One Unexpected Miracle

  Their Own Little Miracle

  Bound by Their Babies

  The Midwife’s Longed-For Miracle

  All available now!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Resisting Her Rescue Doc by Alison Roberts.

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  Resisting Her Rescue Doc

  by Alison Roberts

  CHAPTER ONE

  HOW ANNOYING WAS THIS?

  Apart from a large motorbike that forced its way down the centre of the road, traffic on this coastal route into New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington, had suddenly slowed and then come to a complete halt for no obvious reason.

  Cooper Sinclair was due to meet his colleagues at the city’s rescue helicopter base in just over an hour before he started his new job there tomorrow. He had, of course, planned for any contingencies that could have delayed his arrival, but that window of time had been used up by a flat tyre way back near Lake Taupo in the middle of the north island. A few minutes later, when the traffic showed no signs of beginning to move again, he followed the example of someone he could see nearer the brow of this hill, who was getting out of his car to try and find out what was going on.

  ‘What’s happening?’ he called.

  ‘Accident,’ the stranger yelled back. ‘Someone’s driven off the road and gone down the bank just on the other side of this hill.’

  The ‘bank’, from what Cooper could see, was more like a small cliff with a rocky beach at the bottom of the steep slope. From the top of this hill, or just over its brow, it could have been a drop of over fifteen metres and a vehicle landing on a hard surface like that from even a much smaller distance could be badly damaged with its occupants in real trouble. Turning swiftly, Cooper opened the back of his SUV to extract a small backpack. He tossed his keys to the stranger he’d been speaking to as he ran past.

  ‘Get someone to move my car off the road if it’s needed,’ he said. ‘I’m a paramedic. I’m going to see if I can help.’

  ‘Good on ya, mate.’ The stranger nodded. ‘I’ll keep an eye on your car.’

  A small crowd was gathering on the side of the road and, as Cooper got closer, he could see why some people were looking so shocked. The car must have gone off the road with some speed to have buckled and then broken through the metal safety barrier like that. It had careened down the steep bank, carving a path through the undergrowth, and had come to rest, teetering on a low outcrop of rocks with waves breaking around it.

  He might not be on duty but it was automatic for Cooper to go into scene assessment mode. To be looking for what extra help was going to be needed and what apparent dangers there were for any responding crews—and the public.

  ‘Stand back,’ he told people as he moved through the crowd. ‘The edge of this bank doesn’t look that stable. Has anyone called the emergency services?’

  ‘I think an ambulance is on its way,’ someone told him.

  Cooper pulled out his own phone to punch in the three-digit emergency number. They needed more than an ambulance here. Police would be needed to control traffic and spectators. The fire service was needed urgently to stabilise this car with winch lines or something to prevent it getting dislodged by the waves and ending up completely underwater. Even if there were injured people inside the vehicle, it was too dangerous for anyone to try and approach it until it could be secured somehow. Would the hooks and lines from the fire trucks be enough? Maybe they needed to get a crane on the way...

  His assessment and planning came to a crunching halt as he got through the rest of the crowd to get a completely clear view of the bottom of the bank. He didn’t even finish dialling the emergency services number.

  ‘Hey...’ he yelled as loudly as he could. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’

  ‘She just took off down there,’ someone said from behind him. ‘Seemed like she knew what she was doing...’

  ‘She’s mad,’ Cooper muttered, staring down at the lone figure on the rocky foreshore a good ten metres beneath him.

  The tall, slim woman was standing on top of a rock, a short distance from where the car was teetering on other rocks. She was wearing rolled-up jeans and sneakers, and a white T-shirt that was knotted on one side. Right now, her arms were in the air and she was swiftly winding long dark hair into a knot that she somehow secured easily onto the top of her head. Then she leaned forward, holding her arms out to balance herself, obviously looking for a place to step that would take her closer to the car.

  ‘Oi...’ Cooper’s shout was even louder this time and he was moving as he made the sound. ‘Get back...’

  Sure enough, the ground was crumbling on the edge of the drop and he started a slide that was barely controlled as he aimed for a shrub that had branches big enough to hold his weight. Then he climbed over some rocks and kept going, faster than he knew was safe but he had to get down the bank and into a position where he could stop this crazy bystander from creating yet another problem for the emergency services when they arrived on scene. On top of being concerned about the woman’s well-being, he was not happy that he was being forced to put himself in danger like this. As soon as he could, he yelled again.

  ‘Stay where you are. Wait...’

  She took absolutely no notice of him. With a nimble leap, she landed on another rock and then steadied herself as a wave washed over her feet. Then she moved again to land within reaching distance of the back door of the crashed car. That was when Cooper saw what she was focused on—a small face in the window of that door—a child who looked no more than a couple of years old. He saw her grab the handle of the door and try to open it, almost losing her balance as a larger wave curled around her legs. The door didn’t open.

  Nobody else was following Cooper down the bank. For a few seconds, when he reached the bottom, he lost sight of what the woman was doing as he scrambled over the rocks closest to the base of the cliff but then reached the point where she had been when he’d first seen her and he had a clear view of what she was up to. She had managed to open the driver’s door and he could see the shape of an adult slumped forward, apparently unconscious. The rescuer tilted the person’s head back to open the airway, which told Cooper that she did, at least, have some idea of what she was doing, but she didn’t pause to do anything else in the way of assessment or treatment for the driver. She slid her arm between the front seat and the back door, twisting her body to enable her to reach the l
ock, and both the confidence and elegance of her movements kept Cooper standing on his rock, simply watching.

  She got the back door open and must have released a safety belt that allowed her to scoop up the small child who was now screaming with terror.

  ‘Mummy... Mummy...’

  The woman was saying something that Cooper couldn’t hear as she wrapped her arms around the child and turned, looking down to choose both her stepping point and a moment when a new wave was not about to break. Cooper moved at the same time, his long stride taking him to the next outcrop of rocks. Someone needed to see what was going on with the child’s mother and to try and get her out of the car if it was possible to do so without it being too risky. It wasn’t something he would want to try on his own, so it was a relief to hear the sound of sirens getting louder on the road above them. He would make sure this woman and the kid got back safely to shore and then come back to plan the next steps that could be taken the moment the first crews got down the bank.

  To his surprise, he found the child being shoved into his arms by the woman. There was nothing he could do but take hold of it.

  ‘Take her,’ she said. ‘I’ve got to go back.’

  ‘No... It’s not safe,’ Cooper told her. ‘Wait for the firies. That car’s not stable.’

  ‘That car has a baby in the back seat,’ she snapped. ‘Keep yourself safe. I’ve got a job to do, here.’

  Cooper was left staring at her back, his jaw slack. He was the person who should be doing whatever was needed here. He had years of experience as an advanced paramedic. Qualifications in scene management and dealing with unusual and dangerous situations just like this. Who was this woman? And what was it about her that made him feel as if she really was the person in charge, here? Did it have anything to do with that hint of something like a grin she’d thrown over her shoulder as she’d turned away from him? Or that he was sure he’d heard her say ‘Trust me... I know what I’m doing...’?

  The toddler in his arms wriggled and screamed so he held her tightly and carried her carefully out of the water. He could see uniformed fire officers making their way down the bank where a ladder was being positioned. He could also see that the fire truck had been parked so that the winch gear at the back could be deployed. It was going to take a lot more than wedges or chocks to stabilise a car that was rocking on its perch with every wave. There was no sign of an ambulance crew yet. One of the fire officers reached the water’s edge at the same time as Cooper. He held his arms out to take the child.