Jack had trouble talking about Amelia’s birth. Even though he’d known, and later tests had confirmed, that Amelia’s heart and lungs had been incompatible with life, he’d felt there must have been something he could have done. Eliza’s iron control and strength on that dreadful day still frightened him. ‘She had enough distance to be able to do what those closer to you would have found difficult.’
Mary shook her head. ‘That’s not it at all, Jack. Do you believe that Eliza was distanced?’ She shook her head and he got the feeling she was disappointed in him. ‘You weren’t there when I panicked at home, you didn’t see the way she managed to get me to the hospital and into that bed and to the point, right at the end, when you and Mick arrived.
‘She was the one who remembered to take photos that I’d sell my house to get back if I lost.’
Mary huffed at him in despair. ‘Eliza didn’t do all those things because she was safely distanced. She did them because she cared and she’s strong and she’s my friend.’
Mary stood up. ‘Eliza is a very special woman. If you love her and let some stupid misunderstanding or fear of yours stand in the way, you will regret losing her for the rest of your life!’
Jack shook his head. ‘I do regret it and I think I have lost her. I found something in Eliza that is beautiful and strong and I want that back. I thought she loved me the way I love her, but now there is a wall between us that I can’t break.’
‘Can’t or won’t, Jack.’ Mary snorted. ‘I heard that Eliza was seen leaving your house the night before Amelia was born.’
She stared mercilessly at him. ‘Why was Eliza sneaking around? Why hadn’t you taken her out to the most public restaurant and shown her off? Why isn’t she wearing the biggest diamond you can buy? Eliza can’t settle for half-measures or maybes. She’s been let down too many times.’ She shook her head. ‘You know that!’
Jack spread his hands. ‘I know.’
Mary wasn’t going to go easy on him. ‘Too many men have promised and not delivered, and now you’ve joined them. I don’t know what happened between you two but you’d better sort it out as fast as you can.’
Jack didn’t answer but Mary’s words had him thinking. It hadn’t just been a night, it had been a trial by fire and everything he’d dreamed that it could have been had come about that night. But the next day he’d blown it. Behaved as if what they’d shared had been nothing. Thrown her offer of comfort back in her face—as if she had been a stranger who couldn’t help.
No wonder she’d changed. Frozen. And he couldn’t get to her. She’d refused to talk to him, and had even threatened to leave the hospital immediately if he continued to harass her.
So he had left her alone, because if he waited he’d always got what he wanted, but Mary was right. He had to make plans or she would be gone. He had to believe she still loved him and that she was only scared he would let her down.
A glimmer of hope lightened his thoughts. There was only one way to prove his love to her but it would take a few days to organise. But he had plenty of helpers.
It started on Thursday. After days of Jack hounding Eliza to forgive him, she’d been driven to threaten she’d walk out. He’d finally left her alone but then something strange had started the next afternoon.
As she drove down the main street of town after work, people came out and waved at her. Some older men on the corner clapped their hands and even the sour old lady from the tumble-down house next to the post office had waved and smiled.
Eliza couldn’t figure it out unless they’d heard she was leaving and were saying goodbye.
She went to the post office for stamps for Dulcie, and when she entered, Mrs Green came around the counter and hugged her. ‘I’m so pleased for you, dear. We all couldn’t be happier.’
Eliza smiled and thanked her and wondered why they would be pleased she was leaving. It wasn’t quite the sentiment she’d expected but, then, Bellbrook had bestowed a few of those moments on her during her time here.
When she’d gone to fill her car with fuel the garage proprietor had grinned from ear to ear and said he was ‘right pleased you came here, we all are. You’re a good girl’.
‘Thank you.’ Eliza paid for her fuel, smiled and left with a puzzled look on her face. What was going on here?
Joe came out of the rural produce store, all smiles at seeing her, and hailed her from across the road. ‘Great news, Matron,’ he called and gave her the thumbs-up. Eliza smiled and waved back and swallowed the lump in her throat. She felt like leaving town now.
Then she ran into Carla of the first swimming incident. Carla held out her hand. ‘I’m really happy for both of you.’
Eliza blinked. ‘Both of who?’
‘Why, you and Dr Jack getting married, of course.’
Eliza stared and backed away. She held her hands out in front of her. ‘It’s not true. Who told you that?’
‘Everyone knows.’
‘It’s not true.’
Clearly Carla didn’t believe her. ‘Sure. But that’s what I heard.’
Eliza fumbled with her key in the ignition and nearly stalled the car as she did a three-point turn to get back to the hospital. She couldn’t ask Jack, but Mary would surely know how this had all started.
As soon as Mary saw Eliza she swooped and hugged her.
‘Congratulations. I’m so happy for you both.’
Eliza shook her head wildly and held up her hands again. ‘You’ve heard it, too. It’s not true.’
‘It must be. Jack told me.’
‘He can’t do that. He can’t just tell everyone we’re getting married and expect me to fall in with his plans.’
‘The church is booked for ten a.m. on Saturday.’
‘What?’ Eliza’s voice carried shrilly down the hallway and she clapped her hand over her mouth at the echo. Eliza looked around but there wasn’t anyone else in the corridor. Her head was spinning.
‘I’m sorry, but this is ridiculous.’
‘He’s invited your mother.’
‘What?’ Her voice was quieter but still shrill.
Eliza looked wildly from side to side. ‘I have to find Jack. Where is he?’
‘He had to go to Armidale to see the administrators at the hospital. He’s arranging time off for your honeymoon.’
‘I’m not having a honeymoon. I’m not having a wedding. Does he expect me to meekly turn up at the right time? How can a man who didn’t want me to tell anyone do this?’
‘I guess it depends how desperate he is.’ Mary’s words hung in the air and Eliza started to believe Jack really had created this fiasco. She’d kill him.
Eliza turned around slowly, and as Mary watched her sympathetically, she walked away. Was Jack that desperate to marry her?
CHAPTER TWELVE
JACK rang the doorbell at Dulcie’s early that evening. ‘Mary said you wanted to see me.’ Jack was dressed in black trousers and a white shirt open at the neck, and he carried a yellow rose. Eliza had never seen him look so handsome. The pain sliced through her at what might have been, but she couldn’t trust him.
She should have left days ago. It was too cruel.
‘Let’s walk in the garden.’ Eliza couldn’t meet his eyes and she hurried past him on the steps to get ahead. He caught up to her and there was a strange expression in his eyes that didn’t fit any of the scenarios she’d dreamed up in her mind. She felt more confused than ever.
Eliza stopped and faced him. ‘I’m not marrying you!’ she said baldly. ‘You can’t just get married. You have to have a licence and banns read in church and invitations and things.’
He shrugged but that soft smile stayed on his lips. ‘You met all those criteria before and you didn’t get married. This time you will marry but without the banns. The application for a licence you need to sign tonight.’
Eliza shook her head. ‘I’m not signing anything!’
Here was his angry fairy from the first time he’d seen her. Her green eyes were f
lashing and she stood with her hands on her hips and glared at him, although there was a shadow of pain at the backs of her eyes. He’d caused that and he felt his heart squeeze in regret. She came up to his shoulder and he loved her so much it hurt to breathe—just like the first time he’d seen her.
There had to be a way to get through to her. His voice softened. Where had she been at her weakest? ‘What about if I kissed you? Would you marry me then?’
Jack took Eliza’s hand and she shuddered at the feeling of his fingers around hers. He stared down into her eyes. ‘I know you didn’t believe me when I said I fell in love with you, Eliza. But it’s true.
‘I want to change your mind. I ask you to give me one more chance at winning the woman I will love for ever. Be my bride, here, on Saturday, in front of the whole town and all your friends. They all think we belong together, as I do, and I’ve asked them to help me sway you. Will you let it happen? Marry me, Eliza, please.’
She shook her head and her eyes filled with tears.
Jack went on ignoring her denial. ‘We could start the rest of out lives together with no more misunderstandings between us and no more delay.’
Eliza could taste the tears and her head was so confused and unsure and terrified that she turned her back on him to get away to think about this, but he still had hold of her hand. Her arms stretched but he didn’t let go and she turned back to face him.
He opened her palm and pressed a little ring with an enormous emerald into her palm. ‘Will you wear my ring?’
It was all too much to grasp. How could this happen? She shook her head and before she could make any sense he took her chin in his other hand and settled his lips on hers.
Slowly, as if seeing through mist, floating like a piece of driftwood in Dulcie’s creek, she finally glimpsed the sunlight shining on paradise. Eliza began to wonder if she’d been wrong.
Jack against her, his mouth and his breath entwined with hers, murmuring he loved her. When the kiss deepened she sank against him. The feel, the taste, the scent and the strength of him surrounded her, and his arms around her kept her safe. He felt so strong and sure and Jack-like, so sure for both of them, she could feel her resistance dissipate.
When he stepped back she stared at him and took a deep breath.
This risked everything. ‘Maybe you should have kissed me earlier.’ She smiled whimsically. ‘I love you, too, but if you hurt me, I don’t think I will survive.’
He hugged her. ‘Neither would I. I’m sorry I took so long to kiss you. When I realised how stupid I’d been on our first morning together I could have kicked myself, but it wasn’t because I wasn’t proud and honoured to have you in my heart. I had ghosts to lay, and I’m sorry I hurt you.’
He tilted her chin up towards him with his finger. ‘You haven’t said yes yet.’
‘Yes,’ she said faintly, and at the wonder in her face he kissed her again.
‘It’s OK. Now I have you. I can be a simple man, too, when I have all I want. Are you sure you can live at Bellbrook for ever?’
‘I could live in Antarctica for ever if I was with you but, yes, I’ve grown to love Bellbrook and I have good friends here, too.’
‘I’m not asking you to be isolated. We’ll do dashes to Sydney and paint the town red before coming back to our home. I’ve learnt I’m not irreplaceable and we need to get away even if just to appreciate how great it is here.’
‘I think you’re irreplaceable but that sounds wonderful.’
They left Dulcie’s and drove to his house where they spent hours talking and making love. Late in the evening Jack rose and brought back a platter of food which they devoured sitting up in bed.
‘We are going to have the most beautiful wedding in the world but now we need to drive to town to see the minister. I’ve run out of excuses and he’s a little suspicious of my fiancée’s consent.’
‘As he should be! Imagine everyone in town knowing I was getting married this Saturday except me. They applauded me on street corners and I thought they were glad I was going.’
Jack laughed, which was very unsporting of him. ‘Forgive me.’
‘Maybe.’ She pretended to glare again and he couldn’t help kissing her.
Later, after they’d satisfied the minister that they were truly in love, and deserved to be married, they left the tiny church. Jack took her home again to his house on the hill and they sat on the swing seat and held hands and watched the stars.
‘There is so much to do.’ Suddenly Eliza felt swamped with the enormity of an imminent wedding.
Jack smiled and kissed her. ‘Tomorrow your mother is coming and she’s ordered a truckful of bridal gowns for you to choose from. She mentioned beauticians and a hairstylist so I doubt you’ll have much time for me after tonight. From my conversations with her, she’s dying to do something for you and I doubt you’ll need to lift a finger. Between Gwendolyn and the ladies of Bellbrook, everything will be perfect.’
Everything was happening too fast but Eliza wasn’t complaining this time. She’d sit back and enjoy the ride. ‘How many conversations have you had with my mother?’
‘Enough to know she will be a part of our lives in the future—as she should be.’ He leant across and kissed her to change the subject. ‘Did I tell you I love you?’
Three days later the most beautiful wedding in the world began.
The wedding march thundered out of the huge old organ that took up most of one wall of the tiny church. The music was enthusiastically rendered by one of the ladies from the hospital auxiliary in an equally loud hat.
Magnificent floral arrangements had been assembled from gardens all over the valley by the members of the Country Women’s Association and the air was heavy with floral scent and a few satiated bees.
The minister, who had christened Jack and his family for decades, had prepared a resounding homily on the evils of gossip and the strength of love.
All heads turned as Eliza entered the church with her hand resting in the crook of Keith’s arm. The old farmer wore his Sunday suit and his wrinkled face beamed with pride at the beautiful young woman beside him.
Eliza floated down the aisle towards her husband-to-be who waited with his hand outstretched. On his lapel he wore a tiny pair of crystal wings.
A ripple of satisfaction flowed around the church as friends and family saw the look of adoration on Jack’s face and the bride’s mother unobtrusively dabbed her damp eyes.
When the bride and groom stood together in front of the altar and repeated their vows, the solemn words were so clear and firm that they carried easily to the furthest pew.
Here were no second thoughts, no doubt that they would love each other always, no hesitation in uniting in holy matrimony.
Afterwards, to an even louder swell of triumphant music, Dr and Mrs Jack Dancer greeted their family and friends—and there were so many of them!
Later that night, finally alone in a luxurious mountain retreat near Byron Bay, Jack held his fairy queen tight against his heart. The spell around them shimmered in the moonlight and he silently thanked his family and friends for bringing his heart to him.
‘I love you,’ he murmured to Eliza as she slept beside him. In her sleep, her hand crept into his, and he held her close all through the night.
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II B.V. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
MILLS & BOON and MILLS & BOON with the Rose Device are registered trademarks of the publisher.
© Fiona McArthur 2006
ISBN: 978-1-4603-5862-7
The Doctor's Surprise Bride Page 14
