Reunion with His Surgeon Princess

by Karin Baine

  ‘Stop the car!’ Kaja’s heart was hammering as she grabbed for the door handle. She’d recognised Fatima’s car on the road from the airport and put two and two together. That was why the house had been unusually quiet when she’d got up. Even Fatima had gone AWOL. It was clear whose side she was taking if she’d personally driven Seth and Amy away without telling Kaja.

  Fatima pulled over and wound down her window. ‘I did my best to get him to stay.’

  Her face crumpled and Kaja could feel her pain as acutely as her own at the loss. What had she done?

  ‘Is it too late?’ Her voice was a mere whisper, caught in her throat at the thought that she’d lost Seth and Amy for ever.

  ‘I left them at the airport. I couldn’t bear to go in and watch them fly away.’

  ‘There might still be time. They still have to check in and go through security.’ She was clutching at straws but without hope she might as well lie down on this road and weep. The talk with her father had made her realise it was up to her to take action and fight for what she wanted in life. That was Seth and Amy. She was the only one who could get them to stay and even that wasn’t guaranteed.

  ‘I tried telling him it was fear which had made you reject him. I think we both know you still love him.’

  ‘Apparently everybody—except us—does,’ she said as she got back into the limo intent on giving chase. All she needed was for Seth to believe it and be willing to give her a third chance.

  They drove to the airport, lights flashing, horn blaring at any traffic so they’d let them pass. She made as many phone calls and asked for as many favours as she could en route in order to slow Seth’s departure. It might make for a frustrating wait on his part but it would buy time for her to get there.

  Security met her at the airport entrance after she’d called ahead and asked for their help to jump any queues. She’d purchased a flight ticket online in case she had to get on that flight to convince him she loved him. At this moment she was prepared to do whatever it took to win him back.

  ‘Excuse us.’

  ‘Make way, please.’

  The human cordon around her moved as many travellers out of her path as they could. Kaja didn’t usually take advantage of her position for her own benefit but on this occasion she was willing to use all available resources to get her man. When she got to the departure gate and saw it was empty save for the attendants at the desk, a cold sweat broke out over her skin. If she was too late she might never see him again.

  ‘Do you have your boarding pass? The plane’s sitting on the tarmac. You might just make it if you’re quick.’

  One last ember of hope burned a little brighter. It only took the woman a moment to scan her ticket but it might as well have been days when every second was so crucial. There was no time for niceties and Kaja snatched the boarding pass back once she was finished with it. Security hovered, uncertain of the protocol.

  ‘I can take it from here,’ she told them, then started running.

  She didn’t care if anyone caught a picture of her racing across the runway like a lunatic; Seth was more important than anything. It was the thought of him flying back to England and the life she’d have to endure without him that kept her legs pumping even when her lungs were fit to burst. They’d been happy together. Not just for that brief time when they’d shut out the rest of the world, but for years living together when she hadn’t worried about anything except being in the moment. She wasn’t going to let that simply go to waste when they might have a chance of being happy. Together.

  ‘Wait!’ she shouted at the member of the cabin crew who was getting ready to shut the door.

  In her years of attending photo ops, ceremonial openings and giving public speeches she didn’t remember having so many faces staring at her as she did once she stumbled on board. The whispering and gasps started off as a low rumbling, but by the time she’d made it halfway down the plane it was building up to a roar. People were turning their heads and leaning over the backs of their seats to get a better view.

  ‘Kaja!’ It was Amy who grabbed her attention first, standing up on her seat to wave while Seth gawped at her, mouth hanging open.

  She rushed to his seat and knelt in the aisle. ‘Seth, I’m so sorry about what I said. I didn’t mean any of it.’

  ‘Kaja, what on earth are you doing? Everyone can see you. This is going to be all over the news by the end of the day.’ He was looking at all the heads peering around to see what she was doing, camera phones at the ready, not taking in what she was saying.

  ‘I don’t care. I want you to stay. I love you and I want to be with you.’ It was on record now. For ever. She just didn’t know if it was enough to counter all the mistakes she’d made along the way.

  ‘You love me?’ He frowned and leaned in closer for some degree of privacy. ‘Only last night you told me to go. You keep blowing hot and cold, Kaja, and I’m sorry but I need stability for Amy. For my heart.’

  ‘I’ll move to England with you if that’s what it takes to prove to you that I’m serious.’

  ‘You did that once before. It didn’t work out too well, remember?’

  ‘This is different. I’m different. I thought you’d be better off with someone who could give you the family you want and I’m sorry that I can’t. All I can offer you is me.’ She grabbed him with both hands and kissed him full on the lips to a plane full of whoops and cheers. This was her way of showing him she meant every word and he was all that mattered. When he kissed her back and the cheers faded into the background she knew she’d finally made the right decision.

  At least Seth remembered where they were before things got too heated. ‘How on earth did you manage to get here on time? I thought you were at the hospital.’

  ‘I was. I went to see my father about going back to work and I realised I’ve been the one holding myself back from being happy. No more. You and Amy are my happy place. In case you didn’t hear it the first time, I love you. Nothing else matters to me.’

  ‘Then we’d better get off this plane because all I need is you. I love you too. I always have and I don’t care where we live as long as we’re together. Besides, I’ve never seen Amy so happy as I have out here. It already feels like home.’ Seth took Amy by the hand and followed Kaja back down the aisle. She held her head high as the cheers rang out from the other passengers, uncaring about what they thought. All that mattered was that she was being honest with Seth and true to herself. It was all that was needed to make her happy.

  This princess had never needed a prince to save her. She simply had to do it herself.

  EPILOGUE

  One year later

  ‘WELL? WHAT DOES it say?’ Seth was waiting for her the second she came out of the bathroom.

  ‘We have to wait a couple of minutes.’ Kaja understood his urgency when she’d been wishing away the time all through her shift in the emergency department to get to this moment. She loved her job almost as much as her husband and her stepdaughter of six months, but the anticipation had been killing her.

  She’d kept the test until she got home so they could see the result together. Although that hadn’t stopped Seth texting and phoning her all day once she’d told him her period was late.

  Do you feel pregnant?

  When do you think it happened?

  Can’t you take a quick break and come home?

  She hoped they weren’t getting their hopes up for something that might not ever happen. It seemed too good to be true after all those years she’d failed to get pregnant. Perhaps her baby had been waiting for Seth too.

  ‘Is it time now?’ Seth leaned over her shoulder, watching the window on the pregnancy test with rapt attention.

  ‘You’re worse than Fatima,’ she said with a laugh. Although Fatima hadn’t said anything to Kaja directly, according to Amy she’d taken to knitting lots of dolly clothes r
ecently, ‘And she doesn’t even have a dolly, Kaja!’ Perhaps there was something to her claims of having ‘the gift’ after all if she’d known something before Mother Nature.

  Seth was beaming now as much as he had on their wedding day at the palace. One good thing about having such a huge family estate was they’d been able to get married in private. The ceremony had been held in the gardens with only family and friends from the hospital where they both worked in attendance. They’d only made the announcement public after their honeymoon in England, where she and Seth had been able to reminisce about the old days and tie up loose ends before he and Amy moved over for good.

  ‘Sorry. I’m just excited.’

  ‘I know. Neither of us thought it was going to happen.’ She’d been honest with Seth that another child might not be a possibility but he’d been insistent that he still wanted a future with her. Now it seemed those impossible dreams might be about to come true.

  PREGNANT

  The word filling the tiny LED screen made them both gasp and stare at each other like loons.

  ‘It’s true? We’re going to have a baby?’ He was practically vibrating with excitement as he grabbed her into a hug.

  ‘Yes. I’m pregnant. You’re going to be a daddy again and Amy’s going to be a big sister.’ It was the icing on her perfect year after marrying Seth and becoming stepmother to Amy.

  ‘You’re amazing.’ He held her tight and the feel of his strong arms around her was reassuring at a time where she was a little out of her depth.

  ‘I didn’t do it all on my own, you know.’ The passion for one another hadn’t ebbed since they’d married or moved into their own place away from the palace. Especially now they had some privacy. After the initial furore when they’d got together, the press had lost interest in a busy working mum. A happily married medic wasn’t very glamorous but it was exactly the life she wanted.

  ‘I’m going to have to book in with a midwife and organise antenatal classes. Then there’s all the things we’re going to need for the nursery.’ A to-do list getting longer by the second popped into her head as the reality of the situation began to sink in.

  ‘Hey. We’re in this together, Mrs Davenport. I can handle all of that. I don’t want you worrying about anything.’ He tilted her chin up with his finger and the sheer love she saw reflected in his eyes, felt in every pore in her body, was everything she’d ever needed. Their marriage was a shared partnership and, good or bad, they would go through everything together.

  ‘Love you, Mr Davenport.’

  ‘And I love you. You’ll always be my princess.’ He kissed her on the lips, sealing the promise, and she knew when the baby came they’d be the happiest little family in Belle Crepuscolo.

  * * *

  If you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Karin Baine

  Healed by Their Unexpected Family

  Their One-Night Christmas Gift

  Their One-Night Twin Surprise

  The Single Dad’s Proposal

  All available now!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Reclaiming Her Army Doc Husband by Sue MacKay.

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  Reclaiming Her Army Doc Husband

  by Sue MacKay

  CHAPTER ONE

  ‘COLE, IT’S ME. I need to talk to you urgently. Please, sweetheart.’ Vicki Halliday pressed her phone so hard against her ear it hurt. ‘We’ve got a problem.’

  She’d miscarried. Their baby was gone. Their dreams and excitement were over. Maybe her dream more than his. He’d seemed a little distant since learning about the pregnancy.

  ‘Please leave a message after the beep and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible,’ her husband’s strong, don’t-mess-with-me voice intoned. Not the voice she adored, went to bed with to have sweet nothings whispered against her skin. Not the man she hugged and kissed in return because of the deep sexiness that was the love of her life.

  She pressed ‘off’ and leaned forward over her knees, her hands clenched around the only link she had with her husband. Damn, how she missed him. Would give anything for him to be here so they could get through the loss of their baby together.

  Not that there was anything unusual about his absence. Twelve months ago he hadn’t been around when she’d had to have their spaniel Benji put down after a car had hit the beloved pet that had helped her through the lonely days when Cole was offshore. Neither had he been around two months later when her mother had been having chemo and Vicki had thought she would lose her too.

  He had surprised her by turning up for her thirtieth birthday. One night of passion, then he was gone before she’d woken up. Gone without a word of when he’d see her next, without waking her to say he loved her. As always, he’d had to follow orders. Fair enough. He’d gone into the job willingly. But she hadn’t. Now he was in East Timor with his army unit. Not here. Where he was needed the most. Where, for once, he could put his own needs aside and help her through this tragedy—together.

  ‘Cole, you have to answer your phone pronto.’

  In desperation she tapped his number again. Again heard his impersonal message.

  The pain and despair combined to fling words out of her mouth with no thought of consequences. ‘Just for once, answer your blasted phone, Cole Halliday. I’ve miscarried our baby,’ Vicki shrieked through a burst of pain. ‘I’ve miscarried,’ she repeated, quieter this time.

  The words clogged her throat and she threw the phone onto the couch beside her as she sprawled lengthways in a wasted attempt to ease the ache in her abdomen. And her heart. ‘This can’t be happening,’ Then again, why not? Nothing had gone right in their marriage for a while, so why would believing she’d see their pregnancy through to full term be any different? Except this time the pain was unbearable, and that wasn’t the physical.

  I’ve lost our baby.

  ‘It’s so unfair,’ she cried through clenched jaws.

  I think I’ve lost my husband, too.

  ‘Still no answer?’ Molly rubbed Vicki’s back.

  ‘Obviously not,’ she vented at her friend, then instantly regretted it. None of this was Molly’s fault. Molly had strapped her baby twins into the car and driven halfway across Sydney to pick her up the moment Vicki had said what was happening.

  Also, as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t really blame Cole for the fact she was losing their baby. But he should be here, cuddling her, or rubbing her back when it ached instead of Molly sharing her grief because it would be his, too. No matter how hard her friend tried, it wasn’t the same as having the man she loved with her during this crisis, giving the emotional support he all too often failed on. Because he stood tall, he thought she could too.

  Instead she was used to having a loving family at her side through everything, so these past years in Sydney away from them, and with Cole coming and going, had been hard. He didn’t get it. Didn’t understand how much she needed him to l
isten to her worries and take them on board. Like Molly was doing now. She dragged herself upright. ‘Sorry, ignore me.’

  ‘It’s okay. I get it.’

  ‘True.’ If anyone did, Molly did. Years ago her friend’s ex had put her through a horrific miscarriage via a fist to her stomach. For Molly, it had been the final straw in a violent marriage, and she’d left him for good. Eventually, she’d found happiness with Cole’s best friend, Nathan.

  ‘I only wish you weren’t going through this.’

  Vicki gave a sick sigh. Right this moment she struggled to find the strength to see it through without her man. ‘You and me both.’ All the excitement of having a baby, of believing that she and Cole would be a proper family with a child to nurture and love, had gone down the drain, almost literally. Angry tears burned down her cheeks. Her broken heart continued doing its job from under a weight of despair and sadness. She was a mixed bag of emotions, not one of them good. ‘Cole’s not here to see it. To hold my hand. To tell me silly stuff like I’ll be all right. That we’ll try again.’ If he wanted to.

  ‘Here.’ A box of tissues appeared before her. ‘He’ll feel terrible when he gets your message.’

  When he got it. Who knew exactly where he was and for how long? Not her. He never told her when he was going on a mission, or what happened on the forays the unit engaged in. Not that she wanted the details, they’d only give her more graphic nightmares worrying if he was safe.

  ‘You reckon?’ Vicki couldn’t help the bitterness tainting her question. Was she being unfair? Selfish? Sure she was, but today she didn’t care much. She needed Cole. Right here. Now. Not in another country looking out for people he didn’t know. It was important to him, and some would say she was selfish, that other army wives coped with disasters.

  To hell with them. Watching her mother, after her close shave with cancer, begin to understand how much she’d sacrificed for her family, Vicki had started realising she was going down the same track by forfeiting her own needs to keep Cole happy. She liked making others happy, or helping them get well. It was one reason she’d become a nurse. When she and Cole had got married her own dreams had gone on hold, but over the past year she’d begun resurrecting the idea of owning a nursing agency. Maybe she should’ve done it when Cole had first signed up and then perhaps she wouldn’t be so at odds with him now.