Needed: Full-Time Father (Medical Romance) (15 page)

‘Tonight’s about us.’

‘T
HOSE
tablets can make you a bit nauseous at first.’

Guy came into the bathroom and Madison wished he hadn’t. Even after six months together and having obtained a closeness she had never imagined possible, there was still a desire to maintain just a hint of mystery—and being head first down the loo wasn’t exactly going to achieve that!

‘I’ll be out in a moment.’ Madison grimaced, standing up and splashing her face with water, staring at the beastly packet of antimalaria tablets sitting beside the bathroom sink.

‘I’m fine now.’ A touch pale, Madison came out of the bathroom and perched herself on the bed next to Guy, who was looking at her with concerned eyes. ‘I wasn’t actually sick, I just felt a bit nauseous.’

‘It will soon wear off,’ Guy assured her. ‘And it’s necessary. The last thing you want to come home with is a dose of malaria. You have to remember to take them each day and for a month after we get home…’ His
voice shifted slightly and Madison watched as his gaze drifted around the bedroom.

Their bedroom, in their home. The house she had fought so hard to keep, to protect, a real home now. Full of love and laughter and just a touch too much clutter perhaps, but Madison wouldn’t have traded it for anything. And she knew, as Guy stared hard at the massive backpacks bulging on the bedroom floor, his face suddenly pensive, that for the first time in his life he didn’t want to leave, didn’t want to move on even for a little while.

But he had to.

Gerard’s dream was taking shape. This time tomorrow they would be boarding a plane for a two-week visit to the rudimentary medical centre that would soon become a hospital, bringing with them the first batch of supplies. They would oversee the first stages of building, laying the foundations for a future of hope.

‘How’s Emily?’ Guy asked, his voice concerned. ‘She was a bit teary about us going last night. Madison, if you want to stay with her then that’s OK with me. There will be other trips—lots of them, no doubt!’

‘Emily will be fine,’ Madison answered. ‘In fact, I think she’s even more excited about the hospital than we are, and she’s looking forward to two weeks of being spoiled by her grandparents. I explained to her this morning that next time we go, she’ll definitely come. Once there are some basic facilities there’s no reason why she shouldn’t come and see for herself the work you’re doing.’

‘We’re all doing,’ Guy corrected. ‘I can’t believe how much everyone has got behind the project.
Yvonne was telling me that her church group is holding a sausage sizzle in the high street next week. I almost wish I were here to see it. I can’t exactly imagine Yvonne with a pair of tongs and a mountain of greasy sausages.’

‘I can.’ Madison laughed. ‘She’s really changed, hasn’t she?’

‘Completely,’ Guy agreed. ‘You know, as much as she hurt me over the last couple of years, trying to push me away, trying to pretend I didn’t exist, I just couldn’t get angry at her. She was just scared of everything falling apart, worried that once people knew that Gerard actually had a past that didn’t include her, people would judge her.’

‘But they are judging her,’ Madison said. ‘Only for all the right reasons now. She’s a great step-mum! She’s really proud of you, and I know Gerard would have been too. It took a lot of courage to stand up to her.’

‘Yeah, but if I hadn’t had you beside me, I’d never have done it.’

The pensive moment over, Guy stood up and started rolling up a very weary-looking sleeping bag to place in the pile next to Madison’s very new, very red one.

‘We can zip them up together.’ Guy grinned, catching her staring at him.

‘I thought you said that at the end of a long day, doing AID work, all you wanted to do was go to sleep.’

‘That was before I met you,’ Guy said, but his grin faded when she didn’t smile back. He took in her pale face and strained features. ‘What’s wrong, Madison?’

‘Nothing,’ Madison attempted, but she knew she wasn’t fooling anyone.

‘You don’t want to leave Emily, do you?’

‘I actually do want to, and after our talk this morning I think she wants me to go now, too. I just don’t think I can.’ Fiddling with her fingers she stared down at the simple gold band Guy had proudly placed on her finger a few short weeks ago. She twisted it round and round for a couple of moments before continuing. ‘I feel really sick, Guy.’

‘It’s the tablets.’ Guy gave a relieved laugh and sat back down on the bed, his hands pulling apart her tense ones and holding them tight. ‘You won’t feel like this for long, I promise…’

‘It isn’t the tablets,’ Madison gulped, ‘because I didn’t take any.’

‘Why?’

She could feel his eyes burning into the top of her head but she didn’t dare look up. ‘I wasn’t sure if they were teratogenic…’

‘Teratogenic?’ Guy’s voice was hoarse.

‘If the tablets would have any unwanted side effects on the baby—’

‘I know what teratogenic means,’ Guy broke in. ‘It’s the baby bit I don’t know about. How long have you known?’

‘About half an hour,’ Madison said. ‘I’ve felt a bit sick for a couple of days and I’m a bit overdue. Before I took anything, I thought it better to check.’ Fumbling in her bedside table, she pulled out a plastic pregnancy
testing strip and handed it to him. ‘It’s terrible timing, what with the hospital and everything. I didn’t plan…’

‘Hey, you sacked your life coach.’ Guy smiled, staring at the plastic. ‘You’ve stopped making plans, remember?’ His eyes found hers. ‘You’ve started living.’

‘But even so!’ A wobble of excitement grew inside her as his smile widened. He wrapped her in his arms and hushed her fears.

‘We’re having a baby!’ Guy whispered over and over until finally Madison started to really believe it. Booked flights and ruined schedules didn’t matter a scrap. The magnitude of what was happening finally started to hit and later, when he’d loved her all over again, when she was lying in his arms, feeling totally at one with the world, she said what was on both of their minds.

‘I wish Gerard could have known.’

‘He knows,’ Guy said softly. ‘That’s why you two were so close, that’s why he watched out for you—he knew that one day you were going to have his grandchild.’

‘Maybe he did,’ Madison mused. ‘Not consciously, of course, but somewhere deep inside maybe he felt a connection.’

‘A connection!’ Laughing, propping himself on his elbow, Guy smiled down at her. ‘You’ll be lighting incense next and telling me you want a natural water birth.’

‘Not likely.’ Madison grimaced then dug him in the ribs. ‘Thanks for reminding me, I’d forgotten all about that part. I’m having every drug on the trolley.’

‘What happened to the straight-laced, terribly rigid Madison Walsh I first met?’

‘She got lucky.’ Madison smiled. ‘And then she got happy.’

ISBN: 978-1-4603-5850-4

NEEDED: FULL-TIME FATHER

First North American Publication 2005

Copyright © 2006 by The SAL Marinelli Family Trust

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