The Surgeon's Family Wish (21 page)

It was the following day when they said at the hospital that she could go home on Sunday. When she told Aaron he said immediately, ‘You do know that you're coming to us, don't you? So that I can look after you? Mum has your room all ready and Lucy can't wait.'

She swallowed hard. He'd said that he wanted to look after her. What did Aaron mean by that? As a doctor? A friend? Or a lover? It wouldn't be
that
, she thought. There were still things not said between them.

* * *

And now Sunday was here and the hospital was slow at giving the word to go. The consultant was late on his rounds and as it would soon be dark Aaron was in a
fever of impatience for some reason. But at last they were off, with Annabel wrapped in a warm shawl beside him.

It was wonderful to be in the outside world again, she thought. Or at least it would be if all things were equal between them. But Aaron had said nothing since the other night and today he was on edge.

Maybe he was regretting having to repay what he saw as his debt to her and so she kept silent, thinking that if she hadn't felt so weak and purposeless she would have insisted on going back to the flat.

When they reached the house he went round to her side of the car to help her out, and as he did so there was the noise of a light plane flying overhead. At the sound of its engine Aaron looked quickly upward. Following his gaze, she did the same. Her eyes widened as she read the string of words on a banner trailing behind it.

I L
OVE
Y
OU
A
NNABEL
they said for all the world to see. W
ILL
Y
OU
M
ARRY
M
E
?

As she turned slowly to face him he was watching her, waiting for her reaction, and she said in dawning wonder, ‘So that is why you were in such a hurry to leave the hospital before it got dark. Someone wants to marry me, Aaron. Have you any idea who it could be?'

Taking her in his arms, he said softly, ‘I might have. But come inside out of the cold first.'

The lounge was empty and with his arms still around her he took her into the room and closed the door.

‘It's a man who loves you more than life itself,' he said softly as his hold tightened. ‘Who wants to waken each morning with you there beside him. You
will
marry me, won't you, Annabel?'

‘I have just one thing to say to that,' she told him, her mouth curving softly.

‘And what is it?'

‘What took you so long, Aaron? Of course I'll marry you.'

With a whoop of joy he lifted her high in his arms.

‘Welcome home, my love,' he said, and she knew with a sweet and magical certainty that he meant it beyond any shadow of a doubt.

There was a tap on the door and when he opened it his mother and Lucy were outside in the hallway, Mary's glance questioning and hopeful and the small figure by her side dancing with excitement.

‘Yes!' Aaron cried, drawing Lucy into their embrace. ‘Annabel is going to marry me! What do you think about that?'

‘Wonderful,' his mother said as she observed the glowing woman in his arms.

‘Super,' said Lucy.

* * *

On the day after the plane had flown over with its incredible message Aaron told Annabel, ‘Richard has a pilot's licence and when I asked him for a favour he was only too pleased to oblige. Now, after such a successful outcome, he's hinting that he expects to be best man at our wedding and I've told him that it goes without saying.'

‘Of course,' she said happily. ‘I don't mind who does what, just as long as you and I are the ones to be joined together.'

The words had a magical sound—joined together, for always. She hoped that somewhere Eloise and the man she'd given her life for might be smiling down on them when that day dawned.

* * *

She'd watched a radiant Mary walk down the aisle on Aaron's arm on a cool crisp morning, with Lucy close behind scattering rose petals, and had rejoiced to see the happiness of the older bride and groom as they'd left for a honeymoon in the Seychelles. And now her own big day had arrived.

The night before Aaron had said huskily, ‘I can't believe that tomorrow you'll be mine.'

‘I've been yours ever since the night you came rushing into the children's ward, desperate to be with Lucy after the operation,' she'd told him. ‘I thought that you were the most attractive man I'd ever seen
and
the bossiest. I told your mother so.'

‘And what did she say to that?' he'd asked laughingly.

‘She said, ‘‘That's my boy.'''

‘And, of course, I lived up to my name, didn't I?' he'd said, suddenly grave. ‘By preaching the gospel according to me, instead of taking you as I found you, honourable, caring and clever.'

‘Shush,' she'd told him gently. ‘No looking back, I should have told you the truth from the start.'

When he'd finished kissing her until she was breathless he'd said, ‘I'm going to give you babies, Annabel. Brothers and sisters for Lucy, to make up for the one you lost.'

She'd nodded dreamily. ‘Yes, please, but for the moment I have all that I want. You and Lucy, a family at last.'

* * *

The organ was playing the bridal march, and a pale sun was filtering through stained-glass windows as Annabel walked up the aisle. This time Mark was giving the bride away and an excited Lucy was doing the rose petals bit again.

For the man waiting at the altar, his lonely days were over. Life was beginning again. And the smiling, brown-haired bride, walking sedately to meet him in a cream silk gown that rustled as she walked, knew that with Aaron by her side the future was opening out into a walkway to happiness.

ISBN-13: 9781460376379

THE SURGEON'S FAMILY WISH

Copyright © 2015 by Abigail Gordon

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.

www.Harlequin.com