Harlequin Medical Romance July 2021--Box Set 1 of 2, page 39
Ah, Annie. You can never be mean for long. Not without feeling the need to cushion the blow. If someone robbed your purse in the street, you would find a way to give him a backstory. A reason why that person needed your money more than you did.
‘So you covered for me, had our child, looked after my dad, and then got mad at me years later after a Chardonnay?’
She looked at him for a long moment and then started to laugh. A slightly manic laugh that made Harry’s heart swell.
‘I missed that laugh.’
‘It was whisky, not some chick drink, and yeah, you missed a lot.’ The laughter stopped then, and her smile faded. She was already checking her watch, but Harry didn’t want the moment to pass.
‘I know I did, but I came back. I’m here for good now.’ He flashed her his very best Harry smile, the one that she never could resist. Till now, it seemed, judging from her unamused facial expression. ‘I know that we’re not in a good place, but I think with me being back we can—’
He wanted to keep talking, to tell her that he’d come back for her, unable to think about anything else since she’d called, but she was already shaking her head.
‘There is no “we”, Harry. I know I told you about Aidan, but I’m not about to uproot our lives for you when you might not even be here in a few months.’
‘The job’s permanent, Annie.’
She flinched at his use of her shortened name, but he kept going.
She is my Annie.
‘I came here to stay. I’m looking for a place. Hell, if I’d been here any sooner I would have bought our dream house. I’ve left Dubai for good, Annabel, and I do want to see Aidan. We have a lot to talk about. I’ll wait till you’re ready, but I mean what I say. I’m here. For good. For you both.’
She banged on the side window in frustration, and he fell silent. He’d pushed too far. He steeled himself for the punch in the face she’d joked about. Hell, he would take it if it meant getting closer to her.
‘I don’t think so, Harry. Can you imagine how upsetting it will be for him? I can’t do it to the poor boy. He doesn’t have much family; I can’t risk it. He’s still getting back into school, into his routine.’ She almost blurted out about the move but stopped herself just in time.
‘You don’t have to risk anything. I’m his dad; I would never hurt him.’
Annabel snorted, throwing the rest of her sandwich back into her bag and sanitising her hands. ‘You don’t even know him, Harry! He doesn’t know you’re his dad!’
‘Whose fault is that?’
‘Yours! You left me there like an idiot that day. What was I supposed to do—hop on a plane with a baby bump and surprise you?’
‘That would have been better than how I found out, yes, but no, I—’
‘This is pointless,’ she snapped at him, so hard she almost showed him her teeth like a cornered animal. ‘You don’t think I feel guilty enough, lying to everyone all this time? Lying to my son? Lunch is over anyway. You ready?’
Harry felt his eyes roll back in his head. ‘I don’t want to fall out.’
‘Really? Well, you could have fooled me, Harrison.’
Damn it. She full-named me again. A sure-fire sign that she’s mightily hacked off with me.
‘We have to work together and that’s hard enough, okay? I can’t deal with anything else right now. I have a lot on, and I don’t want Aidan upset.’
Harry stared straight ahead as she took the wrappers and walked out of the ambulance to put them in the nearby waste bin. She’d looked as if she wanted to take the door off with the slam she gave it, and he watched her as she stomped back over, her lips constantly moving. She was talking to herself, as she always used to when she was worked up. He knew this girl—this woman—so well, and being near her after all these years felt like torture. He just wanted to take her into his arms, tell her his truth. Not that he could now, not after the conversation they’d just shared. He could tell that reliving that memory had affected her, and he wanted to pick a better moment than when they’d just fought.
He’d give anything to see her light up again. Light up when she saw him. The smile she used to give him when he walked into a room never failed to floor him, make him want to thank his lucky stars that she loved him. Instead, she got back into the cab and, without even looking his way, she put them back on work duty. A call came in seconds later, and they were off. By the time the last call came in, any chance to restart their conversation seemed lost.
‘Ambulance seventeen, you’re the closest to this call. Woman, thirty-six, chest pains.’
Harry took down the details and Annabel threw on the sirens and lights and they raced to the scene.
‘Any history on this patient?’ Harry asked, building up the best picture they could before arriving on scene.
‘No, fit and healthy otherwise. The patient has been suffering stress of late and be aware she has an infant with her. No family to call.’
‘Got it,’ Harry replied. ‘Two minutes ETA.’
They pulled up outside the neat house, where a woman was sitting on the doorstep, slumped over, the front door behind her wide open. They could hear crying, and next to where the woman was sitting on the front step there was a pram which was moving from side to side with the exertions of the screaming baby inside.
‘Go!’ Annabel shouted the second they pulled up, turning off the engine and yanking the handbrake up. She and Harry ran to the patient, kit bags on their backs. Annabel ran straight to the woman, who was now unconscious and blue. ‘She’s not breathing, Harry!’ They laid the woman down on the hallway carpet, calling out to any occupants in the house, even though they knew she was alone, hoping that someone might just have come to the woman’s aid. The baby was screaming in the pram, and Annabel found no pulse. ‘She’s not breathing. I think it’s a heart attack.’ She checked the patient’s airway, loosening her clothing and supporting her head. ‘Starting CPR!’
Harry rushed to bring the pram indoors, the outside temperature dropping now. Checking at lightning speed, he ascertained that the baby was no more than six months old, was well looked after, just hungry and a little cold. He parked the pram at the bottom of the stairs and watched as Annabel pumped the mother’s chest. Checking for a pulse again, she shook her head. ‘Defibrillator!’
Harry ran to get what they needed, Annabel pulling off the clothing and getting ready to shock the patient. Harry updated the station on the patient, taking the baby in his arms to stop her crying. She snuggled into the warmth of his body, stopping crying almost immediately.
‘Come on, Diane,’ Annabel said to the woman as she got everything ready, her hands moving with precise speed. ‘Don’t you die in front of your beautiful daughter. Come on! Clear!’
She pressed the paddles to the woman’s chest, and her body jerked up with the movement. Annabel checked her pulse again, putting the paddles aside.
‘We have a pulse!’ Diane gasped for air, coughing and murmuring as she came to. ‘Diane, Diane, it’s okay. We’re from the ambulance service. We’re here to help; we need to get you to hospital.’ Harry had already laid the baby back down in the pram and was racing to get a stretcher. They hooked her up to monitor her heart, and Annabel made her lie back down when she tried to get up.
‘Izzy?’ she asked. ‘Where’s my Izzy?’
‘She’s right here,’ Harry said from behind her. They lifted her onto the stretcher and strapped her in, Harry picking up the baby and letting her mother see her. ‘Do you have milk in the changing bag?’ Diane nodded weakly, and Harry picked it up off the back of the pram. ‘Let’s get you both in. Do you have anyone who could look after the baby?’
Diane shook her head, crying now. Annabel gave her some pain medication, and she settled a little. ‘No,’ Diane said weakly. ‘My husband left me. He’s selling the house. He left me for someone else. I’ve been so stressed. What happened?’
Annabel took the woman’s hand in her gloved one, leaning in so Diane would stay settled. ‘We think you had a mild heart attack, Diane, but we have some of the best doctors in the country waiting to help you. We’ll take Izzy with us, okay?’ The woman nodded, crying again now. Checking the monitors, both paramedics were happy to see that her stats were coming back up. She was out of the woods for now, but they needed to act fast.
‘I just felt a bit ill. I thought it was heartburn. How did I have a heart attack?’
Harry, leading the stretcher out of the house, the baby quiet and settled in his arms, gave Diane a comforting smile while Annabel checked the house over quickly and locked up. She put the keys in the changing bag on Harry’s shoulder and within minutes they were heading off. Harry offered to drive, and Annabel was glad. She didn’t want to leave the poor woman alone. She’d grabbed the detachable car seat from the pram, and she strapped the baby into the seat in the back of the cab, wrapping a blanket around her. She was now starting to stir, reminded of her hungry belly.
‘Do you want to call your husband? Anyone?’
‘I only have Izzy. It was just the three of us. I thought it would always be that way. Don’t call him, please.’
Diane shook her head, and Annabel didn’t press the matter. Harry closed the doors, but not before he squeezed Annabel’s shoulder.
‘Good job there,’ he told her.
‘Back at you,’ she said, meaning every word. ‘Drive fast.’
Harry winked at her before he closed the doors, and she turned her attention back to the woman. They’d got there in time, but she knew that the image of the new mother, slumped and alone, the baby crying next to her, wouldn’t leave her for a long time. She had people, but once she locked her doors in the evening it was just her and Aidan. The thought of something happening to her was something she tried not to dwell on, but it was there just the same. Seeing Harry hold the baby girl in his strong arms hadn’t helped either. He’d never held Aidan like that, and she felt the pain of moments lost once more, and the crushing guilt of her decision. She’d taken things away from him too. Moments they would never get to have. They blue lighted it all the way to the hospital, and they didn’t leave till the social worker turned up to help with the baby. Diane was going to be fine, but she had a long hard road ahead and she would need help to get there.
When they both got back into the ambulance some time later, they sat for a moment.
‘I hope they’ll be okay. She looked terrified.’
‘She’s a new mum going through a lot already. Hopefully the dad will come through for her.’
Aidan’s jaw tightened, and she patted his leg. He reached for her hand and held it there, under his.
‘If you ever need me like that, you’d call, right?’
She looked across at him, his features shadowed in the fast fading light outside.
‘Of course,’ she replied. ‘It’s one of my biggest fears. Not being well enough to take care of him. If I needed you, I’d call.’
He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it once. The shivers that ran down her arm could have been from the cold of the evening, but she knew it was more than that.
‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘I’ll always be here. Let’s get signed off, eh? It’s been a day.’ He didn’t let go of her hand the whole time, and for once she didn’t object to his attentions.
* * *
They pulled into the station, sorted their jobs out and went in to clock off. Harry waved to some familiar faces, most of whom looked back at him open-mouthed. Word had spread about his return. He had expected as much.
Annabel went on ahead, her shoulders hunched. She’d probably seen the looks he was getting too. It was hardly likely to get her to let her guard down. He wanted to tell them all to mind their own business.
‘God, I wish they wouldn’t gawp,’ she said at the side of him, while his face set into an irritated scowl. ‘I’d better get my paperwork done.’ He watched her leave. He could almost hear her defences clanging back up into place. Looking back down the corridor, he made a point of staring the onlookers out. Most of them had the good sense to look away, scattering like autumn leaves in the wind. Spotting a friendly familiar face, he started to smile.
‘Purdie!’ he said out loud, loud enough for everyone to hear. ‘You are a sight for sore eyes.’
Purdie came running over, enveloping him in a perfume-soaked hug. Harry was taken aback for a second but wrapped his arms around his old friend. Their old friend.
‘So,’ she said when she finally released him. ‘Finally saw sense and came home, eh? Good to be back?’
Annabel’s office door slammed behind them, and the remaining onlookers moved on. Purdie raised a thick dark brow at him, nodding towards the door. ‘That well, eh?’ She pulled him in for another hug and as he leaned in she whispered in his ear, ‘Give her time, Harry; it’s been a bit of a year for her.’
He opened his mouth in shock. ‘How do you know what I’m thinking?’
Purdie slapped him on the arm as they pulled away from each other. She straightened his uniform like a proud mother hen. ‘I know you kids, remember? You’re made for each other. Just give her space.’
Harry pulled a face. ‘I sort of think that was the issue in the first place.’
He got another slap for that one.
‘I know, and you upset a lot of people around here, but some things just need to be done. I know you meant well. Life’s messy, Harrison Carter.’ She gave him her sternest look as she turned to go home, bag and coat in hand. ‘It’s time to clear up that mess, once and for all. You good, all healed?’ She said this more softly, and he frowned at her question. Purdie was one of the few people who knew about his earlier diagnosis—she’d been working in Oncology at the time.
Was he all healed? Physically, sure, but the heart took a little longer to mend. Especially when a huge piece of it was missing.
‘I’m good,’ he said eventually, and she left happy. Harry found himself alone in the corridor, staring at Annabel’s office door as though it was the entrance to heaven and he’d been hell-raising half his life. He could walk through that door right now, tell her the whole truth about why he’d left, convince her that he was here to stay. Make her believe him, that his running days were over for good. That finding out about Aidan had made him so happy, so utterly happy.
His childhood sweetheart had loved him enough, even after what he did, to raise his child and keep his name out of it. She could have done a million different things to strike back at him, and understandably so, but she hadn’t. She’d even looked after his dad when his own son had never really known how. He knew he didn’t deserve her, but he wanted her to look at him the way she used to. As if the sun and moon rose and fell with him. The way that he still looked at her. When she wasn’t looking, anyway.
He stopped in front of the door, his hand raised in a fist, ready to knock. He could hear her moving about inside; she was so close now, just at the other side of the wood. He wanted to tell her how he felt, why he’d left—everything. Earlier it hadn’t been the right moment, but he had to make one. He couldn’t keep it inside him any longer. He wanted her to know the real reason he’d left. That leaving had torn him apart just as much as it had her. He wanted to meet his son too, but he understood why she was reluctant to let him. He’d destroyed her life back then, and he couldn’t blame her for wanting to avoid that all over again. She was still there though, under her new tougher exterior. He knew she was still there; he just needed her to trust him again.
Pushing his hands into his pockets to stop himself from banging on the door and declaring his intentions, he summoned the energy to walk away. He needed her to see that he wasn’t going anywhere. He needed to prove to his family that he was back, and he wasn’t going anywhere again. Which reminded him; he had something to take care of himself. After he’d told his father about his cancer, Abe had implored him to get checked over now he was in the UK. Ever the GP, but he had a point. He needed to make sure he stayed well, so he could finally, after so long, claim his life back. He just hoped that Annabel would be interested in his plans. He couldn’t help but get the feeling that it might just be too late.
He had almost reached his rental car when his phone buzzed with a text. Annabel. His heart thudded loud and hard in his ears as he opened it up.
Aidan is due a visit to Abe’s. If you are there at seven tonight, you can meet him. My terms. He doesn’t know, and I want it kept that way, for now at least. You get one chance, Harry. Don’t blow it.
* * *
Harry didn’t even remember the drive home. When he walked into his dad’s house later that evening, his face flushed with happiness, arms filled with shopping bags, Abe just raised a brow at him from his easy chair.
* * *
‘You got a date?’ The television was on in the background, a steaming mug of tea by his side. It felt as if he’d just come home from school; the wave of nostalgia hit Harry as soon as he walked in.
‘Annabel said that I could meet Aidan, not as his dad yet, but still. I got a few things on the way home, snacks and a few games.’
Abe chuckled. ‘We have food, you know, and games.’ He looked as if he was enjoying all this.
‘I know, but I wanted to make an effort, you know. They’ll be here soon. What do you normally do?’
‘Well, we eat and watch a bit of television. If it’s nice we have a walk. Aidan generally takes the lead. He’s a good kid. You make that appointment yet?’ Their liquor cabinet talk had really been a bare-all for the two Carter men. His dad had cried and held his son close. It had thawed them a little, but now the doctor in him was getting bossy already.
‘Not yet, but I will, I promise. Time got away from me today. Dad, has Aidan never asked you if you were his real grandfather, or asked about his father?’
