The party was breaking up. Nell was looking battle-weary, the cameo at her neck taunting him, sticking into his psyche. Damn her! What was this rubbish she’d spouted about not marrying him if he’d been the last man left on Earth? He was the baby’s father, not someone she could just write off like that.
He wasn’t about to be trapped into anything, but he wasn’t about to be written off that easily either!
He’d take Nell home and then he’d go and find Tegan and set her straight.
‘I hate him!’ Tegan was reclining on the sofa where she’d collapsed the moment she’d got home, her head thrown back, her eyes closed, fingers pinching the bridge of her nose.
Morgan successfully negotiated crutches and boiling water and placed a mug of ginger tea on the table in front of her sister. ‘This coming from the woman who told me just last night that she loved him.’
‘That was before he accused me of telling the whole world I was pregnant by him.’
‘What? Why would he think you would do that?’
‘To shame him into marrying me, of course. Seems he really doesn’t trust me. Not that I haven’t given him good reason, I guess.’ She put a hand to her stomach as another cramp seized her. ‘Oh God, I feel awful. This can’t be normal, surely?’
Morgan looked at her sister, the concern for her twin evident in her eyes. ‘Can I get you anything?’
‘No, you shouldn’t be running after me. I should be taking care of you.’
‘Then we’ll just have to take care of each other.’
‘Thanks, sis. I’m just sorry you had to come home for what has to be the worst Christmas ever.’
‘At least I’m home. Anything has to beat being in a hospital miles away for Christmas. And, who knows, maybe things will look brighter tomorrow. Maybe there really is a Santa Claus.’
Tegan tried to smile, but the cramps turned it into a grimace. ‘Oh, no, here we go again.’ She staggered to her feet to head for the bathroom when the room suddenly tilted and spun as the floor fell away, and then everything turned black.
‘Happy Christmas,’ said the two old women in chorus as Maverick got out of his car and started up the footpath. He grunted something in response. Christmas wasn’t happy from where he was standing. Two ugly mutts on extendable leashes made a rush for him as he passed, but he bared his teeth and growled at them and they wheeled around and fled straight back to their elderly owner, snapping at each other instead.
He strode up the path, reached the front door, pushed the doorbell and waited. Then he pushed it again. And again.
‘Are you looking for the Misses Fielding?’
He looked over his shoulder. Both old ladies were peering at him intently. The dogs were sniffing around his car. He pressed the doorbell again, harder this time. ‘Just one of them.’
‘I’m afraid you’ve missed all the excitement.’
This time he turned around. ‘What excitement?’
‘The ambulance. It was a good half-hour ago. Came with lights flashing and siren wailing. I was just telling Deidre Garrett here about it.’
Ambulance? He gave up on the door. ‘What happened? Who?’
‘That’s what we’re trying to work out. I never can tell which one is which.’
‘Neither can I,’ said the one with the dogs. ‘I’m always getting them mixed up when they’re together. And their names are so confusing too, don’t you find?’
He wanted to bellow in frustration. ‘Just tell me,’ he said, as calmly and emphatically as possible, ‘what happened.’
‘We’re not sure. One of them got wheeled out on the trolley—they had the bag thing set up and everything, tubes going everywhere. And the other one sort of hobbled alongside.’
‘Hobbled?’
‘Yes, the one that was on crutches. She didn’t look much better. They bundled her into the back of the ambulance too, and went off with the siren screaming.’
Tegan!
Something had happened to Tegan.
The baby!
He shouted his thanks as he made a rush for the car, sending dogs scattering. They must have taken her to Gold Coast Central. It was the biggest hospital around, the best emergency department. She had to be there.
She’d left lunch without a word. Oh God, what had he done? He’d even suspected her of faking it.
If anything happened to her he didn’t know what he’d do. Tegan. And she was having his baby.
Unless…
Is that what had happened—she’d lost their baby? Their child?
Please, God, no. Already he felt like he’d been gutted, his organs hung out to dry.
Nothing must happen to her or the baby. He wouldn’t let it. Not before he had a chance to see her, to tell her how sorry he was for all the harsh words he’d spoken, all the things he should have said.