The #1 Bestsellers Collection 2011(165)

“She’s coming back to Auckland.” Connor looked from one woman to the other. This was his baby they were talking about, and this woman—Holly’s grandmother, he corrected himself—expected him to simply let them have the baby here? They were out of their minds.

“It’s starting again.” Holly clutched hold of his arms again, this time breathing through the contraction.

“You really don’t have time, Mr. Knight. The women in our family have our babies mighty quick.”

In the face of her testimonial and Holly’s frighteningly quick onset of labour, Connor couldn’t argue any longer. He lifted Holly back into his arms and followed her grandmother.

Half an hour later he paced back from the beach after reluctantly sending the helicopter off to the nearest grassed landing area, hopefully to await his call to return and take Holly and the baby back to Auckland. He let himself into the house and strode into Holly’s room. “Where’s the damn doctor?” he growled. “I rang him ages ago.”

“It hasn’t been that long,” Holly answered, her hair already beginning to mat against her forehead as perspiration built up on her face. “Here comes another one. Ahhhh.”

“Come here and rub her back like this, nice and firm.” Nana took Connor’s hand and pressed it against Holly’s back. “No, no, lad. Not like that. That’ll never give her any relief. Firm, like this.”

Finally he seemed to be doing something right in the old woman’s eyes. Holly sat back to front on a tall wooden-backed chair, her arms resting along the top rail, her legs spread on either side. He sensed her body tighten and spasm, could feel the moment she separated her mind from her surroundings and focused one hundred percent on the process that wracked her body.

This wasn’t as simple as negotiating a contract. Nothing quantified how helpless he felt. He was responsible for what she was going through right now.

As she sighed a moan of relief, Connor acknowledged he should have cared a lot more. Should have listened to his inner voice when it urged him to let himself love her.

He’d been coming through Auckland Customs when his cell phone had buzzed with the frantic call from Thompson, who’d discovered Holly’s flight from the obstetrician’s rooms yesterday. He hadn’t had time to be angry. All he’d felt was fear. Fear that something would happen to Holly.

On the periphery of his thoughts he heard another man’s voice. The doctor, at last. Connor stepped aside to let him introduce himself to Holly.

“How’re the pains?” the doctor asked.

“Awful,” Holly replied with a weak grin, before closing her eyes and breathing through the next wave.

“I think it’s time we got you up onto the bed so I can examine you.”

“Oh!” Holly gasped, “I feel like I need to push.”

“Hold back as much as you can. We need to check you first.”

Connor and Queenie swiftly helped Holly onto the bed while the doctor slipped away to wash his hands and glove up. Once back he quickly examined her before giving her a smile and a nod. “You’re all set to go.”

“Connor!” Holly shrieked his name. He was at her side in a second, and she gripped his hand so tight his fingers lost all feeling. But the discomfort was minor as he became lost in another more miraculous event. The birth of his baby.

He couldn’t tell later if it had been minutes or hours, but the incredible rush of seeing his son slide from Holly’s body beat all description. The doctor lifted the squalling infant onto Holly’s stomach, and Connor reached out to touch his son.

His son! The gift of life he’d never thought would be his.

Tears coursed down Holly’s cheeks as she looked at the child, but she didn’t reach to hold him, instead she turned her cheek against the stack of pillows bunched behind her and closed her eyes.

“Look at him, Holly. He’s perfect. We have a son.” His voice broke with emotion.

“No. Take him.” Her voice shook.

“Wh-what?” Had he heard her correctly?

“Take him. He’s yours. You have what you wanted. Take him now.” The harsh whisper that dragged from her throat slashed him to his core. “Take him before I can’t bear to let him go.”

The doctor and Holly’s grandmother exchanged worried glances as they attended to the final stages of the birth.

“Now, now, girl. That’s no way to talk,” her grandmother admonished gently. “Look at him. He’s beautiful.”

“I don’t want him. Please, take him away.” Her voice rose in pitch, and the doctor reached forward to swaddle the baby in a receiving blanket and gave Connor a troubled look.