Her three-year-old secret...

...is about to be revealed!

Between her job with Queen Victoria’s Air Ambulance and raising her three-year-old daughter, midwife Chloe Larson’s too busy to find love. Only maybe love has found her... Xander Jameson—the gorgeous Australian doctor she had a fling with and who disappeared without a trace—has joined her team! The attraction is definitely still there. But first, Chloe must tell Xander he’s a father.

EMILY FORBES is an award-winning author of Medical Romance for Mills & Boon. She has written over twenty-five books and has twice been a finalist in the Australian Romantic Book of the Year Award, which she won in 2013 for her novel Sydney Harbour Hospital: Bella’s Wishlist. You can get in touch with Emily at emilyforbes@internode.on.net, or visit her website at emily-forbesauthor.com.

Also by Emily Forbes

Falling for His Best Friend

Reunited with Her Brooding Surgeon

Rescued by the Single Dad

Taming Her Hollywood Playboy

London Hospital Midwives collection

Cinderella and the Surgeon by Scarlet Wilson

Miracle Baby for the Midwife by Tina Beckett

Reunited by Their Secret Daughter

A Fling to Steal Her Heart by Sue MacKay

Available now

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Reunited by Their Secret Daughter

Emily Forbes

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-0-008-90221-6

REUNITED BY THEIR SECRET DAUGHTER

© 2020 Emily Forbes

Published in Great Britain 2020

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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For Scarlet, Tina and Sue,

my fellow London Hospital Midwives authors.

What a team. We did it!

Love

Emily

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR LILY! Happy Birthday to you!’

Chloe Larson blinked back tears as Lily blew out the candles on her birthday cake. She couldn’t believe she had a three-year-old daughter.

She pulled the candles from the cake and picked up the knife. ‘Shall I help you cut it up?’ she asked.

‘I want Granny to help me,’ Lily said.

Chloe tried not to be hurt. Ever since Chloe had found out she was pregnant at the age of twenty-four and had chosen to be a single mother, her own mother had been supportive. Chloe knew she couldn’t have raised Lily without her help, and she tried not to mind when Lily turned to Susan as easily as she turned to Chloe, but sometimes she wished that life had been different.

She held back a sigh as she passed the knife to her mum. There was no point in wishing for something that wasn’t to be.

‘Make a wish, Lily,’ Susan said as she guided her granddaughter’s hand to slice through the rainbow cake.

‘Don’t touch the bottom, Lil,’ Chloe’s brother Tom prompted.

Lily carefully lifted pieces of cake onto pink paper plates. ‘Uncle Tom gets one first,’ she said as she handed cake to her guests. ‘When will Uncle Guy get here?’

‘You saw him this morning, Lil. He’s working tonight. We’ll have to save him a piece.’

‘Can you take me for another ride now, Uncle Tom?’ Lily asked as she put a final piece of cake aside for Guy.

Chloe’s brothers had given Lily a pink bike, with streamers dangling from the handles and a set of stabilisers on the back, for her birthday and Lily had spent most of the day riding up and down the driveway with Tom close behind.

‘Sure.’

At twenty-one, Tom had plenty of energy, despite his job as a paramedic, and he doted on Lily as all Chloe’s family did. Chloe knew how lucky she was. People said it took a village to raise a child, and Chloe was grateful to her mother and brothers for their support. And to her girlfriends. She had a lot to be thankful for.

‘Come and watch me, Granny.’

Lily skipped outside followed by Tom and Susan, leaving Chloe inside with two of her best friends.

‘Okay, who will join me in a glass of wine or a G&T? Esther?’

‘Wine, please,’ Esther replied as Carly, who was in the early stages of pregnancy, said, ‘No wine for me, but I wouldn’t say no to another piece of cake.’

‘What would you wish for, Chloe, if it was your birthday?’ Esther asked her when she returned with the wine and Carly cut more cake. ‘How about your own happily ever after?’

Chloe looked sideways at Esther. The three women had been friends since they’d undertaken their midwifery training at the Queen Victoria together, and along with Isabella, who was currently overseas, the four of them had formed a tight-knit unit and sometimes Chloe was sure they could read each other’s minds. But surely Esther wouldn’t have guessed that Chloe was wishing for a different life?

‘I’m already happy,’ Chloe replied. She always insisted that she was happy with her life. She’d made a choice and she didn’t regret it, even if it hadn’t always been easy.

‘How about satisfied, then? Couldn’t you do with a white knight to come riding into your world?’

That was the trouble now that Carly and Esther had each found their perfect match and were deeply in love—they were both soon to be married and wanted everyone else to have their own happily ever after. But serious relationships were not for her; in her experience they only led to heartache. She’d be happy for Esther and Carly—she was happy for them—and she’d be a supportive friend, but she wouldn’t make the mistake of believing she could have her own happily ever after again. She’d been in love once before and it hadn’t ended the way she’d hoped.

‘I’m fine,’ she insisted.

Her life was busy and she was rarely alone even if she was sometimes lonely. Her days were spent either at work in Accident and Emergency at the Queen Victoria Hospital where she was surrounded by patients and colleagues or at home with her daughter. Home was her childhood house where Chloe’s youngest brother, Tom, and her mother also lived. Chloe had never moved out, although that had been her intention. She’d finished school and stayed home while she completed her nursing and then midwifery training but her unexpected pregnancy had derailed her plans and here she was, three years later, still living in her mother’s house.

It sounded depressing, it sounded as if she hadn’t achieved a great deal, but she paid rent and her share of the bills. She was a flatmate in a sense, not a free boarder. Plus she had a good relationship with her mother and Lily benefited from having family around—she loved her granny and her uncles. The arrangement suited everyone and Chloe was happy enough. She couldn’t deny that sometimes she wished for companionship, and yes, sometimes she wished for more sex too, but she didn’t believe in one-night stands and she didn’t believe in people’s ability to maintain long-term monogamous relationships so she was caught between a rock and a hard place. It would take someone pretty special to make her believe in happily ever after again. She thought she might have missed her chance at finding her ‘one.’

‘How long since you’ve been on a date?’ Esther asked.

‘It’s been a while,’ she admitted.

‘Can you be more specific?’ Carly asked with a smile.

‘November.’

‘November! It’s already March!’

‘I know. But everyone is busy over Christmas and then, in the middle of winter, I can’t be bothered going out.’

‘Maybe you should try online dating,’ Carly suggested. ‘At least that way you can start the process from home. You can peruse the menu in your pyjamas, so to speak.’

But Chloe had heard too many bad stories about online dating. She wanted to feel that spark of attraction from seeing someone in the flesh. She knew that existed. It had happened to her before. She didn’t want to flick through online sites judging people on their photoshopped looks or their fabricated profiles and she certainly didn’t want people judging her anonymously. She shook her head.

‘You should think about it, Chlo,’ Esther said. ‘I’d love you to bring a date to my wedding.’

Esther had told her on numerous occasions she was welcome to bring a guest but Chloe couldn’t imagine where she’d find someone she wanted to be her ‘plus one.’

‘I could ask Harry if he knows anyone or maybe you’ll meet someone at the wedding,’ Esther said before turning to Carly. ‘Or maybe Adem has some nice single friends?’

Chloe’s blood ran cold at the idea of being paraded around to all the single men. ‘I know you mean well, but I’m okay on my own. Really.’

Esther and Carly both looked a little sheepish. ‘Sorry. You know we love you and we just want you to be happy.’

‘I am,’ she insisted again. ‘Don’t say anything to Harry or Adem on my behalf but I’ll let you know if I change my mind about a date. Okay?’

Maybe she should take a date with her, even if it was just someone to provide a shield, some protection, if necessary. But she had no idea where she would find such a person.

Chloe put Lily’s favourite bedtime story book down and wriggled carefully out of her daughter’s bed, trying not to disturb her. She pulled the covers up and took a moment to watch her sleeping.

Lily was the spitting image of her at the same age. Her riot of strawberry blond curls fanned across the pillow framing her round face. A scattering of freckles ran over her nose, little dark spots on her pale skin. She had one arm thrown up beside her head and Chloe knew there was a graze on her bony elbow and another one on her knee. She reached out and touched one of Lily’s curls. Chloe had always hated her own hair, especially as a teenager, and the minute she could afford to she had bought a straightening iron and had dyed her hair blond, but now she loved her daughter’s strawberry curls. Chloe still dyed her hair, although she had given up straightening it except on occasion. Straightening her hair took time and that was a luxury she didn’t have much of any more.

The only differing feature between her and her daughter at the age of three was the colour of their eyes. Chloe’s were dark brown, Lily’s were grey, and in Chloe’s opinion Lily’s were far more striking especially in contrast to her pale auburn curls.

She searched her daughter’s face looking for any resemblance to the man who had fathered her. She liked to think there was something of him in Lily but as more time passed it was becoming harder to remember all the little details. Lily definitely had her father’s grey eyes but she couldn’t see those while Lily slept. She wondered if Lily ever wished that her father was around. Was something missing in her life? She seemed happy enough and she had good male role models but was that the same thing?

Chloe knew it wasn’t. Chloe and her younger brothers had been raised by their mother after their father had died when Chloe was seven. Chloe loved her mum and she knew she’d done a brilliant job raising three kids on her own but that had never stopped Chloe from missing her father. Lily had never met her father; maybe that would be enough to stem those feelings of loss, but Chloe doubted it. It might not matter to Lily now but what about when she got older?

She wondered for the thousandth time what had happened to Lily’s father. To Xander.

To the man who had captured her heart in the Australian outback four years ago.

He had looked like a blond Nordic god and she’d known from the moment she’d met him that he was damaged, wounded, but he was gorgeous, irresistible, and she’d been certain she could handle him. She’d been on a study exchange with the Australian flying doctor service and hadn’t been looking for anything more than a holiday romance.

Initially everything had been fine. Manageable. On paper, their affair looked perfect. She was young and footloose and Xander had just been through an acrimonious divorce. Neither of them had been looking for anything serious and they’d both been happy to have a light-hearted liaison, something to satisfy their mutual physical attraction and desires. Their time together had lasted less than four weeks. That was all the time she had left in Australia. It was enough time to have some fun but not long enough for heartache.

At the end of the month she hadn’t been ready to leave but she figured she’d forget about him in time. A holiday romance wasn’t meant to be for ever. She missed him but she figured she’d get over it.

She would focus on her career, on getting a contract with the Air Ambulance Service, and Xander Jameson would become part of her past. A memory to take out and relive from time to time.

But she hadn’t expected the emptiness that gnawed away at her. The ache that felt like a lump of lead in her chest. She’d never fully given her heart to anyone—in her experience men had a wandering eye and had trouble staying faithful, and she protected her heart zealously, careful not to give it away—but Xander had caught her by surprise.

She certainly hadn’t planned to fall in love. In her experience love didn’t last. Her parents’ marriage had crumbled under the weight of her father’s infidelity and Chloe’s one semi-serious relationship at the age of twenty-one had suffered the same fate. In her experience falling in love only led to heartache. But that didn’t stop it from happening to her.

She hadn’t counted on meeting Xander.

And she hadn’t counted on falling pregnant.

She had been back in London for a month before she realised. At least that situation explained her unexpected feelings. She wasn’t in love, she told herself, just overwhelmed by a flood of hormones.

She tried to contact Xander—she knew it was the right thing to do—but he’d disappeared.

She’d wanted to find him; despite her strong views on serious relationships and their longevity she let herself get carried away with a fantasy, creating all sorts of happily ever afters in her mind, and part of her hoped for a miraculous happy ending even though she knew there were no such guarantees.

She only realised when she was trying unsuccessfully to find him how little she really knew about him. They hadn’t spent much time talking about anything important. She knew he’d grown up in Adelaide in South Australia but he had no social media identity and his work colleagues had either been unable or unwilling to give her any useful information. Her letters had been returned to sender, unopened. He seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

But she had never stopped wondering if her life would have been different if she’d found him.

Would he have wanted to make them a family?

He had told her his marriage had ended because his wife had wanted children and, although he’d never voiced the words, Chloe took that to mean that he didn’t.

She’d been relieved in a way not to find him. What would he think of Lily? She was glad she hadn’t had to find out. The decisions about her pregnancy were hers alone to make and her dreams of a happily ever after remained just dreams.

Once Lily was born she’d had no time to continue her search and she’d doused the flames of her dreams and focused on the job of raising her daughter. But she’d never forgotten him.

She sighed.

How could she forget him when she was reminded of him every day? Every time she looked into her daughter’s eyes.

She’d tried to forget and she’d tried to convince herself she hadn’t been in love with him. If anything, her experience with Xander was just more proof that everlasting love was not meant for her.

She had her daughter, her miracle, her precious Lily. That would have to be enough.

She left Lily’s night light on and the door ajar as she slipped out of the room while her mind continued to wander. If she’d realised the consequences of their affair would she have been more cautious?

She loved her daughter and she had absolutely no regrets about having her. She was always going to keep the baby—her mum had raised three kids with minimal help and Chloe knew she could raise one. She had never considered giving Lily up. She had no regrets about the choices she had made but she did sometimes wonder about a different future.

Maybe the fact that Esther and Carly were both about to settle down and join the ranks of the happily married was making her reassess her own life. Maybe she did need to get out on the dating scene. Maybe she would like some company. Now that Lily was three maybe Chloe’s life would calm down, perhaps she would get some time to herself, a day that wasn’t all consumed by motherhood and her career. Perhaps there would be some time for her to have a social life beyond an occasional drink or dinner with Carly and Esther. Nothing serious—casual dating would be fine. She wasn’t going to dream of anything more than that. She and Lily were fine on their own and she wasn’t prepared to settle for anyone ordinary. It was better to be single than to be with someone who wasn’t perfect for her. And for Lily.

Still she wondered if Xander could have been that person.

She had been on a few dates since Lily had been born but no one had lived up to her memory of Xander. She was sensible enough to realise that her memory may have altered over the years. She was remembering all the good things, looking at him through rose-tinted glasses, but he couldn’t be perfect. Four weeks just hadn’t been long enough for her to get annoyed by his flaws.

But what if she had found him?

Where would they be now?

She shook her head. She couldn’t survive on ‘what ifs.’ Even if she’d found him, he might not have been the person she wanted him to be. They’d had amazing chemistry but who knew if that would have been enough to sustain a happy, long-term relationship. She was certainly none the wiser.

She was sure there was a simple explanation to Xander’s apparent disappearance but, whatever it was, she’d never been able to find him and now, here she was, almost four years later, still single, and Lily was still without a father.

Should she let her girlfriends set her up? Chloe wondered as she hurried through A&E to fetch another bag of saline. Was that the answer?

The idea of going on a date wasn’t completely unappealing but the logistics of it wasn’t as simple. Most days after a long shift at work and then coming home to a toddler, she barely had the energy for housework. She couldn’t imagine having the energy to get ready and dressed up for a date.

She returned to the treatment cubicle and her patient, pushing all thoughts of dating aside.

‘All right, Penny, this should help you feel better,’ she said as she connected the bag of saline to the drip.

‘Can you tell me again what the doctor said is wrong with me?’ Penny asked.

‘You have a condition called hyperemesis gravidarium,’ Chloe told her as she updated Penny’s chart. ‘It’s a medical term for severe morning sickness that unfortunately doesn’t just hit you in the morning. I know you feel awful and while it can be serious it’s not life-threatening and it will pass.’

‘When?’

‘It’s usually much better by about halfway through your pregnancy.’

‘That’s another three months away,’ Penny groaned, and reached for the bowl and proceeded to vomit again. She’d presented to A&E in the late afternoon, badly dehydrated, having vomited all day.

Chloe held Penny’s hair back from her face and took the bowl from her when she finished, swapping it with a cool, damp flannel.

‘Is there anything I can do to make it stop?’ Penny asked.

‘Some expectant mums find that drinking your food instead of eating it can help,’ said Chloe. ‘Making shakes and smoothies for example and a diet high in protein and carbohydrates is better than a fatty diet. Ginger and vitamin B6 can also help.’

Scans had shown that Penny was pregnant with only one baby and blood tests hadn’t detected a virus or anything else untoward. She had low blood pressure and a rapid pulse but the nausea and dehydration were the main concern.

‘Does the vomiting harm the baby?’

‘Vomiting itself isn’t harmful but it is important not to ignore the symptoms. If you’re unable to keep food down, then you’re not getting the nutrition you need and neither is the baby and sometimes this can cause a low birthweight. You do need to take care of yourself.’ Chloe didn’t want to frighten Penny unnecessarily but it was important to stress that she needed to monitor her condition. ‘A lot of pregnant women with this condition find they need regular fluid top-ups to combat the dehydration. Anti-nausea medication as well and, very occasionally, hospital admission. I’m going to give you the details for the Early Pregnancy Unit here at the hospital. It’s open every day during office hours. That’s the place to go if you’re feeling unwell. You’ll get seen faster than here in A&E and you’re less likely to pick up any bugs. I think you should pop in there for a check-up in the next day or two as they will be able to suggest some strategies to help you through this.’

Chloe pulled a notebook from the pocket of her scrubs and wrote down the phone number and details for the EPU as well as the scientific term for Penny’s diagnosis. As she tucked it into Penny’s bag the A&E manager stuck her head into the cubicle.

‘Chloe? The air ambulance has called for a midwife. Can you go with them?’ Shirley asked. ‘I’ll reassign your patient.’

Chloe nodded. ‘Penny’s notes are up to date. She’s all set for the moment.’

Chloe was one of three midwives who worked with the Air Ambulance Service on an as-needed basis. The service had their base on the top floor of the Queen Victoria Hospital with a rooftop helipad, and Chloe had applied for a position at the hospital specifically to work with the service. She loved the work and wished she could do it full time but that would mean doing general nursing and not midwifery. She didn’t want to give that up so this was the compromise; she felt it gave her the best of both worlds.

She threw her gloves into the bin and hurried to the lift, not wanting to waste time. Protocol dictated that the crew would aim to take off within four minutes of receiving a call.

She got out one flight before the roof and stepped into the pair of orange overalls that were handed to her. She zipped them up over her scrubs and ran up the stairs and out onto the roof. She jogged across to where the helicopter sat on the helipad, its rotors turning. She ducked her head instinctively even though she wasn’t tall enough for the blades to hit her and climbed into the chopper and took her seat. Neil, one of the two fire officers on deck, slid the door closed behind her.

She reached up and unhooked a helmet that was hanging above her head. She tugged the elastic band that tied her unruly curls into a ponytail lower down on her neck so she could pull the helmet on. Sitting opposite her was Rick, one of the service’s paramedics.

She hadn’t been called for a job in over a month and she felt the familiar thrill of nervousness and anticipation as she fastened her helmet strap and reached for her harness. She worked quickly, not taking the time to glance at the other seat where one of the doctors would be sitting, as she knew the pilot was waiting to lift off.

‘Chloe, this is Dr Alexander Jameson.’ She slid one arm into her harness as she heard Rick introduce her to a new doctor. ‘He’s covering for Eloise while she’s off after her knee surgery.’

Chloe felt a shiver down her spine and her heart rate increased even as she told herself she’d misheard. She must have misheard. She’d been thinking about Xander and must have imagined Rick had said his name because why would he be here? She kept her head down, taking longer than usual to click her harness together.

‘He’s just come down from Wales.’

Chloe breathed out. He was Welsh. Not Australian. It wasn’t him.

But when she lifted her head she was looking directly into a pair of familiar grey eyes.

It was him.

Xander.

Her vision blurred as everything around her shifted. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to clear her vision, but when she opened them she found Xander still looking straight back at her.

His eyes ensnared hers and held her motionless and she felt the air rush from her lungs as if she’d been punched in the stomach.

She stared at him. At the helmet that covered his head but not his perfect oval face with its angular, high cheekbones. At his full lips that were outlined by designer stubble and at his forehead that was slightly creased. She remembered that expression; so often serious, he usually looked either like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders or was deep in thought.

She wanted to reach over and smooth the crease from his brow.

His grey eyes, which still held a trace of sadness, were wide, framed by thick, dark blond lashes, and they stared straight into her soul.

How could she have forgotten how gorgeous he was?

She was immediately transported back to a hot Australian day, to the first time she saw him. He had the same effect on her today as he’d had then. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t stop staring at him. From the moment she’d first laid eyes on him almost four years ago she’d fallen hard and she could feel herself tumbling again.

How could she have forgotten the intensity of her feelings?

She felt light-headed, dizzy, and was grateful that she was already sitting down.

She had spent months trying to find him. Months thinking of all the terrible things that could have happened to him and here he was, apparently fit and well, sitting in her chopper.

CHAPTER TWO

‘XANDER, CHLOE IS one of our on-call midwives.’ Rick was still introducing them as if they didn’t already know each other. As if Chloe’s world hadn’t just tipped on its axis.

Her heart was racing and her hands were shaking. She tucked them into her lap, hoping Rick and Xander didn’t notice her reaction.

‘Chloe.’ He nodded. Once. Briefly.

He didn’t deny that he knew her and he didn’t pretend that he was meeting her for the first time but he certainly didn’t appear too thrilled. He gave her nothing. She consoled herself with the fact that it wasn’t the time or place for a personal conversation.

Would he be expecting one?

He probably hadn’t thought about her once in four years. He would have no idea that she thought of him daily. He would have no idea of the impact he had made on her life.

She studied him fleetingly, trying not to stare again. The orange jumpsuit that was the uniform for air ambulance medical staff was not the most flattering shade but Xander wore it well. His face was slightly tanned, making her wonder where else he’d been. Surely he hadn’t got a tan in Wales? His shoulders were still broad, his legs long and lean. He looked thinner than she recalled and she wondered if his hair, beneath the helmet, was as thick and blond as she remembered. Four years ago he had worn it swept to one side, always looking as if he’d just finished running his fingers through it.

When she had left him behind, they’d had no plans for anything to go beyond a brief holiday fling. He had no idea that she’d spent months trying to find him.

She pushed the memories of their time together aside, before they could come flooding back. She couldn’t afford to be swamped by the past. She had a job to do.

She could be professional. She was professional.

She’d waited years to speak to Xander. She’d given up on ever finding him. She could wait a few more hours to catch up.

She turned to Rick, hoping he was the one with all the information about the job and focused on the task at hand.

‘Where are we headed?’ she asked.

‘Stabbing. Domestic dispute. Thirty-year-old woman, fourth pregnancy, thirty-eight weeks. Paramedics are on site. The woman and her partner are both being treated for injuries. The woman is in labour.’

Chloe digested the scant information. Details about the job were relayed to them by the co-pilot, Jeff, and were usually minimal. She knew the job was likely to be complicated but that was normally the case. The air ambulance wasn’t called for simple incidents. But they wouldn’t be the first pre-hospital team at the scene and she knew more information would be forthcoming once they arrived. The team had plenty of emergency medicine experience between them and were used to gathering information as they went.

Out of habit she checked the supplies stashed in the seat pockets beside her while her mind wandered.

She could feel Xander’s eyes on her but she didn’t dare meet his gaze. She needed to collect her thoughts before she connected with him and checking the supplies gave her something to occupy her throughout the short flight.

She needed to control her nerves. She concentrated on counting supplies, willing her hands to stop shaking. She was equal parts excited, nervous and worried.

She needed to focus but she was dying to know what he was thinking. What had he been doing? How was he? Did he ever think of her? And what did his arrival mean for her? For them? For Lily?

It was only a few minutes before she felt the helicopter begin the left-hand bank turn and knew they had reached their destination. The pilot, Simon, would be giving Jeff a chance to identify a safe landing site.

The house was easy to find; from her seat Chloe could see an ambulance, a police car and a police van parked out the front.

The chopper landed on a vacant block that looked as if it may have once been a tennis court. A few kids scattered to the footpath as it descended but then hung around, mouths open and eyes wide, to watch the scene unfold.

Rick slid the door open as the chopper touched down. Chloe reached for one of the kit bags only to find Xander had reached for the same one. Their hands touched and as Xander’s came to rest on top of hers she jerked hers away as if she’d been scalded. Her skin was on fire, her breathing rapid. She kept her gaze averted and picked up a second bag as she tried to get her nerves under control.

She strode off, carrying the bag, quickly putting some distance between them. She needed to keep him out of her line of sight while she pulled herself together.

Two policemen emerged as they approached the house and between them Chloe could see a man in handcuffs. The husband? The police officers pushed on his head, forcing him into the back of their van before slamming the door. She gave him a cursory glance as she walked past before following Rick into the property.

The house was identical in appearance to several others in the street. A small front garden in need of some attention separated the house from the street. A short flight of steps led to the front door set in a narrow two-storey building. Chloe knew the floor plan—she’d been to many houses just like this one—and there was nothing to indicate from the outside what went on behind closed doors. Houses where domestic violence occurred could look like any other from the outside.

The front door opened into a tight hallway. There was a staircase on their right, an empty lounge on the left. Looking past Rick’s shoulder Chloe could see a kitchen at the end of the hall. The air ambulance crew crowded into the small room.

A woman lay on the floor. Her shirt was ripped and bloodied and blood pooled on the linoleum. Her skin was pale and her breathing laboured. Two paramedics knelt on either side of her and one looked up as the team entered the room.

‘This is Shania. Stab wound to the right chest.’

The paramedics had cut through the woman’s top and the one who spoke was just finishing applying a dressing to the lateral side of the woman’s chest.

‘We’ve only just been able to get to her,’ the paramedic continued. ‘We had to wait for the police to subdue her partner.’

‘She is complaining of difficulty breathing. She’s hypoxic, absent air sounds,’ the other paramedic said as he lifted the stethoscope that he’d been holding against the woman’s chest. ‘Rapid heart rate and sharp stabbing chest pain. I think she may have a tension pneumothorax.’

The air ambulance team all had their job roles emblazoned on the front left of their overalls. The paramedic holding the dressing reached into the kit that was beside her with her free hand and passed gloves to everyone before handing a stethoscope to Xander.

‘She’s thirty-eight weeks pregnant. Fourth pregnancy.’ The paramedic repeated the information that the air ambulance team had already been given. ‘She’s in labour but we haven’t had time to assess that.’

Xander knelt beside the woman. He placed the stethoscope against her chest and listened. Chloe was happy to defer to him. She knew there was no point asking the woman any questions about her labour until her chest pain was sorted. If she was having trouble breathing, she wouldn’t want to talk. The woman’s labour wasn’t the priority. A tension pneumothorax was life-threatening.

Xander lifted his head. ‘I need a large-bore needle, fourteen-gauge,’ he said.

The paramedic handed him an angiocath along with an alcohol wipe. Xander swept the wipe across the woman’s ribs and Chloe watched as he palpated for the intercostal space in the mid-clavicular line with slender fingers. His blond head was bent over the woman, the smooth skin on the back of his neck exposed as he leant over his patient.

He was talking to the woman, explaining what he was about to do.

He was calm and methodical. He worked quickly but smoothly. There was no panic, no hurried movements, nothing to alarm or frighten the woman, who was already on edge.

Chloe watched his profile as he worked, noting the angle of his jaw, the blond stubble that covered it, the sharpness of his cheekbones, his flat, shell-shaped ears. She remembered how much she’d learnt from him when they’d worked together in Australia. His calmness, experience, patience and bedside manner were some of the many things that she’d found attractive but they hadn’t been the first things she’d noticed about him. She hadn’t even known he was a doctor, let alone that she’d be working with him, when she’d first seen him. It had been one of those moments you read about: their eyes had met across a room and she was done for. She’d fallen hard and fast.

She blinked and cleared her mind as she took a deep breath and told herself to focus. There were more important things to think about than what had happened between her and Xander. Those days were long gone. She was a different person now, no longer carefree, no longer independent. She had a job to do and other things to consider. She needed to get herself under control. She couldn’t let her hormones unsettle her. She needed to take stock of the situation—even if she couldn’t make sense of it yet.

She had to try to ignore the fact that Xander was kneeling just inches away from her. She had to resist the temptation to reach out and place her hand on the back of his neck. To feel the warmth of his skin under her fingers. She had to pretend he was just another colleague, not the man who she’d once thought could be the love of her life.

She forced her attention back to the tableau in front of her, concentrating on the woman’s chest instead of on Xander.

He’d found the space he wanted and she watched as he inserted the needle between the woman’s ribs. They all heard the air as it flowed out of the chest cavity. He removed the needle after a few seconds, leaving the plastic tube in situ, and reviewed the woman’s observations. Her oxygen sats improved as her chest re-inflated. Xander listened for breath sounds before taking a chest seal from Rick and applying it.

Rick and Xander worked smoothly together, inserting a drip, administering pain relief and hooking an oxygen mask over Shania’s nose and mouth while Xander kept up his explanations.

They didn’t need Chloe’s help but she kept herself busy, finding the things she might need for a delivery and making sure they were close to hand. Focusing on anything but Xander.

‘How are you feeling now, Shania?’ Xander asked. ‘Do you have any pain? Can you tell me where it is?’

‘Ow!’ Shania clutched at her stomach and Chloe could see the tell-tale ripple of a contraction pass across Shania’s abdomen. Treating a tension pneumothorax always gave immediate relief and Xander had relieved Shania’s chest pain so successfully that she was now complaining about her labour pains.

Xander caught Chloe’s eye and gave her a quick smile, uniting them in their treatment of their patient. But his smile did more than that. Chloe thought he was handsome when he wore his usual brooding expression but when he smiled he was something else altogether. No longer wounded, or sad, the shadows in his eyes disappeared and it was like watching the sun come out after a long winter. His smile instantly transformed his face and made Chloe’s world tilt. It had been almost four years since she’d seen his smile and it knocked the wind out of her all over again.

‘Looks like it’s your turn,’ he said as he stood preparing to swap places with Chloe. Space was at a premium and Chloe was very aware of how close to her Xander was standing. How she had to brush past him in order to reach their patient.

She took a deep breath and mentally shook her head as she knelt on the floor.

‘Shania, I’m Chloe. I’m a midwife. Let’s see what’s going on with this baby of yours, shall we?’ She strapped a foetal heart rate monitor around Shania’s belly and waited anxiously for the reading, hoping it would fall between one hundred and ten and one hundred and sixty beats per minute.

One hundred and two...

‘We need to get her to hospital,’ Chloe said. The baby appeared to be in distress and Chloe was concerned about oxygen deprivation given Shania’s injuries.

‘I’m not going to the hospital,’ Shania protested.

‘We need to transfer you,’ Chloe insisted. ‘You have a chest wound and you’re having a baby. This is for your safety. And your baby’s safety.’

‘Who will look after my kids?’ Shania asked as another contraction gripped her.

‘Where are they?’ Xander asked.

‘With one of the neighbours.’ A policewoman stood in the corner of the kitchen. Chloe had barely been aware of her until she replied to Xander’s question.

Xander looked over to her. ‘Can you see if the neighbour is happy to keep them for a while?’

The policewoman nodded and left the room and Chloe indicated to Rick to follow her. She needed him to fetch the stretcher.

She bent her head and resumed her examination. ‘Let me have a quick look to see how far along your labour is.’ The contractions were less than a minute apart and Chloe was worried. She looked up at Xander. ‘I don’t think we’re going anywhere right now. She’s fully dilated.’

The baby’s head was crowning. There was nothing Chloe could do now to slow down Shania’s labour. This baby was coming whether they were ready or not.

‘I want to push!’ Shania cried out.

‘Okay, Shania, ready when you are.’ The pain relief Xander administered was enough to lightly sedate Shania, enough to calm her down but not enough to make her unable to push.

Shania bore down and Chloe eased the baby’s head out. ‘Well done, Shania. Take a breath now,’ she said as she felt for the cord. Everything seemed clear. ‘Wait for the next contraction and I’ll get you to push again.’

The baby came out in a slippery rush. A girl. She didn’t appear to be injured but everything was silent. No crying and Chloe didn’t think she was even breathing. She quickly wrapped her in a soft cloth and rubbed her vigorously and was rewarded with a muted cry.

‘Congratulations, Shania. You have a daughter.’

Chloe clamped and cut the cord and did a quick Apgar assessment. The baby’s hands and feet were blue, her respiration slow, but she scored an eight out of ten, which was great, all things considered.

Chloe wrapped her against the cold and slid a cap onto her head to retain warmth. ‘Do you have a name for her?’ she asked as she handed her to Shania.

‘Tonya.’ Shania was gazing at her daughter, all pain forgotten.

Shania was oblivious to her surroundings now as Chloe delivered the placenta and put it into a bag. Shania still needed to go to hospital and Chloe needed to take the placenta with them.

Rick returned with the stretcher followed by the policewoman. Chloe could see the surprised look on her face. The baby had arrived faster than anyone anticipated. The policewoman spoke to Shania. ‘Shania, your neighbour will mind the children while you go to hospital.’

Shania was too tired to argue as Chloe took the baby and Rick and Xander transferred her to the stretcher.

Chloe did another quick check of the baby and increased her Apgar score by one. Despite the dramatic circumstances surrounding her birth she was doing remarkably well. Chloe carried Tonya out to the chopper and held her as Shania’s stretcher was loaded on board and Rick connected Shania to the monitors. Simon lifted the chopper into the air as soon as Rick gave the all clear.

‘The police asked me to let you know you’ll need to make a report,’ Xander said to Shania. ‘They want to know if you want to press charges.’

Shania shook her head. ‘I’m not going to press charges.’

Xander looked incredulous. ‘What? Why not?’

‘If I’m in hospital I need Greg at home to look after the other kids. I can’t have him locked up overnight. They’ll keep him until he sobers up and then they’ll let him go. I just hope he goes home and not back to the pub.’

‘The police have arrested Greg. I don’t think they’re going to be too quick to let him go.’ Xander was speaking slowly, as if he was worried that Shania wasn’t understanding the situation. ‘Has he been physically violent towards you before?’

‘I started it,’ Shania replied, and Chloe noticed she avoided answering Xander’s question.

‘How do you figure that?’

‘I was going to the next-door neighbour’s. I was going to ask her to drive me to hospital because Greg had been drinking, but Greg got angry. He didn’t want the neighbours to know he was in no state to drive and he insisted he was okay to take me. I knew he wasn’t and when I tried to get past him he blocked my way. I grabbed a kitchen knife and threatened him but he took it off me and, when I tried to push past him, the knife stabbed into me. I shouldn’t have taken the knife in the first place and then none of this would have happened.’

Chloe could see by Xander’s expression that he wasn’t pleased with Shania’s answer. She also knew he wouldn’t be pleased that there was nothing he could do about the situation. She knew he was driven by the same overwhelming desire to help people, to fight for the underdog, to improve people’s lives, as she was. ‘Shania, the knife didn’t stab you, your husband did. That is not okay.’

‘Do you have kids?’ Shania asked.

Chloe should have anticipated the question. It was one she got asked by almost every labouring mother when they were looking for some common ground or reassurance that Chloe knew what they were going through, but she hadn’t been prepared to have to answer that question in front of Xander. Her heart rate spiked but thank God she didn’t have to answer as fortunately Shania was addressing Xander and not her.

Xander shook his head. ‘No, I don’t.’ He kept his head turned away and Chloe wasn’t able to see his expression. When she’d last seen him four years ago he hadn’t wanted kids. Had anything changed? Would he want Lily?

‘I have three kids,’ Shania continued. ‘Four now. I don’t work. Where would I go?’

Xander looked up and Chloe took over from him. She knew he’d be wanting to offer advice but she guessed he wasn’t sure how the system worked in the UK.

‘There are options,’ Chloe said. ‘I can organise for a social worker to come and see you and we can see what measures we can put in place.’ It was often a difficult process. Resources were scant and Chloe knew that a lot of mums preferred not to uproot their children. It was a catch-22. She’d start with getting the social worker visit while Shania was in hospital but she knew from experience that there was little they could do if Shania wasn’t on board with the idea. She was sure Shania had heard it all before but she was pleased to see her give a very slight nod of agreement just as the large red H of the hospital helipad came into view beneath them.

The hospital roof became a hive of activity as the helicopter door slid open. Surgical and neonatal teams were on hand to meet them and transfer the patients and Chloe lost sight of Xander as she went with baby Tonya to the neonatal unit.

Her hands shook as she transferred Tonya to the neonatal stretcher. Her heart rate was still elevated and she knew some of it was due to adrenalin from the job but the rest was wholly and solely because of Xander.

She remained on tenterhooks for the rest of her shift waiting to see if Xander would appear in A&E even though she knew his shift must have finished well before hers. The air ambulance helicopter only operated during daylight hours and it was long since dark. Once the helicopter was out of action, road crews took over and Xander would have gone home. The only reason he would have to come to A&E would be to see her.

She was partly relieved and partly disappointed when her shift ended with Xander nowhere in sight.

Xander sat at the bar and nursed his drink as he mulled over the day’s turn of events.

He wasn’t thinking about work or Shania. He was thinking about Chloe. Seeing her had completely blindsided him and had brought back memories he’d thought long buried.

He hadn’t let himself consider the possibility of seeing her again even though he was in London. But was it really such a surprise?

They’d met when she was on a study exchange, working with the flying doctor, and he knew that the London air ambulance was the UK equivalent but he’d had no idea she was working with them. He hadn’t let himself hope that he’d see her again.

But here she was.

It had been almost four years but she’d barely changed. Maybe she wasn’t quite as thin but, if anything, the few extra pounds suited her. She still looked young—she was seven years younger than him so she must only be about twenty-seven—but there was a maturity about her now. In both looks and manner. He saw it in her eyes and he’d seen it in her work today. She’d been confident, assured and capable.

He closed his eyes as he pictured her.

Her thick blond curls had been pulled back into a ponytail today, but he could remember how it had felt to slide his fingers into her tresses, how her hair had felt splayed across his bare chest. How she’d felt lying nestled into his side, how he had felt when she’d taken him in her arms. The cool, silkiness of her skin, the softness of her lips and the smell of shampoo and sun in her hair. He recalled it all.

It had been almost four years but he remembered her as if it was yesterday.

She had been a good distraction, an excellent distraction, at a time of his life when he’d needed distracting.

He’d had a tumultuous two years and he had still been trying to process what had happened when she walked into his life. He’d encountered two of life’s major stresses simultaneously. A serious health scare and a marriage breakdown. His cancer diagnosis had been a shock, his wife’s infidelity equally so. Going through chemotherapy had been confronting and exhausting without the additional stress of a divorce. A divorce that he hadn’t seen coming. Those past two years had left him shattered and numb and he had been struggling to find his new identity in a future that didn’t hold marriage or fatherhood. His dreams had been crushed, leaving him with nothing except his career.

He had been physically and emotionally exhausted when he’d met Chloe. He’d been through the wringer and, although he knew a stranger would look at him and suspect nothing, he felt a shadow of his former self.

She’d made him feel better but she hadn’t been able to mend him.

Chloe had given him a chance to forget about the previous two years. Some respite. She’d allowed him a chance to ignore what had happened but, he could admit this now, that hadn’t helped him to deal with it. Denial and acceptance were two completely different things.

But he did know that the last time he’d been truly happy had been when he’d been with Chloe. She had calmed his soul and brought peace and happiness to his life at a time when he’d desperately needed it. And then taken it all away with her again when she’d left.

He hadn’t anticipated that her departure would leave such a big hole in his life—after all, they’d only known each other for four weeks—but the loneliness he felt had surprised him and it was only after she’d gone that he wondered if he should have confided in her. Could they have had something more if he hadn’t been so emotionally wounded? So damaged.

He would never know.

Confiding in her would have meant talking about what had happened, talking about his feelings, and he wasn’t ready to do that. He was happier in denial. They’d shared a bed but not their minds. His wife, ex-wife, whom he’d known for ten years, had betrayed his trust and he hadn’t been in a position where he could bring himself to trust anyone else with his story. Not even a virtual stranger.

He’d needed time.

And time was something they didn’t have then.

He may have denied them the opportunity of getting to know each other better but he consoled himself with the knowledge that Chloe was only ever in Australia temporarily. He told himself that nothing he could have said or done would have changed that but it didn’t stop him from sometimes wishing that things had turned out differently.

They’d had no plans for a future together, although he had found himself imagining one, but he knew he wasn’t in a position to offer her anything permanent. The future. Permanency. They were words that he’d been afraid to consider. His fate was still uncertain. He’d enjoyed Chloe’s company but he’d known, in his soul, that he wasn’t what she needed even while he thought she might be exactly what he desired.

But he had to sort himself out first. He had to find some level of acceptance for what had happened to him. To his life. He couldn’t move forward until he’d done that.

He didn’t know what his future was going to be, so instead of searching for her he’d gone searching the world, looking for a substitute. Looking for something to fill the space she’d left behind.

He’d thought he would find something to fill that void but today, seeing her again, he wondered whether his search had been in vain. Could anything fill that void or could it only be filled by someone?

She’d been the perfect tonic for him at one of the lowest points of his life but what about now?

Was he in a better place?

Four years on and he’d thought he was better but his feelings today took him by surprise. He’d felt an extraordinary sense of calm when he’d seen her today. As if, for the first time in years, he could breathe deeply and fully.

He’d considered asking her out for a coffee or a drink but had hesitated at the last minute. He needed some time to understand what this chance meeting could mean. Was it just that? A chance. It didn’t need to mean anything. He didn’t need to act on it. He needed time to digest this situation. To figure it out.

Being in the same place again was just a coincidence and he didn’t believe in coincidences.

But he couldn’t deny that it had been good to see her again.

He swallowed a mouthful of beer as he recalled the first time he’d laid eyes on her.

He’d been sitting by himself at the bar in the Palace Hotel in Broken Hill—some things never changed, he thought wryly, although he had been waiting for a colleague. He’d been drinking too much, blocking out the previous two years. He’d already had one beer and was on to his second when she walked in.

The late-afternoon sun had silhouetted her in the doorway of the hotel and her golden curls had shone like a halo around her head. She was slim and elegant with a dancer’s posture and a graceful walk.

He’d sat, mesmerised, as she’d walked towards him. He hadn’t stopped to wonder why she was heading his way; at the time it had made perfect sense, as if his mind was willing her to come to him, as if she could read his thoughts. It was only when she joined him at the bar that he noticed that Jane, a Royal Flying Doctor flight nurse and one of his colleagues, was with her.

Jane introduced them and the news that this vision, Chloe, was going to be working with him for the next month was the best thing he’d heard in a long, long time. From that moment on he was scarcely aware of other colleagues and patrons coming and going around them. He was struck, not only by Chloe’s natural beauty but by the joy that seemed to radiate from her. He’d been enthralled by her smile, her lips, the light in her brown eyes and her exuberance.

He had no idea of how long they’d stayed in the bar. All he knew was that he wasn’t leaving until she did and eventually it was just the two of them, alone. One by one the others had left but Chloe had stayed on and, therefore, so had he.

She didn’t have anywhere she had to be.

She’d flirted with him. Touched him on the arm. The thigh. Playing with her glorious hair. He thought he was too old for her, he was about to turn thirty but he’d felt ten years more than that; he was old but not so old that he didn’t recognise the signs of mutual attraction.

He’d wondered, briefly, if it was a bad idea to let her know he was interested too but he hadn’t wanted to resist. Hadn’t been able to. Chloe had been very convincing and he hadn’t fought against her for too long. He had behaved for one night but they both knew what was going to happen.

He remembered the anticipation.

Being with Chloe was the first thing he’d looked forward to for months.

He had been working with the Royal Flying Doctor Service for six months. It had long been a dream of his that had been squashed by his ex-wife, but when he’d finally made it to the service he’d felt a sense of relief that he was starting to put the past behind him rather than the sense of excitement he’d always hoped for. Chloe turned out to be the first bit of excitement he’d had in a long time. They’d had a brief but passionate affair. His head wasn’t in the right place for anything more and she was only in town for a month, but it had been a bright point in an otherwise dark period of his life.

Their affair had burned bright. Their chemistry overshadowing conversation. Chloe was young, carefree, on a working holiday; she wasn’t interested in anything deep and meaningful. He was jaded; he didn’t want to dampen her enthusiasm for life with his tales of woe. That wasn’t what she needed. It wasn’t what he needed. He wanted to forget about his troubles and she allowed him to do that.

She was addictive.

Restorative.

And then she was gone.

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