Sydney Harbour Hospital

Sexy surgeons, dedicated doctors, scandalous secrets, on-call dramas …

Welcome to the world of Sydney Harbour Hospital

(or SHH … for short—because secrets never stay hidden for long!)

In February new nurse Lily got caught up in the hotbed of hospital gossip in

SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: LILY’S SCANDAL

by Marion Lennox

And gorgeous paediatrician Teo came to single mum Zoe’s rescue in

SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: ZOE’S BABY

by Alison Roberts

In March sexy Sicilian playboy Luca finally met his match in

SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: LUCA’S BAD GIRL

by Amy Andrews

Then in April Hayley opened Tom’s eyes to love in

SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: TOM’S REDEMPTION

by Fiona Lowe

Last month heiress Lexi learned to put the past behind her …

SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: LEXI’S SECRET

by Melanie Milburne

This month adventurer Charlie helps shy Bella fulfil her dreams— and find love on the way!

SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: BELLA’S WISHLIST

by Emily Forbes

Single mum Emily gives no-strings-attached surgeon Marco a reason to stay in July:

SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: MARCO’S TEMPTATION

by Fiona McArthur

And finally join us in August as Ava and James realise their marriage really is worth saving in

SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: AVA’S RE-AWAKENING

by Carol Marinelli

And not forgetting Sydney Harbour Hospital’s legendary heart surgeon Finn Kennedy. This brooding maverick keeps his women on hospital rotation … But can new doc Evie Lockheart unlock the secrets to his guarded heart? Find out in this enthralling new eight-book continuity from Mills & Boon® Medical™ Romance.

A collection impossible to resist!

These books are also available in eBook format

from www.millsandboon.co.uk

Welcome to the world of Sydney Harbour Hospital

(or SHH … for short—because secrets never stay hidden for long!)

Looking out over cosmopolitan Sydney Harbour, Australia’s premier teaching hospital is a hive of round-the-clock activity—with a very active hospital grapevine.

With the most renowned (and gorgeous!) doctors in Sydney working side by side, professional and sensual tensions run sky-high—there’s always plenty of romantic rumours to gossip about …

Who’s been kissing who in the on-call room? What’s going on between legendary heart surgeon Finn Kennedy and tough-talking A&E doctor Evie Lockheart? And what’s wrong with Finn?

Find out in this enthralling new eight-book continuity from Mills & Boon® Medical™ Romance—indulge yourself with eight helpings of romance, emotion and gripping medical drama!

Sydney Harbour Hospital

From saving lives to sizzling seduction, these doctors are the very best!

Recent titles by Emily Forbes:

GEORGIE’S BIG GREEK WEDDING?

BREAKING HER NO-DATES RULE

NAVY OFFICER TO FAMILY MAN

DR DROP-DEAD-GORGEOUS

THE PLAYBOY FIREFIGHTER’S PROPOSAL

These books are also available in eBook format from www.millsandboon.co.uk

Sydney Harbour
Hospital:
Bella’s Wishlist
Emily Forbes

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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To Marion, Alison, Amy, Fiona, Melanie, Fi and Carol.

Thank you for making this such a wonderful experience.

It was an absolute pleasure working with you all!

And to Lucy and Flo, thank you both for all your hard work

in making this series something we can all be proud of.

PROLOGUE

‘LEXI, please, can’t you do this for me?’ Bella Lockheart begged her younger sister.

Bella was feeling dreadful. Her chest was hurting and every breath she took was a struggle. Her temperature was escalating with every passing minute and it felt as though her forehead was on fire. She wanted to be upstairs, in bed, not sitting at one end of her father’s massive dining room table that comfortably seated eighteen people. She wanted to close her eyes and sleep. The only reason she’d agreed to meet with her sisters was because she wanted the chance to try to persuade Lexi to do this one thing for her.

Lexi was sitting at the head of the table with Bella on her left and their older sister Evie on her right. Evie had joined them at Lexi’s invitation to begin planning what Lexi described as ‘Sydney’s society wedding of the decade’ and, knowing Lexi and her talent for planning events, her wedding to cardiothoracic surgeon Sam Bailey would be one of the most spectacular events Sydney had witnessed for some time. That was unsurprising really—Lexi had plenty of experience as she was employed by her father’s multi-million-dollar empire to run the events side of his company, and Lexi generally got what she wanted. Bella had some doubts about whether Sam was as keen on the idea of a huge wedding as Lexi was but if she’d learnt anything about Sam since he’d proposed to her sister it was that he wouldn’t sweat the small stuff, and if an enormous wedding made Lexi happy, that’s what she would get. Their father would never quibble either; nothing was ever too much trouble, expense or fuss for Lexi. Richard loved an extravaganza as much as Lexi did.

Bella knew the only way to get Lexi to move quickly on the wedding was to play the only card she had. ‘I want to see you get married and the longer you wait the less chance I’ll have of being there. Please.’

They all knew the odds of Bella seeing her next birthday weren’t good but Bella had never played this card before. Not with her father, who had pretty much ignored her for her entire life, or with her mother, who couldn’t cope and had replaced her family with bottles of gin, or with her sisters, who had always been there to support and protect her. But she figured if there ever was a time to play this card, it was now.

As Bella watched Lexi, waiting for her response, she was aware that Evie had stopped flicking through the pile of bridal magazines and was watching them both. The highly polished wood surface of the antique table reflected their images. The golden highlights in Evie’s brown hair shone in the surface of the table and Lexi’s platinum-blonde hair glowed in the reflection, while the dark auburn of Bella’s curly locks was absorbed into the wood, making her seem dimmer in comparison. A sigh escaped Bella’s lips. Seeing herself as a duller reflection of her sisters was nothing new. She’d had twenty-six years to get used to the idea that she wasn’t as beautiful, intelligent or amusing as her two sisters, although she hoped that her kind heart went some way towards redeeming her character.

Not that it seemed to count for anything as far as her parents were concerned. She’d given up trying to mend those relationships, although she was blowed if she would give up on her sisters. They were the most important people in her world and she did not intend to miss out on seeing her younger sister get married. She had to convince Lexi to set a date for her wedding and make it soon. She’d missed out on an awful lot of things in her relatively short life and there was no way she was going to sit back and miss out on this. Lexi had to listen to her.

‘You only need a month and a day to register. You could be married before Christmas,’ she insisted.

‘I need time,’ Lexi replied.

Time. The one thing Bella didn’t have. She knew that. Lexi knew it too, so why wouldn’t she agree?

‘Time for what?’ Bella countered. ‘I can’t see why you’d want to wait. If I had the chance to get married, I’d grab it.’

All three of them knew what a romantic Bella was. Her favourite pastime was watching romantic movies, comedies, dramas, anything, as long as it had a happy ending. It was looking increasingly unlikely that she would get her own happy ending so she had to enjoy other people’s. She adored weddings, she’d been glued to the television for the most recent British Royal wedding and avidly followed the lives of modern-day princesses in the magazines. But her own sister’s happy ending was bound to be so much better than anything she could watch on television. Surely Lexi couldn’t deny her this?

‘I want time to find the perfect dress,’ Lexi said.

‘I’ll design you the perfect dress.’ Normally Bella would offer to make it too, but she knew she’d never have time to design and make a wedding dress, not if she wanted the wedding to take place this year. In a parallel universe her dream was to be a fashion designer and to see her sister walk down the aisle in something she’d created would be the icing on the cake for a roman tic like her. But she’d have to settle for designing the dress and have someone else make it. Their father would probably fly Lexi to Hong Kong or even Paris to get it made. Money was no object. Richard Lockheart was phenomenally wealthy and Lexi was the apple of his eye. Everybody knew that.

‘Look,’ Bella said as she opened the sketch book that was lying on the table in front of her. Her sketch book was never far from her side. She turned some pages and then spun the book to face Lexi. ‘I’ve already started.’ The large page was covered with half a dozen wedding dresses—a halterneck, a strapless version, some with full skirts, some in figure-skimming satin. ‘You just need to tell me which bits you like and I promise you’ll be the most beautiful bride but, please, don’t wait too long. You know time is running out for me, Sam told you that. If you won’t listen to me, would you at least listen to him?’ Bella paused to catch her breath. She could feel her chest tightening and could hear herself wheezing. ‘What do you think, Evie? You agree with me, don’t you?’

‘I think you have a valid point but it is Lexi and Sam’s decision. It’s their wedding.’ Bella would have argued if she’d had the breath to spare but the end of Evie’s answer was partially drowned out by a coughing fit. Bella’s slim frame shook with each spasm.

Lexi stood up. ‘I’ll get you a glass of water.’

‘It’s all right,’ Bella replied as the coughs subsided and she caught her breath, ‘I can get it.’ She pushed her chair back from the table and stood. She looked at Evie and dipped her head slightly towards Lexi, silently imploring Evie to intercede on her behalf. She knew Evie would understand the signal. Having spent so much of their life relying on each other, all three sisters could read each other instinctively.

‘Perhaps you should talk it over with Sam,’ Bella heard Evie suggest as she went to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water and mix up her salt replacement solution. She was feeling quite feverish now and she knew she was in danger of dehydrating more rapidly than usual if she was running a temperature.

Evie waited until Bella had time to reach the kitchen and be out of earshot. As so often happened, her younger sisters deferred to her to solve any difference of opinion between them. At five years older than Bella and seven years older than Lexi she had taken over mothering duties at the tender age of nine when the girls’ mother had walked out and left them with their father, to return only sporadically over the ensuing years. There had been a succession of nannies, with varying degrees of success, and Evie had adopted the role of mother and still maintained it twenty-two years later. Evie never minded the responsibility but she did wonder why she needed to act as referee in this case. Why was Lexi so resistant to Bella’s request?

‘What’s the problem, Lex? You know Bella’s right. She might not be around in six months. Why do you want to wait?’

Lexi’s deep blue eyes shimmered with unshed tears. She fidgeted with Bella’s sketch book, which lay on the table in front of her, absentmindedly doodling on the clean pages. ‘I can’t think like that. I can’t stand the thought of Bella not being here.’

‘That’s why I think you should consider getting married sooner rather than later.’

‘But what if we set a date that’s soon and Bella gets sick again? She could be in hospital on the day of the wedding. Or what if she’s in surgery? If I wait until Bella is okay, we’ll all get a happy ending.’

‘But Bella might not get her happy ending. You know that, don’t you?’ Evie said gently. ‘If you wait, Bella might not be there anyway. She’s only asking you for one thing.’

Lexi was shaking her head. ‘But if I give in then that’s like admitting I think she’s not going to make it. I don’t want to think about her dying. I can’t.’

Evie knew Lexi hated the idea of death. She’d been through one traumatic loss already in her life, when she’d terminated a pregnancy, and that made this situation more difficult for her. But she couldn’t let her sister bury her head in the sand. Evie had to get her to face reality. ‘Please, just agree to talk to Sam about it. If you set a date and you need to change it to accommodate Bella, is that such a big deal? It’s certainly not impossible.’ Sam knew what Bella’s chances were better than anyone, Evie thought. As Bella’s specialist and Lexi’s fiancé, maybe he would have more success in persuading Lexi.

Before Lexi had a chance to agree or disagree, they were interrupted by the sound of breaking glass coming from the kitchen, followed by a loud thud as something heavy hit the floor. Then there was silence.

‘Bella?’ Evie and Lexi leapt from their chairs and ran to the kitchen. Broken glass was strewn over the marble bench tops but Bella was nowhere to be seen. Evie raced around the island bench and found Bella collapsed on the tiles surrounded by the remnants of the glass cupboard.

‘Bella!’ Evie knelt beside her sister, oblivious to the shards of glass that littered the floor. To her relief she could see that Bella was conscious and breathing. ‘What happened? Are you hurt?’

Bella’s grey eyes were enormous in her pale face. ‘Dizzy.’ Her words were laboured. ‘Cramp.’ She was obviously having difficulty with her breathing. ‘I grabbed the shelf when I fell. Sorry.’

‘Don’t worry about the glasses,’ Evie said as she brushed Bella’s auburn curls from her face. Her skin was flushed and her forehead was hot. Feverish.

Bella’s powdered drink mixture that she used for salt replacement sat on the bench. Evie picked up Bella’s wrist and took her pulse, counting the seconds. Her pulse was rapid and Bella’s skin under her fingers was dry and lacking its normal elasticity.

Evie ran through Bella’s symptoms in her head. A high temperature, dizziness, cramping, rapid pulse rate. ‘You’re dehydrated,’ she said. ‘Why didn’t you tell us you weren’t feeling well?’

Why hadn’t she noticed something? Evie accused herself. She was a doctor, for goodness’ sake.

She knew she’d been distracted by the tension between Lexi and Bella but she still should have known something was wrong. Bella’s behaviour should have alerted her. She wasn’t normally so insistent or stubborn.

But that didn’t explain why she hadn’t told them she was feeling unwell. Evie could only assume it was because she didn’t want to make a fuss. That was typical of Bella. She’d been unwell more frequently than usual over the past few months and Evie knew she would be trying to pretend everything was normal. But they all knew it wasn’t. They all knew Bella’s health was going downhill and Evie was furious with herself for not noticing the signs tonight. But there was no time to berate herself now. They needed to get Bella treated, she needed to be in hospital.

‘Lexi, ring Sam and tell him to meet us at the hospital,’ Evie instructed. ‘I’ll call an ambulance and then see if you can get a drink into Bella. She needs fluids.’

CHAPTER ONE

BELLA lay on the stretcher in the rear of the ambulance. She was vaguely aware of her surroundings but the activity felt like it was going on around her, independent of her, even though she knew it all related to her. The emergency lights were flashing, it was dark outside and the lights were reflecting back into the interior of the ambulance, bouncing off the walls. The siren was silent, the traffic a constant background noise. Evie was with her in the ambulance, she could hear her talking with the paramedic. Bella could feel the pressure of the oxygen mask on her face, the grip of the oximeter on her finger, the sting of the IV drip in her elbow. She saw Evie take out her phone and heard her leaving a message for their father.

She was hot and sweaty, flushed with a fever and tired, so tired. She wondered what it would be like just to close her eyes and drift off. To never wake again. But she wasn’t ready. There were still things she wanted to do and things she wanted to see.

She felt the ambulance come to a halt and the flashing red and blue lights were replaced by harsh fluorescent strip lighting. She knew where they were—in the emergency drop-off zone at Sydney Harbour Hospital. This was where she had spent countless days and nights over the past twenty-six years. It was the closest hospital to the Lockheart family home in the north shore suburb of Mosman and the cardiothoracic ward had become as familiar to Bella as her own bedroom.

But her connection to the hospital went beyond that of a patient. Her great-grandfather had been one of the original founders of the hospital and it was also where Evie worked. Bella couldn’t fault the medical care she received here, she just wished she hadn’t had to spend so much of her life within these walls.

The rear doors swung open and Bella felt the stretcher moving as she was pulled from the ambulance. A familiar face loomed over her. Sam Bailey, the hospital’s newest cardiothoracic surgeon and next big thing, was smiling down at her.

‘There you are,’ he said. ‘I’ve been stalking the ambulances, waiting for you.’

Sam was her new specialist, but again the connection didn’t end there. He was engaged to Lexi, which also made him her future brother-in-law.

Bella tried to smile then realised it wasn’t worth the effort as the oxygen mask was hiding her face and she was sure her smile would look more like a grimace. Sam squeezed her hand before he began talking to Evie and the paramedics, getting an update on her condition. Bella lay silently and concentrated on breathing in lungfuls of oxygen. She wasn’t required to contribute. She wasn’t required to do anything except keep breathing. ‘I’ve notified Cardiothoracics, we’ll take her straight up there,’ Sam was saying, and Bella closed her eyes against the glare of the fluorescent lights as they began to wheel her inside.

‘Evie? Is everything okay?’

Bella heard a familiar voice. She recognised it but her brain was sluggish and she was unable to put a face to the voice. If she opened her eyes she’d solve the mystery but that was too much effort.

‘Charlie!’

Evie’s reply jogged her memory and Bella was glad she’d kept her eyes closed.

Dr Charlie Maxwell was one of Evie’s closest friends and definitely one of her cutest! Bella idolised him. But she kept her eyes closed, not wanting him to see her like this. She pretended that if she couldn’t see him, he wouldn’t be able to see her.

Charlie was too gorgeous for his own good and she knew she wasn’t the only one who thought so. He had a reputation as a charmer and he’d cut a swathe through the female nurses and doctors at Sydney Harbour Hospital and most probably further afield too. Bella had long worshipped him from afar, knowing he’d never look twice at her, certain he saw her just as his friend’s little sister. This wasn’t a fairy-tale where the handsome prince would suddenly fall in love with the plain girl and sweep her off her feet. This was real life and the safest thing for her to do was to keep her eyes closed and wait for him to go away. That way there was less chance of her embarrassing herself.

‘Is everything all right?’ he repeated.

‘No, not really. It’s Bella.’

That was the last thing Bella heard before the paramedics pushed her into the hospital and Evie’s voice faded.

Stay with me, Bella wanted to say. She didn’t want to be alone even though she knew Evie wouldn’t be far behind her.

Bella? Charlie took a second look at the figure on the stretcher. Her face was obscured by the oxygen mask but her hair was distinctive. It could only be Bella, but he hadn’t recognised her at first. She had the same curly, dark auburn hair, the same pale, almost translucent skin, but she was thin, painfully thin. What had happened to her?

Charlie knew Bella had a rough time with her cystic fibrosis. She’d had a higher than average number of hospital admissions, but he’d never seen her looking as sick as she looked now.

‘What’s going on?’

‘She’s got a high temperature and she’s badly dehydrated. I suspect she has another chest infection,’ Evie replied.

‘Is there anything I can do?’ He knew it was unlikely but he wanted to at least offer his help.

Evie shook her head and he could see tears in her eyes. He and Evie had been friends for almost ten years and she was normally so strong, so resilient. Things must be grim.

‘You’d better catch up with her but call me if there’s anything I can do.’ He leant down and gave Evie a quick kiss on the cheek. ‘I’ll drop into the ward in the morning.’

He watched Evie as she hurried after Bella’s stretcher and wished he could offer more than just support. He viewed all three of the Lockheart sisters as his surrogate family. He knew they had a lack of family support and he knew how much of the burden of worry Evie carried on her slim shoulders. He would do what he could to help but he wished there was something more proactive that he could do for Bella too. But he was an orthopaedic surgeon. He was not what she needed.

Evie caught up to Sam and Bella as they waited for the lift. The next half-hour was frantic as Sam ordered a battery of tests and examined Bella. Lexi had driven to the hospital and she joined Evie on the cardiothoracic ward to wait. Together they tried to stay out of Sam’s way. Evie had to remind herself she was Bella’s sister now, not her doctor.

Sam appeared from Bella’s room and motioned for them to join him. ‘I’m admitting Bella. She has a temp of thirty-nine point five, which I suspect is the result of another chest infection, and she’s lost three kilograms since her last admission. She was supposed to be putting on weight but her BMI is down to seventeen.’

Evie knew Bella was thin. Too thin. Her body mass index should be at least nineteen—although this would still only put her at the bottom end of normal. Evie knew it was difficult for Bella to put on weight, all cystic fibrosis sufferers had the same problem, but Bella should weigh five or six kilograms more than she currently did. Being underweight made it more difficult to fight infection and increased her chances of ending up back in hospital. Which was exactly what had happened.

‘Is your father coming in?’ Sam asked.

Evie shrugged. Sam’s guess was as good as anyone’s. ‘I’ve just tried to get in touch with him again. I’ve left two messages but I don’t know where he is.’

She kept one eye on Bella, wondering how she would react to the news that her father was uncontactable. Bella watched her, her grey eyes huge and pensive, but she didn’t look surprised. Evie supposed the news didn’t surprise any of them. ‘Lexi, do you have any other way of contacting him?’ Lexi worked with their father so it was possible she would know where to find him.

Lexi shook her head. ‘No, he was going out to dinner but it was private, not business related, so I don’t know any more details.’

Evie sighed. If Richard was out with one of his female ‘acquaintances’ it was highly unlikely that he’d answer his phone. It was also highly unlikely that he’d even make it home tonight, and if he did Evie wondered whether he’d even notice that Bella, and possibly Lexi, weren’t in their beds.

‘Do you think we need to try to find him?’ she asked. Was Sam telling them it was important for Richard to get into the hospital tonight or did they have some time up their sleeves?

Sam was shaking his head and Evie breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn’t think it was that urgent. ‘I just want to try to get Bella stabilised tonight,’ he said. ‘I’ll start a course of IV antibiotics and get her rehydrated. We’ll have to see how that goes but this is now her third admission this year. To be honest, things are heading downhill, but she’ll make it through the night. I’m sure your father will turn up eventually.’

Until then Evie would stay by Bella’s side. Even when Richard decided to join them Evie knew that she and Lexi would be Bella’s main support team. She wished things were different, for Bella’s sake, but their father and Bella had always had a difficult relationship, he’d never coped very well with his second daughter or her illness.

Evie’s own relationship with her father had been tainted by the departure of their mother. Something Evie held her father partially responsible for. She knew her mother had made her own choices but she felt that he could have been more supportive, offered more assistance, made more of an effort to convince her to stay. If he had, the bulk of the responsibility of raising her younger siblings wouldn’t have fallen to Evie and she would have had a very different childhood.

But the Lockheart family dynamics weren’t going to change overnight and once again Evie opted to set up a folding bed in Bella’s room. She sent Lexi home with Sam but she wasn’t going to leave Bella alone. She hoped Sam was right, she hoped Bella would make it through the night, but what if he was wrong? Doctors had been wrong before. She knew that better than anybody.

Bella had been awake since the crack of dawn, woken by the nurse who’d come in to take her six-o’clock obs, although in reality she felt as though she’d been awake most of the night. She always slept badly in hospital. Struggling for every breath ruined a good sleep, not to mention two-hourly obs and the fact she was always cold.

Evie had been by her side all night and she’d waited until Lexi arrived before disappearing in search of coffee while promising to be back in time for Sam’s early-morning consult.

Evie and Lexi were the two constants in Bella’s life. The two people she knew she would always be able to rely on. She knew she was lucky to have them and she’d given up waiting for her parents to give her the same support. But it didn’t stop her wishing that things were different. She didn’t like to be so dependent on her sisters but it was the way it had always been. She knew her illness was a strain on everybody but she also knew she wouldn’t cope without the love and support of her siblings. She wondered sometimes how they managed, especially Evie, who traded looking after Bella for looking after all her other patients at the hospital. Bella knew Evie had a shift in Emergency today but she had no idea how her sister would carry out such a demanding job after spending the night in a chair by her bed. She hoped Evie didn’t get any complicated cases.

‘I brought something to brighten your day,’ Evie said when she returned, carrying a tray of coffee and hot chocolate for her sisters. Bella felt her eyes widen in surprise; Evie wasn’t talking about the drinks.

‘Charlie Maxwell,’ Lexi said in greeting. ‘I’d recognise that bald head anywhere.’

Charlie Maxwell was in her room! Bella knew she was staring and she could hear the ‘beep beep’ of the heart-rate monitor attached to her chest escalate as her autonomic nervous system responded to his presence. Thank goodness he didn’t seem to notice. He wasn’t looking at her, his attention focussed on Lexi. Bella was used to that. People always noticed Lexi and Evie before they noticed her, and even though she wished, on the odd occasion, that someone would notice her first, today she was pleased to be ignored as it gave her time to try to get her nerves under control.

‘Morning, Lexi,’ Charlie said with a grin. ‘And for your information, I’m not bald,’ he protested. ‘I do this on purpose. It stops the women from being jealous of my golden locks.’

‘You’d have to be the only bloke I know who voluntarily shaves his head,’ Lexi retorted, before Evie interrupted them.

‘Bella, you remember Charlie, don’t you?’ she asked as she handed Bella a hot chocolate.

Who could forget him? Bella thought. She knew she never would, not in a million years. He looked as fit, healthy and fabulous as always. Charlie had been a professional surfer in a past life and he certainly had the body of an athlete. Muscular, tanned and perfectly proportioned, he was wearing a white shirt and Bella could see the definition of his biceps and pectoral muscles through the thin fabric. She swallowed hard as she tried to get her mouth to work but she was short of breath and her mouth was dry and parched. Unable to form any words, she nodded instead.

‘Ciao, Bella,’ Charlie said.

He always greeted her in the same way and it never failed to make her feel special, even though she didn’t flatter herself that she was the only one on the receiving end of his charm. But therein lay even more of his appeal. He was one of the few people who didn’t treat her any differently because of her medical condition. He was a serial flirt and he gave her the same attention he gave to every woman who crossed his path, and to Bella, who was used to either being shielded or ignored, Charlie’s attention was a rare delight.

He winked at her and her heart rate jumped again. She felt herself blush and cursed her fair skin.

‘How are you feeling?’ he asked.

‘I’ve had better days,’ she said, finally managing to get some words out. But it wasn’t the cystic fibrosis making her short of breath, it was Charlie. She was always shy around anyone other than family and even though Charlie behaved like family he was so damn sexy she’d never managed to overcome her self-consciousness around him, especially when other people were within earshot. One on one she was more comfortable but with other ears around she always worried about making a fool of herself.

He was gorgeous and she always felt so plain by comparison. His facial features combined so perfectly together she’d never really noticed that he shaved his head. Of course she’d noticed he was bald but she’d never wondered about the reality behind it, she was too busy being mesmerised by his other physical attributes—his chocolate-brown eyes that she felt she could melt into, his smooth, tanned skin, which provided the perfect foil for straight, white teeth, even his small, neat ears all combined into an appealing package. But his best feature was his mouth. She could visualise him with sun-bleached surfie hair but it was irrelevant really because her attention was constantly drawn to his lips. They were plump and delicious, full but not hard like a collagen-injected pout, they were juicy and soft, almost too soft for such a masculine face. He was smiling at her, a gorgeous smile, full and open and honest. You’d have to be dead not to be affected by his smile and while she wasn’t feeling anywhere near one hundred per cent healthy, she wasn’t dead yet.

‘So Evie tells me,’ Charlie replied, ‘but if there’s anything you need, just ask me. I know how to make things happen around here.’

He winked at her again and Bella didn’t doubt for one minute that Charlie could get whatever he wanted both inside the hospital and out. She knew his reputation as a charmer, she’d heard the nurses talk about him during her numerous admissions, and she knew they competed for his affections and attentions. The combination of his wicked sense of humour, his infectious smile, his gentle nature and his hardened muscles had the female staff members regularly flustered, and Bella herself was no exception.

As far as she knew, only Evie seemed immune to Charlie’s charm. Their ten-year friendship had only ever been platonic and for that Bella was grateful. It meant she was free to adore him without feeling as if she was invading her sister’s territory. She knew that from the day Evie had first met Charlie she’d thought of him as the older brother she wished she’d had. But Bella’s thoughts towards Charlie were far from familial—although she’d never be brave enough to flirt with him, she knew she wasn’t experienced enough to handle Charlie Maxwell. So she just nodded dumbly in reply. She’d lost the capacity to speak again, completely tongue-tied at the thought of Charlie doing things for her. Fortunately Sam’s arrival saved her from needing to answer. He was followed by a nurse and a couple of interns and suddenly her room was overflowing with people.

A ninth person came into the room and Bella saw Evie’s double-take. It was their father.

Bella had assumed Evie had gotten in touch with him during the night, or vice versa, but looking at Evie’s expression now it was obvious she’d heard nothing back and hadn’t been expecting him.

He looked tired and drawn. Bella wished she could pretend he’d lost sleep worrying about her, his middle daughter, but she knew it was far more likely to be a result of a late night of a different kind. She waited for her father to push through the crowd gathered at the foot of her bed but of course he didn’t. He remained standing just inside the doorway, separate and apart from his family. She sighed, wishing for the thousandth time that things were different. At least he was here, which was more than Bella could say for her mother. She nodded in greeting and then proceeded to ignore him as her sisters took up positions on the bed on either side of her. She was tired of always being the one who reached out to make a connection with her father.

Evie took her hand and Bella relaxed, knowing her sisters would try to protect her from harm. Bella saw Sam acknowledge Richard’s arrival with a nod of his own before he began his consult. He checked Bella’s vital signs, checked her obs, listened to her chest and generally prodded and poked while she tried to pretend she wasn’t surrounded by people. The procedure was familiar to her but that didn’t make it any less embarrassing. Once he’d finished he spoke to Bella as though they were the only two in the room.

‘You’ve lost weight since I last examined you, that’s not what we were hoping for, your admissions are getting more frequent and your lung function tests are down.’ Sam was ticking things off on his fingers as he recited the list.

‘Is there any good news?’ Bella asked hopefully.

‘One positive note is that you’ve made some improvement overnight. You’ve rehydrated and your temperature has come down but it’s still higher than I’d like. You’re showing some resistance to the antibiotics and I’ve had to increase the dosage to try to get your chest infection under control. Individually all these things are not so concerning but combined it means I need to reassess your management.’ He paused briefly and Bella knew what he would say next. ‘It’s time for the next stage.’

Bella couldn’t speak. This wasn’t unexpected but she didn’t know what to say. Sam was watching her, waiting for her to acknowledge his words, and she thought she nodded in response but she couldn’t be sure.

Sam looked away from her now, turning to the members of her family, stopping briefly at each and every one as he spoke. ‘I know we’ve talked about this before but the time has come. Bella needs a lung transplant now. She is already on the active transplant list but I have revised her status. This will move her up the list and means she will get the next pair of suitable lungs.’

Bella tightened her grip on Evie’s hand. This was really happening. During her last hospital admission Sam had told her she would need a transplant eventually. That was the way things went with cystic fibrosis. But eventually had become now. Her lungs were officially failing.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Richard collapse into a chair as though his legs would no longer support him. His response surprised her. Her father was a man of action, he always had a solution for everything, a way to deal with everything—except when it came to her and her mother—but he never normally showed any sign of weakness. Was he actually concerned for her? Bella knew there was nothing he could do for her now but she couldn’t ever recall seeing him flummoxed. Was he concerned or was he confused?

‘What do we do while we wait?’ Lexi’s voice was unexpectedly loud in her ear and Bella jumped.

‘In the meantime, we start the pre-op processes. Physical tests, including blood work and organ function tests, as well as psych assessments,’ Sam replied.

‘What does the surgery involve?’ Richard asked, and his question answered Bella’s own. His tone said this was a question from a man who wanted information and clarification, not a question from a concerned father.

‘Obviously it is major surgery. Bella will be several hours in Theatre. It can take up to twelve hours. She will be placed on a heart bypass machine while both lungs are transplanted via an incision across the bottom of the diaphragm, then she will be transferred to ICU for at least twenty-four hours and then back to the cardiothoracic surgical ward.’

‘What are the survival rates?’ As was his style her father was keeping any emotion out of the equation. He preferred to deal with the facts and figures.

‘The figures are good. Currently eighty-five per cent of people undergoing bilateral, sequential lung transplants in Australia survive one year and sixty per cent are still alive after five years.’

Bella heard a sharp intake of breath. For a moment she thought she’d made the sound but then she realised it had come from Lexi.

Bella knew the odds. She’d lived and breathed them since her last admission. She knew the statistics were good, for the short term at least, but she also knew that to those who hadn’t spent countless hours doing the research she’d done, the odds didn’t sound that fantastic.

‘These stats are not just for CF sufferers,’ Sam clarified. ‘They’re for everybody and Bella has age on her side. Although she will still have cystic fibrosis, it won’t be in her lungs.’ Sam looked directly at Bella. ‘If your lungs are functioning properly, you should notice a far improved quality of life. You’ll have more energy, you should gain weight and you’ll be able to be more active.’

‘What do you mean, she’ll still have CF?’ Richard was frowning.

‘Bella’s lungs will be clear but she will still have CF in her pancreas, sweat glands and reproductive tract. She will still need her enzyme-replacement medication and she will start a course of anti-rejection medication. The transplant is not a cure for the disease, it just eliminates the disease from her lungs, and will hopefully extend her life.’ Sam turned to face her. ‘Bella, do you have any questions?’

She still hadn’t uttered a word.

‘How long do I have?’

‘A month, maybe two.’ Sam’s voice was deep and soft but his words were clear and distinct in the absolute silence of the room.

It was already November. Would she see another Christmas?

‘What choice do I have?’

Her question put an immediate and definite end to the silence. Lexi started to cry and Evie started to reason with Bella. They both knew her choices were limited.

Bella held up one hand, asking Evie to wait. ‘It was just a question,’ she said. ‘I didn’t say I won’t have a trans plant, I just wanted to hear if I have any other options.’

‘Of course you have a choice,’ Sam said, ‘it’s your body. You can choose to have a transplant if we find a suitable donor or you can choose not to. But you don’t have any other options.’ He spoke to her as though they were alone in the room. ‘It’s a big decision and I know how daunting this can be but ultimately I wouldn’t expect you to find it a hard decision to make. The consequences of your decision are self-evident. You’re free to talk to the psychologists and the transplant team in more detail, you can ask them anything you want or need to know, but you don’t have a lot of time to decide. Your lungs are failing. Without a transplant you’re on borrowed time.’

Borrowed time. She knew that but it made it more important than ever that she get things sorted. There were things she needed to do. She had to prioritise. She needed to think. She closed her eyes. As she’d hoped, Sam took that as a sign to usher everyone out of the room.

‘Okay,’ he said, ‘I need to run a couple more tests and Bella needs to rest. You can come back later.’

Bella thought Lexi was going to argue but she saw her look at Sam before she said anything. Sam gave a slight shake of his head and Lexi stayed quiet. The medical team was leaving the room and Lexi and Evie kissed Bella before they followed. Charlie and Sam were the last ones remaining. Bella looked from one to the other. Charlie was wedged in next to the bathroom doorhandle, he would have to wait until everyone else had left before he’d be able to get out. She needed to ask a favour and if she was running out of time she needed to do it soon. It looked as if Charlie or Sam were her only options. Not that they were bad options. This was a topic she couldn’t discuss with her sisters; she’d tried already and failed, but by the same token she didn’t think it was something to discuss with Sam either.

Bella needed a sounding board. Charlie had offered his help and even though she knew this wasn’t exactly what he’d pictured, perhaps he wouldn’t mind. After all, this concerned Evie and he knew her better than most.

Bella hadn’t seen Charlie for some time. He had been a frequent visitor to the Lockheart home but since Evie had moved out into an apartment there was no reason for Charlie to drop by. But she knew from experience that Charlie was a good listener and he could be relied upon for level-headed advice. She and Charlie had a history of heart-to-hearts, albeit a very short one, and perhaps he could help her again.

Besides, she was running out of time and options. He would have to do.

‘Charlie, could I talk to you for a second?’ she asked. She knew he saw himself as family, maybe he could do this for her.

Bella saw Evie glance back over her shoulder as she left the room. She’d be wondering what on earth Bella needed to talk to Charlie about, wondering why she wasn’t talking to her, but Bella knew this was one thing Evie couldn’t help her with.

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