The Greek Doctor's New-Year Baby

‘I know. But I still can’t get it through to here.’ He took her hand and laid it across his heart. ‘What I’m saying is that if I lose you my life isn’t going to mean anything any more. Just ashes. Because I love you so much.’

Finally he’d said it.

In circumstances she would never have imagined in her wildest dreams.

‘And that’s why you’re driving me insane?’ she asked. ‘Because you love me?’

‘Because I love you,’ he confirmed. ‘And that’s the reason why I’m being over-protective.’

‘Oh, Theo.’ She cuddled into him.

‘So, whether you like it or not, you’re staying put for the next two days.’ He smiled. ‘I’m going to be here to make sure of it.’

‘How? You’re supposed to be at work.’

‘I’ve organised a locum. Because you’re more important to me than anything else. Even the baby.’

She dragged in a breath. ‘Nothing’s going to happen to me—but if the unthinkable does happen, what then, Theo? I need to know that you won’t react the way your dad did. That you’ll love our baby and cherish him—or her—for my sake, not just hand the baby to my parents or yours and walk away.’

‘Hey, now you’re at it. Being morbid. And I’m supposed to keep you happy and rested.’ He kissed her forehead. ‘Sorry, I’ve made such a mess of this.’

‘You haven’t reassured me yet.’

‘I promise,’ he said softly. ‘I’ll love our baby and cherish him or her. Because it’ll be our baby.’

‘But nothing’s going to happen to me. Got that?’

‘Got that.’

‘You love me.’ She shook her head in wonderment.

‘I fell in love with you the first moment I met you,’ he said softly. ‘There was something about you. Just…I’m not so good with words.’

She scoffed. ‘Your English is perfect. You’re half-English, for pity’s sake.’

He nodded. ‘That’s one of the reasons why Dad insisted I learn English. The French, German, Spanish and Italian were just in case I took over from him.’

She blinked. ‘You speak six languages? Oh, don’t you ever tell me you’re not good with words again!’

He coughed. ‘Someone not too far from here isn’t too good with words either.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘S’agapo. Je t’aime. Ich liebe dich. Te quiero. Ti amo.’ He spread his hands. ‘And now I’ve told you in six languages, is there something you might want to say to me?’

She laughed. ‘You’re such a show-off.’

‘That wasn’t quite what I was angling for,’ he said ruefully.

She kissed him lightly on the lips. ‘Do you really not know how I feel about you? I love you, Theo. Part of me’s scared stupid because I fell for you so quickly, and when I let Harry sweep me off my feet I made the worst mistake in my life. But I know that keeping you at arm’s length would be an even bigger mistake—because you’re not like Harry. You put me first.’

‘And our baby,’ he said softly. ‘You’re my world, Maddie. I can’t promise that I’m not going to worry until the baby’s born, and I can’t promise that I won’t go straight into panic mode next time you tell me you’re pregnant.’

‘Next time?’ she queried.

‘Next time,’ he said. ‘Katrina’s as close as a sister to you but I’d guess that, being an only child, you want more than one baby.’

‘And you’d be prepared to put yourself through all the worry for me?’ she asked.

‘Yes. Because you’ll be beside me, all the way,’ he said simply.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

TO THEO’S relief, Madison submitted to spending two days on bed rest. And telling her the last bit of his fears—the deepest, darkest ones he’d tried to keep buried, for her sake—seemed to have made them go away.

He was sorting out paperwork at his desk when his pager went off. He glanced at the reading. Emergency department.

He rang straight down. ‘Theo Petrakis from Maternity. You paged me.’

‘It’s Ed, Theo. I’ve got an ambulance on its way, ETA about seven minutes, with a mum-to-be who was a passenger in a car accident. She’s thirty-four weeks and can feel the baby move, but she’s got stomach pains, her heart rate’s up a bit, and the ambulance crew reports that she’s pale.’

Could be premature labour, could be stress—but Theo had a nasty feeling about this one. Given her symptoms and the circumstances, it was possibly a placental abruption, where the accident caused the placenta to come away from the wall of the womb. The loss of blood would cause her pallor.