The Doctor's Baby Secret

The doctor pushed her shoulder back against the trolley as he frowned at the grainy screen and repositioned the probe. ‘How many weeks did you say you were?’

Corrine’s breath was caught somewhere in her throat. For a few seconds she wasn’t thinking about Austin or the little girl. For a few seconds she wasn’t thinking about herself or ‘them’. Right now she was only thinking about her baby and praying it had survived the accident.

‘Fifteen.’ The words came out choked.

He pushed the probe lower into her abdomen. ‘Ah, here we are.’ He lifted a finger and pointed at a flicker on the screen. ‘Sorry, I’m only covering tonight. Obstetrics isn’t my speciality.’

She let out her breath in a whimper. Her baby—their baby—was still there. She didn’t care about work any more. She didn’t care about money or how she would cope.

The doctor printed her out a picture. ‘Here you go. For reassurance.’

She gulped. The sonographer had given her a picture a few weeks ago. One she’d kept in her purse and looked at over and over again. But this was different. Today had put everything into perspective for her. There were two people in this world she wanted to fight for. She grabbed the paper towel from the doctor and wiped down her own abdomen, swinging her legs from the trolley. Right now she knew exactly where she should be and who she should be with.

She could have lost him. She could have lost the guy she loved—the father of her child—and she’d never even told him that she loved him.

‘Which way to Austin Mitchell’s room?’

The doctor looked a little stunned. ‘You can’t leave. You’re still under observation. You should remain on bed rest for the next couple of days.’

She spun around again and gave him her best glare. ‘What room is Austin Mitchell in?’

The doctor gulped and shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know.’

Corrine pushed her feet into her shoes and started down the corridor, her head turning from side to side as she checked the names on the whiteboards. Her skin started to prickle. Was there a reason she couldn’t find him?

Please, no. Her heart thudded against her chest. Two guys in white coats were standing outside a room at the bottom of the corridor in conversation with a nurse.

As she moved closer she could hear a voice drifting out into the corridor. ‘Do you all want to stop muttering out there and tell me what’s wrong?’

He sounded annoyed, agitated. And she’d never heard anything so fine in her life.

She didn’t even stop to talk to them—just pushed past and walked straight into the room.

‘Austin?’ His head turned towards her.

Wow. He currently looked like the marshmallow man. Every part of him was swollen. He was almost unrecognisable. But all she felt was instant relief.

It was Austin. He was alive. And he was all in one piece. Sure, she could see some dressings on his arms—he must have suffered some burns. And something else had obviously gone wrong.

She crossed the room in a second and put both hands on his face. He squinted at her. ‘Corrine? I was so worried. The little girl? Do you know how she is?’

He blinked as if he was trying to focus. Then he put one hand over hers. Any second now she’d start crying. He must be so uncomfortable right now, but he hadn’t even asked what was wrong, he’d asked about the little girl he’d tried to rescue.

That was her guy. The guy she loved with her whole heart.

It was amazing how things could just become crystal clear. She didn’t care if Austin wanted to be an astronaut or not. She didn’t care if he wanted to stay at home all day. If he completed his training and got the next mission to space, then she’d teach herself to love long-distance. And hopefully she’d teach him that too. Whatever he wanted to do with his life, she wanted to be there. She just hoped that he wanted her, and their baby, too.

‘She’s fine, Austin. She’s been admitted to Paeds for observation. Her arm is fractured but there are no other injuries. She should be fine.’

He frowned. ‘Are you okay?’

She hesitated for a second, wondering if she should say any more. Was now really the time to tell him?

‘Mr Mitchell?’

They both glanced around. He dropped his hand from hers.

The doctor walked over to the bed.

‘What happened to him?’ Corrine asked.

He held his hand out towards Corrine. ‘I’m Dell Cairney. Mr Mitchell’s anaesthetist.’ He smiled at Austin. ‘Mr Mitchell decided to give us a bit of a fright when we took him to Theatre to stitch him up and remove all his shrapnel.’

Corrine looked at the IV bag hanging next to her. ‘He reacted to the anaesthetic?’

Dell nodded. ‘That would be the understatement of the year. Let’s just say I’m putting a special marker on his medical notes.’ He turned to Austin again. ‘The swelling should be down in a few hours. That’s why you can’t see properly right now. All being well you should be able to go home tomorrow.’

‘And my vision will return entirely to normal?’ He was pressing. Of course he was. This was Austin Mitchell. The man was a superhero, an ace Top Gun pilot and on the top of the list of astronaut candidates.

‘I’m a pilot.’ His gaze met Corrine’s. ‘I’m training to be an astronaut.’

He was. And she was going to have to take the bravest step in her life. She was going to have to learn to trust him with her heart.

The anaesthetist nodded to the nurse at the door. ‘Take Mr Mitchell downstairs. We need to run another couple of tests to make sure we got every piece of metal out of him.’ He winked at Austin. ‘Can’t have an astronaut going to space with any extra baggage.’

Corrine stepped over to the bed and kissed his cheek. ‘Good luck. I’ll be waiting for you when you get back.’

Something flashed across his face. A look of regret? Of sadness? She had no idea what was going on inside his head right now.

‘We’ll talk when I get back?’ he said quickly.

She gave him a nod as they wheeled the bed out of the door. This would be the biggest conversation of her life. And she wasn’t quite sure where it would end.

Could she really trust her hero with her heart?

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

WHEN HE OPENED his eyes again it wasn’t Corrine sitting in his room. It was Blair King.

Blair stood up as soon as he realised Austin was awake. ‘Lieutenant Commander Mitchell.’

‘Dr King.’ His words were sharp. He couldn’t help it. Where was Corrine?

‘You’ll be pleased to know everything is fine. The swelling has gone down—you almost look normal again. They’ve confirmed that they’ve got all the shrapnel out. You’ve got around forty stitches, but they should heal without any problems. We’ll make arrangements for you to work at the base for the next few weeks. After that you should be able to resume the normal training programme.’ He gave Austin a broad smile. ‘You’re quite the hero, Lieutenant Commander Mitchell. And you’re lucky you weren’t more seriously injured. You could have ruined your chances of being an astronaut.’ He walked around to the other side of the bed. ‘I’d say we need to have a chat about your risk-taking behaviour but I know I’d be wasting my breath. By the way, the little girl’s mother is doing fine now too.’

Blair was tiptoeing around what he really should be saying.

Austin had no doubt. He’d been more than lucky. He’d escaped with his life. But in those few milliseconds that the red car had hit them his life had flashed before his eyes.

He’d heard people talk about it before. But he’d never experienced it. Never felt it.

He could have died today and he’d never told Corrine that he loved her. Never told her that he’d made a decision to walk away from all this. If the resear

ch job was still available he’d take it. If it wasn’t? He’d find something else. Something that meant he’d be near to her.

She was the important factor here and he wasn’t afraid to tell her.

‘Where’s Corrine?’ His stomach growled loudly. He hadn’t eaten in hours.

Blair pushed a plate of toast towards him. He hesitated. ‘She...fainted. I made her go home. She needs some rest.’

Austin was out of the bed in an instant. ‘She fainted? What’s wrong with her?’ This wasn’t right. Corrine hadn’t been in the accident. She should be fine.

He glanced around the room and tugged at his hospital gown. ‘Where are my clothes? Where are my shoes?’ He bent down and looked under the bed, ignoring the little shooting pains in his abdomen. No. Nothing there. And nothing on the chairs except Blair King, who was looking distinctly uncomfortable.

He stalked around to the other side of the bed and yanked open the tiny locker. It was stuffed full with a white plastic bag. He grabbed it and emptied the contents on the bed. The waft of burning fuel nearly knocked him sideways. Great. His clothes were crumpled beyond all recognition, were dirty and they stank. He sighed and turned to face Blair. Sure, he could probably punch the guy and steal his clothes but that still wouldn’t get him a ride.

‘Blair, I need clothes and a ride to wherever Corrine’s holed up.’

Blair shook his head. ‘What you need to do, Lieutenant Commander Mitchell, is get back into bed and wait for the surgeon to come and speak to you. You haven’t been formally discharged yet. This—’ he waved his hand towards Austin ‘—won’t help anything.’