father.’
Ryan’s hands caressed the small of her back and he pressed her to him with such tenderness that Abbey almost said yes.
It would be so easy. All her problems solved by uttering one word.
She couldn’t say it.
She stood with her face pressed against the soft fabric of Ryan’s shirt and she felt his heart beating against hers. This was her home. This was right.
But nothing else was.
New York. Housekeepers. Luxury.
The little hospital here would close without a permanent doctor. Sam would break his heart. Janet would refuse to come and would be alone.
And Jack would have to wear shoes and not play in mud, and when he grew up a little he wouldn’t be able to search for turtles.
Turtles.
In a little while the turtles, buried safe under the sand, would hatch and make their way down to the sea. Abbey knew that the whole town would turn out to watch. She’d take Jack to see and then, maybe then, the hard work and the poverty would be paid for.
Ryan said he earned more in a week than she did in a year. Maybe. But her payment was something you couldn’t measure in dollars.
Living in Sapphire Cove was a heritage for her son. Living here was companionship for Sam’s and Janet’s old age.
And it was turtles.
‘I can’t marry you, Ryan Henry,’ Abbey said sadly, and her voice was so muffled against his chest that he had to bend his head to hear. ‘I can’t marry you because you don’t have turtles in New York.’
And it was a measure of Ryan’s love for her that he knew exactly what she meant
And he knew he couldn’t make her change her mind.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
‘YOU love him.’
Janet was standing beside her bed, leaning heavily on her walking-frame. A week post-op, she was recovering brilliantly. Janet thought rehabilitation hospitals were for wimps-definitely not for the likes of Janet Wittner-so rehabilitation had to come to her. Ryan had organised a walking race-two waist-high bars about five yards long and a couple of feet apart-to be installed in the hospital corridor for her to practise her walking.
Abbey intended to supervise her practice. Now Janet took three halting steps towards her race, supported with her walking frame, and then she paused and turned back to where Abbey was standing by her bed.
Janet’s eyes were troubled.
‘Don’t think I can’t see what’s eating you, girl,’ she said gently. ‘Every day you’ve been coming here the shadows under your eyes have been growing. With that nice Dr Pryor helping out at the hospital and Ryan Henry putting his oar in as well, you’re more rested than you’ve been for years. But still the shadows… ’
‘I’ve been worried about you,’ Abbey told her, a touch of defiance in her voice, and Janet snorted.
‘Pull the other leg, Abbey. The new hip your Ryan’s given me is working almost as well as the old one already. In a couple of weeks I’ll be as good as new. Better.’ And then Janet frowned. ‘You’re not worried about me in other ways, I hope? You’re not worried about me being on my own if you marry your Ryan?’
Abbey winced. ‘Janet, that’s crazy. He’s not… he’s not my Ryan.’
‘No? That fiancee of his has left him to go back to America. He doesn’t seem to be pining one bit, and the way he looks at you… Abbey, has he asked you to marry him?’
And, at the look on Abbey’s face, Janet’s frown deepened.
‘He has,’ she announced softly in a voice of discovery. ‘And you’ve told him no. I can see it in your face. Abbey, for heaven’s sake, why did you say no? It’s almost two years since John died. If I, as John’s mother, think it’s time you got a new life for yourself then surely you should too.’ Her eyes perused Abbey’s face with care. ‘Abbey, you love Ryan Henry,’ she said slowly. ‘You love him. So why refuse to marry him?’
Abbey shook her head, but Janet’s eyes didn’t leave her face. She stood, waiting for an answer, and Abbey had to find one.
‘Janet, I must refuse him,’ Abbey said at last. ‘What choice do I have?’ She dug her hands deep into the pockets of her white coat, as though her doctor’s uniform were some sort of security. ‘Janet, Ryan wants me to be a New York consultant’s wife. How on earth can I be that?’ She bit her lip. ‘I’m a doctor in my own right. I fought hard to be what I am.’
‘You’ll be what you are if you’re here or if you’re on the other side of the world,’ Janet said brusquely. ‘You’ll be just the same Abbey. Only you’ll be with Ryan.’
‘No.’ Abbey shook her head. ‘I won’t be. Janet, Ryan doesn’t even know whether I can get registration. He doesn’t know if I can work. And he doesn’t see… he doesn’t see that it’s important.’
‘Is it important?’
‘You know it is.’ Abbey crossed to the window and stared out over the headland to the sea beyond. ‘Janet, this hospital… I fought so hard for it. We need it. Sapphire Cove needs it. I can’t just walk away.’
‘Not even with Ryan?’
Abbey shook her head.
‘I love Ryan, but that’s not all there is in the world,’ she said. ‘Just like my medicine’s important but it’s not everything. Jack… My little Jack would have to wear shoes. He’d lose his people.’ She flung herself around so she was facing Janet again. ‘Ryan says you could come with us. Would you want to come?’
‘What-me in New York?’ Janet’s face sagged in astonishment. ’You have to be joking. I was born in Sapphire Cove and I’ll die in Sapphire Cove, thank you very much. The thought of big cities fills me with the heebie- jeebies.’
‘Same here,’ Abbey told her, and tried to smile. ‘So, you see? It’s impossible. Crazy.’
‘And yet you’re breaking your heart to go with him.’
‘It broke my heart when John died,’ Abbey said bleakly. ‘And yet here I am two years later, discussing marrying someone else. Life goes on. I’ll live.’ She stirred herself and crossed to hold the door open for Janet. ‘Enough talk. Let’s get you out to the race and get you walking. When all else fails, Janet Wittner, there’s always work.’
There was more than that, Abbey thought as she and Eileen took Janet carefully through her exercises. More than just work in her life. There was this place, a wonderful nursing staff, her little son, Janet…
So why did life still seem so bleak?
‘You’re in love with Abbey Wittner!’
Sam Henry had one sock on and one sock off. Now he paused in his attempts to dress himself and fixed his son with a glare.
‘I’m right, aren’t I, boy? You’re in love with our Abbey.’
‘Dad, if you want me to take you out to see where these turtle eggs are incubating then let’s keep the talk impersonal. Otherwise I might cut and run.’
‘Like you and your mother did twenty years ago?’
‘Dad…’
‘Your mother didn’t like getting involved,’ Sam said darkly. ‘That’s why she hated it here. Hated Sapphire Cove. She should never have agreed to marry me in the first place.’ Sam hauled his shoes on and gave his hand to his son to help him up. Although Sam was recovering well, he was still weak at the knees and breathless. In a few days he’d go home, but this was a first. An outing with Ryan, and then back to hospital at the end of it.
‘You thinking of marrying her?’ he demanded bluntly.
‘Dad…’
‘There’s no use telling me to mind my own business,’ Sam told him. ‘You’re my son-remember? So tell me. Your
