City Surgeon, Small Town Miracle

‘Why should I?’

Her head came around at his question and she looked at him. A frown slowly pleated her forehead as she thought about her answer. ‘Because I can’t be trusted. My judgement is flawed.’ She shrugged and turned to face the water again. Her voice was too matter-of-fact for the agony behind the words she spoke. ‘I’m so brittle I feel like I could fly apart.’

‘Terri, you’re suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.’

She didn’t acknowledge him.

He tried again. ‘You need to get help so you can recover.’

Her gaze stayed on the horizon.

‘You have so much courage. I’m asking you to use some now.’ He watched her profile for any sign that he’d reached her. ‘For me and for Allie. We need you. I need you.’

‘Allie.’ She shook her head and her chin trembled for a tiny fraction of a second. ‘I don’t know if I can be whatever it is that you need, whatever it is that she needs. You can’t trust me to make good decisions.’

‘I can trust you. I do trust you. It’s you who doesn’t trust you. And you should. You have wonderful judgement. Your thinking is just a bit scrambled at the moment because of your experiences.’

‘You make it sound easy.’ She shook her head. ‘But it’s not. I’m empty. You and Allie deserve more than I can give you.’

‘Not true, darling. We deserve you. You’re the person who saw what my daughter and I needed. You’re the person who brought us together after months of grief.’ He felt as though he was fighting a battle with no weapons, nothing to hold onto, nothing to let him see if he was making headway. He was losing her. ‘I know it’s not easy. I hear your pain, I felt your heartbreak when you cried in my arms.’

‘Stop. Luke-’

‘I know I can’t understand what you’re going through. But I know this, I’m here for you’ He swallowed, feeling the crushing pain in his chest. ‘I love you, Terri.’

Her hands came up to cover her face and her shoulders began to shake. He’d reached her but in doing so he’d given her more pain.

He pulled her into his arms and laid his cheek on her hair as he absorbed the tremors that shook her.

‘It’s okay, darling, it’s okay.’ He murmured the words over and over, knowing how very far from the truth they were.

At last, her sobs quietened.

‘I feel broken.’ Her voice was still thick with tears.

‘You’re in pain, darling, but the bits of you are all there. We’ll find help and you can put them all back together again.’

‘I feel so bad.’ She took a deep shaky breath. ‘What if I can’t be fixed? What if this is me? What if…I can’t be a doctor any more?’

‘Then you can be anything you like.’ He stroked her hair. ‘Be my wife.’

He felt shock ripple through her. He hadn’t meant to say the words, not yet. But it was what he wanted. After a moment, she tipped her head back and looked at him.

‘Marry me,’ he said.

‘Oh, Luke.’ Her face screwed up in pain. ‘I w-want to accept your proposal s-so badly. But I c-can’t. It wouldn’t be fair.’

Pain squeezed his chest. ‘To whom?’ he asked softly.

‘To you, to Allie.’ She looked into the distance. ‘Maybe even to me.’

‘Can you tell me why not?’ He smothered the fear that clawed at him and held onto one tiny skerrick of hope. She hadn’t refused him outright.

‘Because I don’t think I know who I am any more. I need help to find out.’ Her eyes came back to his holding a plea for understanding. ‘What if I’ve changed? I’m not sure I can handle the weight of your disappointment.’

His spirits swooped but he made himself give her a nod of reassurance. ‘Then let’s find you some help and see where it takes you. I want to marry you, Terri. The offer is there, no expiry or use-by date. And no pressure.’

‘Thank you.’ Her face was sombre.

He tightened his arms around her in a quick hug. ‘In the meantime, I have more news,’ he said dragging up the first change of subject that occurred to him. ‘Ah, make that I have lots of news since I haven’t told you what led up to it. Allie and I have been talking about staying in Port Cavill. We’ll be house-hunting at the weekend. We want you to come.’

‘You’re staying? And you’ve talked to Allie about it?’

‘Yes and yes. Um, I’ve been meaning to tell you,’ he teased gently. ‘But when I’m with you, I get sidetracked with other things.’

‘Luke, that’s wonderful.’

‘I thought so.’ He grinned at her. ‘So how about it? Will you come with us? You’ll know about workable room layouts and Allie tells me you have better decorating ideas than I do-you know, colours and that sort of thing.’ He dragged out his best hopeless male look.

‘I-I think I could manage that.’ A relieved smile lifted the exhausted lines on her face.

His heart swelled with love. More than anything, he wished he could take away her sorrow and self-doubt. All he could do was wait, be there for support and encouragement.

And hope that when it was all over, he had a place in her life, her future.

Her heart.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Two months later.

‘NOT there, Dad.’

Luke looked up from the bucketful of damp sand he’d just deposited at the intersecting corners of castle wall. ‘What’s wrong with here? I like it here.’

Allie giggled-a lovely warm happy sound. ‘It’s all wrong. It needs to be back further. We’ll ask Terri.’ She looked around to see if her consultant was back yet. ‘She’ll know how it should be.’

Luke suppressed a smile. Allie was right, Terri would know.

She’d been involved in every step of the house-hunting and under her inspired guidance the house had been decorated to suit a family. A perfect home for his family. Him-self, his daughter…

All it needed was a wife. And the perfect candidate for the post was coming through the tree line at the top of the beach, carrying a picnic basket.

‘Okay, time for a break, workers,’ Terri called. ‘Come on. I’ve got sandwiches, watermelon, fruit juice and biscuits and fresh coffee.’

‘Now you’re talking.’ He loped over to shake out the mat they’d brought down earlier. As soon as he’d laid it Terri and Allie lowered themselves into neat cross-legged positions. He sat beside Terri, his arm resting on his raised knee.

‘Dad’s put the corner thing in the wrong place, Terri.’ Allie accepted a thick salad sandwich.

‘Has he?’ She looked at him under her lashes. ‘Tsk. It’s hard to get reliable serfs these days. So perhaps you can have two walls. You’ll just have to get your dad to cart more sand.’

‘Cool. That’s what we can do, Dad.’

‘Mmm, why didn’t I think of that?’ He sent a smouldering look Terri’s way as she passed the plate of food to him.

She grinned and helped herself to a sandwich. ‘Well, if you’d put the turret where you should have in the first place…’

He tugged the hair in the centre of his forehead. ‘I’ll try to do better, mistress.’