Had he gone straight from Tabitha’s bed to hers?
She quashed the urge to cry. And to ring the office and tell Veronica she was ill and couldn’t come in today. She would not. She had a day to get through. Patients who relied on her. It wasn’t their fault that she was appallingly bad at picking lovers or that Marcus was appallingly bad at keeping his dick in his pants.
And it would give her something else to think about other than the complete shambles her life had become overnight.
Marcus gave up on sleep at five-thirty and sat on the deck drinking microwaved coffee from last night’s pot, watching the colours of the river change as the sun rose. The morning traffic steadily increased and the River Cats started to ferry their first passengers across the river to their workplaces. His mind churned over and over the events of the night before in all their horrifying detail. He couldn’t think of a solution, just more problems.
Tabitha was still asleep when Marcus left for work a couple of hours later. He almost woke her but he remembered how tired being pregnant made her and figured it could wait a bit longer. He had to get to the hospital anyway as he’d promised Jenny Smith he’d call in before work.
Somehow Marcus managed to pull an academy-award-winning performance out of thin air. He was bright and breezy and positive because that was what she and Trent needed. But, if anything, seeing Trent look so small and defenceless between the white hospital sheets cemented his conviction. He could never turn his back on his own child.
He tried Maddy’s phone again several times before he reached work and hung up when her message bank picked up. Would she ever speak to him again? Did he deserve it? He would keep trying but he didn’t know what the hell he would say to her. That he loved her? That they could work it out?
But how?
He didn’t have any answers yet. And he really wouldn’t have any until he talked to Tab. There were things he needed to clarify. His head warred with his heart. His head told him he had to do the honourable thing and be with Tabitha and the baby, accept his responsibilities and step up to the plate and be a father. Not one in name only like his old man, but a hands-on, involved dad.
But his heart said he loved Maddy and any relationship with Tabitha was doomed to failure, even more so than the first time around. If he hadn’t met Maddy he might have been able to fool himself that marrying Tab again could work.
Except he had.
His mobile rang as he was opening up and his heart leapt. But Tabitha’s mobile number was flashing on the screen and he felt his hopes sink.
‘Hi Tab.’
‘You left without waking me,’ she chided.
Marcus wasn’t in the mood for pleasantries. ‘I had things to do.’
‘I was hoping for a grand tour of your new practice,’ she said. ‘And we need to talk. Do you get to stop for lunch? I could come down then.’
Marcus sighed. The sooner they got this over, the sooner he could figure out what the hell he was going to do. ‘One o’clock,’ he said, and hit the end button on his phone.
He glanced at his watch. Fifteen minutes before his first client. Maddy would be in by now. He rose - he had to see her. If nothing else to apologise. Her wounded eyes from last night haunted him and he wanted to say how very sorry he was that she had been a casualty of Tabitha’s announcement.
The thought that she was hurt and he had been responsible was more than he could bear.
He stopped at Veronica’s desk and gave her his most charming smile. Maddy had teased him mercilessly about the younger woman’s adoration and today he wasn’t beyond exploiting that. ‘I need five minutes of Maddy’s time. Can you hold her first patient?’ Somehow he managed to smile.
‘Too late. She should be finishing soon, though.’
‘Can I sneak in before the next one?’
‘You’ve only just left her, Marcus Hunt,’ Veronica complained good-naturedly. Maddy’s door opened and her patient walked out, holding a script.
‘Can you send my next patient in, please, Veronica?’
Even over the intercom Maddy’s voice sounded bleak.
‘Go on, then,’ Veronica said, lowering her voice, ‘I can stall for five minutes. Do you want me to announce you?’
Good lord, no! He doubted he’d make it past the desk. ‘No, thanks.’
‘Go get her, tiger.’ She growled at him playfully.
Marcus left the reception area, feeling a little guilty about misleading Veronica, and approached Maddy’s office with great trepidation. She didn’t disappoint him. Her reaction was what he’d expected.
Madeline looked up from a chart and saw Marcus standing in the doorway, his features marred with uncertainty. ‘Not now, Marcus, I’m busy.’ She was proud of how business like she sounded when her heart was breaking.
‘Look,’ he said as he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him, ‘I can —’
‘What?’ she interrupted. ‘Explain? I doubt it.’
‘Tabitha —’
‘Don’t,’ she interrupted again. ‘I don’t want to hear about whatever little sordid arrangement you’ve got going.’
‘It’s not like that,’ Marcus denied reminding himself that she was hurt and lashing out and not to take it personally.
‘So you didn’t sleep with her?’
What defence did he have for that? Nothing. It wouldn’t matter to Maddy what the circumstances had been or that in the decade of their separation it had been the one and only time. He nodded. ‘The night before I left for Queensland.’
The confirmation hit Madeline hard and she bit back a gasp. Even up until now she’d been hoping it had all been a dreadful mistake.
But apparently not.
Madeline knew there was nothing wrong with what he and his ex had done in and of itself. She hadn’t known Marcus then - he’d been
