Page 58 of Prognosis Incompatible

And they’d both been single and it had seemed fitting somehow. But it hadn’t seemed so fitting the next morning and they’d both agreed it had been a little foolish.

But their indiscretion had come back to haunt them well and truly. Maddy had looked at him with questioning eyes and the denial that had sprung to his lips had died an instant death. His mind had crowded with questions as he’d stood mutely trying to comprehend Tab’s news but he believed her - Tab wasn’t manipulative, nor was she a liar.

And then Maddy had left and the enormity of what he’d lost had hit him. Tabitha had tried to talk to him but despite the hundreds of question crowding his mind, Marcus had been so angry he’d known he couldn’t get into it tonight. Angry at himself that a moment of weakness and stupidity had led to far reaching consequences - for two women.

Angry that he’d hurt the woman he loved.

‘It’s late, Tab,’ he’d said. ‘We’ll discuss it in the morning. Have my bed.’ Then he’d gone to the linen cupboard pulled out clean sheets, thrust them at her, taken a pillow down for himself and stormed off to the couch, flicking off the light switch as he passed.

And here he lay, his pregnant ex-wife in his bed and the woman he loved gone, refusing to take his calls. He felt impotent and furious at himself and Tabitha for the position they were now in.

Marcus looked at the time on his mobile. Two a.m. Rolling on his side, he punched his pillow, squeezing his eyes shut as the heat of anger burned in his chest. He really needed to get some sleep — tomorrow was going to be harrowing. He and Tabitha had to talk and for that he was going to need all his wits. He forced himself to employ the meditation techniques he extolled with his clients and forget that for the first day in six weeks he’d be waking up without Maddy.

***

There were four missedcalls and three texts on Madeline’s mobile the next morning when she switched it back on. Marcus. She told herself she wasn’t going to listen to them, her finger even hovered over the delete button, but a masochistic streak had her dialling her message bank just to hear his voice.

‘Maddy, please, Maddy, I’m so sorry. Please, switch your phone back on. Please.’

He sounded bleak and she knew how he felt. It felt like winter inside her again — cold and barren. The warm place inside that he had thawed only a handful of weeks ago snap frozen in a thick block of ice. Had it only been last night she had confessed her feelings?

With a sleepless night behind her and her love in tatters, it felt like an age ago.

An ice age.

At least his voice hadn’t been condescending. He hadn’t glibly said he could explain or that there’d been a mistake or dismissed what had happened as nothing. His voice told her how serious the situation was. And she couldn’t believe that the happiest six weeks of her life had ended so abruptly.

The questions that had circled her brain endlessly continued. When Tabitha had laid her trump card down she had looked at Marcus, waiting for the denial, waiting for him to dispute what she was saying. But she had seen it in his eyes. The truth. Tabitha’s baby was his baby.

And now she was in love with someone who was having a child with another woman. Someone who would be a father to that baby come hell or high water. Someone who obviously still had a thing for his ex-wife.

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.

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Marcus gave up on sleepat 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.’

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