Page 56 of Prognosis Christmas Baby

Nash heard her small voice, usually so firm and assured, and he hauled her into a sitting position and tucked her into his chest. She was trembling and he hugged her closer. He didn’t care that he’d have even more blood over him or that the hand he had on her head, stroking her hair, was covered in the red sticky stuff.

She was okay. The baby was okay.

That was all that mattered.

‘Bloody hell, Maggie, you scared the living daylights out of me.’

Maggie rested her cheek against his shirt. It felt heavenly against her thumping temple and she turned her face into his shirt, smelling the essence of him, eliminating the sickly metallic aroma playing havoc with her nausea.

‘Come on, you two,’ Linda interrupted. ‘We need to get Maggie to X-Ray.’

Maggie looked at Nash and shook her head. ‘No, Nash, I can’t. The baby,’ she mouthed.

Nash smiled and dropped a kiss on her nose, elated to see her sitting and talking and thinking and being all Maggie and bossy. For an awful moment he’d thought she was dead. ‘I’m afraid they know about the baby, Maggie.’

Maggie gaped at him. She would have been really mad had it not hurt her head, and Gemma and Linda were grinning stupidly at her so she just rolled her eyes. ‘Well, okay, then. So I’m not having an X-ray.’

Gemma cocked an eyebrow at Nash. ‘Maggie, you were knocked out. For quite a while. We need to check you didn’t do some damage.’

Maggie squirmed out of his embrace pulling her the edges of her scrub together as she tried to get to her feet on legs that felt like jelly. Nash helped but as soon as she was up she pulled her elbow out of his grasp.

‘I’m fine,’ she said.

Unfortunately, a wave of dizziness chose that moment to assail her and she swayed.

‘Whoa.’ Nash caught her, sweeping her up off her feet with Maggie protesting the entire way. The gurney arrived at the same time and he placed her on it. ‘See?’ he said gently as he spread a sheet over her body to protect her modesty.

‘No X-ray,’ she said mutinously. ‘Do a full neuro assessment if you must, but I’m not irradiating this baby.’

‘Maggie,’ Gemma appealed. ‘One X-ray is not going to hurt the baby. They’ll take appropriate precautions.’

‘No.’

‘You’ll have to stay overnight for observation if you refuse,’ Gemma lectured.

Maggie looked at the two doctors, united in their determination to expose her baby to deadly radiation. ‘Fine.’

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Two hours later, Nashwas finally free to leave work and visit Maggie. She’d been whisked away by ambulance to the Brisbane General while he’d been held up with the police and handing over to Mac. Every instinct he’d owned had rebelled against their separation but he’d known hospital was the best place for her.

Still, the sight of her lying in that pool of blood kept running through his head with sickening clarity and the need to reassure himself that she was okay was paramount. He was increasingly frustrated by the amount of time it was taking and his nerves were stretched to breaking point when he finally managed to get away.

She was tucked up asleep when he entered her private room. She was wearing one of those awful hospital gowns and looked pale and fragile against the white sheets. An ugly mark marred her left temple, a purple bruise embellishing it further. But at least the blood was gone.

Nash didn’t think he’d ever be able to scrub that image from his mind.

He dropped a light kiss on her forehead but she didn’t stir. Pulling up a chair close to the bed, he sank into it and reached for her nearest hand. She still didn’t stir but Nash could feel the warmth of her palm and see her chest rising and falling so he knew she was okay.

Even if her stillness was almost as sickening as the blood.

Nash rested his chin on the bed and watched. He watched her deep, even respirations. The bound of her abdominal pulse. The fluttering of her eyes beneath her lids. He watched, relieved, overwhelmingly thankful that she was okay.

A nurse came in and smiled at Nash. She performed a set of neuro obs and Nash leaned closer as Maggie stirred to the nurse’s insistent demand that she open her eyes.

‘Nash?’ Maggie murmured, becoming aware of his presence

just as retinal-detaching light was blasted into her pupils.

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