Page 57 of Prognosis Christmas Baby

Nash was here? The thought helped soothe the ache a little and she threaded her fingers through his.

‘I’m here,’ he said, squeezing her hand.

Maggie answered a series of questions the nurse fired at her and dutifully moved all her limbs. ‘How’s your head?’

‘Feels like someone’s drilling a hole in it with a jackhammer.’ Maggie grimaced.

‘I can get you something for it,’ the nurse suggested.

Maggie shifted her free hand to her belly and splayed her fingers there. ‘No, thanks. I’ll cope.’

‘A couple of Panadol aren’t going to hurt, Maggie,’ Nash interceded.

‘I’m fine.’

‘Okay, then. See you in an hour,’ the nurse said as she left.

‘Oh, goody,’ she muttered, her head throbbing as her eyes fluttered shut.

Nash chuckled. It was good to see Maggie’s humour was intact. ‘You could have had the X-ray,’ he chided.

Maggie could feel herself drifting off to sleep again and let it slide but a nagging question pulled her out and she forced her eyes open. Rolled her head to the side, she sought and found Nash’s gaze. ‘Did they get him?’

Nash nodded. ‘Yes, he’s been apprehended.’

Maggie pursed her lips, the whole crazy jumble of events too much for her sore head to contemplate. Her lids drifted downwards again.

No, wait, there was something else. She forced her eyes open again. ‘Did Christopher get his transfusion?’

Nash shook his head. Trust Maggie to be thinking of one of her patients in the midst of all of this. ‘Yes. He did. Bree popped in to visit you but you were asleep.’

Maggie smiled as she felt the tug of sleep pulling her under. ‘Not her fault,’ she murmured.

Nash watched her drift away, her grip on his hand easing, grateful that despite her ordeal she was still the same Maggie. His mobile buzzed in his pocket and he slowly extricated himself so he could switch it off.

Maggie, teetering on the edge of the precipice between light sleep and total oblivion, felt his withdrawal as if her safety rope had been tugged away and her eyes flew open as her heart rate spiked. ‘No,’ she murmured, reaching for his hand. ‘Don’t leave.’

An edge of panic welled up inside. Not yet. She had another few weeks with him.

Don’t leave me yet.

‘Hey, shh, it’s okay,’ Nash said, ignoring his phone as she clawed his hand back into her grasp, holding it prisoner against her belly. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’

He smiled at her and Maggie’s pulse settled again as the panic receded and the imprint of his hand against her abdomen registered. She shut her eyes. ‘Yes, you are.’

The words were her last as this time sleep tugged her completely under.

Nash blinked at the streak of accusation in her mumbled words. Yes, you are. If she’d meant to make him feel guilty – it worked.

Her stomach was warm beneath his palm as Nash turned her words over in his head. He recognised the flat contours he’d grown to know so well in such a short time and felt a pang that he wasn’t going to get to see her shape change, feel the roundness replace the smooth planes.

It was the first time he’d touched her in any intimate way in weeks, and the fact that his child lay beneath their hands made it even more intimate. His mind returned to the awful events and plagued him with what-ifs, and his hand tightened against her belly.

What if she’d really been stabbed? What if the baby had been injured? What if she’d died? What if something like this had happened while he was living overseas? He shuddered, thinking about it, and the feeling that he was shirking his duties returned with a vengeance as her yes you are mingled with the emotions of the night’s events.

Except it was about more than duty now. This was real. Maggie was real. The baby beneath his hands was real. It didn’t feel like a problem that had to be solved anymore or a responsibility he had to bear.

So, what was it?

Maybe he was becoming a father? Seeing Maggie like that on the floor — still and bleeding — had stirred something in him. Shifted something. The thought that the baby might be in danger had been equally as dreadful. Maybe his caveman protective instincts were kicking in?

His woman, his child. His job to protect them. But how could he do that from the other side of the world?

Yes, you are.

Nash groaned and laid his forehead on the crisp white sheet. This made no sense. They’d already figured out what they were going to do. And Maggie had seemed really happy. At peace with it. Except her grip on his hand and her mumbled words just now seemed to refute that.

His career plans and his future dreams inspired by his sister’s struggle warred with the emotions that flooded him as he sat here looking at Maggie.

What the hell was happening to him?

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