Kitabı oku: «Baby for the Midwife», sayfa 3

He sat back a little in case he was crowding her. ‘It doesn’t look like I will fall madly in love at my age and I like you. I like you a lot. I need a temporary wife and Harry said you were looking for a job after the baby. You could work with me when you’re ready.’

‘It all sounds so coldly clinical.’

‘We could warm it up.’ He saw her face close and he backed off quickly. ‘I’m sorry. Joking. We won’t go there.’ He paused and risked a lighter comment. ‘Especially as you’ve just given birth.’

She had to smile and he knew it. But he was intrigued.

‘Would it help if I told you I think we would deal very well together? Much better than expected?’

‘Much better than whom?’ She shook her head. ‘You and Tayla? Two selfish, immature, rich people who think marriage is a sham or an excuse to wear feathers?’

He held up his hands. ‘The feathers were not my idea. In fact, a condition of marrying me is that you are not allowed to wear feathers.’

‘I’m not marrying you, Max.’ She turned her shoulder on him. ‘I’m not even sure I like you after this conversation. And I can’t believe that Harry was a part of this whole sellmy-daughter-to-a-loveless-marriage thing.’

‘Harry wanted to have Tayla safely married before he was much older.’

He saw the moment she understood, and the sudden sadness in her eyes as she sat back against him, all else forgotten. ‘Why the urgency?’

‘That’s for Harry to tell, not me.’ It was Harry’s secret, not his.

‘Poor Uncle Harry.’

He squeezed her shoulder. ‘Leave it. He is dealing with this in his own way.’

She stared and shook her head. ‘So that’s why Harry agreed?’

‘One of the reasons.’ He smiled sympathetically and then went off at a tangent again. ‘I do have one burning question that’s puzzled me.’

She raised her eyebrows and his arm slid away from her shoulder so he could look at her fully.

‘Did you want a place in the wedding party or did Harry lean on you?’

She grimaced. ‘Who wants to be a pregnant matron of honour? Harry was so pleased that Tayla was settling down, and he wanted to see that, as cousins, his daughter and I were friends. Knowing he’s unwell explains why he was so insistent. I wanted to please Harry and the idea that I did have a family was comforting.’

Max admired her warmth for Harry. ‘Harry thought I would make a good husband.’

‘I understand that.’ She looked worriedly at him. ‘I’ve already made one mistake in marriage, though, and I’m frightened I’d make a bigger one with you.’

Max could feel the swing his way and he vowed she wouldn’t regret it. ‘That’s the beauty of it, Georgia. This is a business arrangement.’

Her voice was quiet but determined. She spoke slowly. ‘I’m thinking. I can’t believe I’m doing it but I am considering your proposal on the basis of a one-year contract.’

She shivered under his arm. ‘My biggest problem is that I’m still frightened. Especially now Elsa has been born. Sol has seen her, and will want her. And me. I’m too vulnerable.’

She looked up at him to read his face and make sure he understood what she was offering. To make clear all she wasn’t offering and the risks.

She spelt it out. ‘In a business relationship I could build up my strength in a safe environment and you need a wife in name only. To be honest, that’s all I’ve got to offer anyway. And I need to ease back to work and get on with my life.’

He squeezed her shoulders and she felt so frail under his hand. He would guard them both. ‘Fine. Come home with me and I swear I will keep you both safe.’

He smiled crookedly because he didn’t want to say it but in all honesty it needed to be said. ‘I don’t wish to take advantage of your shock unfairly. Your uncle would probably also be able to offer you protection from your ex-husband.’

She shook her head. ‘That won’t work. You say Harry is unwell and I’m not up to Tayla’s recriminations.’

‘Not a relaxing thought.’ He smiled at her and the tension lightened a little in the room. That was it, then. He had what he wanted. Hopefully so did she. He stood up. ‘Let’s go, then.’

She tilted her head and looked up at him. ‘It’s that easy?’

‘It will be. You pack and I’ll sort out the rest.’

She shifted Elsa onto one arm and pulled the toothbrush from her pocket. ‘I’m packed.’

When Georgia walked out of the hospital and into the sunlight it felt as if Tayla’s disastrous wedding had been a year ago not just one day.

Max’s hand hovered near the small of her back and she carried Elsa tightly against her, as if to defend her from an unknown assailant.

Incredibly, with Max, she did feel safe, even after the shock of knowing Sol had found her.

‘Why do I feel so protected with you when I barely know you?’ She’d met him such a short time ago and she’d made a disastrous marriage before. Was she making another mistake?

‘Because I’m a mature and respected consultant,’ he said. ‘I’ve known Harry for years and your uncle trusted me enough to marry his only daughter off to me.’

That part sounded acceptable.

Then she saw Max’s big square, ostentatious, boy’s toy shiny black Hummer parked outside the door and she shook her head. ‘You’re just a kid with your ego.’

Max patted the bonnet of the huge all-terrain vehicle. ‘Cool, isn’t it? At least I get my baby dirty when I go offroad.’

‘Where’s your chauffeur?’

‘He has other jobs. I don’t use that car often. It belongs to my mother.’

She sniffed and looked again at the vehicle. ‘Does your baby have an infant capsule?’

He smirked. ‘Now she does.’

She looked at him. ‘When did you get the time to organise that?’

‘The capsule belongs to Maternity and I promised I’d have it back tomorrow.’

‘You have connections.’

‘I’m one big connection, but to answer your question…’ He paused and looked her full in the face. ‘You trust me with Elsa, don’t you?’

‘Of course.’

‘Then you can trust me with you as well.’

She had no answer for that.

CHAPTER FOUR

MAX and Georgia’s wedding was simple, at the registry office, and the only guests were Max’s housekeeper and Harry.

It was done two days later, as soon as the licence came through, and Georgia didn’t wear feathers.

As she stood beside her new husband and watched him sign the marriage certificate, she realised how little she knew about this man. And yet even in the last forty-eight hours he had shown a kindness and sensitivity that brought tears to her eyes. Hormones again, of course, but nonetheless Max was a darling and even Elsa liked him.

Goodness knew what he had told Harry, but her uncle had nothing good to say about Sol and kept patting her on the shoulder. What could have been horribly awkward as they arranged their hurried wedding and transfer north proved an amusing and relaxed time, thanks to Max.

They moved north to Coffs Harbour straight after the ceremony.

Living with Max was an experience. Where Sol had been obsessive about cleanliness and order, Max was oblivious and gloriously extravagant.

He thought nothing of dropping towels by the pool, having his St Bernard in the house, and arriving with an enormous bunch of bananas to hang on the veranda.

Thankfully he had an eccentric housekeeper, Mrs White, who adored him and didn’t mind.

For the first six weeks of Elsa’s life, Max ensured that Georgia had little to do except be there for her baby, eat well-cooked meals provided by the amazing Mrs White, and sleep in between attending to Elsa’s needs.

Thank goodness, because Elsa roared and screamed and barely slept with colic for most of that time, and Georgia shuddered when she thought of how it would have been if she’d had to manage a household as well.

The first night Elsa had screamed, Max had just come in from an emergency Caesarean at two a.m. and Georgia had been down in the kitchen to try Elsa with some boiled water in a bottle.

Max had found Georgia nightie-clad and barefoot, her thick hair pushed distractedly behind her ears, and every time Elsa had emitted a tiny broken sob he’d seen it had torn at her mother’s heart.

‘Give her to me.’ He held out his hands and he saw the way she hesitated. It was amazing how much that hurt. ‘I do know about babies, you know.’

‘Of course you do.’ She passed Elsa over and he hated her hesitation to trust him.

Distraught and exhausted, Georgia looked at her wits’ end and Max just wanted to hug her.

Georgia ran her fingers through her hair. ‘But so do I! I know more about babies than you,’ she said, and there was a break in her voice. ‘But it’s not working!’

Baby Elsa felt tense and coiled with pain in his arms, and he saw why being unable to comfort her daughter would upset Georgia so badly.

She watched him like a hawk as he cupped her baby’s head in his hands and rested her body on his forearms. Then he propped her bottom against his stomach so that she was folded with her legs up his chest. He’d seen the midwives carry babies this way at night when they had pain. When Elsa stopped crying, Georgia rolled her eyes.

‘Typical,’ she said, and he couldn’t help the smirk.

‘See.’

‘Hmmm.’ She crossed to the sink and filled a glass with water. ‘You can hold her while I have two headache tablets for the damage caused by the last two hours.’

‘Have a hot chocolate. I’ll join you. Little missy here looks like she wants to sleep.’

Georgia sniffed. ‘She inherited it from her mother, who also wants to sleep.’ Georgia literally drooped in front of him and his need to comfort her returned. Normally she was so efficient, he actually admired her more for being human.

‘Forget the chocolate. Why don’t you grab a couple of hours’ rest? I imagine you’ve not long fed her so she’ll probably sleep until morning if the pain leaves her alone. I can bring her back to you when she wakes up.’

‘You’ve been up all night and you have to work tomorrow.’ he saw the struggle with the concept of leaving her baby with him.

‘Tomorrow is Saturday and I’m only on call.’ He watched her rub her forehead as she tried to concentrate.

‘Saturday. So it is.’ She smiled wearily and he felt his gut contract at her vulnerability.

The more he saw of her the more he just wanted to pull her into his arms and protect her from her own stubborn, independent self. And a few other things crossed his mind like freight trains, but he wasn’t going there.

The last things she needed from him were pressure and lust, and he’d promised himself he would leave her to heal the deep wounds left by her former husband for at least the year.

He didn’t know if he’d last that long but he was going to damn well try, if it killed him.

By the time Elsa was smiling and cooing at two months Georgia felt as if she’d lived in Max’s wonderful house for ever—but it wasn’t the real world.

She saw very little of Max, though, except when he appeared in the early hours to give her a break if Elsa was having a bad night. Even at those times she was usually so exhausted she just handed Elsa over and crashed into her bed so she felt that she knew less about him than she had when they’d first met.

He was unfailingly polite, wonderful with Elsa considering he had no real experience of babies apart from helping them into the world, and provided the safest haven a woman in need could wish for.

The disconcerting thing about Max for Georgia was the speed with which he seemed to disappear. She knew he was busy at work but she wondered if that, in fact, accounted for his hurry to get away. She really would have liked to have seen more of him.

In the tenth week Georgia had had enough of being the lady of leisure and Max’s avoidance techniques had begun to irk her.

On the day it all changed, she wandered into the kitchen in search of Mrs White while Max was away at work. She found another potato peeler to help with the vegetables and prepared her assault. ‘What time will Max be home tonight, Mrs White?’

Mrs White, who would not be diverted from calling Georgia Mrs Beresford, or allow Georgia to call her Miriam, was a little round woman who, despite her name, dyed her short hair jet-black and wore heavy eyeliner.

She looked up from her own peeler and smiled at Georgia like a jolly panda. ‘It’s Monday so they have a regional discussion at five. Probably seven-thirty or maybe eight tonight.’

‘He works long hours, doesn’t he?’

‘Always has, but he used to try to get away offroading on weekends.’ She pointed her peeler at Georgia. ‘Though he hasn’t had the Hummer out in the bush since we moved up here.’

Georgia knew Mrs White didn’t understand their relationship. Obviously the housekeeper was aware they slept in separate rooms and usually ate meals at different times because of Elsa’s regime. They weren’t even housemates as such because their paths rarely crossed.

But Mrs White had seen they were happy enough and that was good as far as she was concerned, especially compared to the close shave of Tayla—an opinion she’d shared with Georgia very early on.

For Georgia, the initial space Max had given her had been perfect, but now the distance he’d created frustrated the life out of her.

It was like living in the snow with a big, roaring fire on the other side of the window she wasn’t even allowed to warm her hands at. His company was becoming more desirable all the time.

If she didn’t want to fall into the trap of building her life around the flashes of company Max gave her then it was time to begin to think of a few hours of work or she would never regain her independence.

‘I’d like to share my evening meal with Max from now on, if that’s OK. Elsa is starting to go to sleep by seven. Perhaps I could set the table in the dining room tonight.’

Mrs White didn’t quite clap her hands but she did beam approvingly. ‘Of course. I’m sure he’d enjoy the company.’ She smiled across at her. ‘And if Elsa wakes up, I could mind her so you won’t be interrupted during your dinner.’

Georgia opened her mouth to demur when she realised that if she was interrupted then Max would be also, and she could see Mrs White was keen on the idea.

‘Thank you. That would be lovely.’

When Max arrived home that evening, the table was set for two. Georgia had taken the trouble to dress for dinner and put make-up on for the first time in over two months.

She felt like a schoolgirl on her first date, which was ridiculous when she considered how up close and personal she and Max had been at Elsa’s birth.

When he first came in, Georgia felt a fluttery tingle of excitement reverberate through her, just by looking at the way he smiled at seeing her. He looked tall and handsome and his white shirt sat snugly across his shoulders and chest in a disconcertingly sexy way.

His smile held a hint of surprise when he saw the table, but the expression was there so fleetingly she couldn’t be sure, and she hoped it was a pleasant change for him and not one of those saveme-from-the-nuisance moments.

‘I thought I might join you for dinner in the evenings if work permits, Max. Is that all right with you?’ Georgia heard the uncertainty in her voice and she winced. It wasn’t like she was asking to sleep with the guy.

‘I’d like that. We don’t seem to have seen much of each other.’ His eyes crinkled and his golden eyes warmed as his gaze drifted over her. ‘You look beautiful.’

‘Thank you.’ She didn’t know what else to say but some of the nervousness in her stomach subsided.

The conversation faltered and they both looked out the window.

Max broke into the silence. ‘Elsa seems to be settling with her colic.’

Georgia winced. She’d felt so guilty about that. ‘It must have been very distracting for you, and I am sorry.’

Max smiled that particularly sweet smile that always brought a lump to Georgia’s throat. ‘It has been very distracting to have a gorgeous ghost wandering around my house in the early hours of the morning. I’d grown used to her, though, and actually quite miss bumping into her in the wee small hours.’

Georgia began to relax. ‘I’d think myself more of a gargoyle than gorgeous, but I did feel like a ghost in those early days. You were pretty wonderful with Elsa.’

‘Nonsense,’ Max said. ‘She liked me.’

Georgia pretended to glare at him. ‘Excuse me. She liked me, too, but she would not stop crying sometimes.’

He tilted his head. ‘Ah, no. There is a difference. She adores you and knows you feel her pain.’ He smiled again. ‘I’m just the shallow bloke she can go to sleep with when she’s too tired to cry. But I think she’s grown out of me now.’

Georgia couldn’t imagine anyone growing out of Max. He was such a sweetie.

She’d been going to edge slowly towards discussing her plans but it seemed too complicated. Suddenly she just needed to get it all out into the open.

‘I want to go back to work, Max. One or two days a week. Or even half-days, if I could. That way, I can come home to Elsa for feeds.’

Max nodded but he felt like shaking his head. Violently. He looked at her and thought Georgia had grown even more stunning over the last two months. He was having a hard time keeping her out of his thoughts at work, and the idea of her on the hospital ward would complicate things enormously.

‘Are you sure it’s not too soon?’ he said quietly, and he passed her the lemon squash with ice she always seemed to ask for on the rare occasions they shared a drink in the evenings.

It was hot up here, he’d noticed that, and now they wanted him to do three months past Murwillumbah near the Queensland border. They’d actually asked if his wife would be interested in a little part-time work. That would be an even smaller hospital to run into her in.

‘I’m bored, Max. I’m sick of living off you. I want to regain my independence. Elsa doesn’t need me twenty-four hours a day now. Mrs White would love to have her to herself for a couple of hours in the daytime.’

Georgia paused and then said, ‘Thanks to you, I feel safe, Max. And ready to do more.’

Max nodded. ‘You’re the one who has to decide. If you think you’re ready then I’m sure you are. I’ll ask around tomorrow.’

He poured himself a glass of beer. ‘I’ve had an offer for three months up past Murwillumbah where the one obstetric GP has retired. The idea would be to take over his practice for a few weeks but really they’d want me to see if it is still viable as a maternity unit. It’s pretty much a midwifery-run unit and almost in Queensland. If I go, would you want to come or stay here with Mrs White?’

‘Is she staying here?’ Georgia looked startled and he wondered why.

‘She will do if you do!’ Georgia had more need of Mrs White with Elsa than he did.

‘I’m a big girl. You have to stop looking after me, Max.’

‘You’re my wife,’ he said. In truth, he did very little and would love to do more, but she valued her independence and the other thing, the one he tried not to think about but kept him awake at night, needed time.

‘In name only,’ she said.

Bingo. That was the crux, Max thought, and the devil answered. ‘We could change that.’

She laughed. ‘I’m two years older than you. That would be taking advantage of you.’

‘Yes, please, madam.’They both smiled but Max didn’t feel amused. She really didn’t get it. Probably never would, But now wasn’t the time to push it, even though it would be so easy to lean over and kiss those laughing lips of hers.

Down, boy, he warned himself. ‘Seriously, Georgia. You may be older by year or two, but not in the ways of the world.’ That was what he said. What he thought was, Can’t you see I want all of you and I’m trying to stay away?

‘Anyway,’ he said, ‘my aunt left me an old house overlooking Byron Bay, which she bought when she went through her arty phase. I thought I’d stay there and commute to Meeandah.

‘The house is run down but if you’re bored you might be interested in organising to have some work done on it. A gardener comes once a fortnight and the house itself gets springcleaned every couple of months so it will be perfectly habitable.’

She frowned. ‘I appreciate your confidence in my interior decorating skills but I don’t need amusement, Max, I need to rebuild my life so I can regain my independence.’

He knew she expected them to part after the twelve months, she’d told him so several times, and he’d deliberately put no pressure at all on her about his own growing feelings.

Perhaps if he spent more time with her she’d decide he was the catch of the season. What a joke. She’d confirm what he had always known that he didn’t have much to offer her.

He couldn’t have children and she was a great mother and should have lots of children.

He wasn’t used to such negative thoughts and lack of self-confidence and if this was what falling in love did, he wasn’t impressed.

He’d just have to put up with the agony in the slim chance that she’d realise they would deal very well together in the long term.

‘Why don’t we go for a drive on Sunday in the Hummer?’ he said to change the subject. ‘My poor baby hasn’t had a rough-up for a few months now and Mrs White has offered to mind Elsa for a few hours.’

She glanced at him quickly and then away. ‘Fine,’ she replied, though she sounded surprised.

It wasn’t roaring enthusiasm. She’d said fine, so he’d work on it from there.

He hadn’t been out for a while and it would be interesting to see whether Georgia was a bushbashing girl or not. Tayla certainly hadn’t been.

‘What are you smiling at?’

He looked up at her. ‘I was thinking about the one time I took Tayla out in the Hummer and she had hysterics as soon as I turned off the main highway. She liked sitting up above all the other cars with people watching on the main road.’

‘That would be the part I’d hate most.’

‘Wait until you see what she can do.’

‘Should I regret agreeing?’

He raised his eyebrows suggestively. ‘We’ll see.’

Max loved having Georgia beside him in the Hummer. They took a short drive into the hills that first day and the rough fire trail he’d chosen carried them deeper into the forest in a slow incline towards the trig point at the top of the hill.

The overhanging branches slapped the side of the vehicle and Georgia laughed with delight as they bumped and crashed their way through the bush.

‘I’m impressed, Max,’ she said, laughing at him as another huge frond of prickly lantana swished down the side of the paintwork. ‘You really do take your baby offroad and rough her up. You’re not just a show pony.’

‘I’ll give you show pony,’ he threatened, and turned down another trail that seemed even more overgrown than the last but then cleared and opened out to a rocky outcrop overlooking the valley floor.

When Max turned off the engine, bellbirds pinged their songs in the scrub and the rustle of lizards could be heard, scuttling away from the now invaded open ground.

‘You were lucky this wasn’t a dead end.’ Georgia gazed around in delight.

‘Technically it is. But call me lucky,’ he said, and then pulled the map from the door. ‘Actually, I cheated.’

‘Pretty cool navigating anyway,’ she said and, undid her seat belt. ‘Can I get out?’

‘Absolutely. Do you want a hand to climb down?’

‘No.’ She pretended to frown at him. ‘Thank you. I’m a big girl.’ Max watched her jump from the cab and he climbed out himself with a grin.

This was another side he hadn’t seen of Georgia. She glowed with vitality and enthusiasm as she crunched her way across short grass and small boulders to lean, a little recklessly, he thought, over the edge.

On the other side of the canyon a waterfall fell hundreds of metres to the valley floor and the twisting sliver of a silver river at the bottom.

Max came up next to her, ostensibly to share the view but really to grab her if she overbalanced, and when she looked across at him her eyes sparkled as she took in the magnificent views.

Max smiled back indulgently at her. He was falling deeper and deeper in love with this woman every minute and he was beginning to think she wasn’t as immune to him as he’d thought.

‘There’s nobody within miles and miles of us, is there, Max?’

‘Nope,’ he said. ‘All this within an hour from home.’

‘Elsa would love it.’

‘We’ll bring her next time.’ Max looked forward to more days like this. His family—if only it were really so. ‘No doubt she has her mother’s adventurous heart.’

‘I love it. I love the Hummer. I love the bush.’ She looked around eagerly. ‘Thank you for bringing me today, Max. I needed a total change and this is wonderful.’ She spread her arms and in doing so shifted a collection of rocks from under her foot that threw her off balance for a moment.

Max pulled her back against him before she could really grasp that she had been in danger and then she didn’t know whether the thumping in her heart was from the near fall or…from being in Max’s arms against his delicious chest.

Thankfully he made light of it as he righted her and shifted her to a safer position. ‘Falling for me, are you, Georgia?’ he said.

She could do that—despite all the reasons she shouldn’t. Why wouldn’t she? She felt so connected to him at this moment. Two consenting adults in the wild with no one to see what they did. Deep inside a little voice cried plaintively. Why hadn’t he kissed her?

‘You’re a safer place to fall than over the edge,’ she said lightly, hoping he’d put the breathlessness in her voice down to her near miss when, in fact, it had come from her own unexpected erotic thoughts that wouldn’t go away.

‘Glad you think of me as safe,’ Max said dryly, but Georgia was busy with her own thoughts.

Fairly explicit, unexpected thoughts. Nymphs and satires. Naked in the bush. Max’s chest.

Ants and rocks in your back… Her sensible side brought her back to earth, and Georgia turned away to hide her flaming cheeks.

What on earth had those fantasies come from? She pushed the graphic pictures from the front of her mind and searched for diversion in other appetites. ‘Let’s picnic here.’

‘Fine.’ Max’s answer was short and she glanced at him. He was watching her and she could feel the blush steal up her cheeks just from looking at him so she turned away again to find Mrs White’s picnic basket.

‘I’ll get it.’ Max had the other door open. ‘You find a spot to put the rug. I don’t want ants in my pants.’

She laughed. They both had ants on the brain. Max came across with the basket and suddenly she was ravenous.

After the first Sunday trip when Max discovered Georgia enjoyed an adventure as much as he did, a whole new facet of their relationship opened up.

They began to take Elsa with them for excursions in the Hummer as well. They travelled along old fire trails and explored deserted gullies lined with lush tropical greenery and soaring gumtrees.

Elsa had her feet dangled in tiny tumbling streams and Max taught Georgia how to winch logs that had fallen during storms and the best way to chainsaw the heavier timber that often blocked the trails.

Max promised more trips when they moved north and the tenure at Murwillumbah grew closer.

The Byron Bay house overlooked the ocean across rolling green hills, and Georgia felt at peace there immediately.

The house was a white-painted Queenslander design with decorated gables and wrought-iron rails that marched out of sight. Two-storied, it had more wrought-iron fans that embraced the veranda posts, like the wedding cake they hadn’t had.

Two of the front wide bay windows faced the not-too-distant ocean and to sit and dream over the shifting sea always made Georgia sigh with pleasure. There was even a telescope trained on the horizon to idle away time.

Her temporary posting had come through for part-time work at Meeandah Hospital and last night she’d decided that no matter how beautiful it was on the swing seat here with Elsa on her lap, she’d spent almost ten years of her life gaining experience and qualifications for a job she loved—and it was a good thing she would finally use those skills.

It was time to go back to work and the day had arrived. She just needed to get her act together.

Georgia weighed the keys to Mrs White’s car in her hand and suddenly wished she didn’t have to go. She’d feel differently once she was there but it was hard to leave Elsa for the first time for eight full hours.

The last four months had been necessary to rebuild her shattered confidence and learn the art of motherhood. She knew she couldn’t stay in this bubble. The real world was out there and she needed to prepare herself for when this hiatus was gone.

When the year was up she and Max would part ways and that thought brought greyness into the bright sunshine of the morning. It had become harder to imagine no Max in her life, which in itself was dangerous.

Apart from when he worked, since that night she’d began sharing meals with Max, they’d rarely been apart.

They been to the beach at Byron Bay and the lighthouse and shopped at the cosmopolitan markets that sold everything from home-grown coffee-beans to the finest silk and jewellery. They’d picked herbs from Max’s aunt’s herb garden and lain on the lawn in the evening to see the first stars.

Yet always at the back of her mind Georgia had known it had to end.

She had to end it, because even though they’d managed to keep out of Sol’s orbit for the last few months, she knew there was more trouble to come.

She would never forgive herself if anything happened to Max. Max had no idea how obsessed her ex-husband was, and when Sol actually found out she’d married Max she had no idea what he would do.

Now that she wasn’t the gibbering mess she’d been after Elsa’s birth, it had come home to her how unfair it was to drag Max into her troubles, and she could feel the stormclouds gathering on the horizon.