The Doctor & the Runaway Heiress

CHAPTER TWELVE

CONTRARY to what she’d told Riley, Pippa had no faith at all in Anti-Chew. She consequently had no intention at all to bathe in the ocean.

There was, however, a rock pool at the edge of the cove. It was a naturally formed ring of rocks. At high tide the waves washed over it, meaning it was full of clear seawater. At low tide-now-there was an almost eighteen-inch rim of rock. The pool was five feet deep at the most. There was no way night feeders could get in. It was safe and she needed to swim.

It had been one incredible day. First Mickey. Then Lucy’s baby. And watching Riley…

His face had been changing all day. It was like he was fighting some desperate internal war, and he wasn’t winning.

She’d fallen in love with him.

How had she ever thought she could marry Roger? Oh, if she had…

She shuddered and dived into the rock pool. The water was cooler than she’d thought it would be, fresh from the sea, and she shuddered again.

She decided to swim and stop thinking.

The thoughts wouldn’t stop.

Riley.

Could she stay on at Whale Cove if he didn’t want her love?

He’d made it plain that he didn’t. Lucy was hauling him into family whether he liked it or not, but to have a needy, besotted nurse at his side as well…

‘It’s not going to happen,’ she told herself, and then she thought of how she’d felt that morning, on the rock, clinging to Mickey, clinging to Riley.

Feeling like… if she died now at least she’d known Riley. At least she’d had one night.

‘I want more nights,’ she said out loud, and started doing laps, up and down the length of the rock pool. She was tired to the bone, but she also knew she wouldn’t sleep. She might as well exhaust herself properly.

What would she do?

She wanted to stay here. She wanted to be part of this community, this job, but how much was the job and how much was Riley?

Tonight had been magic. Friends, family, kids, babies, barbecues at midnight, no clear delineation between work and home, saving Mickey, waving her fish from the helicopter, loving Riley…

She almost sobbed, only it was hard to sob when she had her head down, swimming hard. She closed her eyes and let the darkness envelop her.

Something touched her foot.

She pretty near had a palsy stroke. A night feeder…

She whirled in the water to face whatever it was, expecting teeth-and two hands landed on her shoulders, holding her up. Riley’s voice growled into the night.

‘I thought you’d have learned your lesson about night swimming.’

She’d whirled too fast. She had a mouthful of water. She spluttered and choked and it took a couple of moments before she could breathe properly, let alone reply. But finally…

‘If I’d died of fright,’ she said, with as much dignity as she could muster-which actually wasn’t very dignified when she was still spluttering and when his nose was only inches from hers-‘it would have been your fault.’

‘No deaths today,’ he said gently, in a voice she didn’t recognise. ‘Only life. First Mickey. Then Lucy’s baby.’

How to answer that? She fought for something innocuous. Something safe.

‘Did… did they decide what to call it?’ She was practically gibbering.

‘It seems they thought of calling him Riley,’ Riley told her, gravely. ‘Only there’s a bit of a run on the name. They’re moving to William instead.

‘I like William,’ she said, and then managed a tentative smile. ‘Do you? Papa?’

‘Papa,’ he said blankly.

‘Papa. Or Grandpa? Grandfather? Sir? Hmm.’

‘You want to get ducked?’

‘Gotta be one,’ she said, recovering courage. ‘There’s no getting away from the fact that you’re a grandpa.’

‘I don’t think I want to get away,’ he said, and there was enough in that to give her pause.

‘You don’t do family.’

‘I haven’t done family.’

‘You don’t want-’

‘I haven’t wanted. Until now.’

She paused. She was suddenly acutely aware that Riley was holding her up. They were in the deepest part of the pool. He could stand up. She couldn’t.

She was at a disadvantage. She needed to put her feet somewhere solid, but Riley was holding her and not letting her go.

‘I thought you might die,’ he said, almost conversationally, and instead of moving to shallow water where a girl could set her legs down, he swung her up into his arms. ‘Today with Mickey… You risked your life and, more than that, it was me who asked you to. You just… did it. And then tonight you delivered Lucy’s son. You’ve made Amy happy. You’ve made Lucy happy. You saved Mickey. Wherever you go, life follows. And you know what? I’ve been sweating on an accent and on money and on past history, and they haven’t let me see what’s before my eyes.’

‘Golly,’ Pippa said, which ridiculous but she couldn’t think of anything more sensible to say. ‘I don’t think I’m that good.’

‘And you’re practical, too,’ Riley said, ignoring her interruption, and she heard his smile. From where she was she couldn’t see his face.

She could feel, though. She was enjoying feeling. She was starting to enjoy feeling very much indeed.

‘Even at the cliff this afternoon,’ he said, almost conversationally, ‘I was worrying about Mickey. I was worrying about practicalities, transport, shock, you, even about dry clothes-and suddenly you were organising fish. You had your priorities. Free fish. That’s a woman in a million, I thought. And then you know what else I thought? I thought I really want to kiss you.’

‘Really?’ she said, cautiously. Something inside her was starting to feel… good.

‘Really.’ He tugged her higher then, and he kissed her. He was shoulder deep in water. He was holding her hard and he was kissing her as she wanted to be kissed. As she ought to be kissed.

A girl had a right to be kissed like this.

‘So… so what…?’ she ventured when she could finally get a word in. ‘What made you think… you might want to kiss me?’

‘Adam,’ he said. ‘And Jason.’

That didn’t make sense. She waited, hoping for an explanation, and finally it came. After the next kiss.

‘They’re sitting on my veranda like two smug old men-fathers!’ he told her. ‘And they’re looking at me like they’re sorry for me. And you know what? They’re right. I’m sorry for me.’

‘You don’t sound very sorry.’

‘That’s because I’m planning,’ he said. ‘I have a plan.’

‘A plan.’

‘I’m not exactly sure how I feel about you being rich.’

‘You’re not exactly poor.’

‘Shut up, my love,’ he said. ‘I need to tell it like it is.’

‘Okay,’ she said-happily now, for how could she stop the wave of happiness engulfing her? She had no intention of trying.

‘I love our house,’ he said, and she blinked. Our house. This wasn’t the sort of declaration she’d been expecting.

‘It’s a great house,’ she managed.

‘It’s a magnificent house. And now you’ve decorated it…’

‘I can do better, given time.’

‘That’s just it. I’m worried. The hospital offered to sell it to me last year and they gave me a figure. If the valuer sees it now, with its curtains and its posters, it’ll double in price. I’m parsimonious. Just think of the extra fish and chips we can have if I buy the house now.’

‘You want to buy the house?’

‘I do,’ he said. ‘Because I’ve been thinking… If I buy us a house… no, if I buy us a home… then anything else is icing on the cake. No matter what either of us earn, no matter what you decide to do with your fortune, my pride is catered for. Oh, and I might want to start an Amy nursing-training scholarship fund as well, but I’ve been thinking I might invite you to join me. My pride could take that.’ He smiled. ‘My pride might even enjoy it.’

‘Your pride?’ She was still being cautious. He was circling the issue, she thought. She thought she knew where he was heading, but a girl had to make sure. ‘You’re saying you want us to fund Amy-and you want us to stay being housemates?’

‘No.’

‘No?’

‘Well, only so much as… Are you housemates when you’re married?’

‘Married.’ The word took her breath away.

‘If you want to be,’ he said. ‘I want to marry you more than anything else in the world-but it’s your call.’

‘But… why?’

‘Because I love you,’ he said simply, and he did set her down then, moving so they were waist deep in water and he could take her hands and gaze down at her in the moonlight. ‘Pippa, this morning… If I’d lost you, I couldn’t bear it. I won’t ever ask you to risk your life again.’

‘Of course you will,’ she retorted, diverted. ‘We both will. It’s what we do. We rescue people.’

‘How about ourselves?’

‘You mean…’ She tried to think it through. She was feeling so happy she felt like she was floating, but she needed to make her fuzzy mind focus. ‘You rescue me and I rescue you right back?’

‘That’s the plan,’ he said, softly and surely in the moonlight. That’s the dream. ‘For as long as we both shall live.’

‘That sounds extraordinary,’ she whispered.

‘Is that a yes?’

She made herself pause. She made herself consider.

Once upon a time she’d agreed to marry Roger. That had taken her years to decide and she’d still made a mistake.

But Riley…

She looked up into his lovely anxious face and all the answers, all the years to come were written in his gaze.

He loved her. From this day forth…

Her Riley.

But… er…

A thought had occurred. Something important.

‘You’re a grandpa,’ she said, suddenly astringent. ‘If you’re a grandfather and I marry you… I will not be Granny.’

‘I’ve thought about that, too,’ he said, sounding suddenly smug. ‘Just now. When you called me Papa.’

‘You have?’

‘I’ll be Poppa,’ he said. ‘I like it. I know I’m young but the word has a certain cachet. And you’re Pippa. Poppa and Pippa. A matching pair. How about that for a plan?’

‘Oh, Riley.’

‘Is that a yes?’

‘I believe it is,’ she said.

‘I believe I love you-Pippa,’ he said.

‘And I love you-Poppa,’ she murmured, and he laughed and hugged her hard-and then she wasn’t able to say anything at all for a very long time.

And almost twelve months to the day, to Pippa and to Riley, one baby. Any minute now…

On the veranda of the house overlooking Whale Cove Pippa crouched on a settee and moaned. A lot.

She had the right.

Jason and Adam were in the back yard, firing up the barbecue. Organising fish. Since saving Mickey there always seemed to be fish arriving at this house. The fishing community was big and the locals remembered. ‘For our Doc and our Pippa.’

Our Pippa.

But Riley wasn’t noticing fish now.

Lucy and Amy were taking turns to coach.

Jancey was in the background. A woman had to have a professional there.

Pippa’s fingers were clinging so hard to Riley’s that he might end up scarred.

But Riley wasn’t noticing his fingers either.

‘It’s coming,’ Amy said. Six months into nursing training, she was already an expert. ‘Pippa, you’re nearly there.’

‘We can see the head,’ Lucy breathed. ‘Hold her up, Dad, so she can see for herself. Pippa, one more push.’

‘You can do it,’ Jancey said.

A monstrous regiment of women.

Riley remembered the quote. He almost grinned. Jancey and Amy and Lucy-and at the centre his own wonderful Pippa. How had he ever thought…?

But then…

‘Push,’ Jancey ordered. ‘Biggest one yet. Keep going. Again. Go, girl. You rock. Lucy, Amy, hold Pippa so Riley can catch his baby.’

He couldn’t sit around thinking all day. He had work to do.

He had to disengage those fingers.

‘Push,’ he told his beloved. He kissed her hard and fast and then he put her into the care of Lucy and Amy. Her family. His family.

And he moved to where he needed to be.

The head… It was certainly coming. ‘Push.’

‘Don’t tell me what to do,’ Pippa yelled. ‘I’m pushing.’

‘Push harder.’

‘I’m… Oooooohhhhhh.’

And there she was, sliding into the outside world. Caught by her father. Held like she was the most precious creature in the world.

His daughter.

‘What…? What…?’ Amy and Lucy were supporting Pippa so she could to see her baby. Jancey stood back with a smile wide enough to split her face. With this family, what need for a midwife?

‘We have a daughter,’ Pippa murmured, awed. ‘Oh, Riley.’

‘I have a sister,’ Lucy sniffed, jubilant. ‘Oh, wait, that means William has an aunt. Our family’s getting bigger and bigger.’

‘As it should,’ Riley managed, so choked he could scarcely speak. ‘It’s perfect. She’s perfect.’

And he moved, carrying his brand-new daughter so that he could kiss his wife. His Pippa. His love.

And as Pippa cradled her newborn, as he gathered her into his arms, as he held her close, and as they felt this new little life between them, he accepted what he knew for sure.

‘We have the perfect family.’

‘It might get bigger,’ Pippa whispered, dazed.

He kissed her again and he smiled and looked up at the people around them.

‘A bigger family sounds great to me,’ he told her. ‘Just as long as you stay at its heart. My Pippa. My love. My wife.’