As long as you do everything I say.’
Kit swallowed and nodded. Alex leaned forward to make sure he caught every word the doctor uttered.
‘I’m booking you in for an ultrasound on …’ he surveyed his computer ‘… on Thursday. It’ll put both you and your regular doctor’s minds at rest. I’ll also prescribe you a course of antibiotics, and no, they won’t harm your baby,’ he added before Kit could ask. ‘But, until your ultrasound, I want you to have complete bed rest.’
‘Oh, but—’
‘You can get up to go to the bathroom. You can have a quick shower or tepid bath once a day. But the rest of the time I want you in bed.’
Kit’s hands twisted in her lap. ‘I … ‘
The doctor peered at her over the top of his glasses. ‘It’s better to be safe than sorry, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, of course. It’s just … ‘
The doctor turned to Alex. ‘She’ll need someone to stay with her, look after her.’
Alex nodded, ignoring the way his stomach dropped. ‘I’ll do that.’ Thursday? He could stay till Thursday, or even the weekend. Kit wouldn’t be sick if she wasn’t pregnant. And she wouldn’t be pregnant if it wasn’t for him.
Thursday or the weekend? It was the least he could do.
He could see that Kit didn’t like the idea. In fact, she probably loathed it. Not that he could blame her.
The doctor pointed at Kit. ‘You rest. It’s important, you hear?’
Kit nodded and swallowed. ‘I hear.’
Alex wanted to hit the doctor for frightening her.
The doctor’s glare transferred itself to Alex. ‘She’s to have no stress, no worry. She’s not to be upset in any way.’
Alex’s hands clenched as fear punched through him then too. ‘Right.’ No stress, no worry. He could manage that. For Kit. Till Thursday. Or the weekend.
‘I don’t need you to stay with me, Alex,’ Kit said the moment he pulled his car to a halt out the front of her house and turned off the ignition.
He didn’t blame her for not wanting him there. In her shoes he wouldn’t want him staying over either, but hadn’t she heard a word the doctor said? She needed someone to stay with her, look after her. He wasn’t leaving until someone trustworthy was here to fill his shoes.
‘I’m happy to call one of your friends or a relative—perhaps your aunt Doreen—to stay with you, but I’m not leaving you alone, Kit. You heard what the doctor said,’ he added when she opened her mouth to argue.
She closed it again. She looked pale and wrung out, and he grimaced. ‘Look, this is the story, Kit. I’m staying in Tuncurry tonight. Now, whether that’s on one of your new sofas or in a hotel room is up to you.’
‘But—’
‘It’s getting a bit late to be driving back to Sydney, especially when I’m still jet-lagged from the Africa trip.’
She rested her head against the back of the seat as if it were too hard to hold it up under her own steam. He wanted to reach out and trace the line of her jaw, the curve of her cheek. He clenched his hand. Just get her into bed where she can rest. No stress, no worry.
He swallowed. ‘Kit, how does this sound for a plan? You let me crash on your sofa, just for tonight, and tomorrow we can discuss other arrangements?’
She closed her eyes and then finally she nodded. ‘Okay.’
He had a feeling she’d agree to just about anything at the moment if it meant she could rest.
He discovered that didn’t mean she’d let him carry her into the house, though. He stayed close behind her on the slow trek from the car to the house, in case she needed a hand. They both paused on the threshold. The living room looked like a bombsite, though Frank and Doreen had obviously done their best to sweep the debris into one tidy pile.
Kit picked up a note from the coffee table. ‘Doreen has left us a casserole.’ She started to turn. ‘I should pop over and thank her.’
‘I’ll do that. You go to bed.’
She didn’t look at him. She glanced about the room and her shoulders slumped. One of her small hands inched across her stomach. Alex’s chest burned. She looked so lost and alone. He touched her shoulder, but when she glanced up at him with big worry-filled eyes he found himself drawing her into his arms and pressing her head to the hollow of his shoulder. ‘It’s going to be okay, Kit.’
‘You don’t know that,’ she mumbled, but she didn’t draw away.
He stroked her hair in an effort to reassure her, but found himself revelling in her softness, in how good she smelt, instead. ‘We’ll do everything the doctor says and you and your baby will be fine.’
She stared up at him then, a frown in her eyes.
‘If the doctor had been really worried he’d have admitted you to hospital.’
She nodded, but the frown didn’t leave her eyes. ‘What are you still doing here, Alex?’
‘There are things we need to talk about.’ Maybe honesty would win him a measure of her trust. ‘It doesn’t matter how much I might want to leave, I can’t until we’ve thrashed some things out. But that can wait until later in the week. What’s important at the moment is for you to get better again.’
He hooked an arm under her knees and lifted her into his arms. Carrying her was easier than arguing with her.
Carrying her was divine.
‘Point me in the direction of your bedroom.’
She pointed to the corridor that led off the living room. ‘First door on the right.’
The moment he set foot inside it, he wanted to back out again. This bedroom, with its big wooden bed and plaid quilt in pastel shades piled decadently with cushions, was pure Kit. It reminded him of that night.
He set her down on her bed and then backed up fast, almost falling over his feet in his haste. ‘You need to rest—doctor’s orders. Nothing else matters at the moment, Kit. I’ll go and serve you up a plate of your aunt’s casserole.’ Even sick, she looked divine.
‘Honorary aunt. Doreen isn’t my real aunt.’
Right.
‘Alex?’
He turned in the doorway.
Her chin lifted as she met his gaze. ‘You’re going to leave us, aren’t you, me and our baby?’
Her bottom lip wobbled as the words whispered out of her. Each word pierced his flesh.
She bit her lip, maybe in an attempt to get it back under control, and then she pursed her mouth. ‘You know, Alex, I can understand you not wanting a future with me. I get that.’
She glanced away, swallowed. Her throat worked. He wanted to close his eyes.
She turned and her gaze met his again, her eyes dark and shadowed. Confusion and turmoil chased themselves across her face. ‘But how can you turn your back on our baby?’
A weight slammed into place. He must look like a monster in her eyes.
Maybe he was.
He wanted to tell her to rest but the words wouldn’t come.
‘You don’t care what’s best for me. You don’t care what’s best for our baby. All you care about is what’s best for you.’
She spoke almost as if to herself and her words chilled him. He wanted to tell her she was wrong, but …
He shook himself.