The Midwife's Marriage Proposal

Too long.

She felt pressure on her arm and turned to her friend with an apologetic smile. ‘Sorry.’

‘For what?’

‘For forgetting you were there.’ Sally spread her arms and closed her eyes, letting the freezing air numb her cheeks and the biting wind whip her blonde hair into a tangled frenzy. ‘It just feels so amazing to be back.’

No matter how far she’d travelled, how much of the world she’d explored, the Lake District had always been her home.

When pain and misery had almost destroyed her, she’d come here to seek comfort, and when circumstances had forced her to move away, she’d pined for the comfort of the fells.

‘So why did you stay away so long?’

Sally’s arms dropped to her sides and she whirled round, green eyes blazing. ‘You know why.’

‘Yes.’ Bryony looked anguished. ‘He drove you away.’

‘He didn’t. I chose to leave.’ Sally’s tone was steady and she caught a strand of hair that was blowing in front of her face, anchoring it with slender fingers. ‘But now I’m back.’

And she was never leaving again.

‘What made you come back now? After so long?’

Sally gave a wistful smile. ‘I suppose I’d been thinking about it for a while and then I had your letter telling me that you’d finally married Jack and that Oliver had met someone.’ She broke off, remembering how she’d felt when she’d read everything that had been happening at home. ‘I suddenly realized how much I was missing my old friends. You are the nearest I have to family. I realized that it was time to come back.’

‘He doesn’t know, Sal.’ Bryony’s voice was quiet and Sally nodded.

That was exactly the way she’d planned it. If she was going to be able to hold herself together for that first, agonizing meeting, then she needed to be in a position of control.

‘Thank you for not telling him.’

‘Did you think I would?’

Sally shrugged, her expression guarded as she studied her childhood friend. ‘He’s your brother.’

‘And you’re my best friend.’ Bryony gave a twisted smile. ‘Or at least you were my best friend until Tom broke your heart and you vanished halfway round the world.’

‘Friendships needn’t be compromised by distance.’

Bryony bit her lip. ‘I thought perhaps—’ She shrugged her shoulders, showing how helpless she felt. ‘I’m his sister, after all.’

Sally stirred. ‘And you and I were best friends before he and I were lovers.’

‘How will you—?’ Bryony broke off and licked her lips. ‘You’re going to be working with him, Sally. Won’t it be difficult for you?’

‘No.’ Sally lifted her chin, applying the rigid self-discipline that she’d cultivated over the past seven years. ‘It won’t be difficult.’

Tom Hunter was part of her past. She’d learned to live without him. His rejection had hurt her so badly that for a while she’d thought she’d never recover. But she’d put all that behind her. She’d built a new life, pushed herself to the limits in a fevered determination never to give herself time to stand still and contemplate. And in the process she’d enjoyed experiences that to most people were just a dream. And developed a self-confidence that had given her the courage to come home.

‘I can’t believe you applied for a job in his department.’

Sally gave a casual shrug. ‘I’m a midwife, Bry, and this is a small community. How many departments are there?’

And it was part of the test she’d set herself. To see how far she’d come in seven years.

‘You could have gone to a different town.’

‘No. This is my home,’ Sally said softly, her eyes fixed on the mountains with almost naked longing. ‘And I’ve stayed away long enough.’

And she’d pined for long enough.

Finally she’d picked up the pieces, stuck them back together and made herself whole again.

She was ready to face the world.

And she was ready to face Tom Hunter.

CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_e8ced077-7bef-5cd1-9321-3e4e6c63603e)

‘SALLY JENNER! I am so pleased to finally meet you.’ Emma’s smile was warm with welcome. ‘I’ve heard such good things about you and we badly need an extra midwife. You are going to be everyone’s most popular person.’

‘Thanks. It’s good to be here.’ Sally smiled at the labour ward sister, but nothing could subdue the nervous fluttering in her stomach. The nerves had been there from the moment she’d made the decision to leave Australia and return home.

From the moment she’d known she would be seeing Tom Hunter again.

She’d prepared herself for this moment for seven years.

But now it was here she was suddenly terrified that she’d let herself down. Reveal something that she didn’t want to reveal.

Feel something that she didn’t want to feel.

What would he look like now? Had her memory exaggerated his masculine appeal? Could any man truly be the god she’d believed him to be?

‘Anything you want to know, just ask me,’ Emma said cheerfully, oblivious to Sally’s anxiety. ‘I know you trained in this hospital, but you’ve been away a while and some things might have changed so I’ll give you a quick tour. We have two operating theatres, six traditional delivery rooms and four “home” rooms, as we call them. In other words, they’re supposed to make people feel that they’re actually in their own bedrooms.’

Sally laughed. ‘You don’t sound very convinced.’

‘Well, my bedroom is buried under a ton of unwashed laundry and books that I intend to read at some point and haven’t got round to yet,’ Emma confessed cheerfully, ‘so the rooms certainly don’t look like my home. But I can dream.’

She pushed open a door and Sally followed her inside.

The room had a large double bed and a sofa covered in pretty scatter cushions. There were also magazines and a music system.

Sally gave a nod. ‘Nice. Cosy.’

Emma shrugged. ‘Well, it’s a compromise between giving birth at home and in hospital. Now, come and see the birthing pool.’

They left the room and Emma opened another door and flicked on some lights. ‘We have two, but the other one is in use at the moment.’