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‘Rhys?’ she asked.
He swallowed the lump in his throat and took the photographs. Managed to smile and chat to Theo and Maddie. And when it was his turn to cuddle the baby, he was utterly lost.
‘You men are such frauds. There you are, doing the big, tough macho stuff, but give you a baby to hold and you’re utter mush,’ Madison accused, laughing.
Katrina joined in the laughter, but Rhys caught just a tiny shadow in her eyes.
Now wasn’t the time and place to push her, but he’d ask her later. Make her talk to him, the way she’d made him talk to her. And whatever it was, he’d fix it for her, the way she’d helped to fix his own life.
Then Helen woke up, realised she was hungry and yelled.
‘She needs her mummy,’ Rhys said, and handed her back to Madison.
‘And we have ward rounds and clinic,’ Katrina said. ‘But we’ll be back later.’ She stroked her niece’s cheek, kissed Madison and Theo, and walked with Rhys to their own ward.
‘You OK?’ Rhys asked.
‘Sure.’ Katrina gave him a wide, bright smile.
Maybe he’d imagined it.
He put it to the back of his mind during ward rounds and his morning clinic. A bit of negotiation bought him an extended lunch break; he made an excuse to Katrina that he was due in clinic and didn’t have time to go to see Maddie and the baby again, and instead went shopping.
For something very, very special.
At the end of his shift, he went to find Katrina.
She blinked. ‘You’re leaving early tonight?’
‘Hey. I’ve made a real effort not to be quite such a workaholic,’ he said.
She snorted. ‘You mean you worked through your lunch-break.’
He didn’t disabuse her of the idea but shepherded her to the staffroom. ‘Come on. Time to go.’
‘We’re walking the wrong way,’ Katrina said as he led her through the hospital gardens.
‘So we are.’ And the sun had set half an hour ago. He didn’t care. Because he wanted the rest of his life to start right now. He threaded his fingers through hers. ‘Humour me.’
She frowned. ‘Rhys?’
He found a quiet bench and sat down, tugging her hand so that she joined him. ‘I wanted to talk to you about something.’
‘What?’
‘Don’t look so worried, cariad.’ He smiled at her. ‘This isn’t brilliant timing, and it’s not quite where I had in mind, but I can’t wait any longer.’
She looked completely confused. ‘Rhys?’
‘I love you,’ he said. ‘And these last few months…I’ve come a long, long way. I always thought that I’d spend the rest of my life alone, because it’s easier—because I didn’t believe in family or marriage. But as I’ve got to know you, I’ve realised how wrong I was. The way I feel about you is deeper than I ever believed I could feel about anyone, and from seeing the way you are with your family I’ve discovered what a family really means. What marriage really means.’
He shifted so that he was on one knee. ‘I want to be a family with you. So I’m asking you, Katrina Gregory—will you do me the honour of being my wife?’
‘You want me to marry you?’ she asked, looking slightly bewildered and as if she didn’t quite believe that she’d heard him properly.
‘I do,’ he confirmed. ‘Because I love you, Katrina. Heart and mind and body and soul. What you once told me about teamwork is so true—no matter what life throws at us, we’ll get through it because we make a great team. My parents weren’t lucky enough to have that together, but I can see now that my father has that kind of bond with Dilys. Your parents have it. Theo and Maddie have it. And I think we have it, too. I want to be with you for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?’
‘Oh, Rhys.’ She dropped to her knees and hugged him. ‘Yes. Yes.’
Her kiss was as soft and sweet as she was. And all the empty spaces inside him were filled at last.
Eventually, he stood up and drew her to her feet. ‘You’ve made me the happiest man alive, cariad. And I’ll be a good husband to you, I swear.’ He kissed her again. ‘And father.’
‘Father?’
He nodded. ‘Seeing you cuddling little Helen this morning…it made me realise that was everything I want. You, and our children. If we’re lucky enough.’
‘Children.’
The flatness of her tone worried him. He knew she liked children—if she didn’t, she’d hardly be working as a children’s doctor and she definitely wouldn’t spend her off-duty time telling them stories—not to mention the wonder in her face that morning when she’d cuddled her newborn niece—so it couldn’t be that. But then he remembered the shadows in her eyes, earlier that day, and what she’d told him in the hospital canteen. ‘Is this something to do with what Pete said?’
