were legally married. It had to be a start.
He threw his briefcase on the lounge and gave in to the impulse to casually drop a kiss on the top of Georgia’s head as he passed.
‘What was that for?’ Georgia laughed up at him and he swore then he would fight for the right to be a part of their lives.
‘That is the new order of things. I’m home and I want to play, too.’ Then he knelt down in front of Elsa and tickled her. ‘Hey, young lady. Who said you could learn to crawl?’
He may have spoken to Elsa, who grimaced at him ferociously, but he listened for a response from Georgia to see how she had taken his welcome salute.
‘Right, then,’ she said. ‘You get to stay with the naked-bottomed one and I will change, because time has slipped away, and then you can shower after me.’
Georgia rose gracefully to her feet. She grinned at him and passed the disposable nappy she’d tucked under her arm before she sailed from the room.
Not too bad. At least she hadn’t banned him from head kisses. ‘Mummy thinks she can boss me around. What do you think of that?’ He bounced Elsa on his hip. ‘Though it is no hardship being left with you, young lady.’
That morning Max had shared his breakfast again with Elsa after her mother had gone to work. They’d had a fine old time and if Georgia worked the next few weeks, he planned on sharing his breakfast with his stepdaughter every day. ‘Let’s get this nappy on and we’ll have a walk out in the garden with the puppy.’
He carried a glaring Elsa out onto the veranda and the big dog moaned with pleasure when Max bounced the baby’s toes on his back for a moment. Elsa’s frown fell away and she chortled at the feel of rough doggy hair on her feet and then Max swooped her away to walk around the garden.
‘See the birdies? Birdies.’ On cue, the rainbow lorikeets screamed between themselves as they fought over the flowering bottlebrush bush, ripping the fine needles of flowers as they sought the nectar.
‘Noisy birdies,’ Max said, and Elsa crowed and opened and shut her hands in delight. The sun was heading behind the hills and the shadows were lengthening in the garden by the time Max took her back inside. The mosquitoes would be out soon and Elsa was tiring.
Dinner and bed for the baby. If only it was dinner and bed for Max, he mocked himself.
He knew who he wanted to bed, though even just holding Georgia through the long nights would be heaven. Nothing new there.
Georgia looked beautiful again tonight, Max thought soberly two hours later when they both sat down at the table. Her hair was loose and she had some flowing shirt with a deeper neckline than usual that highlighted the smoothness of her long throat.
They’d skipped pre-dinner drinks on the veranda because of Elsa’s late settling and now he was separated by the width of the table. He just wanted to touch her.
The sky grew inky outside, with clouds obscuring the stars, and Mrs White had retired for the night, leaving dinner in the kitchen.
Before he’d come home Max had rung through to see which receiving hospital Del had ended up in and how the babies were. Mother and the newborn twins were stable and settled. The one bad piece of news had been the consultant who had received them—Sol Winton.
Max still debated if Georgia should be told because he suspected the news would upset her. He knew her ex-husband had given Georgia an emotionally hard time as well as making her severely depressed.
During the last four months Max had seen no signs of paranoia or depression—and anyone with a colicky baby could easily plead depression—so Winton had obviously had some hidden agenda.
Still, she was away from him now and, theoretically, hearing about his hospital shouldn’t upset her too much.
He dragged his thoughts away from his quandary and caught Georgia in the middle of a half-hidden yawn. She even looked cute when she yawned.
‘You must be tired,’ he said. ‘It takes a while to get used to shifts again.’
She tucked her hand away from her mouth ruefully. ‘Not really. Do I look it?’ In fact, she looked a little crestfallen at his observation, and Max grinned.
‘You look positively haggard, darling,’ he drawled, and Georgia blinked before she realised he was joking.
‘Teaser.’ She shook her head at him and changed the subject. ‘How was the rest of your day?’
Max tilted his head. ‘Actually, you look stunning.’ He watched her frown at him but he was darned if he shouldn’t say it when he meant it.
He moved on when she grimaced at him. ‘Now, what was your question? My day? After our exciting morning?’
He ticked off his fingers. ‘Del’s twin girls were born at midday and all are well. They weighed over twelve hundred grams each so I don’t know where she was hiding that weight. The girls are breathing for themselves and may start tube feeds tomorrow.’
‘That’s wonderful.’
Before Georgia could ask more he went on hoping to change to another topic. ‘Even bigger news is that Tayla and my brother, Paul, have decided to get married. We’re invited to the wedding but guess who is not invited to be bridesmaid?’
‘Me?’ Georgia tried to look sad.
He shook his head sadly. ‘I know you must be dreadfully disappointed.’
Georgia put down her spoonful of pumpkin soup and looked up with a grin. ‘That’s wonderful. On both counts.’ Her eyes sparkled with laughter.
She stirred her soup with a smile. ‘You know, I think they will do very well together.’
She tilted her head. ‘Which hospital did you say had the neonatal beds? Del didn’t have to go to Canberra, did she?’
MAX should have known her empathy with her patients wouldn’t wane. She’d need to know Del was happy where she was.
‘No. I didn’t say.’
Max hesitated and then answered. ‘Lower Mountains Base Hospital.’ He wondered if they were both going to pretend the connection to her exhusband’s hospital didn’t exist.
Georgia’s spoon stilled and then she took another mouthful. The colour had left her face and he cursed himself for not withholding the information.
She swallowed slowly and then spoke to her spoon. ‘I’m glad all went well. I wonder how she’ll manage without Shannon to talk for her.’
She went on without pausing but at least she looked up at him. ‘I hear Susie has recovered from having her baby in the car and wants to go home tomorrow morning.’ Her voice was extra-bright and his chest tightened in sympathy for her.
‘I’m sure that will be fine.’ Max was in a differ-ent dilemma now. He didn’t want to upset Georgia
