Father In Secret. Fiona McArthur
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‘What’s happened to you in the last fifteen years, Theo?’
Savannah watched his face change and he stepped away until there was some distance between them.
‘I grew up.’ He looked at her and smiled briefly. ‘According to my ex-wife, I became harsh, a loner and refused to be tied down.’
Savannah added, ‘You also became a very good doctor.’
‘Thanks.’ The comment was dry.
‘Maybe you just haven’t found the right woman yet. One day you’ll find her, get married and have children.’
Theo laughed bitterly. ‘Having children will make everything all right, will it?’
‘I said, with the right woman.’
‘What about you, Savannah? Could you be that woman?’
Fiona McArthur lives with her ambulance officer husband and five sons in a small country town on the north coast of Australia. Fiona also works as a midwife part-time in the local hospital, facilitates antenatal classes and enjoys the company of young mothers in a teenage pregnancy group. ‘I’m passionate about my midwifery and passionate about my writing—this way I’m in the happy position of being able to combine the two.’
Now that her youngest son has started school, Fiona has more time for writing and can look forward to the challenge of creating fascinating characters in exciting medical romances for her readers to enjoy.
Recent titles by the same author:
MIDWIFE UNDER FIRE!
DELIVERING LOVE
Father in Secret
Fiona McArthur
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
‘THE judge said he was better off with me. I’m his mother. So put the money in the account every month and you can see him when I say you can.’
The Blue Mountains shimmered in the sunlight, but the shadowy depths of the thickly wooded gullies mirrored the darkness inside him. Theo McWilliam wondered how he had ever married Marie. He’d thought she was Snow White with her long black hair, creamy skin and those red, red lips. He’d fallen hard and married her straight away. She’d been so sweet in the beginning, and so plausible to the judge at the end. But her black heart showed clearly now. The selfish witch had his son but certainly not because she loved him as a mother should. No, Marie was just using Sam to get back at Theo.
At first there had been no problem seeing his son, as long as he hadn’t kept Sam overnight. Marie had agreed for Theo to take Sam for the day on most weekends because it had suited her. Then it had changed. The money hadn’t been enough.
Lately, when he’d driven the five hours to Sydney to pick Sam up, he’d found the house empty. No one home even to ask.
Sometimes she’d cancel at the last minute and the more frustrated Theo became, the more it seemed to amuse her.
Now it had come to this.
He’d planned some time with Sam on the farm at Bendbrook for several months. Marie had reneged again, just as Theo had arrived in Sydney to collect Sam. To have this time with his son snatched away had ruined Theo’s holidays—not to mention the gut-wrenching part of it—and he was scared Sam would forget who his father was.
Theo fought the urge to tuck the boy under his arm and run. They could find somewhere new to live. Let her try and find them. He could taste the adrenaline in his mouth but his lawyer had warned him against it. ‘You’ll lose him for good,’ he’d said.
He had to do this the right way. He would wait for the time that he could take Sam home permanently and never again have to worry whether or not his son was happy in Sydney with his selfish mother. But time passed slowly in limbo, and Theo wondered how long he could postpone the rest of his life.
CHAPTER ONE
SHE was almost there.
Savannah Laine could feel her pulse quicken. In the past, she’d been the visitor here but this time the valley opened its arms to welcome her home.
The sun shone despite the unaccustomed chill for October. Stretching in front of her was an undulating vista of tree-studded, rolling hills, divided by the thick serpentine coil of the Bendbrook River as it wound its way from the mountains of its birth.
She’d always thought of it as the most beautiful valley in the world. But maybe that was because she had people who cared about her here.
The deeper into the valley she drove the narrower it became. Once past the tiny post office at Upper Bendbrook, the road became a thin, dusty ribbon that sprayed a cloud of billowing brown powder behind her as if to disguise her passing.
Finally, she arrived and she couldn’t help sighing in relief. Her dust-covered Subaru bumped across the cattle grid and up the twin tracks of the driveway to the house.
Savannah swallowed the lump in her throat, stepped out of the car and filled her lungs with the tangy aroma of lemon-scented gum-trees and the sweetness of wisteria. Despite a slightly forlorn tinge of neglect, the farmhouse looked the same as it always had—welcoming.
She stood on her uncle’s verandah, looking out over his paddocks. No, her paddocks, she corrected herself. A copper-coloured hen ran across the boards beside her and she smiled. She was a country girl now.
Benson, her mother’s black miniature poodle, yelped and cringed as the monster squawked past. Savannah reached down and scooped him up one-handed and she could feel his little heart flutter against her fingers.
Now that he was safe, he yapped belligerently at the trespasser.
‘Benson the Braveheart comes to the rescue. I feel so much more secure.’ She watched the hen cluck down