The Army Doctor's Wedding (9 page)

Maeve nodded and pulled up a
chair to sit by Nina's head. She gripped one of her hands and spoke softly.
Cameron tuned out the words, only aware of the soothing timbre of her voice. He
palpated gently, feeling for damage. A visual inspection suggested possible
fractured ribs and he confirmed that diagnosis. He couldn't tell if there was
more serious visceral injury inside the chest, but her distress indicated that.

She needed to be admitted to the
hospital stat.

He backed away, and Maeve joined
him in the hall outside the room. "You need to call for an ambulance
immediately. She has fractured ribs and possible internal injuries."

Maeve cursed Nina's husband then
hurried away, leaving Cameron alone.

The melodic sound of Alice's
voice drew him like a beacon of hope. He pushed open a door to find her
kneeling on the floor with three children around her. At the sight of him, the
little ones crowded closer to her. The youngest girl, who couldn't be more than
two, sat on her knees while the others tucked against her side. Alice put an
arm around them and smiled up at him.

"This is Cameron. He's a
very kind man who makes sick people better."

He sat on a sagging armchair and
the middle girl came over and held out a doll.

"Thank you." He took
the doll and cradled it in his arm like he did with Sami. "What's your
baby's name?"

"Wendy."

"Just like in Peter
Pan." He handed back the doll and the little girl trotted over to Alice
and squeezed onto her lap beside her sister, still giving him shy glances.

No obvious bruises showed on the
children, but even if the father never physically hurt them, witnessing what
happened to their mother would psychologically scar them for life.

Almost silently, the three little
girls arranged dolls and soft toys around a square of bright material and set
out plastic cups and plates.

He'd seen this before in war
zones; children who'd witnessed terrible atrocities would still play. In
Afghanistan he'd seen boys kicking a ball about in the street beside the
blasted debris of their home, and a little orphan girl with an old brush
dressed up as a doll.

It tore his heart out. He'd never
imagined he'd feel this way here, in the middle of London.

"Is Mummy all right?"
the oldest girl asked Alice.

"She will be. And you'll be
safe staying here with Maeve until Mummy is better."

The girl put her arms around
Alice's neck and hugged her. The sight of Alice with the three children
reminded Cameron of his mother. The realization sideswiped him. Alice loved
children just like his mum did. She had that same gentle way about her—somehow
soft and feminine but completely determined at the same time.

No wonder he loved her.

Chapter Nine

It seemed strange to Alice, being back in a military
hospital. Although this brand new modern facility near Brize Norton in
Oxfordshire was a world away from the decrepit building and makeshift
facilities at the field hospital. With its pristine floor tiles and glass
walls, the only similarity was that the medical staff wore military uniforms.

Cameron pushed Sami in a stroller
borrowed from Olivia. Alice walked at his side, wearing her comfortable old
jeans and college sweatshirt, her purse over her shoulder. It was so nice to
have her own things back.

The trip to the refuge had been
like stepping into her past. A past she'd rather forget. She hadn't realized
how different she felt since she met Cameron, as if she finally had a future to
look forward to. This life she had with him was a world away from those
desperate days when she'd thought she'd never be happy.

"Hi, Cam. You're back."
A doctor in uniform stopped.

"Just on leave. This is my
wife, Alice, and our son," Cameron said.

Alice smiled and shook the man's
hand. Every time they met people Cameron knew, he introduced her and showed off
Sami. Any lingering doubt about his commitment to them was quashed by the proud
smile on his face.

They climbed in an elevator and
headed for the pediatric department on the fourth floor where Lieutenant
Colonel Fabian was to meet them. This was the day Alice had been waiting for,
Sami's first appointment for his lip.

This hospital was
state-of-the-art, with the latest high-tech equipment. The best money could buy
to treat wounded military personnel and their families. And the medical staff
was first class. Yet nerves tightened her stomach. As they rode the elevator,
she fiddled with the edge of her plaster cast, trying to scratch the itching skin
underneath. "This darn thing is driving me crazy. When can I have it taken
off?"

"Next week." Cameron
wrapped an arm around her and kissed her temple. "I'll pop into the
orthopedic department before we leave and arrange an appointment for you. It
doesn't take long to cut it off."

Alice couldn't wait to have her
arm back. She'd be able to hold Sami properly for the first time since he was a
newborn.

A computer voice announced the
floor number and they stepped out. Sunlight flooded through the huge windows,
illuminating the animal pictures that decorated the corridor leading to
pediatrics. They followed a trail of animal paw prints and reported to a nurse
at the reception desk. "Please take a seat. I'll page Lieutenant Colonel
Fabian and tell him you're here."

Sami woke and whimpered, probably
sensing his unfamiliar surroundings. Alice leaned over his stroller and stroked
his head. "It's all right, Sami sweetie." She glanced up at Cameron.
"Perhaps you should lift him out and cuddle him."

"Good idea." Cameron
gathered the tiny boy in his arms and walked back and forth, whispering to him
and rubbing his back. Frustration filled Alice. She desperately wanted to be
able to do that herself, but she couldn't because of her wretched cast. The
sooner it was taken off, the better.

"I think he's hungry."
Cameron sat beside her and adjusted his grip on Sami so she could see the
baby's face. "He's sucking his fist."

"How can he be hungry
already? He had a bottle a few minutes before we left. After each bottle, I
barely have time to change his diaper and clean up before he's ready for
another feed." Not that she had to manage alone. Cameron did more than his
share of the work. Olivia helped as well when they needed advice. She had been
wonderful.

Cameron rocked Sami in his arms,
trying to distract him. "There's Sean Fabian. At least he didn't keep us
waiting long."

At Cameron's words, Alice glanced
up and did a double take. A tall blond man strode towards them. He had a
natural air of authority. Not only that, he was good-looking and he knew it.
She could guess he was a high-ranking officer by his confident manner.

Olivia had mentioned his nickname
was Lieutenant Colonel Fab because all the nurses were in love with him.

"Cameron, good to see you
again." The blond officer held out a hand.

Cameron shifted Sami into one arm
to shake. "Morning, Sean. Thanks for fitting us in so quickly."

"Radley tells me you got
married, so this must be Mrs. Knight."

"It's Alice," she said,
shaking his offered hand. His blue eyes were an extraordinary color, nearly
turquoise like the Mediterranean. She'd never seen eyes that color before.

"Please call me Sean."
He glanced towards the nurse at reception. "Which consulting room am I
in?" From out of nowhere, three nurses appeared and jostled for his
attention.

"Let me show you."

"No, I will."

A redhead, obviously the most
senior in rank, won out and the other two retreated.

Cameron leaned down and put his
lips close to Alice's ear. "Radley says he has to beat them off with a
stick."

Alice rolled her eyes and Cameron
chuckled.

They followed Sean along a
corridor, the winning nurse strutting in front of them, leading the way.

"Here you are, sir. Is there
anything else I can do for you, sir?"

"That's all, thank
you." To his credit, he hardly gave the woman a second look, his attention
on Alice and Cameron.

Reluctantly, the nurse turned
away.

"Please come in." Sean
ushered them into the consulting room and closed the door. "Do take a
seat."

They settled themselves in comfy
chairs as he logged in on the computer and read some notes.

"Right, according to Radley,
Sami has a left unilateral congenital interruption of the upper lip. Can you
hold him up so I can take a look?"

Cameron lifted Sami. Sean
examined inside her baby's mouth, and the two men talked in medical jargon for
a few minutes. The gist of it seemed to be that Sami's operation would be
straightforward.

"Are you happy if we have
him in next week?" Sean turned his megawatt smile on Alice.

"Will he need to stay
overnight?"

"Normally I'd say yes, but you
have Cameron and Radley on hand. If everything goes well, he can come straight
home."

Her breath rushed out in relief.
She had dreaded her baby spending a night in the hospital. She wanted him at
home in his bassinet beside her bed where he belonged.

"Are you okay?" Cameron
squeezed her hand. She realized she'd zoned out and the men were waiting for
her to answer.

"You're sure he will be all
right? There's no risk from the anesthetic or anything like that?"

"As certain as I can be.
Nothing is ever one hundred percent safe, but this is a simple procedure. He'll
be monitored carefully at all times. You don't need to worry. You can stay with
him until he goes into surgery, and see him as soon as he comes out of
recovery."

"Can Cameron be in the OR
with you?" If she couldn't be with Sami the whole time, she wanted Cameron
there to make sure everything was okay.

"We don't allow doctors to
operate on members of their own family."

"I'll be with you,
love." Cameron's gaze was steady and reassuring. He believed Sami would be
fine. Some of Alice's tension faded, but she wouldn't be able to relax
completely until her baby boy woke up after his surgery and was well.

***

"I know this is lousy timing." Olivia shuffled
through papers on the kitchen table as she spoke. "The last thing you want
the day before Sami's surgery is to be grilled by the people from Adoption
Services, but you were lucky to get a date so quickly. Couples usually wait
months for their first interview."

Alice nodded, her mind only
half-engaged in the conversation. She had tried to prepare for this interview,
dressed nicely, and even put on some makeup. Adopting Sami was the most
important thing in the world, but how could she concentrate when thoughts of
Sami's operation filled her head?

Cameron seemed equally
distracted. He finished rolling up the sleeves of his shirt to the elbow, only
to immediately roll them down again.

The doorbell rang, jolting
through Alice like a clap of thunder. Cameron's gaze jumped to hers. They
stared at each other, fear and uncertainty bouncing between them.

Then he smiled, breaking the
downward spiral of her emotions. "Come here, sweetheart." He wrapped
her in his arms and rocked them both soothingly. "We need to stay
positive. We have the foreign adoption papers. We love Sami, and you've been
caring for him since he was born. Nobody will look after him better than us.
He's our son. This interview is a formality."

Alice pressed her face against
his chest, breathing in the herbal fragrance of him that had become so
reassuring. "I'm fine," she lied.

She turned to where Sami slept in
his stroller and kissed her baby on his forehead for luck. Cameron followed
suit. Then they headed to the hall where Olivia's voice sounded as she invited
the social workers from the adoption agency inside.

A middle-aged woman with wavy
brown hair and glasses and a similarly unremarkable man in a gray suit stepped
into the house. "I'm Olivia Knight," she said, shaking their hands.
"This is my brother-in-law, Cameron Knight, and his wife, Alice."

Even in her fashionable dress
with her hair up, Alice felt gauche beside Olivia in her cream pants and pink
cashmere sweater with her glossy dark hair in a chignon. She had the same air
of quiet confidence that her husband did.

"I'm Mrs. Sugden." The
woman shook Alice's hand and then Cameron's, a warm smile on her face. Some of
Alice's tension faded. "This is Mr. Warne, my assistant." The man
gave a perfunctory smile and also shook their hands.

Cameron placed a palm on Alice's
back. "If you'd like to follow me," he said to their guests. They
headed to the dining room as they had planned and seated themselves at the
table.

Mrs. Sugden retrieved a file from
her briefcase and placed it on the table while Olivia lingered in the doorway.

"Would you like tea or coffee?"
Olivia asked. When everyone had answered, she slipped away, leaving the door
ajar.

Cameron cleared his throat.
"Thank you for coming. We really appreciate how quickly you were able to
see us."

"That's no problem, Mr.
Knight." Mrs. Sugden flicked through her notes. "I gather this baby
is a foreign national you brought into the country. We normally don't condone
this without prior approval, but there's a note on the file that the child was
in peril."

"Sami needs surgery on his
lip. He's going into the hospital tomorrow," Alice said, vocalizing what
was uppermost in her mind.

"He'll be fine, love."
Cameron's hand covered hers on the polished walnut table. He turned back to the
officials. "It's a routine procedure. We have arranged for an eminent
surgeon to operate. There's very little risk."

"I'm glad to hear it. Now if
we can start by taking down your basic details."

They answered a string of
questions until they reached occupation. Olivia brought in a tray of cups and
they paused while she handed them out.

"Can you tell me what you do
for a living, Mrs. Knight?" the woman asked Alice.

"I've been working for a
charity. I plan to stay home and look after Sami now." She glanced at
Cameron and he smiled with encouragement. They had discussed this. Both of them
wanted Sami to have his mummy at home with him. Cameron earned enough to look
after them so Alice had no need to work. Cameron was kind and supportive of her
choices. Not like her father who forbade her mother from working for his own
reasons.

"That's fine. There's
nothing wrong with being a full-time mum if you can afford it. So, what is your
occupation?" Both Mrs. Sugden and her assistant switched their attention
to Cameron.

"I'm a doctor."

"Excellent." The woman
smiled and made a note on her form.

"An army doctor,"
Cameron continued.

The two social workers glanced at
each other, their smiles becoming strained. A tense silence stretched. Alice's
breath caught. Something was wrong.

The woman laid down her pen and
knitted her fingers over the folder. "Are you aware that when you adopt a
child, both parents have to live at home for a minimum of three years to
provide a stable family environment?"

A chill swept through Alice.
Cameron's hand tightened on hers. "We don't have our own home sorted out
yet, but we plan to rent a property close by."

"We can do a home check once
you settle in," Mrs. Sugden said. "That's not my concern. The armed
forces usually require officers to serve abroad, Mr. Knight. Can you guarantee
you won't be deployed away from home for three years?"

"Of course not." A note
of frustration crept into Cameron's tone. "I have to go where the army
sends me."

"Then I'm sorry. Mr.
Knight's occupation will cause a problem."

"You allow single people to
adopt." Alice's voice rose as she tried to contain her escalating panic.
"How is that different from me looking after Sami on my own while
Cameron's away?"

"I assure you it is
different. You want to adopt a baby as a couple. Therefore you both need to
make the commitment to live with the child for the first three years to
establish the family relationship."

"We've already established a
family relationship. Sami's been with us since he was born. We're all he knows.
He's not going to forget who his daddy is."

Mrs. Sugden closed her folder and
put the cap on her pen. "There are rules, I'm afraid."

Cameron abruptly released Alice's
hand and rose. "Excuse me a moment." He returned almost immediately
with Olivia.

"I'm a lawyer representing
Cameron and Alice," she said. "Please explain the problem to
me."