Midwife's One-Night Baby Surprise
Author
Karin Baine
Reads
18.6K
Chapters
12
After indulging in one earth-shattering night in a stranger's arms…this midwife finds herself pregnant with his baby! BOUND BY THEIR FESTIVAL FLING! Locking gazes through a crowd with gorgeous stranger Lachlan was the most alive midwife Melissa felt since her fiancé died. But spending a blissful night in the paramedic's arms had a surprising consequence — she's having a baby! Unwilling to open her fragile heart again, Melissa keeps Lachlan safely in the co-parent zone. Yet their bond goes much deeper than mutual desire… With Lachlan battling his own demons, complicating their situation with romance would be too risky — wouldn't it?
CHAPTER ONE
‘I AM ENJOYING MYSELF. Honestly.’
Melissa Moran adjusted her sparkly pink cowboy hat, careful not to smudge the glittery make-up dabbed at her temples, and forced a smile.
Lydia, who was more like family than a friend, wasn’t fooled, heaving out a sigh of disappointment. ‘Mel...this was all for you.’
Melissa’s smile faltered. ‘I know, and I appreciate everything you’ve done. Thank you.’
Lydia folded her arms, straining the leopard print fabric of her jumpsuit across her ample bust. ‘Look, I know you’ve had a rough eighteen months, but this is your thirtieth birthday. Not your hundredth. You’re still young. You have a life to live.’
‘Unlike Chris,’ Melissa mumbled.
‘It was an awful, tragic thing, losing him like that when you had all those plans together. But he’s gone, Mel. You’re still here, and he would want you to have fun.’ Lydia grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a shake.
No, he would want her to be Mrs O’Kane, with a baby on her hip, the way they’d planned. As would she. But fate had cruelly stolen that dream from both of them. Instead of a quiet family birthday celebration, she’d been whisked over to the remote Scottish isle of Innis Holm for a music festival she had no interest in attending. She was trying to enjoy herself for her friend’s sake, but it just wasn’t her scene. Slopping through the mud, sleeping in a tent, and the prospect of having to use those so-called communal toilets, was not her idea of a good time. Still, Melissa didn’t have anyone else, and hadn’t had since she was eighteen and her parents had moved abroad.
On the verge of doing her exams, and unwilling to leave everything familiar to her, she’d stayed in Scotland. Though choosing her own path hadn’t made her feel any less abandoned or lonely. She’d had to work menial jobs to support her studies until she’d qualified as a midwife. Meeting Chris, finding someone who wanted to settle down as much as she did, had seemed like the perfect fairy tale ending.
Their five-year plan, building up a nest egg so they could get married, was just coming to fruition when he complained of an agonising headache and neck pain. Symptoms she didn’t realise at the time were from a ruptured aneurysm, resulting in blood haemorrhaging into Chris’s brain and killing him before they were able to get him into surgery, devastating Melissa.
It was irrational to think he’d abandoned her the way her parents had, but that was the way she felt, suddenly left to pick up the pieces of her life without him. She knew Lydia meant well organising this to get her out of the house, but she wasn’t ready to move on. If she ever would be.
However, Lydia had gone to a lot of trouble. She was the only one who’d really been there for her, and Melissa reckoned she owed her. Even if it meant pretending to enjoy partying with a bunch of strangers in the rain.
‘Come on then. We don’t want to miss the headline act, do we?’ She grabbed Lydia by the hand and pushed her way through the throng of people standing ankle-deep in mud until they had a good view of the stage. At least she knew a few of the band’s songs so she wouldn’t feel completely out of place.
In the end, Melissa was singing at the top of her lungs and dancing like everyone else. Temporarily forgetting her grief to lose herself in the moment. She had to admit, it felt good to be someone other than a bereaved fiancée for one day. Eyes closed, body swaying to the rhythm, she let go for once in her life. It was a feeling she could get used to.
‘See? There is a party girl in there trying to get out. All we need now is to find you a man to remind you what else you’re missing.’ Lydia nudged her with her hip.
Sometimes Melissa wished she had her friend’s confidence and outgoing personality. Lydia had already snogged three random blokes since they’d arrived and had indicated that she’d likely be sleeping somewhere other than their two-person tent tonight. She was someone who grabbed life with both hands and never wasted time on regrets or feeling sorry for herself. Melissa thought she should take a whole chapter out of her friend’s book, but that didn’t mean she was the sort of person to throw herself at a stranger.
‘I’m not sure I’m ready for that, Lyds. Chris was the love of my life and I don’t know if I want anyone else.’ She couldn’t imagine finding another man to replace Chris. Someone she could ever love as much as him.
Lydia rolled her eyes. ‘I’m not talking about finding a husband. It’s a music festival, Mel. I’m not sure the man of your dreams is standing waiting for you in this muddy field. But they do say the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else.’
Melissa couldn’t stop her jaw dropping at the crass remark, watching agog as her friend pushed her way through to the makeshift bar at the side of the stage.
‘Lydia! Chris isn’t an ex who dumped me on a whim. He died.’ The hysteria in her voice elevated that last fact to a level that stopped the bartender mid pour.
‘I know that, Mel,’ Lydia hissed through gritted teeth before flashing a smile at the man fixing their drinks. ‘But the principle is the same. You have to move on, and it’s okay to have a little fun with the opposite sex to do so.’
She handed Melissa a plastic glass containing some sort of orange-and-red concoction with a tacky paper umbrella sticking out of it. Melissa took a sip and winced. If this was what moving on tasted like, she wasn’t sure she’d be overindulging.
‘It’s been so long, I wouldn’t know what to do, even if I did meet someone.’ If the time ever came when she was attracted to another man, didn’t feel as though she was betraying Chris’s memory by pursuing it, and didn’t make a complete fool of herself in the process, it would be a miracle.
It was Chris who’d made the first move the night they’d met in the local pub. He’d made it clear he was interested in her, so she hadn’t had to worry about being rejected, only that they’d be compatible. She’d never been like Lydia, brave enough to walk up to someone and let them know she was attracted to them. The few men she’d been with before Chris had come on to her, and, perhaps flattered by the attention, she’d ventured into relationships that were never going to work. It only added to her sense of not being worthy of love when they inevitably dumped her because she was a homebody, and they were still in party mode. She doubted meeting someone here was going to change that pattern, though Melissa definitely wasn’t looking for a long-term commitment. The heartache and loss that inevitably followed the initial euphoria of meeting someone were things she could do without going through again.
Perhaps Lydia had the right attitude with her love-’em-and-leave-’em approach to dating. She certainly seemed like the happier of the two of them.
‘It’s like riding a bike,’ Lydia said, aiming a wink at the handsome barman. ‘You never forget.’
‘Unless you never learned how...’ Melissa grumbled.
‘You shouldn’t have to work too hard, Mel. You’ve got that glorious mane of red hair that makes you stand out in a crowd,’ she said, undoing Melissa’s ponytail to shake her tresses loose.
‘And skin so pale it’s liable to cause snow blindness.’ She wasn’t as fortunate as her honey-skinned, blond-haired companion who revelled in the sun when it made an appearance and wasn’t forced to slather her entire body with factor fifty sun cream. A throwback to her Irish-born father’s ancestors.
‘You’re a Celtic beauty. There’s a guy by the burger van who certainly seems to think so. He hasn’t taken his eyes off you in the last five minutes.’ Lydia nodded somewhere over Melissa’s shoulder as she sipped her drink through a straw.
Melissa almost broke her neck turning around to see who might be interested in her. There was the usual crowd of inebriated posers trying to latch on to any woman who crossed their path, which Melissa definitely wasn’t impressed by. She was about to tell Lydia so when someone caught her eye. A tall, handsome someone with short, dark hair and a cute smile.
He acknowledged her with a raised bottle of beer, and Melissa turned away with burning cheeks.
‘He is kind of hot.’
In his white T-shirt and tight jeans, he looked like every other man here, but there was something in the twinkle of his eyes and the cheekiness of his grin that was hard to ignore. Not least because he seemed to be surrounded by a group of both men and women who were hanging on his every word.
‘He looks like he could show you a good time.’ Lydia shoved her forward, then resumed flirting with her barman.
Melissa turned her attention back to the man holding court with one eye on her. He was laughing as he swigged his beer, lifting the bottle up and dancing to the loud music coming from the main stage. Everyone near him seemed to be having the time of their lives. In fact, Melissa realised, she was the only one who wasn’t.
Perhaps it was time for a change after all.
She was coming over. Lachlan’s smile faltered as nerves got the better of him. It was one thing showing off and flirting, quite another following through with anything. He hadn’t been with anyone since his ex, or his surgery.
‘Looks like you’ve pulled, mate.’ His brother Duncan muttered, watching the attractive redhead approach their group.
‘I’m just here for the music, Dunc. To celebrate life.’ He clinked his bottle to his brother’s.
‘And I’m glad you’re still kicking, bro, but don’t rule out relationships altogether. Just because things didn’t work out with Julieann, it doesn’t mean there isn’t someone else out there for you.’
‘There speaks the voice of a happily married man. Seriously though, if this is my second chance at life, I don’t want to tie myself down. I intend to live my life to the fullest.’
It was okay for his brother, who had a wife and kids, and no cancer cells stealing away vital parts of his anatomy. But for Lachlan McNairn, staring death in the face had made him think about his mortality and the consequences it would have for those he left behind. He had grown up as the eldest in the family. When he was young, his dad had run away from his responsibilities and had left him to pick up the slack. He didn’t want to be another absentee dad forcing the next generation to grow up too quickly in order to fill his role. As someone who’d given up his childhood, and a fair bit of his adulthood, to take care of his mother and siblings, he knew how unfair that was to ask of anyone.
Unfortunately, his ex hadn’t seen his point. Family was still an important part of her future as far as she was concerned, so Lachlan had no other choice than to end their relationship. His treatment for testicular cancer had made it unlikely that it was still possible to have children. Even if he could have become a father, he didn’t think it would’ve been fair at this stage to start a family. Not when there was always a chance of the cancer returning, perhaps more aggressively the next time.
So here he was, celebrating his recovery and the start of his new job as a paramedic in Glasgow. The next chapter of a life he hadn’t been sure he’d get to experience. He certainly didn’t need any complications of the romantic kind.
‘Hey.’ With the pretty dancer standing right in front of him, he promptly forgot all of that and went straight into flirt mode again.
‘Hey.’ She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and fixed him with the most mesmerising pale blue eyes Lachlan had ever seen.
Suddenly the idea to spend this weekend at the festival getting drunk with his brother seemed a less attractive prospect than getting to know this woman.
‘Lachlan.’ He wiped the condensation from his beer bottle on his jeans and held his hand out.
‘Melissa.’ She shook it before he even had time to worry about how formal he was being, her smile reassuring him that he hadn’t made a complete idiot of himself.
He was so out of practice when it came to being around the opposite sex. His experience was limited to his younger sister and Julieann, whom he’d been with since high school. Chatting women up wasn’t something he’d had a lot of practice doing. When his teenage mates had been dating and going to parties, he’d been at home taking care of his siblings whilst his mum was at work. If he hadn’t met his ex at the fast food restaurant he’d worked in to make extra cash to pay the family’s bills, if she hadn’t invited him out at the time, he might never have dated at all before his twenties. As it was, he’d only moved out of the family home once his little sister had grown up and sought her own independence. Now this was his time, and he was determined to make the most of it.
‘Nice to meet you, Melissa. You seemed to be enjoying yourself in front of the stage earlier.’ He’d been watching her dancing as though she hadn’t a care in the world. Exactly how he wanted to feel. Preferably without the assistance of the toxic substances which most people here seemed to be taking to find that high. He’d had too many chemicals pumped into his body during his cancer treatment to even think about doing that. These days he didn’t even drink more than a couple of beers because he didn’t like that sense of being out of control of his body. Up close, he could tell Melissa wasn’t under the influence of anything other than the determination to enjoy the atmosphere.
Her pale cheeks flushed a little pink, only making her even more attractive. ‘You saw that, huh?’
‘Couldn’t take my eyes off you.’ Lachlan leaned in and spoke for her ears only. Even though Duncan was giving him some space, using the moment to phone his wife, Lachlan wanted to make sure his brother didn’t hear. If he crashed and burned, he could do without the added humiliation of his brother witnessing it.
‘I’m just here with my friend, Lydia.’ Melissa glanced back at the voluptuous blonde draped over the bar.
‘Special occasion?’ He nodded towards the sparkly cowgirl hat. It wasn’t really in keeping with the dark clothing she was wearing. Unlike her friend’s leopard print, her navy maxi dress with a starry pattern wasn’t shouting for attention. He wondered if she was part of a breakaway faction from a large hen party.
Melissa reached her hand up to her hat, as though she’d forgotten she was even wearing it. ‘It’s my birthday.’
‘Happy birthday. Your twenty-first?’ Very smooth.
She narrowed her blue gaze at him. Clearly not easily flattered. ‘Thirtieth.’
‘Ah. The thirties are the best years of your life.’
‘Speaking from experience, are we?’ Those pretty blue eyes twinkled with mischief.
‘Well, the first ten months have been good.’ Getting the all-clear from testicular cancer, moving to the city and bagging a new job was a pretty good start to his new decade. Even though he’d have to have regular check-ups and blood tests to make sure the cancer didn’t return.
‘Well, old man, how about buying me a birthday drink?’ She tilted her chin up with the tease.
He liked her confidence, and she certainly wasn’t being coy about what she wanted. Although Lachlan wasn’t looking for anything serious with another woman, this festival was about celebrating a new chapter of his life. If that meant sharing it with a beautiful, fun-loving stranger, then he wasn’t going to say no. He was looking forward to getting to know her a little better.
‘I was just about to suggest that. Although perhaps we should move somewhere a little more grown-up.’ As a group of lads near them bounced along to the music, beer spilling everywhere, Lachlan moved closer to Melissa, feeling protective.
‘That would be nice. It’s hard to talk when you can barely hear yourself think.’
They abandoned what was left of their drinks on one of the plastic tables in front of the burger van and began to walk away from the crowds.
‘There’s a pub across the road. If we’re lucky, we might even get a seat to rest our thirty-year-old crumbling bones.’ His grin was mirrored by Melissa, and he was glad she didn’t seem to take herself too seriously. He didn’t want to be with someone he’d have to tiptoe around. It was nice just to be himself, and have a laugh without any expectations.
Julieann had always wanted to talk about the future, settling down and having kids. Then there was Duncan. As much as he loved his brother, he’d spent most of this weekend listening to his marital problems or looking at pictures of his children. Some time kicking back with a drink and good company was exactly what he’d been looking for.
They were halfway across the field when the slight drizzle of the summer rain turned into a sudden downpour. Melissa let out a squeal and began running. He grabbed her hand and directed her towards the old concrete bus shelter at the edge of the road. Running and laughing, he felt like a teenager again. Or at least, he imagined this was how most teenage boys who hadn’t had to grow up too quickly felt, hand in hand with a member of the opposite sex. Carefree, reckless...happy.
‘I’m soaked,’ she said through a bright grin as they sought shelter in the covered recess.
‘No one else seems to be bothered. Are we wimps?’ The rest of the festival-goers were still dancing, revelling in the rain and mud.
‘I don’t care. Give me a fire and a comfy armchair over that any day.’ Melissa took a seat on the wooden bench with peeling red paint, and Lachlan sat down beside her.
‘Add a hot toddy into that picture and I’m with you.’ At this moment in time he couldn’t think of anything better than sharing that cosy scene with her.
‘Maybe some towels and a hairdryer too...’ She tipped her head forward, sending a torrent of water running from her hat, then squeezed more out of the ends of her stunning russet hair.
He hadn’t realised how drenched they’d got in such a short space of time, and despite the mild temperature, Melissa was shivering.
‘We’ll make a run for it once there’s a break in the rain.’ Watching it from their hidey-hole was like being behind a waterfall, sheet rain sealing them off from the outside world.
He put his arm around her shoulders, attempting to generate some body heat through the thin fabric of the dress clinging to her body. Melissa looked up at him, gratitude shining in her eyes. Along with something else.
It had been so long he’d failed to recognise it at first. Attraction. Longing. Need. All the same things currently pulsing in his veins too. With the break-up, not to mention the cancer, sex had been the last thing on his mind for a long time.
Now, with Melissa looking at him with such undisguised yearning, he felt like the luckiest man on the planet. He leaned down and pressed his lips softly against hers, needing to touch her, taste her, and believe that she was real. That this stranger had appeared and awakened part of him he’d worried had been gone forever.
Melissa melted under Lachlan’s touch. She’d forgotten how it felt to be with someone, how good it was to be wanted. For eighteen months, she’d been on her own, mourning the man she loved, forgetting to think of herself in the process. Lydia had been right—she still had a life to lead, and Lachlan was reminding her of that. She had needs, especially when this man was kissing her, slipping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer into his warm embrace. One night with him could help her move on and mark the start of this new decade in her life. Without Chris. She had to get used to the fact he was no longer part of her life, and with every tender kiss from Lachlan, he was gradually fading into the past.
It didn’t mean she was ready to get into another serious relationship, but she doubted that’s what would happen from hooking up with someone at a music festival anyway. Years from now, he would just be part of the special memories she was making celebrating her thirtieth birthday.
She kissed him back with an urgency that seemed to ignite more passion in him. Until things were getting pretty steamy in the sheltered nook. The sound of blood rushing in her ears, the feel of his strong hands anchored to her body, blotted out every last ounce of her usual common sense. So all that remained was the all-consuming need for more of Lachlan.
When he eventually wrenched his lips from hers, she was left dizzy and bereft.
‘I think the rain is dying down. We should probably make a run for it. I have some towels and a hairdryer in my room you can use.’
‘Room?’ Her head still spinning from his passionate kisses, she thought she’d missed some vital piece of information.
‘I’m staying over at the pub. It’s cheating, I know, but there was no way I was sleeping in a tent in a field.’ He looked shamefaced at the admission, but Melissa was only sorry she hadn’t thought of the idea first.
‘Sensible.’
‘So, what do you say? We can go to my room and get dried off. No funny business, I swear.’
Melissa looked at the pub across the road, then at Lachlan as he took her hand. The feel of him there was both comforting and exciting, and she didn’t want it to end when this was the most alive she’d been in months.
‘Spoil-sport. I was looking forward to the funny business,’ she said with a wink, pulling him behind her as she made her way across the road to the pub. Her pulse raced and her mouth was dry with the uncharacteristic attempt at seduction.
If she was going to convince Lachlan, and herself, that she was the type of woman who could have a one-night stand and walk away as if it never happened, she had to fake a Lydia-style confidence. Goodness knew that she didn’t want to let this opportunity slip through her fingers. This was her chance to put the past behind her, just for one night, and she couldn’t think of a more fun, exciting way to do it than spend it with Lachlan.
Lachlan’s heart was beating a quickstep as they walked into the elevator. As much as he liked Melissa’s forward nature, ruling out the chance of any misunderstanding or worry of rejection, he was a tad apprehensive. Not of Melissa, or what they were about to do, but more about his performance. Certain parts of him had been out of commission since his cancer treatment. Even though he’d likely never see Melissa again, he didn’t want to let her down or embarrass himself.
He certainly hadn’t felt sexy or virile during his treatment, more emasculated by it. It had taken a while, and some counselling, to come to terms with everything he’d been through. Though he’d had a reconstruction of the testicle he’d lost, he still knew a part of him was missing. Illogical though it was, sometimes he worried he was no longer the sexual being he used to be.
A fear that began to subside when she started kissing him once the elevator doors slid shut. Running the palms of her hands up his chest, pressing herself tightly against him, Melissa was leaving him in no doubt about how much she wanted him. The ultimate aphrodisiac, if it was needed.
When the elevator pinged open, they stumbled towards his room in a frenzy of kisses and searching hands desperate to keep hold of one another.
‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ he asked, as much for himself as Melissa. Did he really want to engage in meaningless, passionate sex with someone he’d only just met and wasn’t likely to ever see again?
The answer from both parties was an overwhelming, breathless, ‘Yes!’
He’d done the long-term thing, committed to someone and something which ultimately hadn’t been right for him in the end. People and circumstances changed, so it seemed pointless to do it all over again with someone else he would probably end up disappointing eventually. At least this way there were no obligations or expectations beyond this room. And, if it did turn out to be a disaster, he wouldn’t have to worry about facing her again. The beauty of being on this island was that people travelled from all over to be here. It wasn’t as though they’d met at a local party in the park, where the potential for running into each other would always be a concern. Beyond first names, this was anonymous. Just for fun. The way he intended to approach the next part of his life.
Once she’d ditched her fetching headwear, he pulled her dress up over her head, uncovering her pretty lace underwear and sexy figure. Her skin was cool under his touch, goose pimples appearing as he slid her bra straps down her arms.
‘Are you cold?’
Melissa bit her lip as she shook her head, indicating for the first time that she might be as nervous as he was about this.
‘Burning up,’ she replied, denying the hitch of apprehension in her voice.
It should have been a sign that perhaps this wasn’t as casual as she wanted him to believe. That she wasn’t the sort of woman who could sleep with him and walk away without a second thought after all. Except he didn’t want to heed that warning if it meant putting an end to this now. The urgency with which she stripped his shirt off obliterated any doubt. Everything in his body wanted more.
It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her he hadn’t done this in a while, but that was personal, as were the reasons behind it. Rather than excusing himself before he let her down, he was hoping it wouldn’t be too apparent. When she was touching him, kissing him, he certainly didn’t feel as though he wasn’t up to it. Where once he’d faced death, now he felt more alive than ever. He wished he could bottle this feeling.
Lachlan slowly undid Melissa’s bra, uncovering her full breasts, which fit perfectly in his palms. She gasped as he kneaded the soft flesh and teased her pert nipples with his thumbs. So responsive and tempting. He dipped his head and sucked on the puckered pink tips until she was arching her body into his. He slid his hands into her panties and squeezed her round backside, pulling her flush against his ever-hardening body.
Melissa moved to unbutton his trousers, and for a split second, he forgot he was anything other than a normal hot-blooded man. However, as she touched him through his boxers, he froze.
‘Wait!’ He backed away, putting some space between them.
‘Have I done something wrong?’ she asked, a worried look on her face. He cursed himself, and his illness, for putting it there.
‘Not at all.’ A one-night stand wasn’t exactly the right situation for a deep and meaningful conversation. It wasn’t easy to say that part of what made him a man was missing. Despite it being a recent event in his life, having a testicle removed wasn’t something that cropped up in everyday conversation.
‘You’re married.’ She sighed, folding her arms across her chest.
‘No. I...er...just wanted to make sure this was what you wanted.’ He decided it was worth the risk of letting her decide for herself if she still found him attractive or not. If he was ever going to get back in the dating game, he had to start somewhere, and Melissa was the first woman in an age he’d wanted to be with.
She hooked a finger into the waistband of his trousers and pulled him back towards her.
This time he didn’t stop her from unzipping him, though he was tense as she touched him. The first person other than the doctor and surgeons who’d treated him who’d had access to that part of him. Thankfully this was a much more enjoyable experience.
Perhaps it was simply a man thing, thinking that he’d lost his masculinity somehow, or that Melissa would notice and find him less physically appealing. Someday he mightn’t care so much, but since he was still coming to terms with what had happened himself, every rejection would hurt that much more.
He held his breath as she completely exposed him, taking him in hand and stroking him until he forgot everything except her touch. Her acceptance reinvigorated him, gave him more confidence, as he pulled her towards the bed with him.
He almost felt like the old Lachlan.
Melissa swallowed nervously as Lachlan covered her body with his. He was kissing her all over, being too considerate for what she needed. She didn’t want someone making love to her, giving her reason to read more into this than was there. Hot, passionate sex was all she wanted, to fulfil a need and prove that she was able to move on.
She ground her hips against his, eliciting a groan from Lachlan.
‘If you keep doing that, this is going to be over before either of us is ready.’
‘Maybe I don’t want to wait,’ she said in her best sultry voice, grabbing his butt with both hands.
Another groan. Then he sank into her, locking their bodies together, and taking Melissa’s breath away. Eyes closed, she gave herself over to the sensations he was awakening inside her.
Tonight, she’d let herself enjoy her freedom, the anonymity of a one-night stand, because tomorrow she had to go back to her real life. She’d be out of here the moment Lachlan was asleep, leaving him as nothing more than a wonderful memory.
