Marion Lennox - The Surgeon’s Family Miracle

2006

Dear Reader,

I love setting my books in the farming community where I was raised, but sometimes I worry Im in a rut. So this time I decided to write outside the square.

The Surgeons Family Miracle was, therefore, supposed to be a dramatic romance set against the exotic loveliness of a Pacific island, with nary a cow in sight. And so it is-for half the book. But halfway through I got homesick, so doctors Ben and Lily ended up-you guessed it-flying back to Bens farm in Australia to conclude their very satisfactory romance. In the long run, they do end up on their gorgeous Pacific island, but their farming community comes with them.

I have a fabulous time writing books of the heart, and Im also delighted (and relieved) that you seem to love my country settings.

My family rolls its eyes when I tell them farmings romantic-but romance is where you find it. No?

Just look under the next cow pat.

Happy reading.

Marion

LILY stared at the thin blue line in consternation. Her plane ticket was right beside her on the bed. In three hours shed be flying back to Kapua, her Pacific island home, and from now on she and Ben would be nothing but friends.

She was pregnant.

She gazed at herself in the mirror, horror building. Theyd been so careful for the past four years, but last week shed had a tummy bug, and this week, knowing she might never see him again Well, the only sure contraceptive was abstinence and how could she bear to be apart if this final week was all she had?

She was having Bens baby.

She needed to tell him.

The thought made her blench. Hed hate it. She knew how much hed hate it. Ben who held himself aloof, who backed away at the first sign of need-how could he be a father? Maybe the biggest reason hed let himself be drawn into their relationship had been that at the end of four years hed known she had to go home.

She loved him with all her heart.

She closed her eyes, overwhelmed with panic. How could she leave him, knowing she was carrying his child? How could she leave him at all?

He wouldnt let her leave if he knew she was pregnant. She knew that about him. He might hold himself apart; he might admit he needed no one; but her lovely Ben was an honourable man. Hed suffered a desperately lonely childhood himself, and to have a child grow up without a father He wouldnt do it.

But neither could he love a child, she thought bleakly. He didnt know what loving was. Theyd been together now for almost all their medical training, and for all that time her loving had been a one-way deal.

Oh, she couldnt complain. Ben had been honest with her from the start. Lily, I love you as much as Ill ever love a woman, but I dont want a permanent relationship. Hed spelt it out repeatedly, making sure shed understood. This time together is great, but as soon as we finish medical school I need to go and see the world.

But now

Ben would feel the same about abortion as she did, she thought, but anything else Shed seen the flare of panic whenever shed come close to admitting she needed him, and a child would make no difference. Or maybe it would make him decide to marry her, she thought bleakly, and that would be worse than loneliness. Hed be trapped by his own sense of decency.

The clock ticked on. She should be packing.

Ben didnt need her, she told herself. He didnt need anyone. And back home in Kapua, her fellow islanders truly did. She continued staring into the mirror, thinking of the girl shed been ten minutes ago and the woman shed suddenly become.

She was a woman with obligations.

Kapua, her island home since she was eight years old, had never had a doctor. Islanders were dying because of it. But Lily had excelled at school, and shed been desperate to study medicine. Somehow the islanders had supported that wish. Kapuas economy was subsistence level, which meant the islanders decision to fund her medical training had been huge. Her family and neighbours had gone without basic necessities to give her-and themselves-this chance.

The further her training had progressed, the more the islanders anticipation had built. Their telephone calls over the last few months had been jubilant. Theyd built a hospital because they knew she was coming. She was qualified. The island would have its first doctor.

She was carrying Bens child.

Appalled, she let the test strip fall and her hand dropped to her waistline. She was feeling for a pregnancy that was hardly there. This was so new. So tiny. A fragment of human life.

Pregnancy didnt always end in a live birth, she thought, trying not to cry. To tell Ben now

Impossible. He was off at the end of this week on his first mission with the armed forces. Hed react with forcefulness, she thought. Hed decide on marriage. Hed organise a date for a wedding during his first leave.

But if she left-as she had to leave-he wouldnt follow, she thought bleakly. Shed tried so hard to persuade him to visit her island but hed reacted with incomprehension. The islanders were her family? How could that be? He didnt know what a family was.

Family Yes, the islanders were her family. Theyd love this child to bits, she thought.

Ben would see a child as nothing more than chains.

She was rocking back and forth now, distressed beyond measure. How could she tell him? If she told him then hed insist on marriage, and how could she refuse him? But how could she not go home?

So tell him and go anyway, she told her reflection.

Im not brave enough.

There were footsteps on the outside stairs. The door was flung open, and Ben was there. Her lovely Ben. Big and strong and tanned, and laughing for the sheer joy of living.

The father of her child.

Lily, theyve accepted me into SAS training, he said before she could say a word, and he was across the room, lifting her, swinging her round and round in his excitement. Its the crack army assault team-the best in the world. Youll be off saving your little island but Ill be seeing the world. He spun her round and round until she felt dizzy, and when he finally set her on her feet she had no choice but to lean against him, to feel the strength of him one last time.

Sweetheart, weve each achieved our dream, he said, and she could tell that his thoughts were already off in the exciting future where she played no part. Ill miss you like hell, my love.

Ill miss you, she managed, but only just.

Will you? He cupped her chin, forcing her to look at him, but his eyes were alive with excitement, and he didnt see the change in hers.

I cant understand how you can want to go back to such a place as Kapua, he said. When the whole world is yours.

The island is my world.

He nodded. I guess, he said, hugging her against him. I guess were both driven, but in different directions. But I wish we could share.

No, you dont, she whispered, but so softly he didnt hear. She whispered it from her heart to his. You dont wish we could share, my love. Youre my darling Ben Blayden-who walks alone.

ISNT Kapua where Lily Cyprano lives?

Ben was running to a tight schedule, and he sighed as Sam Hopper joined him. Sam was a skilled surgeon but he talked too much. The first Chinook was leaving in an hour. Normally the adrenalin was kicking in by now, making him move with lightning speed, but lately Hell, what did it mean when preparation for disaster seemed routine?

What? he asked without looking up, and Sam poured himself coffee and hiked his frame onto the bench where Ben was sorting drugs.