Read Online Silver Dawn (Wishes #4.5) by G. J. Walker-Smith - Free Book Online Page B

“You usually shy away from attention. All eyes are on you now, babe.”
    In a perfect world, she would’ve woken up and cut me down with one of the French expletives she was so fond of. I even paused to give her time.
    That was the moment I noticed that her chest was softly rising and falling in perfect sync with the ventilator.
    She was so close to being gone I couldn’t stand it. Casual and calm was getting harder to do.
    I brought her hand to my mouth. “Please, please don’t leave us,” I begged. “If I can do better, I will. I’ll do anything, Gabi.” I laid her hand gently on the bed and rested my forehead against her palm. “Just stay.”
    I sat with Gabrielle for hours. When I started mentally counting the beeps of the machines, I began to worry that I was losing my mind. Solo conversations tend to make you feel crazy too, and I’d been having a lot of them lately.
    “I saw Wade earlier,” I told her. “Jasmine had a baby boy. They called him Lachlan.” I went on to explain his nonsense rhyming theory, and his ridiculous made up grievery word.
    I left out the part about me collaring him at the elevator. It wasn’t something I was proud of, and Gabrielle would’ve been appalled.
    I’m not a jealous man, but it was impossible not to feel envious of Jasmine and Wade. Their family was safe and intact. Mine was hurt and hanging by a thread.
    Whoever the higher power was who dealt that hand had a lot to answer for.

 
     
    Charli

 
    19. BABY BROTHER
    I’d been secretly planning a trip back to the Cove to meet my baby brother for weeks. All I’d been waiting for was the news that he’d arrived. It was Floss who called me, and the announcement wasn’t entirely joyful.
    Pressing her for information was useless. She really didn’t have any. All she could tell me was that there had been complications.
    “The baby is fine,” Floss told me. “Gabrielle had some drama, but she’s recovering.”
    I packed my bags while we were talking. Adam booked me a flight online and I was on a plane four hours later.
    I’d never been away from Bridget for longer than a night, but the decision to leave her in New York with her dad came easily. The kid wasn’t a good traveller. Long haul flights were a nightmare, and trying to cope with four days of jetlag afterwards was worse. I missed them both already but for now, the excitement of meeting my baby brother was winning out over pining.
    Being back in Australia was also a treat. The June weather seemed colder than usual after leaving New York in the midst of summer. It was a strange transition, but a lovely reminder that I was back on home soil.
    I hadn’t managed to get hold of Alex in days, but figured the best place to catch him would be at the hospital. I picked up a cab at the airport and headed straight there.
    ***
    If lugging a heavy bag of luggage through the hospital foyer seemed odd, no one questioned it. I didn’t need to ask for directions. I was more than familiar with the maternity ward. I was also familiar with the crotchety nurse that met me as I got out of the elevator.
    Nurse Nasty hadn’t mellowed in the years since Bridget was born. She hadn’t grown an inch either. She was still tiny and mean. “No visitors before one,” she barked. “Mothers and babies need their sleep.”
    I didn’t get a chance to plead my case. A nurse swooped in out of nowhere and saved me. “I’ll take care of it,” she offered. “Leave it with me.”
    Nurse Nasty nodded stiffly. “See that you do, Micky.” She marched off down the corridor in her clunky white orthopaedic shoes.
    “Your name is Micky?” I asked, turning to my rescuer.
    She grinned. “Short for Michaela.”
    I smiled back, strangely impressed that I’d met another woman who lived with the pain of being burdened with a boys name – or a mouse’s depending on how you looked at it.
    “Thanks for saving me,” I said appreciatively. “You’re really brave.”
    She was really pretty too.