Page 63 of One Night with the Doctor

His eyes met hers. ‘Does it still worry you?’

The thought tore at her heart. She would never want a child of hers to go through the rigours of mental illness. ‘Of course,’ she whispered. ‘Looking after Zack all those years, worrying if he’s got more than his father’s athletic ability… the thought of passing something like that on frightens the hell out of me.’

His hands smoothed up her body to her face, cupping her jaw, his thumbs stroking the hollows beside her mouth. ‘Don’t,’ he murmured. ‘We wipe the slate clean. You and I.’

‘But what if⁠—’

‘Shh.’ Sebastian placed a thumb against her lips. ‘There are no guarantees in life, Callie. You and I both know this child could get any number of horrible illnesses. So could we. But we can’t live our lives like that, in constant fear. We just love our kids⁠—’

‘Kids? Plural?’

‘Yes.’ He smiled. ‘If you want.’

Callie didn’t know about that but the fact Sebastian was already thinking about it set off a little glow in her chest.

‘And we love each other,’ he continued, ‘and we hope like crazy it all works out. And no matter what, we’ll deal with whatever life throws us.’

Callie’s hands came up to grasp Sebastian’s wrists. He was right, of course he was. Life was for living – they both knew that, probably better than most. ‘I love you,’ she whispered.

He smiled, using his thumbs to tilt her jaw back. ‘I don’t think I’m ever going to tire of hearing you say that.’

‘Good,’ she murmured, ‘cos I’m not ever going to tire of telling you. I love you Sebastian Walker. I love you.’

He dropped a kiss on her upturned mouth. And then another. And another, until they melded into one and they were both swept away for long drugging minutes. ‘Just promise me one thing,’ he said, eventually pulling away.

‘Anything,’ Callie agreed, her head spinning from the kiss.

‘Can we tone down the pink?’

Callie laughed as she looked around the room. ‘Actually, it’s kind of grown on me.’

Sebastian groaned. ‘Fine. Can we at least have yellow ducks?’

She nodded. ‘Absolutely. I promise.’

And she sealed it with a kiss.

EPILOGUE

2 YEARS LATER…

Callie stared out through the gauzy fabric of her veil to the man waiting for her at the end of the flower strewn aisle, their little girl in a puffy yellow dress and sparkly ruby red shoes, in his arms.

Right there was her whole world.

It was so hard to believe that two years had flashed by.

They felt like a blur and yet, waiting for the music to start, they played on slow-mo through her head.

Her pregnancy – her geriatric pregnancy as the midwife had called it – had been an absolute dream after the initial morning sickness had settled. Sebastian had moved permanently to Brisbane and opened up a private practice. They’d bought a house together in one of the cities leafy inner suburbs with a back yard and a tyre swing hanging from a big old shady tree and only a fifteen-minute drive to Jambalyn.

They decorated the nursery, not in pink, but in muted purple and yellows and greens with a huge wall decal of an enchanted forest complete with hiding fairies and big fat red mushrooms with white spots.

And then she’d arrived, one week early and after a textbook twelve-hour labour, all wet and blinking, looking around with a curiosity that she still hadn’t lost.

Andromeda (Andie for short) May Walker had been the centre of their lives ever since, stealing their focus and besotting them both. A frenetic ball of energy, she’d kept them on their toes, keeping their days full and happy.

So full and happy it had taken them this long to get around to a wedding. But this was the day, it was finally here and Callie couldn’t wait to put an official seal on their union.