The Surrogate's Unexpected Miracle
Their unexpected familyEllie Thomas was meant to be a surrogate mum to the baby growing inside her, but when her best friend abandons her, everything changes. The moment her son is born Ellie knows she could never give him up! But the one person she can turn to for help is the doctor who delivered her child.Dr Luke Gilmore didn’t have a picture perfect childhood, but he instinctively wants to protect Ellie and her baby. He was only passing through, but he may have just found a reason to stay…
Читать The Surrogate's Unexpected Miracle онлайн беплатно
Their unexpected family
Ellie Thomas was meant to be a surrogate mother to the baby growing inside her, but when her best friend abandons her, everything changes. The moment her son is born, Ellie knows she could never give him up! But the one person she can turn to for help is the doctor who delivered her child.
Dr. Luke Gilmore didn’t have a picture-perfect childhood, but he instinctively wants to protect Ellie and her baby. He was only passing through, but he may have just found a reason to stay…
Have you ever been blindsided by something? Something totally unexpected that was huge enough to change your life for ever?
If you have, I really hope it wasn’t something awful—like an accident or a house fire—but something amazing—like meeting the gaze of the love of your life for the first time. Sometimes, though, even a disaster can turn out to be the catalyst for something much better to take its place.
I blindsided my heroine, Ellie, in this story more than once. I gave her a baby she never expected to have to raise. And then I burned her house down!
I guess I blindsided my hero, Luke, as well—but that was a much more gradual process and it took him a long time to realise that it had happened.
And it was definitely something amazing! :)
I do hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I loved writing it.
With love,
Alison xx
Books by Alison Roberts
Mills & Boon Medical Romance
Paddington Children’s Hospital
A Life-Saving Reunion
Christmas Eve Magic
Their First Family Christmas
Wildfire Island Docs
The Nurse Who Stole His Heart
The Fling That Changed Everything
A Little Christmas Magic
Always the Midwife Daredevil, Doctor…Husband?
Mills & Boon Cherish
The Wedding Planner and the CEO
The Baby Who Saved Christmas The Forbidden Prince
Visit the Author Profile page
at millsandboon.co.uk for more titles.
For Ellie,
with thanks for letting me borrow your name. xx
Contents
HOW COULD SO many things have gone so terribly, terribly wrong?
Ellie Thomas could feel the shape of the phone she was holding against her ear. The edges felt sharper as her grip tightened. They were tangible and real.
What she was hearing couldn’t possibly be real.
Could it...?
‘Ava—are you still there?’
A moment’s silence and then she heard her friend’s voice again. Her best friend since...since as long as she could remember. A bond that had lasted throughout childhood. Through the trauma of Ava’s surgery and chemotherapy as a teenager. With happy memories like being Ava’s bridesmaid two years ago and the darker memories of her best mate’s despair at not being able to become a mother—a side effect of the treatment that had saved her life.
A friendship that had seemed unbreakable. Until two weeks ago...
‘Yeah...I’m still here.’ A stifled sob could be heard. ‘And...I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Ellie.’
Sorry? Did that somehow make this okay?
‘Where are you?’ Ellie could hear the sound of an announcement of some kind going on in a noisy background. Was Ava at a train station? ‘Talk to me, Ave. We can sort this out. I’ve been trying to call you since the beginning of last week.’
Ever since she had heard that Marco, Ava’s gorgeous looking but sometimes volatile husband, had packed a bag and walked out on her.
The day after that awful row... The last time she and Ava and Marco had been in the same room together.
‘I was getting frantic,’ Ellie added.
Terrified might be a bit closer to the truth.
The silence on the other end of the line was unnerving. Ellie could feel a tight knot of fear that was making it difficult to draw in a new breath. This couldn’t be happening. A friendship like this couldn’t just evaporate because of something that hadn’t even been her fault. Not after all they’d been through together and especially not with what they were going through right now.
‘I didn’t encourage him, Ava. You know that, don’t you? I was just as horrified as you were that he tried to kiss me.’
‘It wasn’t just you.’ Ava had stopped crying and there was anger in her low, fierce tone. ‘He’s been cheating on me the whole time. He admitted it. Said I would never have been enough for a man like him. That our marriage had been a huge mistake because I couldn’t accept that.’ The tears were obviously flowing again and her next words were totally broken. ‘...that trying to have a baby was just putting a Band-Aid on a wound that was already fatal.’
Ellie could hear an odd humming and there were bright specks in front of her eyes. Oh, yeah...
Breathe...
‘You’re not trying to have a baby.’ Her words came out in a voice she hardly recognised as her own. ‘You are having a baby. In about four weeks.’
‘But don’t you see? I can’t do it now. My world’s fallen apart, Ellie and I can’t hang on to anything. It’s not even my baby...’
