Chapter Six

The next morning bright and early, Martin woke me with a tray of lightly buttered toast and tea. "I want you to have this before you get out of bed this morning," he instructed. "It will help with the nausea." He placed the tray on the bedside table. I gazed up at him, admiring my soon-to-be husband. He looked so sexy standing there in his crisp white shirt and tie, I couldn't help but have other things on my mind.

"I'd much rather you get naked so I can have you before I get out of bed," I answered suggestively. The tips of his ears turned pink, and I grabbed his tie to pull his face toward mine. He allowed me to kiss him deeply before backing away.

"A very tempting proposal, but surgery opens in a few minutes," he replied.

"We can be very quick…" I wheedled, even though that wasn't exactly what I wanted. I craved long, slow lovemaking that would exhaust both of us and cause us to be very late indeed. A quickie would certainly do in a pinch, though. Arousal hummed through me, and I pulled him down for another kiss, which soon turned into something hot and carnal.

"Anna, we can't…" Martin protested, but even as he said the words he was unbuckling his belt. We were both undressed in a flash; I purred at the feeling of his skin on mine, his hands at once tender and firm as they held my body to him. His hot mouth on my breast nearly pushed me over the edge, and soon both of us were left panting and sated. I laid my head on his chest, listening to the hammering of his heart.

"Yes, I much prefer that to toast and tea," I murmured, sighing.

"Mmm. Yes. But now we really have to hurry."

"Mornin', Anna!" It was later that morning, and Mark Mylow had just come through the front door of the surgery.

"Good morning…I hear congratulations are in order, Sergeant Mylow!" I told him. He smiled, blushing. "We're going to miss you around here."

"Thank you; I'll miss everyone here as well. But how did you hear? That's what I came in to tell everyone."

"I met your replacement yesterday afternoon while he was out jogging."

"Ah, right…he likes to keep fit. Seems a nice enough bloke; I think he will do fine here in Portwenn." He glanced in the direction of the consulting room door. "Do you think I could have a word with the Doc? It'll only take a minute. I'm planning to have a little going-away wilderness weekend, just us men. I wanted to invite him…Al is going, as well."

Good luck with that, Mark, I thought to myself. I looked down at the schedule. "Yes, his next patient isn't due for another fifteen minutes. You can go on through."

Poor Mark. He had tried on countless occasions to get Martin to go have a drink with him at the Crab, or go fishing with him, or just spend some time with him in general. He wanted so badly for them to be best friends, even though Martin had absolutely no time for him on a good day and on a bad day was outright rude to him. It didn't seem to affect Mark in the slightest; he still tried time and time again. I just hoped Martin would let him down gently this time.

"Absolutely ridiculous!" Martin exclaimed when we had locked up for lunch. "Inviting me to go camping…Mylow is an imbecile."

"Oh, don't be so hard on him. He admires you so much, Martin; he just wanted his best friend to be with him on his wilderness weekend," I teased. Martin grumbled.

"Very funny. No doubt I will end up out there anyway when one of them ends up getting hypothermia or steps in a trap and breaks a leg," he said. I had to admit, it did sound like a distinct possibility.

So far that day, my nausea had been nearly nonexistent, and since Martin had a light afternoon of appointments, I asked him if it would be okay if I picked up Joan and tried to go look at some wedding dresses. "It's already going to be hard enough finding a dress in such a short amount of time, not to mention one that will fit me by the middle of July."

When I called Joan, though, she had other plans. "I'm not able to go today; one of my ewes is ready to give birth at any moment. But I'm cooking up a surprise for you for when we do go find a dress. Give me a few days to plan and I will let you know the details." Admittedly, I was a little disappointed that we would have more of a delay, but I agreed to wait until she had her plans finalized.

Martin cleared his throat. "I'm sure whatever you wear will be…adequate," he told me. I laughed.

"Thank you, I guess?" I said. He tried again, laying his napkin beside his empty plate.

"What I mean is, you will um…look beautiful no matter what you wear."

I moved to his side of the table and sat down on his lap. "Even though I might be the size of a small country by then? With a belly out to here?" I said dubiously, cupping my hands a foot in front of me.

"You always look beautiful," he replied simply. I touched my forehead to his and kissed him on the nose, which I knew he thought was silly, but tolerated just for me. "I love you," I told him. He kissed me in response.

"I did some research this morning on obstetricians, and I have made an appointment for you with Dr. Elizabeth Hall in Truro on Friday," he changed the subject. "She comes very highly recommended. I spoke to her this morning and let her know your history."

I felt an anxious gnawing at the pit of my stomach. I was glad Martin had made an appointment so soon; I wanted to know one way or another if there was any reason I needed to be concerned about the baby. With my first pregnancy, there had been no indication that anything could be wrong except a slightly elevated blood pressure. When I was examined after such an early delivery, my doctor said he could find no reason why I couldn't have any more children, and said that sometimes these things just happen. I hated that my body had betrayed me, how powerless I felt when there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it.

"Thank you," I told Martin. "And you'll come with me to the appointment, won't you?"

He blinked at me. "Of course I will…did you think I wouldn't?"

"We'll have to cancel your appointments for Friday afternoon," I reminded him.

"Anna, you and our child are the most important things to me…much more important than rescheduling a few appointments. Of course I will be going with you."

His words brought tears to my eyes, and I cuddled closer to him. How could I have possibly thought this extraordinary man wouldn't want to stay with me through this?