The Bridesmaid's Baby

  A brand-new duet by RITA® Award-winning author Barbara Hannay

  Pregnancy is never predictable, and these two stories explore the very different experiences of two friends, Mattie and Lucy. Follow their steps to marriage in these two very special deliveries.

  Expecting Miracle Twins

  Mattie Carey has put her dreams of finding Mr. Right aside to be her best friends’ surrogate.

  Then Jake Devlin steps into her life. He’s cheeky, charming, intriguing and gorgeous—but it’s so not the right time for her to fall in love….

  September 2009

  This month:

  The Bridesmaid’s Baby

  Old friends Will Carruthers and Lucy McKenty are thrown together again as best man and bridesmaid at Mattie and Jake’s wedding, where unresolved feelings resurface. Their biological clocks might be ticking—but a baby together so soon is the last thing they expect!

  “I’ve been thinking about your baby proposal,’ Will said.

  “Will, it wasn’t a proposal. You know I didn’t mean it.”

  With a distinct lack of haste, he said, “But is it such a bad idea?”

  Lucy’s mouth fell open. Surely he wasn’t serious? “Of course it’s a bad idea. It’s crazy.”

  “You really want a baby,” he said quietly. “You said so last night, and you’re worried you’re running out of time.”

  Now it was Lucy who didn’t answer. She couldn’t. Her heart had risen to fill her throat. She’d never dreamed for a moment that Will would take her flippant comment even half seriously.

  This was her dream—to have Will’s baby. Okay, maybe the dream also involved Will falling madly and deeply in love with her, but surely half a dream was better than none?

  BARBARA HANNAY

  The Bridesmaid’s Baby

  Barbara Hannay was born in Sydney, educated in Brisbane and has spent most of her adult life living in tropical north Queensland, where she and her husband have raised four children. While she has enjoyed many happy times camping and canoeing in the bush, she also delights in an urban lifestyle—chamber music, contemporary dance, movies and dining out. An English teacher, she has always loved writing, and now, by having her stories published, she is living her most cherished fantasy. Visit her Web site at www.barbarahannay.com.

  Dear Reader,

  Just as I finished writing The Bridesmaid’s Baby, my son’s wife gave birth to not one, but two darling girls, Milla and Sophie, identical twins. They are the sweetest little heroines, and their safe arrival was a wonderful thrill for all of our family. For me it was also the perfect way to end my project BABY STEPS TO MARRIAGE.

  It’s been a huge pleasure for me to write two linked books, and I’ve had such fun making the dream of a much-wanted baby come true in two quite different stories.

  In The Bridesmaid’s Baby, which is Lucy and Will’s story, I had the extra pleasure of sharing Mattie and Jake’s wedding with you. It was lovely to revisit the heroine and hero from Expecting Miracle Twins and to let you see that the babies, Jasper and Mia, are thriving.

  In Lucy and Will’s story, I was also able to explore one of my favorite romantic themes—friends to lovers—and to set their romance in the idyllic country town of Willowbank, where Lucy and Will, Mattie, Gina and Tom had all grown up.

  As you can imagine, Willowbank and these characters are now incredibly special to me, as are the dear little babies. I can already imagine a new generation…and who knows where that will lead?

  I hope you enjoy Lucy and Will’s journey to marriage and parenthood.

  Warmest wishes,

  Barbara

  CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  PROLOGUE

  A PARTY was in full swing at Tambaroora.

  The homestead was ablaze with lights and brightly coloured Chinese lanterns glowed in the gardens. Laughter and the happy voices of young people joined the loud music that spilled out across the dark paddocks where sheep quietly grazed.

  Will Carruthers was going away, setting out to travel the world, and his family and friends were sending him off in style.

  ‘Have you seen Lucy?’ Mattie Carey asked him as he topped up her wine glass.

  ‘I’m sure I have,’ Will replied, letting his gaze drift around the room, seeking Lucy’s bright blonde hair. ‘She was here a minute ago.’

  Mattie frowned. ‘I’ve been looking for her everywhere.’

  ‘I’ll keep an eye out,’ Will said with a shrug. ‘If I see her, I’ll let her know you’re looking for her.’ He moved on to top up other guests’ glasses.

  But by the time he’d completed a circuit of the big living room and the brightly lit front and side verandas, Will still hadn’t seen Lucy McKenty and he felt a vague stirring of unease. Surely she wouldn’t leave the party without saying goodbye. She was, in many ways, his best friend.

  He went to the front steps and looked out across the garden, saw a couple, suspiciously like his sister Gina and Tom Hutchins, kissing beneath a jacaranda, but there was still no sign of Lucy.

  She wasn’t in the kitchen either. Will stood in the middle of the room, scratching his head and staring morosely at the stacks of empty bottles and demolished food platters. Where was she?

  His brother Josh came in to grab another bottle of bubbly from the fridge.

  ‘Seen Lucy?’ Will asked.

  Josh merely shook his head and hurried away to his latest female conquest.

  A movement outside on the back veranda caught Will’s attention. It was dark out there and he went to the kitchen doorway to scan the veranda’s length, saw a slim figure in a pale dress, leaning against a veranda post, staring out into the dark night.

  ‘Lucy?’

  She jumped at the sound of his voice.

  ‘I’ve been looking for you everywhere,’ he said, surprised by the relief flowing through him like wine. ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘I had a headache.’ She spoke in a small, shaky voice. ‘So I came outside for a bit of quiet and fresh air.’

  ‘Has it helped?’

  ‘Yes, thanks. I feel much better.’

  Will moved beside her and rested his arms on the railing, looking out, as she was, across the dark, limitless stretch of the sheep paddocks.

  For the past four years the two of them had been away at Sydney University, two friends from the tiny country town of Willowbank, adrift in a sea of thousands of strangers. Their friendship had deepened during the ups and downs of student life, but now those years were behind them.

  Lucy had come home to start work as a country vet, while Will, who’d studied geology, was heading as far away as possible, hurrying overseas, hungry for adventure and new experiences.

  ‘You’re not going to miss this place, are you?’ she said.

  Will laughed. ‘I doubt it.’ His brother Josh would be here to help their father run Tambaroora. It was the life Josh, as the eldest son, was born to, what he wanted. For Will, escape had never beckoned more sweetly, had never seemed more reasonable. ‘I wish you were coming too.’

  Lucy made a soft groaning sound. ‘Don’t start that again, Will.’

  ‘Sorry.’ He knew this was a sore point. ‘I just can’t understand why you don’t want to escape, too.’

  ‘And play gooseberry to you and Cara? How much fun would that be?’

  The little catch in Lucy’s voice alarmed Will.

  ‘But we’re sure to meet up with other
travellers, and you’d make lots of friends. Just like you always have.’

  Lucy had arrived in Willowbank during their last year at high school and she’d quickly fitted into Will’s close circle but, because they’d shared a mutual interest in science, she and Will had become particularly good friends, really good friends.

  He looked at her now, standing on the veranda in the moonlight, beautiful in an elfin, tomboyish way, with sparkly blue eyes and short blonde hair and soft pale skin. A strange lump of hot metal burned in his throat.

  Lucy lifted her face to him and he saw a tear tremble on the end of her lashes and run down her cheek.

  ‘Hey, Goose.’ He used her nickname and forced a shaky laugh. ‘Don’t tell me you’re going to miss me.’

  ‘Of course I won’t miss you,’ she cried, whirling away so he couldn’t see her face.

  Shocked, Will reached out to her. She was wearing a strapless dress and his hands closed over her bare shoulders. Her skin was silky beneath his hands and, as he drew her back against him, she was small and soft in his arms. She smelled clean like rain. He dipped his head and her hair held the fragrance of flowers.

  Without warning he began to tremble with the force of unexpected emotion.

  ‘Lucy,’ he whispered but, as he turned her around to face him, anything else that he might have said was choked off by the sight of her tears.

  His heart behaved very strangely as he traced the tears’ wet tracks with his fingertips. He felt the heated softness of her skin and when he reached the dainty curve of her tear-dampened lips, he knew that he had to kiss her.

  He couldn’t resist gathering her close and tasting the delicate saltiness of her tears and the sweetness of her skin and, finally, the softness of her mouth. Oh, God.

  With the urgency of a wild bee discovering the world’s most tempting honey, Will pulled her closer and took the kiss deeper. Lucy wound her arms around his neck and he could feel her breasts pressed against his chest. His body caught fire.

  How could this be happening?

  Where on earth had Lucy learned to kiss? Like this?

  She was so sweet and wild and passionate—turning him on like nothing he’d ever known.

  Was this really Lucy McKenty in his arms? His heart was bursting inside his chest.

  ‘Lucy?’ Mattie’s voice called suddenly. ‘Is that you out there, Lucy?’

  Light flooded them. Will and Lucy sprang apart and Mattie stared at them, shocked.

  They stared at each other, equally shocked.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Mattie said, turning bright red.

  ‘No, it’s OK,’ they both protested in unison.

  ‘We were just—’ Will began.

  ‘Saying goodbye,’ Lucy finished and then she laughed. It was a rather wild, strange little laugh, but it did the trick.

  Everyone relaxed. Mattie stopped blushing. ‘Josh thought you might like to make a speech soon,’ she told him.

  ‘A speech?’ Will sounded as dazed as he felt.

  ‘A farewell speech.’

  ‘Oh, yes. I’d better say something now before everyone gets too sloshed.’

  They went back inside and, with the speed of a dream that faded upon waking, the moment on the veranda evaporated.

  The spell was broken.

  Everyone gathered around Will and, as he looked out at the sea of faces and prepared to speak, he thought guiltily of Cara, his girlfriend, waiting for him to join her in Sydney. Then he glanced at Lucy and saw no sign of tears. She was smiling and looking like her happy old self and he told himself everything was OK.

  Already he was sure he’d imagined the special magic in that kiss.

  CHAPTER ONE

  THERE were days when Lucy McKenty knew she was in the wrong job. A woman in her thirties with a loudly ticking biological clock should not devote huge chunks of her time to delivering gorgeous babies.

  Admittedly, the babies Lucy delivered usually had four legs and a tail, but that didn’t stop them from being impossibly cute, and it certainly didn’t stop her from longing for a baby. Just one baby of her own to hold and to love.

  The longing swept through her now as she knelt in the straw beside the calf she’d just delivered. The birthing had been difficult, needing ropes and a great deal of Lucy’s perspiration, but now, as she shifted the newborn closer to his exhausted mother’s head, she felt an all too familiar wrench on her heartstrings.

  The cow opened her eyes and began to lick her calf, slowly, methodically, and Lucy smiled as the newborn nuzzled closer. She never tired of this miracle.

  Within minutes, the little calf was wobbling to his feet, butting at his mother’s side, already urging her to join him in a game.

  Nothing could beat the joy of new life.

  Except…this idyllic scene was an uncomfortable reminder that Lucy had very little chance of becoming a mother. She’d already suffered one miscarriage and now there was a failed IVF treatment behind her. She was sure she was running out of time. The women in her family had a track record of early menopause and she lived with an ever growing sense of her biological clock counting off the months, days, hours, minutes.

  Tick, tock, tick, tock.

  Swallowing a sigh, Lucy stood slowly and stretched muscles that had been strained as she’d hauled the calf into the world. She glanced through the barn doorway and saw that the shadows had lengthened across the golden grass of the home paddock.

  ‘What’s the time?’ she asked Jock Evans, the farmer who’d called her in a panic several hours earlier.

  Instead of checking his wrist, Jock turned slowly and squinted at the mellowing daylight outside. ‘Just gone five, I reckon.’

  ‘Already?’ Lucy hurried to the corner of the barn where she’d left her things, including her watch. She checked it. Jock was dead right. ‘I’m supposed to be at a wedding rehearsal by half past five.’

  Jock’s eyes widened with surprise. ‘Don’t tell me you’re getting married, Lucy?’

  ‘Me? Heavens, no.’ Peeling off sterile gloves, she manufactured a gaiety she didn’t feel. ‘Mattie Carey’s the lucky girl getting married. I’m just a bridesmaid.’

  Again, she added silently.

  The farmer didn’t try to hide his relief. ‘I’m glad you haven’t been snapped up. The Willow Creek district can’t afford to have you whisked away from us.’

  ‘Well, there’s not much chance.’

  ‘Most folks around here reckon you’re the best vet we’ve ever had.’

  ‘Thanks, Jock.’ Lucy sent him a grateful smile, but as she went through to the adjoining room to clean up, her smile wavered and then collapsed.

  She really, really loved her job, and she’d worked hard for many years before the local farmers finally placed their trust in a mere ‘slip of a girl’. Now she’d finally earned their loyalty and admiration and she knew she should be satisfied, but lately this job hadn’t felt like enough.

  She certainly didn’t want to be married to it!

  For Will Carruthers, coming home to Willowbank always felt like stepping back in time. In ten years the sleepy country town had barely changed.

  The wide main street was still filled with the same old fashioned flower beds. The bank, the council chambers, the post office and the barber shop all looked exactly as they had when Will first left home.

  Today, as he climbed out of his father’s battered old truck, the familiar landmarks took on a dreamlike quality. But when he pushed open the gate that led to the white wooden church, where tomorrow his best mate would marry one of his oldest friends, he couldn’t help thinking that this sense of time standing still was a mere illusion.

  The buildings and the landscape might have stayed the same, but the people who lived here had changed. Oh, yeah. Every person who mattered in Will’s life had changed a great deal.

  And here was the funny thing. Will had left sleepy old Willowbank, eager to shake its dust from his heels and to make his mark on the world. He’d traversed the globe more time
s than he cared to count, but now, in so many ways, he felt like the guy who’d been left behind.

  From inside the church the wailing cries of a baby sounded, a clear signal of the changes that had taken place. Will’s sister Gina appeared at the church door, jiggling a howling ginger-headed infant on her hip.

  When she saw her brother, her face broke into a huge smile.

  ‘Will, I’m so glad you made it. Gosh, it’s lovely to see you.’ Reaching out, she beckoned him closer, gave him a one armed hug. ‘Heavens, big brother, have I shrunk or have you grown even taller?’

  ‘Maybe the weight of motherhood is wearing you down.’ Will stooped to kiss her, then smiled as he studied her face. ‘I take that back, Gina. I don’t think you’ve ever looked happier.’

  ‘I know,’ she said beaming. ‘It’s amazing, isn’t it? I seem to have discovered my inner Earth Mother.’

  He grinned and patted her baby’s chubby arm. ‘This must be Jasper. He’s certainly a chip off the old block.’ The baby was a dead ringer for his father, Tom, right down to his red hair. ‘G’day, little guy.’

  Jasper stopped crying and stared at Will with big blue eyes, shiny with tears.

  ‘Gosh, that shut him up.’ Gina grinned and winked. ‘You must have the knack, Will. I knew you’d be perfect uncle material.’

  Will chuckled to cover an abrupt slug of emotion that had caught him by surprise. Gina’s baby was incredibly cute. His skin was soft and perfectly smooth, his eyes bright and clear. There were dimples on his chubby hands and, crikey, dimples on his knees. And, even though he was only four months old, he was unmistakably sturdy and masculine.