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Toered He could see Hailey had relaxed She had begun reading to To on a funny voice as she read the words

Hailey read on aware of his scrutiny ‘You’ll e She didn’t bother to look up

Callu persisted The trouble was it didn’t haveto do with how good it felt to see the like they’d been doing it for years

After her initial insecurities Hailey took to babysitting To children She allowed him to push the boundaries of his bedtime and they read for nearly an hour after Callum left

When it ca to stay awake, didn’t protest She pulled back his bedcovers, shut hisand tucked hiled into the bedclothes, his torch held securely in one hand

‘Can you lay with o to sleep, Hailey?’ Tom asked drowsily

Her heart squeezed in her chest How could she resist such a request when To blue eyes? Eyes that had seen too much in his short little life

‘Move over, then’ She s any house rules She had often lain with Eric as he had drifted off to sleep and a small part of her heart desperately wanted to feel a little body snuggled into her again

Toled over and Hailey curled her body around his, one arm around his waist, her other elbow bent, her head propped up on her hand Hailey watched him fall sleep

She’d always been nuts about kids, hence her interest in midwifery then paediatrics The fact that she was now an aunt and due to becoain in the very near future had been a major cause for excitement in her life

Not that long ago she’d even looked forward to having her own tribe to dote on But the incident with Eric had made her realise that the loss of a child was utterly devastating And she never wanted to leave herself open to that kind of hurt again Ever

She yawned Sleep had been elusive since the ball Last night’s slumber had been worst of all because of her ankle and Callum’s revelations Her eyelids felt heavy Surely it wouldn’t matter if she shut her eyes for athe back of To her nose She burrowed in closer to his little body, sighing contently as she fell deeply asleep

Callum arrived home to a darkened house at nearly nine o’clock He carried a bag of Chinese take-aways He wasn’t sure if Hailey had eaten already or even if she was allergic to MSG, but the least he could do was feed her for helping hiht spot

‘I’m home,’ he called as he shut the door There wasn’t an answer and Hailey wasn’t in the lounge roo a needle of unease prick at his of food in the kitchen and wandered towards his son’s roo himself to stay calm

He pulled up short when he discovered a sleeping Hailey curled up in Tom’s bed, her arm around his son’s waist He felt his heart flop in his chest and his breath stutter to a halt They looked like they belonged together A stranger could be forgiven for pegging them as mother and son

His chest hurt and he realised he hadn’t taken a breath He ordered his It felt weird to be looking down at soht Tom, curled up with his mother But apart from those precious first few months of Tom’s life, Callum had no memories like this And Hailey wasn’t his mother

Callu it out of To He unpacked the take-aways, trying to wrap his head around the twists of his life He’d been so certain the move froe of pace Putting the past and all its tragedies behind and forging a new future in a nen together The job at the Brisbane General had been perfect And Annie had alanted to move to sunnier climes

He’d known too that her parents had always hankered to retire in Queensland But he’d also known they’d never ible connection to their daughter So the decision, in the end, had been an easy one

But he hadn’t expected this A girl called Hailey co Tos he hadn’t thought about in for ever Tonight she looked as if she belonged here in his apartment