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A bitter laugh huffed from his mouth How could he think that about Holly when he’d only seen her unconscious? What about that s across her lips? Not so out of it then And that’s why he felt she was just like her mother How could she not be?

Sipping his whisky, he stared out theinto the night lit by streetlaht It was cosy in here, yet he shivered He was teetering on a cliff edge He wanted to grab Anastasia and Holly, hold the He wanted to go back to early thatto the bathroom for a shave, and when he hadn’t known about this child who’d turned the world as he knew it upside down

Hell, he didn’t knohat he wanted—except not tothan it already was

It’s only a

He wanted to get this right For Holly For Anastasia and, yes, for hi question That had to be decided by talking to Anastasia, not just to himself

There was a war his heart If it was true and Holly was his, he’d become a father in the tiht ere together It’s true, Noah Holly is your daughter’ No planning, no nine ood thing to start a family when he wasn’t in a relationship A matter of seconds and he’d become a father Whether he’d wanted to or not

He could walk away Except he’d never do that He knew the pain of losing parents, the pain of not being taken in by other fa he’d ever ihter Holly would be well cared for and loved by the Wainwright farow up into a wonderful woman

Could he do any better? Did he want to? Yes, damn it, he did She would be loved by him as well, with all that entailed But to trust Anastasia co happy with her lot, she round and all that was on offer

Another sip of his drink and he thought about Christine His wife had hurt him, but she hadn’t wrecked hi his love with hers He’d wanted a family, like the one he’d known for the first ten years of his life She’d never had that herself so didn’t believe in it

Anastasia caht Love was a part of her Did she have any for him?

His head was going round and round, and getting nowhere Shoving the alhtened up and headed for the door and the eather He was not oing back to the hospital to sit with Anastasia and Holly, watching over theet well enough to go home

CHAPTER SEVEN

STACEY OPENED HER eyes slowly and looked around the darkened rooh her at theat the end of Holly’s bed, hands in pockets, a poignant look on his face as he gazed down at his daughter ‘Noah?’ she whispered

Slowly he turned to face her, sadness radiating out at her ‘How hard did you try to find me?’

He was regrettingout on the early years of Holly’s life ‘On the train heading ho I wished I’d taken aback frooing on holiday or off to a permanent job in Britain or another country

‘Youat the hotel since you’d packed up your house so your ain’ She paused, hoping for a response, got none ‘At work on Monday I asked my friends to check around at London General to see if anyone knew you and they came up blank Most people didn’t even knowwith’

Another pause while she thought back to those frantic days when she’d alive her a name for the man no one had known ‘Now I know you’d never worked at London General it makes sense’

‘And that was it?’

‘No A feeeks later I found I was pregnant At first it was scary I was single, still getting over us start sliding into the background? Maybe not Noah didn’t look as though he’d want to hear that ‘But as the days turned to weeks I began to get excited I was going to be a mother, and even if I had to raise my child on my own, it onderful’

‘So you gave up looking for me?’

Her chest ached for hi for reasons to be angry with her while he accepted the truth in front of hian aout all the ht’ve known you You didn’t exist That was the only blight onfor you’

Lifting her hands and turning them palms upwards, she asked, ‘What else was I supposed to do? There’s more than one Noah out there, believe me’ And none that she’d seen were a patch on this one