‘THE GIFT OF A CHILD by Sue MacKay is a deeply emotional, heart-rending story that will make you smile and make you cry. I truly recommend it—and don’t miss the second book: the story about Max.’
—HarlequinJunkie
‘What a great book. I loved it. I did not want it to end. This is one book not to miss.’
—GoodReads on
THE GIFT OF A CHILD
A Family This Christmas
Sue MacKay
Havelock is at the head of the Pelorus Sound in New Zealand’s Marlborough Sounds, just twenty minutes down the road from where I live. It’s known as the Green Mussel Capital of the World, for its locally grown mussels, and every year there is a mussel festival with bands, arts and crafts, and of course lots of mussels to eat. It is a vibrant small town and very focused on the sea.
When I was planning A FAMILY THIS CHRISTMAS Havelock seemed just the right place for Jenny and Cam to get together and work through their issues. Both of them have city backgrounds, and yet both find the lifestyle in this small place fits with what they want to give and receive in life. It’s a perfect place to bring up two small boys struggling with the departure of their mum.
I hope you enjoy reading Jenny and Cam’s story, and also enjoy learning about a little treasure at the top of the South Island.
I’d love to hear from you on [email protected]
You can also drop by www.suemackay.co.nz to catch up on my latest releases and get a copy of the recipe of the month.
Cheers!
Sue
Table of Contents
Praise for Sue MacKay
Dear Reader
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
‘WATCH OUT!’ THE SHOUT was followed by something like a muffled scream ricocheting through the air, lifting the hairs on the back of Cameron Roberts’s neck.
Then the clattering sound of what Cam swore was one of the twins’ skateboards hitting the pavement the wrong way up. His gut tightened, and his heart squeezed. What now? Was there no end to the trouble his boys could get into? They were only eight yet could kick up more messy problems than a team of rugby players out on the town after a hard game.
Already moving towards the front of his house, he dropped the hedge trimmer on the barbecue table on the way past. ‘Marcus? Andrew? You guys okay?’
‘Dad, hurry. She needs a doctor. I didn’t mean it. I promise. I’m sorry.’ Marcus appeared at the end of their drive, tears streaming down his worried little face.
Cam’s gut became a knot. What had Marcus done this time? And where was Andrew? Had something happened to him? That would explain the fear in Marcus’s cry. Except he’d said she needed a doctor. ‘What’s happened?’ He ruffled Marcus’s hair on the way past, begging the parenting gods to give him a break for once.
As usual those particular gods were on holiday if the sight before him was anything to go by. ‘One day, just one whole, disaster-free day, is all I ask for,’ he muttered under his breath as he reached the redhead lying in an awkward bundle on the pavement.
Her face was contorted in agony and the eyes she raised to him were darkened with that pain. Judging by the rapid rise and fall of her chest, her resp rate was raised. Blood smeared across her left elbow and down her arm, probably from scraping along the concrete.
Andrew stood, hopping from one foot to the other, his skateboard dangling from his hand as he stared down at the woman as though he couldn’t understand how she’d got there. A second skateboard lay upside down beside her. Marcus’s.
‘What happened?’ Cam repeated, as he dropped to his knees beside the woman. Swearing was forbidden in their house, and that went for out on the pavement too, but Cam came very close to breaking that rule right at this moment.
‘Dad, the lady’s hurt, but—’
‘We didn’t mean it. True.’ The wobble in Andrew’s voice as he finished Marcus’s sentence told Cam heaps.
The woman moved, groaned. ‘My ankle’s broken.’
Glancing down her leg, he noted one foot and ankle already swelling. Fracture or sprain? ‘We don’t know that for sure yet.’
‘I do.’ She sounded very certain. Not to mention angry.
Guess he couldn’t blame her for that. ‘I’m a doctor. Is it all right if I take a look and access the damage?’
Her eyes locked with his. Forest-green eyes, reminding him of long-ago summers spent walking in the hills. ‘The front edge of that boy’s board slammed directly into my talus. The pain was instant and excruciating. It’s broken.’
Talus, eh? Not ankle bone. Then she knew a medical thing or two. With a sinking stomach he studied the extended foot. She was also probably right about the fracture. Unless she’d twisted her ankle as she’d fallen. ‘I apologise for this. My sons tend to be over-exuberant about everything they do.’ Understatement of the year, but he wasn’t about to spill his guts and tell this woman that most days he struggled to cope with their antics. That was none of her business even if they were to blame for her current predicament.
Wow, she’s beautiful.
Where the hell had that come from? He glanced around, saw nothing out of the ordinary, no one speaking over his shoulder. He returned to looking at the woman, sucking in a groan of raw need. Despite the pain distorting her face, she was drop-dead stunning. Do the job and get her packed up and on the way to hospital. Do not think about anything else. This might be one stunning female but the point is she is a female and therefore nothing but trouble.
‘They