Their Miracle Baby

She slept well that night and woke refreshed. As soon as she was dressed, she made a bee line for the medical tent, hoping that he was up, but knowing that there was a possibility she might find him still in bed. As she approached the door, she heard voices inside and knew that not only was he up, but Max was in there with him. Embarrassing or not, she wasn’t going to wait till Lewis was alone. Hopefully, Max would be sensitive enough to know when to leave.

The sight that greeted her eyes when she stepped through the door was enough to make her heart stop. Lewis had obviously just gotten out of bed, his clothes were rumpled and his hair was a mess. He was just taking a sip of his coffee, she could smell it, when he saw her. He choked a little then set the cup down, crossing the room in few steps.

“Venetia, you’re back,” he said, searching her face for a sign of what she was thinking.

“I got back late last night. How have things been since I’ve been gone? I’m sorry I left so abruptly, but I’m sure you found what you needed.”

Lewis then understood that she was going to be professional as long as Max was in the hut. The man had been driving him crazy for days, the idea that he might be involved with Venetia driving him to distraction every time he thought about it.

“Yes, everything is well organized. I haven’t had to treat very many patients, so it’s been a little boring to be honest.”

“Well, consider yourself lucky. Sometimes it’s like an emergency room in here. I’ve had to kick Max out several times,” she said, then added, “Hi, Max. How are you?”

“I’m fine. The tests on the panel are going great. In fact, I better go check on it now,” he said, knowing when he wasn’t wanted. He’d known that something was up when Venetia disappeared with Ronnie the other day. He’d also been aware that she’d had her heart broken recently.

Once Max was out of the room, Lewis opened his mouth to speak, but Venetia held up her hand to stop him. “I don’t know why you followed me here, and I’m sure you’ve planned on apologizing profusely until I forgive you, but I don’t know if I can or want to.”

“But, Venetia, you have to know how sorry I am,” he said, taking her hands in his.

“I saw how sorry you were. I saw you with that woman. After all the things you said to me, you sure didn’t have a hard time moving on,” she said, pulling her hands out of his and stepping away.

“That was my sister. I took her to the benefit I was planning to take you to.” he said, crossing again to where she stood.

Venetia moved away again. He wasn’t making this easy. Every time he got near her, all she wanted to do was throw herself into his arms. But she knew that would put them right back where they’d started, and she was a different person than she’d been back then.

“That still doesn’t explain why you never called me, never tried to talk to me. You just turned your back and walked away.”

“You’re the one who walked away,” he challenged.

“I left you a note explaining why I left and asking you to call me. You’re the one who chose to ignore it,” she said, anger beginning to show in her voice.

Lewis realized that he was trotting out the same excuses he’d tried to use to convince himself that he’d been in the right. With a sigh, he said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t handle the situation very well. Can we just start over? I came all this way because I love you. That hasn’t changed.”

“I don’t know if I can believe that, and if it’s true, you have a strange way of showing it. Lewis, I came over here to not only help these people but to learn something about myself. It seems to me that you need to do the same.”

“But what about us?” he asked, thinking that this had not gone the way he’d planned. In his mind, Venetia would be so happy to see him that she’d throw herself into his arms and forgive him for everything he’d done.

“I honestly don’t know,” she said, throwing her hands up in the air. “I thought I knew before, but now I’m just not sure how I feel. You’re just going to have to give me some space.”

“Okay,” he said, feeling that old annoyance that came when he didn’t get his way, but this time he’d learned his lesson. He’d be patient, let Venetia have her space.

“Good. Now that we’ve cleared that up, if you haven’t had breakfast I’m headed that way,” she said, feeling strong and in control.

“That would be nice. The people here haven’t exactly been friendly. They haven’t been rude, but other than Max, I haven’t made many friends.” The thought of Max made him want to question her about their relationship, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

By the time they got back to the medical hut after breakfast, there was a line of patients at the door. Word had spread that Venetia was back and they all wanted to see her, but when they saw that she trusted Lewis, they were happy to be treated by him instead. There was little time for talking that day, the hut resembling an emergency room as one case after another presented itself for them to deal with.

At the end of the day, they were both too exhausted to do more than eat dinner and fall into bed. Venetia thinking just as she fell asleep that she’d finally managed to conquer her feeling for Lewis. She still felt that pang of desire when she saw him, but now she could control it. He seemed to have accepted that they were on a different path now, and she was glad; after all, they were stuck here together for at least a couple of months.