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Her New Year Baby Surprise
Sue MacKay
A new baby of her own?Nurse Emma Hayes was happy being a surrogate to give her best friend, Abbie, her baby. She has her own daughter Rosie and everything she needs. Until handsome ER doc Nixon Wright gets under her skin!Having lost his family young, Nixon is wary of falling in love. But there’s something about Emma… Soon he’s fallen under her spell, with very unexpected consequences!Nevertheless, Emma faces the New Year full of hope for the future. But will the new baby they’ve created together be enough to melt Nixon’s frozen heart?The Ultimate Christmas GiftBest friends, a surrogate baby, and a chance for love…
A new baby of her own?
Nurse Emma Hayes was happy being a surrogate to give her best friend, Abbie, her baby. She has her own daughter, Rosie, and everything she needs. Until handsome ER doc Nixon Wright gets under her skin!
Having lost his family young, Nixon is wary of falling in love. But there’s something about Emma... Soon he’s fallen under her spell, with very unexpected consequences!
Nevertheless, Emma faces the New Year full of hope for the future. But will the new baby they’ve created together be enough to melt Nixon’s frozen heart?
The Ultimate Christmas Gift (#ue263b5ce-9f96-5a3b-b5f4-1adf84d907be)
Best friends, a surrogate baby,
and a chance for love…
Best friends Emma Hayes and Abbie Cook
will do anything for each other. So when
nurse Abbie asks Emma if she’ll be her
surrogate and carry the baby she longs for,
of course she doesn’t refuse.
But as Christmas comes it’s not just the
new baby that turns their lives upside down.
Because for both women there’s a chance for
love…if they’re only brave enough to take it!
Read Abbie and Callum’s story in
The Nurse’s Special Delivery
And discover Emma and Nixon’s story in
Her New Year Baby Surprise
Both available now!
Dear Reader (#ue263b5ce-9f96-5a3b-b5f4-1adf84d907be),
A woman having a baby for someone else has to be one of the most unselfish gifts she can ever give. I know people who have children from surrogate mothers and how this has changed their lives in a very positive way. This has always been a story I’ve wanted to write, and when better than in a duet with the wonderful Louisa George?
Emma Hayes is a solo mother with a big heart, and when her best friend cannot carry her pregnancies to full term it is only natural for her to offer to have Abbie’s baby.
It is this generosity and kindness and her courage that has Dr Nixon Wright sitting up and taking notice of Emma as more than a nurse and casual friend. But while his heart is leading him into love, his history is hauling on the brakes and trying to keep him safe and single. Of course his heart’s going to win, but Emma won’t make it easy for him. If she’s going to love him back she wants the whole deal—not just the pieces Nixon offers.
I hope you enjoy reading this story to find out how Nixon wins over Emma as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Cheers!
Sue MacKay
sue.mackay56@yahoo.com (mailto:sue.mackay56@yahoo.com)
Her New Year Baby Surprise
Sue MacKay
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
SUE MACKAY lives with her husband in New Zealand’s beautiful Marlborough Sounds, with the water on her doorstep and the birds and the trees at her back door. It is the perfect setting to indulge her passions of entertaining friends by cooking them sumptuous meals, drinking fabulous wine, going for hill walks or kayaking around the bay—and, of course, writing stories.
Books by Sue MacKay
Mills & Boon Medical Romance
Reunited…in Paris!
A December to Remember
Breaking All Their Rules
Dr White’s Baby Wish
The Army Doc’s Baby Bombshell
Resisting Her Army Doc Rival
Pregnant with the Boss’s Baby
Falling for Her Fake Fiancé
Visit the Author Profile page
at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk) for more titles.
To my duet partner and wonderful writing friend,
Louisa George.
Loved writing a duet with you again.
Hugs, Sue.
Praise for Sue MacKay (#ue263b5ce-9f96-5a3b-b5f4-1adf84d907be)
‘I highly recommend this story to all lovers of
romance: it is moving, emotional, a joy to read!’
—Goodreads on
A December to Remember
Contents
Cover (#u7027968b-7790-524c-8c2f-30340a4e3a81)
Back Cover Text (#uc3ce6557-e54b-5ad4-baed-3fa031f2a86a)
The Ultimate Christmas Gift (#u74319fb9-b935-531e-8fcf-6e1a9a3a7b92)
Dear Reader (#u8869ba92-78df-59a5-bf14-1e29e8090983)
Title Page (#u6d41e36f-cdd1-561b-b84d-a9240e0d9939)
Booklist (#u72b687f8-b1f3-5e61-afe3-801ab9273545)
Dedication (#ufba8dcd0-c4e0-5227-a7a3-0523af22f52c)
Praise (#u3da9c8e3-46ab-55f4-8ee5-b4cfd2e6ad0d)
CHAPTER ONE (#u84b1fcf2-0fff-5db3-9c35-419d11f45d5a)
CHAPTER TWO (#u7a9c3fa5-5efe-54da-8540-45821217df2a)
CHAPTER THREE (#u72746dc0-badf-5d66-b45d-18ca704a9a46)
CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#ue263b5ce-9f96-5a3b-b5f4-1adf84d907be)
‘JUST LOVE HER, OKAY?’ Emma Hayes told her best friend as exhaustion from giving birth ripped through her aching, painful body and threatened to tip her into sleep. Sleep, where she could hide for a while. Then she’d wake up and still have to face up to the fact she’d had Abbie’s baby for her and now her own arms were empty.
Abbie didn’t raise her eyes from the precious bundle she held against her breast as she replied, ‘I already do. I’m besotted. Completely. And I love you with all my heart.’
Aww, sniff. More damned tears. ‘I know you do.’ There’d never been any doubt. Love had been why she’d done this crazy, amazing, scary thing in the first place. ‘This wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t, and if I didn’t reciprocate those feelings.’
Sitting carefully on the edge of the bed, Abbie leaned into Emma, mindful of the baby cradled between them. ‘I can’t describe my feelings. All the waiting and hoping and now here she is.’ She brushed a kiss over Em’s wet cheek. ‘Thank you so much. Again.’
Emma lightly wound her arms around her friend and their precious bundle. ‘Stop saying that, okay?’ She didn’t want gratitude; she didn’t need to be thanked. That they’d come through the pregnancy without an argument said a lot for their friendship, but then, it’d been strong since the day they met at Queenstown Primary more than twenty years ago. But at the moment, the only thing she knew for certain was a few minutes to herself were imperative if she was to keep her equilibrium now that she’d given birth. ‘Go be a mum while I get some shut-eye.’
She needed to fall into the haze filling her head to forget the pain of the birth and remember only the relief that everything had gone well, despite the baby arriving early. Happiness and sadness wound together in her heart at the wonder in Abbie’s eyes as she gazed down on the tiny, beautiful little girl tucked into a pink hospital blanket. A child who’d never know her father; who had been created through artificial insemination.
One of the two most beautiful girls in the world. Emma’s heart swelled with love and longing. ‘Rosie.’ Suddenly, more than anything in the world, Emma needed to hold her own daughter. Her other daughter, barely five and full of energy and mischief.
No! Don’t go there. Grace is Abbie’s. Always has been, always will be.
Snatching up the phone, she texted her mother.
It’s over. Baby’s gorgeous. Please bring Rosie to me. Xx
Abbie looked up, her eyes filled with awe and trepidation. ‘This is for real, isn’t it? This is where I get to step up to the mark and be a mum in all ways possible except carrying her myself.’ Tears streamed down Abbie’s cheeks. ‘This is why you gave me such a precious gift. To be a mother.’ Her voice trailed off in a whisper, the last words barely audible.
‘Isn’t it the best?’ Emma whispered back around a lump in her throat and a dash of emptiness. But not one regret. Abbie deserved good things. If there’d been a moment when being the mummy tummy might’ve been difficult, Emma suspected it would’ve been minutes ago when the midwife had handed Abbie the baby, not her. But no. She’d been fine about it, hadn’t had a sudden change of heart, so she now reiterated, ‘Grace has been yours since conception.’ Abbie’s and Michael’s, though he would never get to see his daughter, never hold her or know her. His only role in the pregnancy had been to leave sperm in the bank for this very day.
Emma bit down on a soft smile.
I did the right thing by them.
Abbie and Michael had stood by her through the hideous, violent days of her marriage as much as her family had. They’d helped pick up the scattered pieces of her dreams afterwards, had shown with their own strong love for each other that she could make a life with Rosie without looking back. That they could be a family without a man in her life. Not that she’d ever been in the market for a new husband. No, thank you very much. Been there, had the bruises and fractures to show for it.
Her friends had also made sure she and Rosie never went without fun and laughter. This had been her way of returning the love. Knowing the baby would be living next door in the adjoining apartment would make everything easier to come to terms with. Abbie was not rushing out of Queenstown to some place else in New Zealand to keep her daughter to herself. Though who knew where she might end up if the Scotsman pulled his head out of his backside and found he couldn’t live without Abbie. Right now, she wanted to throttle him for hurting Abbie with his uncertainties.
They’d always been there for each other on the days when Rosie wouldn’t stop crying and Emma needed a break, or other days where Abbie couldn’t cope with losing Michael. Their friendship was solid, and it would take a hurricane of massive proportions to break it. Today, with a baby and a broken heart to deal with, Abbie needed her support more than ever.
‘If only I had that with a man.’
‘Had what?’ Abbie asked without taking her eyes off Grace.
