Undressed by the Rebel: The Honourable Maverick. Alison Roberts
hand slowly to repeat the motion. Again and again.
So softly. Her fingers tracing a miniature spine. The movement had to be soothing.
It was certainly soothing Max.
Mouse was moving now, pulling her little legs up and then pushing them down again.
‘Do you think she needs a blanket?’ Ellie spoke in a whisper.
‘It’s pretty warm in here. See how she goes.’
The baby had looked up at the sound of Ellie’s voice.
‘She’s watching me.’ There was wonder in the whisper now.
Max watched Mouse. He saw her put her hands up to her mouth and then fling an arm sideways to make contact with a breast. She started to move her head from side to side, rubbing her nose on Ellie’s skin the way she had been doing on Max’s shirt not so long ago.
He opened his mouth to make an encouraging comment but then shut it again. He didn’t want to break whatever magic was happening here. Voices and other noises from beyond the door faded into irrelevance and there was a silence in this room that had a very different feel to it. Both Max and Ellie were watching the baby, totally caught up in something they had no need to interfere with. Something primaeval and instinctive.
Something very wonderful.
Mouse was bobbing her head now. Then she stretched her neck and her whole head jerked so that it landed on top of Ellie’s breast. With a tiny gasp, Ellie moved her hands to support the baby who had opened her mouth to poke out her tongue and lick the skin right beside a nipple.
Max held his breath. He could swear his heart stopped in that final moment when the baby’s mouth closed over Ellie’s nipple. And then he could hear the sound of sucking. When a tiny hand came up and pressed against the pale skin of Ellie’s breast, he actually had to swallow past a constriction in his throat that felt horribly like tears were not far away.
Ellie looked up then and she had tears she wasn’t bothering to swallow away. They rolled down her cheeks and her eyes shone with more of them but Max had never seen such an expression of joy in anyone’s face. He couldn’t look away. Couldn’t swallow quite hard enough either but it didn’t seem to matter that his own eyes got so wet.
This was a moment he would remember for the rest of his life. This joy. This connection. Between Ellie and her baby. Between Ellie and himself.
It made everything that had happened in this crazy week worthwhile because if he hadn’t pretended to be the father of this baby, he wouldn’t be here right now. He wouldn’t have witnessed that little miracle of nature.
He and Ellie had shared the magic. No one else could be part of it or even begin to understand it. It was Ellie who finally broke that eye contact and he could sense what an effort it had taken. She looked down again. So did Max.
And there was Mouse. Sucking blissfully and staring up at her mother. Ellie wouldn’t look up at him again. Max knew what it felt like to be caught in that gaze. He could blink away the moisture in his eyes now. Take a deep breath and let it out very slowly. He could even smile.
His work was done.
‘HAPPY birthday, dear Mouse…Happy birthday to you.’
Ellie was laughing. ‘She’s only a week old!’
Max was holding a bunch of rainbow-hued balloons. He tied them to the doorhandle and then ducked outside the room again. Ellie’s jaw dropped when he returned moments later with his arms overflowing with parcels. He put them on the end of her bed where there was plenty of room because Ellie was sitting crosslegged, her back against her pillows and her baby in her arms, seemingly engrossed in being fed.
‘Max…what have you done?’
The intent look she received from those dark eyes was out of kilter with the satisfied smile that was fading a little.
‘You didn’t have a whole lot of baby stuff ready, did you?’
‘No.’ Ellie bit her lip. ‘I thought I had plenty of time and…and I had other things on my mind.’
The smile brightened again. ‘I thought as much. And they’re talking about letting you guys escape so I thought you’d need a few things to start you off.’
‘Oh…Max…’ It was embarrassing how easily tears came to her eyes these days. Ellie had never been one to cry much. ‘As if you haven’t done enough for us already.’
Max shrugged. He stepped closer and peered down at the baby. ‘Is she done? Looks like she’s asleep.’
‘She is.’ Ellie slipped her little finger into the corner of the tiny mouth to break any remaining suction. It also exposed her nipple to Max but any embarrassment over something like this had long since vanished. It had probably evaporated that very first time, in fact, when they had shared that amazing experience of Mouse finding Ellie’s breast by herself.
‘Maybe I could hold her for a bit, while you open her presents.’
‘OK.’ Max was the one person in the world that Ellie could hand her baby to without a qualm. He took Mouse and positioned her upright against his shoulder and he began rubbing her back gently.
Ellie opened a parcel to find a selection of tiny stretch suits in pink and yellow and the palest green. Another had tiny singlets and hats and one was full of bootees, including a soft yellow pair that looked like ducks. There were toys. Rattles and small, stuffed animals and a brightly coloured play rug. Sleep suits that buttoned up like tiny sleeping bags at the bottom and even a dress that was a smocked white affair with a scattering of exquisite, embroidered flowers and a matching bonnet.
Ellie had to blink back tears yet again as she held it up. ‘It’s gorgeous.’
‘I know it’s probably a bit big but, hey…she’s growing pretty fast.’
‘Max…I don’t know what to say.’
Mouse did. She gave an impressively large burp that made both Ellie and Max laugh and broke the potentially awkward moment.
Except that she had caught his gaze as they laughed and the eye contact held and became something else. Something huge that squeezed Ellie’s heart so hard it was painful. It was Max who looked away first and she hurriedly dropped her own gaze and bit her bottom lip as the silence took on a heavier feel.
Max cleared his throat. ‘I’ve been thinking,’ he said.
‘About?’
‘You.’
Ellie’s heart gave another squeeze and it was a noticeable effort to draw a breath.
‘And Mouse, here.’ Max had tilted his head so that his chin was touching the top of the baby’s head.
‘I know. I really have to decide on a proper name.’ For some reason Ellie was feeling nervous now. What was Max about to say? Give her some last advice before disappearing from their lives? ‘I’m thinking maybe Amelia? Or…or Charlotte?’
He frowned. ‘Definitely not Amelia though I’m sure Jet would approve.’
‘Why?’
‘You know, Amelia Earhart? The famous female pilot?’
‘Oh…’ Jet had been up to visit once in the last few days and Ellie had had the impression he didn’t approve of her at all.
‘I wouldn’t be in a hurry,’ Max said. ‘The longer it takes the better, really.’
‘Why?’
‘Because if you can’t think of the right name, you won’t be able to register the birth and