Free From Duty to Daddy by Sue MacKay Page A

great time but didn’t catch a thing.’
    ‘I’ll take you out some time. If you come back this way.’ Talk about a loaded statement.
    Charlie held her breath but Marshall shrugged it away with absolute ease. ‘Sure. Want a hand with that breakfast?’
    A totally noncommittal reply. She swallowed her disappointment. It was better this way than having him make promises he wouldn’t keep once he’d had time to really think everything through.
    ‘Can always use another pair of hands.’ Dad seemed to accept Marshall’s non-answer, and if anyone would be pushing him that would be Dad. This whole situation was unsettling for him too, worrying if she might pack up and head for the States so she and Aimee could be near Marshall. But Dad needn’t worry. She wouldn’t be doing that.
    She smiled as she watched the men walk down the hall to the kitchen, Aimee tottering along behind. Amazing that Dad and Marshall appeared totally at ease with each other. Was Dad trying too hard to make Marshall feel welcome? She hoped not. She wanted Marshall to make up his own mind about what he was going to do. Anyway, he had an army career to get back to. A career that was unlikely to bring him anywhere near New Zealand.
    Her heart sank. So much for being excited about having him around. This really was silly. She’d needed Marshall to know about Aimee, and now he did. The last thing even she expected was for him to give up his career. He might be a doctor but first and foremost he was a soldier. That had been abundantly clear in Honolulu when the call had come for him to report back to base earlier than originally expected. He’d immediately gone to the head of the ED and told the guy he was leaving. No asking if that suited, or could the department cope with being left in the lurch. The army and his men came first. And, she suspected, second and third.
    ‘You’re missing out on your run,’ she muttered as she headed for the cupboards to get plates down.
    ‘I’ll go later. Maybe tomorrow you can come with me?’
    Ouch. Once upon a time there had hardly been a morning she hadn’t gone for a run or cycle first thing. ‘I don’t run any more.’ The plates hit the bench with a bang.
    ‘You don’t?’ Astonishment cracked through the air. ‘Why not?’
    ‘I had to stop in the last months of pregnancy and I’ve never got back to it.’ Please don’t ask any more.
    ‘Charlie.’ She felt his hand on her shoulder, turning her to face him. ‘Am I missing something here?’
    ‘I...’ Swallow. ‘You know what? I will go with you tomorrow but you’ll have to go easy on me. Not try and race me home, as you always used to.’ Hadn’t she decided to start getting fit yesterday? No time like now to start. Hefting the plates, she headed for the door.
    Marshall’s eyes narrowed as she tried to pass him. He opened his mouth and she waited for the questions. But they never came. Slowly he leaned forward and kissed her lips lightly. ‘It’s a date.’
    * * *
    Marshall didn’t know what Charlie was hiding from him but, sensing her unease, he’d let it drop. For now. He didn’t have the right to interrogate her. Not until he’d spent more time with her. But tomorrow they’d go for a run and see if that didn’t open up a line of conversation that might shed some light on the matter. Judging by Charlie’s lack of strength, it would be a very short run. Had something gone horribly wrong during her pregnancy?
    In the meantime, he’d concentrate on her father. He found it hard to make Brendon out. The guy made every effort to be friendly yet surely he had plenty of questions ready to fire at him. Taking the bacon and eggs the older man handed him, he said, ‘I’ll do my best to do what’s right for Charlie and Aimee. I can promise you that.’
    What I can’t promise is not to hurt them. I know little about being a parent. Also, I will never ask Charlie to tie herself to me for the rest of her life. That would be a half-life.