Free Brought Together by Baby by MARGARET MCDONAGH Page B

family?’
    His expression hardened, but she saw the hurt and loneliness in his eyes before he looked away. ‘They tried…but no one wanted me.’
    ‘Oh, Gus,’ she whispered, a tear escaping.
    ‘Don’t cry for me.’ The fingers of his free hand gently wiped her cheek. ‘I survived. And when I started senior school I met Maxwell McTavish.’
    As a smile stripped the harshness from his face Holly latched onto the information he’d given. ‘He was a teacher?’ she asked, anxious to learn more, to hear what had shaped him into the man he was today.
    ‘Yes. He saw something in me and had the patience and dedication to burrow past the angry, defensive exterior I’d cultivated to find it. He’s the nearest thing I ever had to a father. It’s thanks to him that education became my way out and gave me a chance to make something of myself.’
    He let out a deep breath, and she wanted to hug the man for giving Gus the care and encouragement he’d badly needed.
    ‘He sounds amazing.’
    ‘He was,’ Gus allowed, a waver in his voice, his smile fading.
    Heart in her mouth, she whispered the question that hung in the air. ‘Was?’
    ‘Was.’ Gus swallowed, emotion thickening his voice, his fingers once more tightening on hers. ‘He died four years ago—a sudden massive stroke. He was only fifty-four. I never had the chance to say goodbye or to thank him. And he never saw me qualify as a doctor.’
    Uncaring who saw them, or what anyone thought, Holly wrapped her arms around him, fresh tears squeezing between her lashes. Having lost her own father suddenly, she knew how Gus must have felt about Maxwell, the man who had fulfilled Gus’s need to feel loved and to belong.
    ‘I’m sure he knew how you felt. And he’d be so very proud of you, Gus. You’re a credit to him,’ she murmured, her own emotions showing as she attempted to comfort him, her tears dampening the top of his scrubs.
    ‘Thank you, Holly.’
    As they finished their lunch he told her more about Maxwell, and then he spoke of his feelings growing up alone, of what the idea of family meant to him.
    ‘I have no idea what the future holds in store,’ he concluded, ‘but if I’m ever lucky enough to have a child I intend to make damn sure he or she knows exactly where they’vecome from, and is raised in a proper family with the love of a mother and a father and everything else I missed out on.’
    Knowing about his past meant she’d understood Gus’s reaction to Julia’s pregnancy, but that hadn’t made his rejection of her in favour of her slender, beautiful sister any less painful. Nor had it eased the bitter regret and jealousy…More than anything, she’d wanted to be the woman to give Gus the family and the love he’d craved, and to be the mother of his children. But Gus’s decision to build that family with Julia had shattered her hopes…and her heart.
    Now Julia had been violently taken from him, wrecking his dream of building his own family and leaving his son without a mother. Gus didn’t want her; he’d made that clear. But even though he’d hurt her, and she hated what he’d done, she wanted to help provide a loving, stable world for Max.
    Regrouping, she turned back to her nephew. ‘Maxwell Angus Tait Buchanan seems far too big a name for such a tiny person,’ she admitted with a nervy laugh, moved by the memory of the time Gus had confided in her, and sorrowful that the trust and closeness they’d shared had evaporated so completely.
    ‘He’ll grow into it,’ Gus responded with a tired half-smile, his gaze on his sleeping son.
    ‘Please God, let’s hope so.’ She paused a moment before softly voicing her fear. ‘Max will be all right, Gus, won’t he?’
    * * *
    Gus looked up. Holly’s sky-blue eyes were huge and full of anxiety. The feeling in her voice called to him, and without conscious thought he did what she’d done for him earlier in the day: he took her free hand in his, understanding the basic human need