Free A Baby for the Flying Doctor by Lucy Clark

brother completely, there wasno way she was going to risk becoming pregnant and giving birth to a child with Down’s syndrome. After Anthony had been born, her mother had looked further into Down’s syndrome and discovered she was a carrier of the translocation trisomy 21 chromosome. This defective chromosome usually related to children being born with Down’s. Her parents had both been tested and so had Phemie. It wasn’t until she had been older and in medical school that her parents had told her she, too, was a carrier of the defective chromosome. There was an increased risk Phemie would give birth to a child with Down’s syndrome. No way was she going to subject an innocent child to a life like that and even though she hated to admit it, she couldn’t be a parent to a child with a disability.
    She’d lived that life. She’d watched her parents for years, their long-suffering patience almost running out on several occasions. The way they hadn’t been able to pay the proper attention to her because of Anthony, the way they’d had to rely on her to take up the slack. Phemie felt as though she’d aged prematurely, especially throughout her teenage years when her mother had undergone treatment for ovarian cancer. Her father had almost fallen apart, his soul being slowly destroyed each time her mother had needed another dose of chemotherapy or a blood transfusion. Anthony’s care had fallen to her and as such, she’d never experienced the normal teenage things. There had been no time for parties, no time for experimenting, no time for boyfriends. She’d been a surrogate mother to her sibling.
    Thankfully, the chemotherapy had worked and her mother was now in very good health, but those years had taken their toll on Phemie. She loved her family, more than anything and if she’d had to do it all over again, she would, but there were still traces of resentment flowing through her veins. She’d vowed never to put a child of her own through what she’d been through and the only way to ensure that never happened was never to have children.
    Caring for others was what she was good at and that was whatshe was busy doing. Working in the outback, caring for the community, helping others in any way she could. Those were the choices she’d made and she was determined to stick to them. The emotions Gil Fitzwilliam evoked deep within her could mean nothing to her.
    Phemie helped Anthony and his friends for the rest of the evening, ensuring everyone was in the right seat and comfortable when it was time to turn out the lights and go to sleep.
    She and Liz chatted quietly for a while, though fatigue claimed her friend and soon Phemie found herself sitting in a carriage full of sleeping people, yet she herself was wide awake…awake and, for some strange reason, unable to stop thinking about Gil.
    Deciding she may as well stretch her legs as opposed to sitting there staring into the dark, she carefully left the carriage, heading towards the lounge car. It was now about one o’clock in the morning and she wondered whether Gil might be there, might be waiting for her, hoping she’d changed her mind.
    Anticipatory delight coursed through her as she drew nearer to the lounge car. Would he be there? She wasn’t sure exactly what it was about Gil Fitzwilliam— Professor Gilbert Fitzwilliam—she mentally corrected herself—that had her in such a tizz.
    Of course she appreciated his medical genius. She’d read all his papers and agreed with what he’d written. She’d marvelled at the research he’d undertaken and the medical breakthroughs he’d made to date. She was definitely attracted to his intellect but, then, what doctor wouldn’t be? The man was incredible.
    And incredibly good-looking too, a little voice said.
    There was no point in denying—especially to herself—the way she felt when she was in Gil’s presence. There was something about him, something that seemed to affect her in a way she’d never been