First Love...Only Love:

Chapter 2

10 years later ...

'You're not going to believe it' Nurse Julia beamed enthusiastically.

'What,' Dr. Skye rolled her eyes as she scribbled her examination notes into the patient file. Julia was the resident drama queen at the Crawford Medical Centre.

'He's finally coming back?' Nurse Julia beamed.

'Who is?' Dr. Skye opened the medicine cabinet, only half paying attention to the nurse.

'Dr. Crawford. Dr Twain Crawford! The prodigal son is finally coming home.'

The blood drained from Dr. Skye's face. She nearly dropped the bottle of medication. She was glad her back was to Nurse Julia.

'Although we may not see him much,' Julia's tone sounded disappointed. 'Apparently he likes to keep as far away from children as possible.'

Tell me about it! Macy counted to ten, tried to breathe calmly, and scribbled notes again in the patient file. She compelled her brain to make certain she was administering the correct dosage for the patient.

'Did you hear what I said, Dr Skye?'

'Oh ___ yes, right, umm...I have to run. I promised my son, I'll take him to the stationery shop, he has a list from school.'

'I swear you're a scatter brain,' Nurse Julia, shook her head, her breaking news seemed lost on the hospital's junior paediatrician.

Macy sat in her car. She was shaking. He's coming back! She could not believe it...after all these years! Why? Why the hell is he coming back? Why isn't he staying in deepest darkest Africa? ___ where he belongs... actually that was unfair. Unfair be damned!

She knew he'd been in Sudan in the last three years. To be precise, she knew every place he'd been in, in the last ten years. He was always writing thought provoking articles for leading international Medical Journals. She also knew when she went into labour, when she needed him most, when sweet, adorable Parker was born, Twain was in London for six months. Had he deliberately escaped, suspecting she would call him?

At least when he was serving somewhere in the continent, she felt connected to him. But when he was in London...so far away, she felt betrayed as if he had deliberately ran away, far away when she needed him.

Well she didn't need him anymore did she? She survived giving birth to a gorgeous little boy. Together with the moral support of her mother and financial help from her brother Don, she had managed to bring up her son, very well.  Thank you very much.

She had not called Twain. She had decided after the  first trimester, that if Twain wanted nothing to do with his child... their child, then she would not beg him to be a part of their child's life. She had tried desperately, many times in that first month to convince Twain he was Parker's father, but he refused to believe her, was eventually getting annoyed at her incessant calls and had screamed at her that last time, accusingly, "you're not going to sucker me into parenting somebody else's kid. Don't call me again," he had yelled at her in a barbaric tone of voice.

If Twain was hell bent on denying his paternity, then she and her son were better off without a man who was in denial. Macy had never tried to call Twain again. Her own surname was reflected on Parker's birth certificate.

Parker was nine years old this year. Even though he had Macy's piercing grey eyes and angular face, he did have a stark reminder or two, resembling Twain. Parker had his daddy's sandy brown hair and astonishingly, the same birth mark in exactly the same spot on his chest. How freaky was that? That would be all the proof Twain would need, if he required any. That was too close a call to be a coincidence.