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Charlie smiled. ‘Everything’s going to be all right now. You, me and Dana. We’re going to be all right now.’
Carrie swallowed the lump in her throat and blinked back tears. ‘I love you, Charlie. Thank you. For everything.’
The words were bliss to his ears. Charlie knew that life was going to be perfect. ‘I didn’t do anything.’
‘Oh, yes, you did. You gave me back my life. You helped me see the doctor inside that was dying to come out, and you gave Dana the one thing she wants most.’
He kissed her on the tip of her nose. ‘A life supply of ding rolls?’
Carrie laughed. ‘A daddy.’
Charlie kissed her full on the mouth. ‘And you gave me a chance to be a father. A proper father. You gave me Dana. And the centre. That sounds like a fairly good trade to me.’
Carrie nodded, wrapping her arms around his neck. ‘Should we shake on it?’
‘I think we can do better than that. I think we should seal it with a kiss.’
Carrie smiled as his lips descended and hoped all their future agreements were sealed so delightfully.
EPILOGUE
‘COME on, Grandpa Iggy.’ Dana grabbed Ignatius Wentworth’s hand and pulled insistently.
‘Where are we going?’ he grouched good-naturedly.
‘Up the front,’ Dana said, her voice leaving the eminent surgeon in no doubt who was in charge. ‘Charlie’s giving a speech.’
‘Oh, right, then, lead the way.’
Carrie watched her daughter bring her grandfather closer to the front. She squeezed Charlie’s hand. His entire family was sitting in the front row, looking expectantly at him. Dana had been determinedly bringing Ignatius and the rest of the Wentworths together for the last eighteen months. It had been gratifying, seeing the changes in his family and knowing that she and Dana had been responsible.
‘Break a leg,’ she whispered to her husband.
Charlie looked down into his wife’s sexy gaze as he pulled at the uncomfortable tightness of his tie. ‘I don’t think you’re supposed to say that to a doctor.’
Carrie smiled and straightened the tie for the third time. ‘You’ll be fine. You deserve this moment in the spotlight. This is your dream. Your vision.’
Charlie looked out over the crowd. It was an eclectic mix. Politicians rubbed shoulders with prostitutes. State government dignitaries sat alongside homeless kids. Police officers mixed with lawyers. Socialites circulated with journalists and missionaries.
And right in front was his family. Charlie still couldn’t believe that in eighteen months a small child and a determined woman could have orchestrated such change. But they had. Carrie had been dogged, unwavering in her campaign to win his family over. To bring them all together as one.
Looking at his father now, he couldn’t believe it was the same man he’d known for the last thirty-odd years. He was engrossed in conversation with a beribboned Dana, who was sitting on his lap, looking for all the world like she’d been a Wentworth from her conception. If Charlie hadn’t seen the transformation with his own eyes, he’d have never believed it.
‘I couldn’t have done this without your help.’ He glanced at Dana and his father. ‘Any of it.’
‘Your father’s big fat cheque helped also.’
He chuckled. ‘That’s not what I meant.’
She winked. ‘I know. Don’t worry, I plan to hit you for a pay rise when I return to work after my maternity leave.’
He dropped a brief hard kiss on her lips as the director of the hospital board introduced him. His hand rested at her now non-existent waist and he could feel the swell of her belly where his baby grew larger every day. How could he have ever got this lucky?
Charlie took the podium to thunderous applause and a blast of wolf-whistles from the more colourful elements of the crowd.
‘It is with great pleasure that I stand before you today at the opening of the new Valley Drop-In Centre. And may I say it’s about time.’
