Chapter Three – Suzie

Suzie held the baby tight to her chest, her arms protective but not too restricting, as Kit unlocked a storage cupboard and gathered up some baby formula and newborn bottles. He wrote it down in the supply book, and signed for it, before locking the storage cupboard once more and rejoining Suzie in the corridor.

“We are good to go,” Kit announced. “All I have left to do is go out through the main entrance and tell Cindy I’m leaving. My shift ended three hours ago, but I stayed on to make sure enough doctors made it in to cover the night shift.”

“Hey, you two are you leaving?” Beth’s voice reached them along the corridor.

“We are,” Kit said, turning around. “You have everything under control, I see.” Kit walked back to meet Beth, who was helping a child, with his leg in a cast, practice walking on his crutches.

“I have,” Beth said. “We’re going to look at the snow.”

“I was asking Callum.” Kit winked at Beth’s patient. “I know I can count on you to make sure Nurse Beth does her job.”

“Are you implying I don’t?” Beth asked hotly.

Kit kissed Beth on the cheek. “I’ve heard how you like to spoil my patients. But snowball fights are strictly out of the question.”

“I can always wrap my leg in a plastic sheet,” Callum said hopefully, gazing out of the long window that ran along the corridor.

“Hey, we can’t risk you breaking the other leg,” Kit said.

Callum groaned. “I can’t wait to get this thing off.”

“A couple of months and you will be mended.” Kit took in the sorrowful face of Callum. “Come on, cheer up! I hear wheelchair snowball fights are great fun.”

“You mean it?” Callum asked his face brightening.

“I’ll be back in the hospital in two days’ time. If there is still snow on the ground, and I think there will be, then I promise you, I will take you out there myself.”

“Dr. Malvern is such a bad influence,” Beth said theatrically.

“I love the snow. Do you promise?” Callum asked happily, his eyes bright as he stared at the snow outside.

“We all heard him, Callum, and I know for a fact that Dr. Malvern always keeps his promises.” Beth turned her full attention on Suzie. “As Ms. McLeish will soon find out.”

“You are Dr. Malvern’s mate?” Callum asked, fixing his attention on Suzie.

Suzie didn’t know what to say. She had only just met Kit, was it too soon to be introduced as anything other than a friend?

Kit obviously didn't think so. “She is my mate, Callum. As of half an hour ago.”

“Then how come you already have a baby?” Callum asked.

“Someone left baby Storm inside the hospital,” Kit said, humor leaving his voice. “We are going to take good care of her until we either find her mom, or find a family to adopt her.”

“They just left her?” Callum asked, shocked.

“And Dr. Malvern is going to take her home and take good care of her,” Beth said. “While we get you back to bed.”

“See you later, Callum. Have a good night, Beth,” Kit said.

“Bye,” Suzie called.

“I hope you get some sleep,” Beth said, with a wink.

“Why wouldn’t they sleep?” Callum asked as Beth escorted him back toward the ward.

“Babies like to cry,” Beth told him, casting a knowing look over her shoulder.

“Come on,” Kit said, putting a protective arm around Suzie’s shoulders. “Let’s get out of here before the snow does get too deep.”

“You do have a good bedside manner,” Suzie commented as they waited for the elevator. She also couldn’t help wondering what Kit’s inside-bed manner was like either. Her cheeks, already flushed from being outside in the cold wind, and then coming into the warm hospital, glowed even redder.

“Saved by the elevator,” Kit said as the doors opened, and they stepped inside. He pressed the button to take them to the ground floor. When the doors had closed securely, leaving them in a small cube of metal that seemed to lack air, he spoke again, “I’m not going to rush you into anything, Suzie. It’s different for me. It’s different for other shifters.”

“I’ve never been a jump-into-bed-with-a-stranger kind of a girl,” Suzie admitted.

“I’m glad about that.” He looked at her sideways, his eyes twinkling mischievously. “And I want you to know I’ve never been a jump-into-bed-with-a-stranger kind of a guy.”

“You surprise me,” Suzie said, returning his mischievous look. “I would have thought with your perfectly handsome face, and your toned body, you would have been fighting the women off.”

“I didn’t say I haven’t been tempted. Or propositioned more times than I like to remember. But I knew there was only ever going to be one woman for me. And that is you.” He let the words settled between them before he grinned, and added, “So you think I’m perfect?”

“Don’t let it go to your head,” Suzie warned him.

“Never.” He smiled at her and leaned in close, looking at Storm, who lay with her eyes closed in Suzie’s arms. “Having children around means that will never happen. They know exactly how to ground you.”

“This little one hasn’t learned that trick yet,” Suzie said, gazing at the peaceful face of Storm.

“She will. They all do,” Kit said easily.

“I wish we knew who her mommy was.” The elevator doors opened and they stepped out into the reception area. The place where less than an hour ago, she had entered the hospital as a single woman intent on finding a home for an abandoned baby. Now she was leaving with a man. Yes, she was still technically single, but if what she knew about shifters was true, the mating bond that existed between her and Kit was more important than any marriage certificate.

The mating bond joined their souls, and nothing could break that. Nothing. Forever.

“Hey, I lost you there for a moment,” Kit said, frowning. “Are you OK? You didn’t catch a chill when you came through the snow?”

“I am fine. And it will take a lot more than a few inches of snow to slow me down,” Suzie told him.

“A few feet, that’s what it will be by the morning,” Cindy said. “Oh, you have that precious little baby with you.” Cindy pushed a clipboard toward Kit, and while he signed himself out, she came around her desk to coo at Storm, who didn’t seem to even notice.

“Is she OK?” Suzie asked worriedly as Storm lay peacefully in her arms.

“Yes,” Kit said. “She’s got a full tummy and wants to sleep it off.”

“Probably not a bad thing if you two…sorry, three, are venturing out into the cold. You should stay here. I’m sure there are some beds to spare.” Cindy cocked her head on one side and stroked Storm’s tiny hand. “She is so precious, I would hate for anything to happen to her.”

“Nothing is going to happen to her,” Kit said firmly. “I’ve driven in worse. Much worse.”

“It isn’t your driving that worries me, it’s all the others on the road. All those people who want to get home before they get stranded. Silly season,” Cindy warned.

“I’ll take extra care,” Kit said, giving Cindy a reassuring smile. “Now, you take care of yourself, Cindy. Don’t take any risks getting yourself home. Take your own advice and stay here if you have to.”

“I will, Dr. Malvern,” Cindy promised.

“I’m not in tomorrow, but I will try to make it the day after. But, if you need me, call me.”

“And make you come back here with this little girl?” Cindy asked.

“No, Suzie is going to be staying with me. I’m sure she can look after Storm if you need me.”

“Even so, I am not having you coming back and forth over those treacherous roads,” Cindy said firmly.

“You know some of us have other ways to travel,” Kit said, giving her a look that made it clear what he meant. At least it was clear if you knew about shifters; if not, you would think he had been drinking.

Cindy patted his arm. “I will call you only in an absolute emergency. You need your time off, and you need to get this little one settled.” Cindy looked up at Suzie. “And this big one settled too. You are a lucky man, Dr. Malvern.” The receptionist's words confirmed Suzie’s suspicions. Cindy must know about shifters. Maybe she was one herself, but Suzie was not going to ask, it seemed too personal.

“I am,” Kit confirmed, and then put his hand on the small of Suzie’s back and guided her out of the hospital. “Have a good evening, Cindy.”

They left the warmth of the hospital and immediately Suzie regretted it. “Wow, the storm has worsened.”

The cold didn’t appear to bother Kit; he wrapped his arm around Suzie, and sheltered the baby with his coat. Storm slept on. “If she has shifter blood,” Kit informed Suzie, “she won’t feel the cold as much as a normal human.”

“Lucky her,” Suzie said, her voice rising so Kit could hear her over the wind. Unfortunately, every time she spoke, giant snowflakes tried to fill her mouth. “When I was a kid, I used to think snow was fun.”

“Snow is fun,” Kit said.

“I’m not convinced,” Suzie told him, as she shuffled through the thick layer of snow on the ground.

“But not when you are trying to get home,” he conceded. “Here, this is mine.”

Kit certainly was prepared. His SUV was powerful, with snow chains on all four wheels, and a heater that soon warmed up the interior. While Suzie waited inside, with Storm in her arms, Kit went to the trunk, and returned with a car seat for the baby.

“You just happened to have one of those with you?” Suzie asked.

“Be prepared, that is what my mom always told me,” Kit said, fixing it securely and then placing Storm in it with the utmost care.

Suzie watched him work, and fell in love with him just a little bit more as each minute passed.