Their Unexpected Babies
Louisa Heaton
From irresistible attraction…To ready-made family!After her best friend agrees to be her surrogate, Dr Leah Hudson’s dream of being a mum is finally coming true! But throwing caution to the wind for one night with sexy Dr Ben Willoughby has shocking consequences… Leah’s pregnant! Now, with two babies depending on her, Leah must push her feelings for committed bachelor Ben aside—unless he proves that Leah and the babies can depend on him.
From irresistible attraction...
To ready-made family!
After her best friend agrees to be her surrogate, Dr. Leah Hudson’s dream of being a mom is finally coming true! But throwing caution to the wind for one night with sexy Dr. Ben Willoughby has shocking consequences...Leah’s pregnant! Now with two babies depending on her, Leah must push her feelings for committed bachelor Ben aside, unless he proves that Leah and the babies can depend on him.
“Ms. Heaton has delivered a heartfelt and riveting read in this book...the romance was sweet and heart-warming.... However it was the epilogue that wrapped this story up nicely, as the hero and heroine are so happy together and have so much to celebrate.”
—Harlequin Junkie on Saving the Single Dad Doc
“Pregnant with his Royal Twins is a courageous tale of the beauty of acceptance, the power of love and the ability to hope. Wrapped inside an unusual fairytale fantasy that makes it no less beautiful, but even more powerful.”
—Goodreads
LOUISA HEATON lives on Hayling Island, Hampshire, with her husband, four children and a small zoo. She has worked in various roles in the health industry—most recently four years as a Community First Responder, answering 999 calls. When not writing Louisa enjoys other creative pursuits, including reading, quilting and patchwork—usually instead of the things she ought to be doing!
Also by Louisa Heaton (#ufab99083-6508-5bf0-b2de-de0bf1cc9687)
His Perfect Bride?
A Father This Christmas?
One Life-Changing Night
Seven Nights with Her Ex
Christmas with the Single Dad
Reunited by Their Pregnancy Surprise
Their Double Baby Gift
Pregnant with His Royal Twins
A Child to Heal Them
Saving the Single Dad Doc
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk).
Their Unexpected Babies
Louisa Heaton
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-08971-5
THEIR UNEXPECTED BABIES
© 2018 Louisa Heaton
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To Daisy
Contents
Cover (#ub5c9dc3c-f7d4-5466-8c21-ee225795d4ab)
Back Cover Text (#ud1c35150-d03b-5ba8-b5d2-5d14eeeecacb)
About the Author (#u15853e55-7f82-5622-947e-b974a6062ec3)
Booklist (#ua9ee220e-95af-5e36-9f6c-e73346b6aa86)
Title Page (#u4aab8c57-5164-54eb-8ede-bb4e32202d2d)
Copyright (#u6030dd8f-986e-54a0-9ecc-49a2937adce7)
Dedication (#u3645a449-1caf-5b39-ad82-7e976d1fd52f)
CHAPTER ONE (#ub276c91f-09f6-5e6d-a782-09941db5942c)
CHAPTER TWO (#u0be7623f-5e89-5ccb-b6d7-cec8190a67fa)
CHAPTER THREE (#u2644200e-1b76-5b41-952e-31299493b84f)
CHAPTER FOUR (#u33302f9c-50f5-53e4-ae3b-e3c5c12bf60d)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#ufab99083-6508-5bf0-b2de-de0bf1cc9687)
DANCING WAS AN art form. There were those who could do it well, who looked as if they’d been born to dance. And there were those who did it badly—and Leah was one of them. Dancing might even be a bit too fancy a word for the moves her body was able to perform. Fancy swaying might be more realistic.
She felt awkward trying to do anything more complicated than that, being all angles and long limbs, like a newborn foal, trying to stay upright. It wasn’t her favourite thing to do and, quite frankly, she couldn’t wait for this to be over.
Just keep smiling! Pretend you’re having a great time.
Everyone else was having a great time. One or two had even paired off with a couple of guys who had bought them drinks. Thinking of which, she was beginning to get a little thirsty. She looked over at the bar, to see if there was much of a queue, and instead met a steady pair of beautiful blue eyes gazing back at her.
He was at the bar—the man in question. Holding a tall glass with what looked like water in it, condensation dripping down its sides. Black shirt, open at the collar. Black trousers.
She couldn’t look away. She wanted to, but he held her gaze, and somehow, before she knew it, he was standing in front of her.
‘May I have this dance?’
The old-fashioned request was charming. If he’d said anything else, come out with a cheesy line, then she would have raised a sardonic eyebrow and turned away, but his question—polite, gallant, charming—hit all her buttons.
She could feel her cheeks flushing and was thankful he wouldn’t be able to see that in the darkness. But the terrible thing about being in the dark was that it also made you throw a bit of caution to the wind. It created intimacy. And she couldn’t help but laugh.
‘You’ve seen me dance, right? The flailing?’
He smiled. ‘It was utterly charming.’
‘Charming?’
He leaned in. ‘Adorable.’
And she liked him. He smelt great. She didn’t know what it was, but she just felt secure with this guy. What was one more flail? They were in a public place. Nothing was going to happen.
‘Sure. Okay.’
She bit her lip as he led her to the centre of the dance floor, and just as she was about to begin the music changed. It was almost as if this man and the DJ were in cahoots, because the music switched from a frantic, heated rhythm to something slow and soulful. The kind of music that begged couples to dance in each other’s arms. Bodies pressed close. Intimate. Knowing.
She smiled and stepped shyly into his embrace, draping her arms over his shoulders as he pulled her to him.
He smelt delicious. Edible. A musky heat. And she closed her eyes as they swayed in tune together, sensing him inhale the scent of her shampoo as he lifted a tendril of her hair up to his nose. It was such an intimate gesture she felt shivers tremble down her spine, and her breath hitched in her throat as she wondered what he’d do next.
But he was a perfect gentleman. His hands didn’t wander and she found herself wondering about this man in her arms. Who was he? Where had he come from? What was his name?
Why was he so hot?
She let him have the next dance. And then the next. And when she had to sit down, to give her feet and ankles a rest from the vertiginous heels she had unwittingly chosen for that evening, he walked her over to a place to sit and helped her slip them off. He massaged her feet for her whilst she squirmed in delight on the banquette and thanked the heavens that she’d had a pedicure two days ago.
He looked at her and smiled. ‘Are you ticklish?’
‘A bit.’
‘Then I’ll be careful.’
She liked the way he held her feet firmly, determined not to tickle her, but to give her the maximum benefit of his strong, capable hands.
‘You know your way around a woman’s foot.’ Leah cringed once the words were out.
But he didn’t raise an eyebrow. ‘I know my way around many parts of the female anatomy.’
She blushed. The foot massage already had her biting her lip, trying her hardest not to moan and groan in delight at what was happening to her flesh, and his words made her wonder what magic he could cause in other places, with other parts of his anatomy?
But the thought was fleeting and quick. That wasn’t who she was, so she knew she didn’t have to worry about that. But somehow they got talking and chatting, and his name was Ben. So simple. So wonderful. It suited him.
She discovered they liked a lot of the same things—old movies, reading and the exact same brand of salted caramel chocolates—and when he learnt how close she lived he offered to give her a piggyback home.
‘A piggyback?’ she asked in amused disbelief. They weren’t kids.
‘You can’t dance in those shoes and you certainly can’t walk in them. I’m amazed you didn’t break an ankle just getting here.’
The idea of him walking her home thrilled her. She didn’t want to part company with him yet. But she didn’t want to do this alone. Just in case. He could be anyone.
Hannah offered to accompany them for safety. Her friend lived in the block opposite her own. As good as his word, Ben carried her all the way back, telling them jokes and making them laugh, paying attention to both women fairly, though it was clear his interest was in her. And when he gently set her down on her feet, her soles pressed against the chilly pavement, she impulsively offered him a coffee or a nightcap, not yet willing to say goodbye.
He’d smiled. ‘Coffee would be nice.’
Hannah waved them both goodbye, giving Leah a big thumbs-up sign in secret, when Ben wasn’t looking.
She smiled and fished her keys out of her bag.
What am I doing? I don’t do this. I don’t invite random guys back!
But another voice in her head said, Go for it! When are you going to get another chance?
So she made him coffee. And they sat together on the couch, drinking it until it was gone, and the tension in the room was palpable.
‘I should go.’ His voice was loaded with regret. ‘It was lovely spending a few hours with you, but I have an early start in the morning.’
She nodded. ‘Me, too.’
She wasn’t kidding either. She started a new job tomorrow. Going to the club had been in celebration of that.
He stood up and she stood with him. They were so close! Millimetres apart. Leah gazed up at his face, his mouth, and then he pulled her gently towards him and lowered his face to hers.
The kiss was perfect. Gentle.
Soft.
And then...
And then it wasn’t. And they couldn’t remove their clothes fast enough.
The touch of a finger trailing the length of her spine in a sinuous, serpentine stroke was enough to jerk her from the depths of a wonderful sleep to the stark, shocking reality that she was waking up with someone else in her bed.
Dr Leah Hudson’s eyes blinked open in an instant as recollections of the previous night poured in, and in a panic she grabbed the duvet to her chest and leapt from the bed, dragging the quilt around her naked body, stumbling over it as she turned to see the man she’d left behind in the bedsheets.
Ben. Handsome. Fit—even with bed hair and a shadow of early-morning stubble. The man who had known his way around the female anatomy very well indeed, as it turned out.
Her naked male companion had woken at her sudden movement, and now lay propped up on an elbow, smiling at her in an irritatingly charming and attractive way, the curls that only last evening had been perfectly tamed now wild and tangled. In no way did that diminish his appeal. Somehow it increased it. And he didn’t make any move to cover himself up. Deliciously confident man that he was. And she couldn’t stop her gaze from travelling down...down...
Red-faced, she looked up again.
She envied him his confidence in his body. Hers had always let her down.
Ignoring the pleasant tingling she could feel from their combined fun last night, she felt her cheeks flush with heat. What must she look like? She’d gone to the club with Hannah and the others in full-on partying mode—mascara, lipstick, glittery eyeshadow, for goodness’ sake! And after meeting the Adonis who now lay luxuriantly upon her comfiest blue cotton bedsheets she had brought him back to her place with the promise of a coffee or a nightcap and they had fallen into bed together without her having time to remove any of the muck from her face!
Did she look like a panda?
This was not like her at all. She wasn’t a woman who did this kind of thing—one-night stands. Not that there was anything wrong with it, if it suited the people involved. But she’d always imagined herself as the going-steady type, waiting before she’d allow anyone the intimacy of her bed. That might be boring to some, but it had suited her perfectly until last night. It had given her a standard to uphold so that she didn’t make her life complicated. Not letting anyone in because, really, what was the point? Life was complicated all on its own.
Now he lay on her bedsheets. Still here. The next morning! He wasn’t meant to have stayed.
‘Didn’t I say you had to go? Remember? Just after midnight?’
‘You exhausted me. I must have fallen asleep.’
He seemed oblivious to the fact that she wanted him out of there. Gorgeous or not. Seemed content to stay in her bed.
Leah clutched the quilt even tighter and glanced at her alarm clock beside the bed. Seven thirty-two a.m. She had slept with a strange man for over six hours, and him lying there looking like a wonderful breakfast delicacy was not helping. She had a new job to get to. An important job. Lives that might need saving.
Thinking about it, she really ought not to have agreed to going to the club.
‘Look, last night was great, but—’
‘Don’t say but. Nothing ever great happens after someone says but.’
She smiled. ‘But I’m going to take a shower, and when I get out of the shower I don’t want to find you’re still here. You need to...’ her gaze travelled along his wonderful torso, eyeing the hunk of gorgeousness she’d allowed herself last night ‘...put some clothes on and leave. Is that understood? You get what I’m saying, right?’
He nodded and smiled. ‘Seems a shame to end something so great.’
Embarrassingly delighted, she smiled back. ‘Maybe so, but that’s the way it’s going to be.’
She saw his trousers and designer underwear discarded on the floor of her living room, exactly where she’d torn them from his body, and picked them up, threw them at him.
‘Start with these.’ She gave him a broad, embarrassed smile. “It was a pleasure knowing you.’
Leah opened the shower door and listened for any strange sounds. The flat sounded pleasingly empty, so with one towel wrapped around her body and another around her hair, she unlocked her bathroom door and stepped out, listening once again just to make sure.
All she could hear were outside noises—singing birds, the odd car driving by. Nothing internal.
Thank God he’s gone!
What had she been thinking? To do such a thing! Sleep with a stranger! Was that the behaviour of an expectant mother? Okay, to be fair, she wasn’t the one expecting herself. She had a surrogate. Sally. Who was pregnant with Leah’s baby.
Perhaps that’s why I did it? One last mad fling? And I did choose a very nice candidate!
She smiled to herself. She would never find a guy like that in real life. And even if she did he’d probably run a mile as soon as she explained she was going to have a baby in seven months.
Leah paused to look into her spare room before she passed it. It was still filled with boxes from her recent move here. She really ought to get a move on and get it sorted into some sort of nursery. There was a cot in there somewhere, still waiting to be unfurled from its flat pack.
She padded through to her bedroom and then stopped, surprised.
He’s made the bed! Wow. Did I manage to find the only hot, sexy, neat-freak?
The pillows had been fluffed, the sheets and duvet straightened and smoothed. He’d even picked up the bed runner from the floor and put it back on. And what was that on her pillow?
She bent to pick up the small piece of paper. Unfolding it, she saw a telephone number and a short note.
We had fun. Call me.
Leah bit her lip and smiled. He liked her. Wanted to see her again! She picked up the phone and dialled.
‘Hello?’
‘Sally, it’s me. You’re never going to believe what I did last night. Or rather, who.’
She heard a gasp from the other end. ‘Naughty girl! Do tell. You know I’ve got to live vicariously through your adventures for the next two trimesters.’
Leah sank onto the edge of her bed. ‘His name was Ben and he...er...stayed over.’
‘What? Damn! I knew I should have tried harder to get babysitters for these monsters. Then I could have met him. Come on. I need details. What was he like? Tall? Dark, Handsome?’ She giggled. ‘Girthy?’
Leah laughed. ‘Yes, to all of those.’
‘You lucky girl.’
‘And he was also polite and charming and funny—and he made the bed before he left.’
‘You let him leave? He sounds like a keeper.’
‘He’s left me his number.’
‘So call him!’
‘I can’t do that! He’s only just gone. I need to leave it for a bit, don’t I? Act cool?’
‘Darling, you don’t do cool. Get your first day out of the way, then give him a ring. Have fun whilst you can. Make hay whilst the sun shines—isn’t that what they say?’
‘Who?’
‘I don’t know. Farmers?’
Leah laughed. ‘I’ve got to get ready for work. I did miss you last night.’
‘Clearly. Look, I’ve got to go—William’s just tipped orange juice over his brother.’
‘Okay. I’ll call you soon. Take care.’
‘Bye.’
She could just imagine Sally’s small brood descending into chaos. They were good kids, really. And she would have one of her own soon. Her own child. Thanks to Sally.
A man like Ben would probably run a mile at the sound of a baby. It wouldn’t bring the kind of sleepless nights he’d be interested in.
Regretfully, she screwed up the piece of paper and dropped it in the bin.
It was time to get ready for work.
The baby was screaming its head off.
If ever I needed to hear a healthy set of lungs...well, this kid’s got them.
Ben Willoughby smiled patiently at the mother as she tried her best to calm her distraught child, but her soothing words had no effect.
Clearly the baby did not like a strange man looming over him to try and listen to his heartbeat. Ben sat back. He felt sure the baby was absolutely fine, but it would be nice to check.
The mother had brought in the child, terrified by a strange rash that had appeared on her son’s legs, especially his knees and the tops of his feet. It was red and raw-looking.
Her son had no temperature. No signs of illness at all, in fact, and Ben was sure he knew exactly what the rash had been caused by. But he didn’t want this mother to feel as if she had wasted his time, so he was trying to be thorough and give the boy a check-up. Check-ups never hurt anyone.
‘We’ll wait for him to pipe down. I might get a nurse to distract him with bubbles or something—just so I can listen to his chest when he’s quiet.’
‘What do you think it is? Is it meningitis?’ The mother peered at him, frowning in concern.
He shook his head. ‘No, it’s nothing like that. He’s about eight months old?’
She nodded.
‘Just started crawling?’
Another nod.
‘I think it’s carpet burns.’
He’d had plenty of the damn things as a child himself, and occasionally still got them now, when he had to play uncle and get down on the floor and pretend to have a great time. If he was honest, he did have a good time, but there was no way he was going to admit it.
Everyone knew he wasn’t fond of kids. They were noisy and messy and they sucked away at your time and energies. They definitely weren’t for him, and they most certainly would not be in his future. He intended to have a life that was entirely dedicated to himself, even if that seemed selfish to everyone else.
Because he knew that he wasn’t. He was the least selfish person he knew. He gave everything of himself to others. Always had. But now his life was his own and he wanted it to stay that way. He’d seen what happened when you let other people get involved and it wasn’t pretty. He intended to steer away completely from messy relationships.
And that was how he’d always played things—until this morning. When he’d woken in Leah’s bed, completely satisfied, feeling warm and cosy and comfortable—until she’d stood up and yanked the quilt off him, anyway. He could still picture it. How embarrassed she’d looked. The charming flush that had bloomed in her cheeks. Her twinkling eyes. The way she’d thrown his clothes at him before she’d shuffled out of the room in her quilt cocoon.
Delightful.
And he wasn’t sure just what it was, but before he had left he had felt compelled to leave his number.
I never leave my number. I never ask for more.
He’d closed the door to her flat after fighting the strong temptation to join her in the shower and then stood there for a moment, unable to get back in, wondering if he’d made a mistake. Why break the habit of a lifetime?
He supposed he could screen his calls, but a part of him didn’t want to. And it wasn’t the part below his belt, strangely enough. It was in his head. He wanted to know more about the delicious minx he’d run into last night. More about the woman who’d made him smile with her own smile. Who’d made him feel amazed by her laughter. Whose capacity for dancing was equal to that of a newborn giraffe on rollerblades. Who’d awoken something within him that he’d never felt before...
‘Carpet burns? You’re sure?’
‘Absolutely.’ He pulled up the scrubs on his left leg to show her the carpet burns he had from being made to be a horse by his four-year-old niece Gemma. ‘I’ve got matching ones. But we’ll give him a proper check-over once he’s quiet.’
The mother blushed. ‘Oh, I feel so stupid.’
He smiled. ‘Don’t be. You’re entitled to worry about your baby.’
‘But I’ve wasted your time!’
‘No, you haven’t. It’s always important to get something checked if it concerns you. What if it had been something serious and you’d dismissed it? We’d rather it be a false alarm than something serious. Wouldn’t we?’
He gave another of his winning smiles, hoping the screaming child would soon be quiet, and the mother smiled back, thanking him.
‘I’ll be back in a few minutes.’
He left the cubicle, intending to fill in a chart or two and give the boy time to get his breath back, then glanced up to see how the waiting room was filling up.
And there she was.
The woman from last night, walking towards him in a floaty white blouse and a pencil-slim skirt that hugged in all the right places.
Leah.
She stopped upon seeing him.
He watched in delight as her cheeks flushed once again, and he knew that that was something he would never tire of seeing.
But why was she here? Was she hurt? Or had she known somehow where he worked and come to throw his telephone number back in his face?
‘Hi,’ he said, somewhat lost for words.
He never usually had this. The morning after. That awkward conversation. The embarrassed excuses. He got the good part—the flirting, the excitement, the kissing, the hot sex. He never had to worry about the afterwards because there never was one.
She looked like a startled deer. He saw her swallow.
‘Wh...what are you doing here?’
CHAPTER TWO (#ufab99083-6508-5bf0-b2de-de0bf1cc9687)
OH, MY GOD. You idiot! He’s wearing scrubs and has a stethoscope around his neck. What do you think he’s doing here?
She felt her cheeks colour again and sucked in a deep, steadying breath.
Okay, think. He’s obviously a doctor here, but maybe he’s from another department and he’s only down here providing a consult...
Because it would be mortifying to have to work closely with the guy she’d met in a club and slept with last night. A guy she’d kicked out of her flat because he’d overstayed his welcome.
Oh, dear. What must he think of me?
But then a bit of courage pushed its way forward and reminded her that what she’d done last night had not been done alone. He’d done it, too. So what did she think of him?
Her brain provided her with a helpful reminder of what he’d looked like naked on her bed after she’d swooped up with the quilt.
Blushing—again!—she managed a smile. ‘I say stupid things sometimes. Clearly you’re a doctor, here. Obviously...’
He smiled back and it did strange things to her insides. The way he was looking at her...as if she were edible and he wanted to gobble her up!
‘I am. You’re right.’
‘A...um...registrar? Consultant? From... I don’t know. Maybe Orthopaedics, or something?’ she asked hopefully.
‘Consultant. Emergency medicine.’
‘Oh.’
She looked about her, panicking slightly. He worked here? In this department? That wasn’t good. Oh, no, that wasn’t good at all!
‘May I ask why you’re here?’ He grinned his cheeky chappie smile and then leaned in to whisper, ‘Physically you seem to be in full working order, so...?’
She laughed. Almost hysterically. Then stopped. What to say? She could lie and say she was here visiting someone? Or maybe she could say...?
No other lies popped into her head. She was stuck with telling the truth. Because she had to. The ‘visiting someone’ lie wouldn’t help, would it? She had a job to do here. She needed the money and she’d been hoping for the possibility of the position becoming permanent.
‘I’ve...um...come here to work.’
She smiled quickly, alarmingly, then continued before he could say anything.
‘I start today. Here. In this department. As a...locum.’
She saw the dawning realisation on his face and was glad to see that he was somewhat taken aback too. That was good. It was nice to feel that they were on even footing.
He laughed. ‘You’re my new doctor?’
She matched his laugh. ‘That’s me!’
Leah watched him take this in—watched as an interesting fleet of emotions passed over his face—and felt her own heart beat faster as she realised just how much she would be working with this man over the next few months. Her one-night stand. Her boss.
Had she screwed up? Already? Or would he be the decent guy she hoped he was and let them start with a fresh new page?
That was possible, right? To pretend as if nothing had happened when in reality you knew more about a man than you should and exactly what touch would make him gasp with delight and ecstasy? They’d be able to work together as if they’d never met before.
Right?
Right?
Molly, one of the nurses, was asked to show her around as Ben had got called in to Majors. A trauma was coming in via helicopter.
Molly was about the same age as her, and was bright, friendly and chatty. She took her around Minors, showing her where everything was, who to ask for help, and what the password was for the computer system, and then she took her into Majors.
Leah couldn’t help but look at Ben as he assessed his new patient, strapped to a backboard that was being brought in by the helicopter medics. He was more than just handsome. He was breathtaking. No wonder he had caught her eye in the club last night. Broad-shouldered, flat stomach, trim waist...
And I know all the other details, too...
The tiny mole just above his left hipbone. The smoothness of his skin. The toned musculature of that inverted V below the hipbones that led down to his...
Molly must have caught her staring, because she chuckled. ‘Ah, yes, you’ve noticed Mr Willoughby. I don’t blame you. We all think he’s gorgeous! Just beware, though, you don’t fall for his charms.’
Leah blinked. ‘What? Oh, no, I wouldn’t. I—’
‘He’s gone out on dates with quite a few members of staff and he likes to play the field, if you know what I mean? Not that I want to talk badly about someone I work with—he’s a really nice guy, actually—but he’s quite the heartbreaker.’
Molly was talking to her in that all-girls-together-against-men way, so Leah played along.
‘I understand perfectly.’ She nodded as if she were a wise old woman. But for some strange reason it hurt to think that she was one in a long line of conquests. She’d hoped that because she’d indulged in once-in-a-lifetime behaviour maybe he had, too.
How many others had he slept with? He was a Lothario and she’d fallen for his charms and given him everything. It was the oldest trick in the book. Knowing that made her feel even more glum that her hot one-night stand was definitely not going to settle for a woman who was about to become a mother, no matter how hot the sex with her had been!
She resigned herself to seeing no more of that kind of action with him. They’d had one night and one night it would stay—never to be repeated. She was just a notch on his bedpost and she would not pine after him, despite how he had made her feel. She had a future ahead of her. It was never going to be with him. It was a good thing that she had thrown away his telephone number.
‘What else is there to see?’ Leah walked away from the trauma, wanting to move on from Ben. To stop staring at him as if she was hypnotised. In more ways than one.
She felt foolish for thinking that there’d been more to her one-night stand. That her night with Ben, even though a one-off, had somehow had more meaning to it than any one-night stand other people might have. That theirs had been different. That it hadn’t just been a tacky get-together so that both people could scratch an itch.
But apparently it had. Sleeping with a woman for one night was normal behaviour for him, it seemed, and she was just one more in a long line of women who’d probably thought for a brief moment that they were special.
It had felt good to feel special. She’d never really had that. Had never been wanted. So it had felt good to let herself believe that maybe she did have something that he wanted. She did have value.
But it had just been sex. All he’d wanted was release. It hadn’t been her in particular. Any woman would have done.
And he’d used her—the way he probably used all women.
Even if he had made the bed for her afterwards.
Leah felt a little sick, but it was a feeling she was used to. The realisation that she wasn’t special.
She never had been. Not in her entire life. She’d had to make her own happiness.
I should be used to it.
Which was why she had a surrogate. Leah had always wanted a family and, knowing she couldn’t get one the normal way, by having one herself, she had decided to take matters into her own hands and find her own happiness.
She could only ever rely on herself not to let her down.
Because anyone she had allowed to get close had always let her down.
The thought of having to rely on a surrogate had seemed an almost impossible task. How could she not suspect that the surrogate would change her mind? That she’d want to keep the baby for herself? She’d got her mind so twisted on all the things that could go wrong she’d even considered not doing it!
Until Sally had offered. Her best friend Sally. Who already had three children of her own. Whose family was already complete. Sally had loved her enough to offer to do this.
So, okay, maybe she had one person in her corner.
And when the baby was born Leah would have two. Sally and the baby. And the baby would be her own flesh and blood. From her egg. Used after months of injections and hormones to help her ovaries produce an egg that was in a healthy enough condition to use.
It had been important that the baby was her own. Because she’d never had a family. No mum or dad. No siblings. No friendly aunts or uncles or grandparents.
Leah had had the care system. And it had been horrible. And her yearning for a family had become so strong since she’d become an adult and started working in medicine.
Seeing what other people had.
Seeing what she could have if she were brave enough to try.
And now she would be a mother soon.
And she was going to let no one, most especially not Mr Ben Willoughby, ruin that for her.
Ben peered closer at the X-ray. There were clear fractures of the distal end of the ulna and radius. Thankfully they weren’t displaced. The motorcyclist had put his arms out to break his fall when he’d come off his bike. He’d need to get an orthopaedic consult to make sure what treatment was needed. Most probably an open reduction and internal fixation with plates and screws.
He was just about to pick up the phone to call Orthopaedics when Leah came to sit beside him.
‘Hi.’
He turned to look at her with a smile. It had been a pleasant surprise to learn that she was his new locum, and if he was honest about it he was quite pleased. He’d wanted to hear from her again and get to know her a bit more, and now that she was here for the next few months he’d get that chance.
Which is a first for me...
He gazed at her more intently, trying to work out why this woman intrigued him. Apart from the obvious gorgeousness that she didn’t seem to know she had. Perhaps it was that smiley persona? Perhaps it was the way she could blush so innocently and yet also be a siren in bed? That clash and juxtaposition of opposites was completely messing with his head.
Maybe it was her eyes? They twinkled and shone with a brightness he’d never noticed before in a woman. Maybe it was the way she couldn’t hide what she was feeling—everything was written there for him to see on her face.
And, looking at her now, he could sense she had something to tell him. She was biting her lower lip. Out of anxiety, clearly, but all it did was pull his focus to her mouth, her full lips, and he felt a physical yearning to reach out and brush his thumb over her lower lip, to free it, and then pull her face towards his and...
‘I need to talk to you.’
Oh. Conversations like this never end well.
And the reason he knew that was because it was usually him saying stuff like that. Trying to tell some woman he’d dated for one night to stop calling him. That he wasn’t interested. That she really ought to start looking elsewhere because he wouldn’t be going out with her again. He always tried to be nice about it, though. Polite. Kind.
Was she really going to do that to him? When they’d had something so good?
‘I think I know what you’re going to say.’
She looked at him, her brows furrowed. Confused. ‘You do?’
He nodded. ‘I do. You’re going to say something along the lines of, Look, we’re colleagues...we really shouldn’t be going out with each other...can we just be friends? Am I right?’
She bit her lip again.
He really wished she wouldn’t do that. It was downright distracting. Wonderfully so.
‘Well, yes...kind of.’
He turned to face her, making sure there was no one else in earshot. ‘I think you’re wrong.’
She blushed, and he felt his insides go funny again.
‘I’m not wrong. You wouldn’t be interested in me. Not at all. Not if you knew the truth...’ She trailed off, clearly trying to find the right words to explain whatever predicament she thought she was in.
‘Are you married?’ He didn’t think she was. There’d been no sign of someone living with her in that flat of hers.
‘No.’
‘Do you have a steady boyfriend?’
She looked about, also checking there was no one else listening in to their conversation. ‘No.’
‘Then what’s the problem? You’ve got to see this from my point of view. Boy meets girl...boy goes back to girl’s apartment and they have a great time. Boy knows this. Girl knows this. It makes sense that they do it again to see how great they can really make it.’
He grinned, feeling all sorts of things firing inside his belly at the thought of another night with this woman. And not just his belly. Being this close to her, almost touching her, inhaling that gentle perfume of hers...it was intoxicating! Surely she wasn’t going to throw this opportunity away? They could have fun for a bit...
She was staring deeply into his eyes, almost as if she were looking into his soul, and then suddenly she blinked and sat back, moving away from him. She glanced nervously around them, before scooching closer again on her chair.
‘I had a great time with you, yes. Of course it was...’ She blushed. ‘Hot. But I’m not the kind of woman you would want to get involved with right now.’
‘You’re wrong—’
‘I’m going to have a baby.’
He sat up straight and looked at her, the smile gone from his face.
A baby? What? He looked down at her abdomen, trying to think back to how she’d looked, naked in the moonlight streaming in through her open curtains. The soft swell of her abdomen...her wondrous curves...
‘No, not me. Not me in person. I have a surrogate. My best friend Sally—she’s carrying my baby for me and she’s got seven more months before she gives birth.’
He stared. Shocked beyond words. He’d found the perfect woman. At least he thought he had.
This changes everything!
She was going to have a baby. She was going to become a mother. Which was great for her, but not for him. He didn’t need that kind of complication in his life. Parenthood? Responsibilities? Resentment? Exhaustion?
No, thanks. No way, José.
CHAPTER THREE (#ufab99083-6508-5bf0-b2de-de0bf1cc9687)
‘YOU’RE SHOCKED. I know you’re shocked. I would be, too, if I were in your shoes.’
She smiled a little, to show him she understood. That she wasn’t going to blame him if he walked away now. In fact she needed him to walk away. Because he was a complication that she didn’t need in her life right now. A stunningly attractive complication, yes, but not the kind she would be able to rely on with a baby around. He’d hardly signed up for this, after all. It was only right he knew from the start, so he could make decisions with all the facts at his fingertips.
He could cause wonders with those fingertips... Don’t think about those. Focus!
‘A baby? You’re going to be a mum?’
‘Yes. I am.’
‘But...isn’t surrogacy like a last chance kind of thing?’
She could see what he wanted to ask. Why can’t you have the child yourself? Perhaps she needed to explain? But this felt awkward. She barely knew him, after all. Carnal knowledge of a person didn’t count in this situation. She wasn’t used to sharing personal information with someone she hardly knew. But it had to be done.
‘It is a last chance kind of thing.’
‘But why? You’re only in your thirties, I’m guessing. You still might meet someone.’
‘I appreciate your optimism—I do. But it’s not that simple.’
‘I don’t understand. What aren’t you telling me?’
Boy, those eyes of his are intense!
She sucked in a deep breath. Here goes.
‘I’ve been told that I probably can’t carry a baby to term due to an anomaly in my uterus, but I want to start a family and this seemed the safest way to do that.’
Ben frowned, a small divot forming between his brows. ‘What kind of anomaly?’
‘A bicornuate uterus.’
He sucked in a breath. ‘It’s partially split?’
He was a good listener. It made him easy to tell.
‘Mine’s quite severe. My doctors told me that any baby I carry would most likely be lost in the second trimester, or that there’d be foetal growth retardation—especially if the foetus implanted in one of the two halves.’
He nodded. ‘I’ve heard of it. But I’ve never met anyone with it before.’
‘That you know of.’
He smiled. ‘You’re my first.’
She nodded, smiling. ‘Yes, well. There you go. Intimacy and a medical revelation. Aren’t you a lucky guy?’
He nodded.
‘I’ve never had family,’ she said. ‘I want to belong to someone. I want someone who is my blood. Someone to love and cherish, who cherishes me in return. I always knew I wanted a child and I just felt that time was running out for me to find that with someone I could trust enough.’
He looked doubtful. ‘So you’re doing it on your own?’
She smiled, glad that he understood and didn’t appear to be judging her. ‘So I’m doing it on my own.’
He didn’t need to hear about the long months of needles and hormones and egg collection procedures. She’d had one hot night with this man—she didn’t want him to think of her lying back in a room with her legs in stirrups. She didn’t want him thinking of her as a patient. Those days, she hoped, were over. The future was going to be everything.
‘Which is why you needed to know.’
‘And you think I won’t be interested in you because you’re about to become a parent?’
Leah cocked her head to one side, smiling. ‘Well? Are you?’
He leaned back in his chair, considering his answer. ‘You think I’ll run a mile because a baby is on the way?’
She laughed. ‘Yes.’
He held his chest as if she’d just stabbed him in the heart and mock-groaned. ‘I’m hurt!’
‘Come on! Are you seriously trying to tell me that a man like you isn’t put off by a woman like me?’
His eyes twinkled. ‘“A man like me”?’
Clearly he wanted clarification.
‘You have a reputation, Mr Willoughby. As a bit of a player.’
He shook his head, smiling, as if he were disappointed in her. ‘You’ve been here one morning and already you’re listening to gossip?’
She maintained eye contact. ‘You still haven’t answered my question.’
He stared back, giving a half-smile, considering how to answer.
She knew the answer in her heart. And it was a shame, because she really had had a great night with him. And it hadn’t been just the sex, but all the talking they’d done beforehand. The laughing. The enjoyment of his company. The great foot massage! There’d been something there. Something not acknowledged by either of them. A spark. A connection. A flame.
But she never got his answer. An alarm sounded from Majors. A cardiac arrest. So they both leapt from their seats and made a mad dash towards the noise.
Answers would have to wait.
The next two weeks were difficult and awkward. Ben wasn’t sure how to be around Leah. He liked her. Really liked her. She was funny and smart and everyone in the department loved her. She had such a friendly manner people would confide in her, talk to her. And her laugh... Whenever he heard it, he felt as if it was warming his soul. He wanted to be pulled into her orbit. He did. But he kept holding back.
She was going to become a mother soon. And he wanted to be happy for her, but he couldn’t help but feel that she’d rushed this decision. All that stuff she’d said about wanting a family, feeling that bond and having someone who loved her... It was an idealised view of what family could be. She was looking at life through rose-tinted spectacles. People—families—they didn’t all live in Happy Land, where everyone got on and loved one another. There could be discord and hatred and resentment. Being someone’s blood relative didn’t guarantee you happiness. Didn’t guarantee you a free pass in life to joy.
Families were hard work. His own had been. And families could rip your heart out.
Leah probably thought that having a baby would mean everything to her—and maybe it would to begin with. But had she thought about sleepless nights and tantrums? Problems at school?
His younger brother and sister had run the whole gamut. In their early teens they’d hated him and rebelled against him. They would stay out all night with friends in lonely parks whilst he stayed at home. Worrying about them. Often having to head out to try and find them.
Families equalled stress, and there would be so many moments when she would want to run away but would feel unable to. Because of her responsibility.
But how could he tell her any of that? How could he squash her dream, knowing how much it meant to her?
He was pondering this problem as he went to see his first patient of the day. He was working in Minors today, and he held a triage form that stated his next patient had been hurt during a bout of shoplifting.
He shook his head in disbelief. Shoplifting!
Ben pulled back the curtain and there on the bed sat a teenage girl, probably no older than fifteen or so, and across from her a burly-looking security guard.
‘Miss Tammy Fields?’
The girl glowered at the guard. ‘Yeah.’
He pulled the curtain around them for some privacy. Tammy sat on the bed, one leg on a pillow. He could see her ankle looked a little swollen.
‘You’ve hurt your left foot? How did that happen?’
‘He did it!’
‘I did not—’ the security guard began, bristling.
‘How else did I end up on the floor? You tripped me!’
‘You were stealing!’
‘Wait a minute!’ Ben held up his hands for quiet. ‘You’re not her parent?’
‘No, thank goodness. If she were mine, I’d—’
‘Then why don’t you wait outside? I’ll come and talk to you in a moment.’
‘I’m not taking my eyes off her. She’ll make a run for it.’
‘With this ankle? I highly doubt it. Now, please...’ He held the curtain open so the security guard could pass through, albeit reluctantly. ‘If you wait in the waiting room, I’ll be through to see you soon.’
The guard disappeared, with one last look over his shoulder that seemed to say, If you run...
Ben sighed with relief when he’d gone, then sank back onto his stool and looked at the young girl. ‘Tell me what happened.’
‘I was getting some food—tinned stuff. Only I didn’t have enough money for all of it and I thought they wouldn’t miss it. It was a pound shop! It means nothing to them! And we’re starving...’
‘We?’
‘Me and my brothers. Only they’re really little so I left ’em at home.’
‘So you were shoplifting?’
‘To feed the kids! I had to. I had no other choice!’
He frowned, taking in her slightly neglected appearance. ‘Where are your parents?’
‘Mum’s away.’
‘At work?’
Tammy laughed. ‘Yeah, right. She’s at her boyfriend’s house. She does this. Goes away for a few days and leaves us to get on with things. Only there’s never no food in the house and she don’t leave us no money. And the little ones are hungry, so I... I took stuff.’
‘How did you hurt your ankle?’
‘That big idiot tripped me and I dropped the cans. One went under my foot or something. My ankle hurt after that.’
‘He brought you in?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Who’s with your brothers?’
She looked down and away. ‘No one. I had to do this. I had to!’ she cried, finally realising the implications of her situation.
He would have to call Social Care. Report this. And then this family would spend months with interference from professionals to make sure they had support and that the mother stopped abandoning her children. Only Social Services could help them make this better.
He smiled at the young girl and passed her a tissue from a box. ‘Can I take a look at your ankle?’
She wiped her nose and sniffed. ‘Sure.’
He gave her ankle and foot a cursory examination, checking for range of movement, whether she had sensation, whether she could wriggle her toes. It didn’t seem broken—probably more of a bad sprain. But they’d need an X-ray, just to confirm, because she had some swelling there already.
‘I’m going to send you to X-Ray.’
‘You think it’s broken?’
‘No. But we need to be on the safe side.’
‘Oh, man! Mum’s going to kill me.’
‘I also need her number. To inform her that you’re here.’
‘She won’t come.’
‘Even so...’
Reluctantly, Tiffany gave him her mother’s mobile number. ‘Don’t tell her I was shoplifting.’
‘She’ll find out. I’m sure that security guard will let her know.’
‘Well, let’s hope she’s too drunk to take it all in.’
Leah slipped into the morning handover, hoping nobody would notice that she was a good ten minutes late. It wasn’t her fault. She’d been on her way in to work, perfectly on time, when a giant seagull had let rip from above, splattering the front of her jacket. There’d been no way she could turn up at work looking like that, and the one solitary tissue she’d had in her pocket had not been enough. So back home she’d gone, to swap jackets and put the dirtied one in the laundry.
She’d heard that having a bird poop on you was meant to be good luck, but she really couldn’t see how that worked. Just because it was a rare occurrence, it didn’t mean that she was going to be more likely to win the lottery, did it?
What it had made her was late for work...
She closed the door quietly behind her and slipped into the nearest available chair. She placed her bag on the floor and beamed a smile at the person closest to her—and then looked up, only to see that Ben was sitting directly opposite her.
‘Nice of you to join us, Dr Hudson.’
All eyes turned to her and she coloured under the onslaught. ‘Er...thank you. Sorry I’m late. There was a poop incident...’
Her voice trailed off as she realised that maybe not everyone would want to hear about that. Or, God forbid, thought she was the one with the dodgy bowels!
‘It was a seagull. It wasn’t me! I...er...’ As everyone began to smile at her, she flushed and made a zipping motion over her mouth.
Best be quiet, I think...
‘Dr Evers, if you’d like to continue?’ Ben spoke to the doctor who had been in charge of last night’s shift.
Leah politely accepted the handover sheet passed to her by the doctor to her right as Dr Evers filled them in on what had happened last night and who they still had in bays in Resus, Majors and Minors.
As always it had been busy—a mix of falls, chest pain, broken bones, and one patient with rhabdomyolisis, a condition in which muscle broke down rapidly. He was being treated with isotonic saline to deal with the swelling of the muscle tissue and to prevent damage to his kidneys and was currently resting, awaiting transfer to a ward.
She glanced at Ben, appreciating the chance to be able to look at him without being observed.
He’d been perfectly nice to her over the last couple of weeks. He’d even asked her if she wanted to go on a trip the department had organised. That had surprised her...
‘If you’re not working on the fifteenth, a group of us are going to Finley Towers—the amusement park. Want to come?’ he’d asked.
‘Are you asking me out on a date?’
‘Well, it’s a group thing, so... Anyway, if you’re free. Thought it might be fun for you. You know—before the shackles of parenthood weigh you down.’
She’d smiled at the time, but his comment had left her wondering. There had just been something a little off with him, ever since she’d told him about Sally and the surrogacy.
He was keeping her at arm’s length—pretty much as she’d suspected he would—but just because she’d expected him to do it, it didn’t mean it was any less disappointing and upsetting. They’d had a closeness. An intimacy. And now there were barriers.
They’d spent a night together and, yes, it had been only a one-night stand, but they’d had a rare connection. At least she’d thought so! Or perhaps she was behind the times and this was how people behaved nowadays? But she did feel he was letting her down.
What did I even want from him? He’s my boss—it would never work.
But knowing it didn’t make it any easier. It was just another example of people failing her expectations. And she was used to that. Having to stand alone. Why should it be any different with him?
He was just a guy who’d discovered his one-night stand had complications in her life—why would he want to be a part of that?
She sighed, and it must have been louder than she realised, because once again all eyes were on her. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean...’ Her cheeks flushed. ‘Carry on.’
She looked down at the table and scribbled something on her piece of paper that she hoped made it look as if she was concentrating. Which she wasn’t. Which was bad.
Why couldn’t she get him out of her head? She was always thinking about him. Looking for him. Each day she came in and checked the roster, and she felt her heart sink if he wasn’t on the same shift as her. And yesterday she’d been coming out of a cubicle at the exact same time as he came out of the one opposite and their eyes had met and they’d smiled and...
Nothing. He’d given her a slight nod, an acknowledgement, but that was all, and after he’d walked away she’d felt...deflated. Yep. That was the word, all right!
He’d made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t interested.
So why did he ask if I’d go to Finley Towers? It sounded like he wanted me to go.
And she did want to go. It would be fun. She wasn’t rostered that day and neither was he.
Not that I checked or anything...
Perhaps it would be a chance to spend some time with him away from the hospital? Where they would get a chance to talk? Not many people got the opportunity to get to know a one-night stand better and she really wanted them to be different. She hoped he would be a good friend, if nothing else. They had to make something good out of this.
Leah glanced up at him and met his gaze.
He was looking at her with a hunger she recognised, but as soon as he realised she’d caught him looking he quickly glanced away. He looked awkward for a moment, and then he shifted in his seat. He began to nibble on the end of his pen.
Had he been thinking of their night together?
She wouldn’t blame him. Because she did it, too.
He was a difficult man to forget.
CHAPTER FOUR (#ufab99083-6508-5bf0-b2de-de0bf1cc9687)
AS SOON AS the handover had finished Ben was out of his chair and on his way out through the door. It was getting increasingly difficult for him to spend time with Leah, simply because of the way his thoughts kept running. And a small part of him was hoping that she wouldn’t make it to the work outing at Finley Towers, because if she did he’d have to spend time with her and it wouldn’t be work. It would be laughter and fun and friendship, and he might see yet another side of her that he really liked, and...
She’s beautiful. I love the way she blushes when she’s embarrassed. I love it when she smiles.
His thoughts were running away with themselves, as if he were some young teenage boy with a crush, idolising her, putting her on some kind of pedestal. He was hungry for every glimpse he could get of her, eager for every word she spoke, yearning to spend some more intimate time with her once again.
Where was it all coming from?
He hadn’t been on a second date with anyone for years, and the one he had gone on before that had been disastrous. He’d liked the woman—of course he had—but something just hadn’t been there the second time. The spark had gone. The thrill of being with someone new hadn’t been there and he’d gone home early.
Why did he suspect it would be very different with Leah?
Anyway he’d asked her if she was free to go on the department outing to Finley Towers, the amusement park. It had the UK’s highest, fastest rollercoaster and there was nothing he loved more than a rollercoaster.
A group trip would be fine, wouldn’t it? Safer. Less pressure on them to be alone together. And he would be able to see what she was like away from the hospital.
And out of bed!
Not that bed hadn’t been amazing. It had. It was just that he knew there was more with someone like Leah.
Someone like Leah... Of course there’s more. She’s going to be a mother.
That bothered him more than he cared to admit. He’d seen so many people lose who they were when they became parents. They forgot their own loves, their own passions, because they were so busy being Mum or Dad. Days became all about mealtimes and nappy changes and bedtime routines, and the people they’d been before becoming parents disappeared in all that care and concern and worry.
Where would Leah go?
How long would it take for her to disappear beneath the avalanche of baby care?
Irritated by the thought, he picked up his first patient file and saw that it was for a child with a cut above his eyebrow. Frowning, he went to the cubicle, and as he got closer could hear a cacophony of noise that only a large amount of children could produce. There was crying and tears, the urgent low voice of a parent trying to calm everyone down, and mischievous rebellion of children ignoring her urgings.
I’m not going to tolerate that noise whilst I’m working!
He yanked the curtain back, hoping that the sudden movement would make everyone pipe down, but he was barely noticed.
A mother sat on the edge of the bed, cradling one child to her, holding a tea towel against his head, whilst another child jumped on the bed, a smaller toddler rammed his toy car repeatedly into the wall and another sat in the chair, holding a book that had the ability to make irritating musical sounds at the press of a button.
‘Alfie Cotton?’ he asked.
The mother looked up, her face breaking into relief at the sight of him, a doctor. ‘Yes! Thank you! He’s got quite a large cut above his left eyebrow.’
Ben grabbed a pair of gloves from the dispenser on the wall and then got the mother to lower the tea towel for him to have a proper look. It wasn’t that big—maybe a centimetre—but it was enough to have caused what looked like a lot of blood loss. Head wounds were notorious for bleeding a lot.
‘How did it happen?’
‘He was bouncing on the bed and he fell off and hit the radiator on the wall. I told him not to do it! But they never listen.’
Considering there was a child on the bed behind her, also bouncing around, he could see quite clearly that they didn’t listen. Why had she brought them all with her to A&E? Perhaps she had no one she could trust to babysit?
Never mind, he’d have to get on with it. He needed to check the wound properly, to see whether it needed gluing or stitches, but first he’d have to clean it.
As he leaned forward for another look little Alfie screamed a protest and tried to slither from his mother’s arms.
‘Alfie, no! Sit still!’ His mother tried to hoist him back up.
Ben could tell this was going to be difficult. Perhaps he’d need those bubbles again?
‘I’ll just go and get what I need and then we’ll see what we can do, all right?’
He closed the curtain behind him and went to the room where all their equipment was laid out on trays stacked from ceiling to floor. He could get everything in here—plasters, tweezers, Vicryl acrylic for stitching, saline wash. All that he needed to help soothe or cure all manner of ills and injuries.
He let out a heavy sigh.
‘Hey.’
It was Leah. She stood in the doorway and smiled at him and he could have sworn his heart almost skipped a beat.
‘Hi.’
‘You look tense.’
‘I am tense.’
‘Oh, dear. The shift’s only just started. Need a hand with anything? Or anyone?’
‘Don’t you have a patient of your own?’
‘Just gone to X-Ray. Suspected fracture of the clavicle. Came off his bike and hit a railing. You?’
‘Child with a head wound. Only the mum has had to bring the entire brood and it’s like working in a nursery. Kids everywhere.’
She smiled. ‘I’m used to that. Do they bother you? Kids? I kind of get the feeling you’re not their biggest fan.’
‘Whatever gave that away?’ He raised an eyebrow and laughed.
She smiled at him. ‘Just some of the things that you say.’
‘I’m the oldest of three. I’ve done my fair share of hanging around with toddlers.’
‘Three kids? Your mum and dad must have loved having babies.’
He grabbed the glue. She had no idea what it had been like for him at home.
‘Having them—maybe. Looking after them? That was a different story.’
Now she frowned. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’
He never wanted to talk about it. Which was why the urge to tell her everything felt strange. He wanted her to know. Felt that she would sit and listen to him if he blurted it all out. The whole sorry mess. All he’d had to do.
He had to fight the urge to let it all come out of him, even though he knew Leah would understand. But it wasn’t right to burden her with all that. Although she’d shared a secret with him... It would balance them out, right?
Ben hesitated, torn between wanting to tell her everything and keeping it all to himself. As he always had done. His fear won out.
‘I’m okay. Though are you any good at blowing bubbles?’
‘Erm...yes...’
‘Good.’ He handed her a pot that came with a wand. ‘You can be my distraction technique. Follow me.’
He headed back to the cubicle, acutely aware of her following behind him. He introduced Leah to the flustered mum and explained what they were about to do.
‘I’m going to use glue to close the wound. It’s got nice straight edges, and it’s not bleeding any more, so it should come together quite nicely.’
The mum nodded.
‘We’ll do it with him sitting on your lap, as he seems comfortable there. Dr Hudson will try to distract him with bubbles as it might sting just a little when I put the glue on, so hold him quite firmly.’
‘Okay...’
Leah began blowing when Ben was ready to seal the wound and, as expected, little Alfie became mesmerised by the little bubbles floating in front of his face, reaching out to touch them and even blowing some of his own as Ben painted the glue onto the edges of the wound and applied small sterile strips to cover it afterwards.
‘There. All done.’
The mother laughed. ‘He didn’t even notice!’
‘The power of soapy water.’
Ben cleared away his equipment.
‘Try and keep the wound dry for about five days and don’t let him scratch or pick at it. If it becomes red or swollen he’ll need to see a doctor—but you can go to your GP for that.’
‘Thank you, Doctor.’
‘My pleasure. You can take them all home again now.’
‘Thanks.’
They started to pack up all their belongings and he left the cubicle with Leah, who’d handed over the bubbles to Alfie to keep.
He sat down at the doctor’s desk to write up his notes. ‘Thanks for helping out.’
‘No problem at all.’
He looked at her. At how relaxed she was. ‘Kids seem to like you.’
‘I like kids.’
‘It shows.’ He began writing on Alfie’s patient file.
She tilted her head to one side. ‘But you don’t.’
It wasn’t a question. Clearly. And the statement made him feel uncomfortable.
People were meant to like kids, weren’t they? To be genetically predisposed to carry on the human race? That was the whole point to the continuation of the species. Kids were meant to be cute and wonderful, funny and lovable. What did it say about him that kids made him want to run away?
He sighed. ‘I don’t hate kids, per se.’
‘But?’
‘But... I didn’t have the greatest of childhoods, and neither did my brother and sister. Perhaps it’s not kids that I don’t like...just bad parents.’
She was silent for a moment whilst she digested that nugget he’d just provided.
He felt his cheeks colour at the intensity of her concentration and put down his pen and shrugged, knowing he had to explain. ‘I had to grow up really fast. Ten years old and I had to look after two younger kids whilst my parents slept or drank or got stoned. I had to cook for them, and clean up after them, and care for them when they got sick. My parents might have known how to make
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