glanced at the tiny cabana she’d been lucky enough to score in exchange for house-sitting the mansion out front, and she was thankful. Be thankful. She needed to remember that. If the owners decided to sell, something else would turn up. She had to believe that.
And she would find a way to support her babies. She’d just have to save every penny she could until she finished work.
At least she’d get maternity leave—or would she if she was fourteen weeks pregnant on her first day? More things to find out.
But they did have a crèche at the hospital so eventually she’d be able to go back. If Flora May would have her after she told her the news. She put her head in her hands.
And how would she tell her mother?
A kilometre away, Nikolai threw his keys on the hall table inside the door of his flat and pulled off his tie. What a day. And not just with work.
He wasn’t sure why he was so rattled by his encounter with Lucy the midwife, and her news, but he guessed it had to do with the day starting with his sister’s phone call. He’d obviously associated the two women in his mind.
That explained his bizarre feeling of connection with young Lucy. And that was what she was. Young. Barely over twenty, and he was a good ten years older so it had to be an avuncular or older-brother protectiveness. He’d just have to watch it in case she got any ideas.
Because he certainly didn’t have any.
Maybe it hadn’t been so clever to offer to look after her during her pregnancy, but it had seemed right at the time. And he genuinely wanted her to have the best care.
But when the next day at work he only saw Lucy in the distance, she waved once discreetly because both of them were busy with their own workload, and by the end of the day His concerns had seemed foolish.
He wasn’t piqued she hadn’t made any effort to speak to him. Of course not. His concerns were ridiculous. But it seemed he had no worries that she might take liberties with his offer.
Then the day suddenly got busier and Lucy and her problems disappeared into the back of his mind.
The busyness of the ward continued for almost a fortnight, so much so that the staff were counting back in the calendars to see what had happened around this time ten months ago. Solar eclipse? Power blackout?
There was an unofficial competition to see who could come up with the most likely reason for the surge in births.
It was Lucy’s fifth shift in a row and she was finding it harder to get out of bed at six in the morning.
‘Come on, lazybones,’ she grumbled to herself as she sat up on the side of the bed. ‘You’ve got no stamina. You think it’s going to be easier when you’ve got to get two little bodkins organised every three hours for feeds?’
She stood up and rubbed her back. ‘They all say it’s going to get quieter at work again soon. You can do this.’ And she still hadn’t told her mother. She’d told Mark and he’d offered money. And no strings. That was a good thing because she knew in her heart an unwilling Mark wasn’t the answer for either of them. The last thing she wanted was her babies to see her in an unhappy relationship.
When Nikolai saw Lucy he could tell she was starting to feel the frenetic pace. Her usual determined little walk had slowed and he didn’t notice her smile as often.
The next time he saw her he decided she looked far too pale and he couldn’t remember any results from the blood tests he’d ordered a fortnight ago.
He added ‘Follow up with Lucy’ to his list of tasks for the day and tracked her down towards the end of the shift.
‘One moment, Lucy.’
She stopped and smiled tiredly up at him. ‘Yes, Doctor?’
He felt like offering her a chair. Wasn’t anyone looking after this girl? It had been hard enough for him to look after Chloe and he’d been the same age as Lucy was now. And a man, not a slip of a girl.
It was tough making ends meet when you were trying to get through uni and feed yourself. He wondered if she was eating properly before he realised she was waiting for him to finish his sentence.
‘Sorry.’ He glanced around but no one was near them. ‘I wondered why I haven’t seen those results yet.’
Lucy racked her brain. An hour of the shift to go and she was finding it hard not to yawn. Now he wanted results and she had no idea whose he was talking about. For which patient? She frowned. ‘Was I supposed to give you some results?’
‘Yours. Antenatal screening.’ He looked so hard at her she felt like he’d put her under the microscope.
‘You look pale.’
She felt pale, if that was possible. She’d forgotten the tests. She ran back over that momentous day, back to his rooms. Yes, he’d given her forms, and the form was still scrunched in the bottom of her bag. Maybe there was something Freudian about that.
She sighed. ‘I keep meaning to get them done. Maybe I’m not ready to tell the world.’
She saw him glance at her stomach and raise his eyebrows. She looked down, too. And didn’t think it showed much yet.
He was frowning and he rarely frowned. That was one of the things she liked about this guy. One of the many things.
‘I’d like you to do them today, if you could, please. Outside the hospital if you want to. But if you have them done internally there will be no charge for the pathology.’
And pathology tests could be expensive. Expenses she needed to cut back on. ‘Big incentive.’ She nodded. Just so he knew she meant it. ‘I’ll go after work.’
He stayed where he was. Looking so calm and collected and immaculate. She felt like a dishrag. Her back hurt. What else did he want?
‘And could you make an appointment to come and see me in two days? I’ll let my secretary know.’
Lucy laughed for the first time that day. It actually felt good. She could even feel the tension drop from her shoulders and reminded herself she needed to shed a few chuckles more often. She didn’t want to forget that. Her mother had rarely laughed while she had been growing up.
But two days? It seemed she wasn’t the only one who was tired. ‘Two days is a Sunday. I don’t think your secretary will be take an appointment on that one. But I will make it for Monday.’
Nick smiled back at her and she felt her cheeks warm. She frowned at herself and him. He shouldn’t smile at emotional, hormonal women like that. Especially ones who were planning to be single mothers of twins.
She was never going to feel second best again and he made her feel like she wanted to be better than she was. The guy was just too perfect. For her anyway.
‘Thanks for the reminder. Have to go.’ She turned and walked back to the desk and she could hear his footsteps walking away. She could imagine the sight. The long strides. The commanding tilt of his head. Not fair.
‘You okay there, Palmer?’
