sat down with her, completely distracted, while she tried to impart the intricacies of the computer system.
He toyed with the idea of pumping Lynne for information about Lou. There probably wasn’t anything the ward clerk didn’t know about the goings-on at the hospital, and he’d bet his last cent that Lynne knew all there was to know about Jan and Martin. But he restrained himself. Lynne was good at her job, but he abhorred gossip—had been on the nasty end of it, thanks to Delvine—and he would not encourage her.
Will was passing time waiting for Lou’s return, performing some dummy tasks Lynne had set him, when Pete entered the nurses’ station with an inconsolable child. It was a little boy who looked about five, and he was sobbing broken-heartedly.
‘Oh, my,’ said Will, looking up, pleased for any respite from the screen. ‘What do we have here?’ he asked.
‘Josh’s mum has just left to go and pick up his sister from school. He’s a little upset,’ Pete said, sitting on the chair next to Will.
Will raised his eyebrows at Pete’s understatement. The kid looked as if he’d lost a million bucks. ‘Oh, dear,’ said Will. ‘Never mind, mate. She’ll be back soon.’
Josh buried his head in Pete’s shoulder and sobbed louder.
‘So, Pete? Does Josh like magic?’ Will asked, raising his voice a notch and winking at Pete.
‘Ah, no, Will. I don’t think so.’
Josh’s cries started to wane, and he peeked out at Will.
‘Are you sure? Because you do know I’m a magician and a doctor, right?’
‘Really?’ said Pete, fake incredulity dripping from his words. ‘I didn’t know you were a magician as well, Dr Galligher.’
Josh’s sobs were slowly quieting. Lou peeked her head around the corner. She had heard Pete and Will’s efforts to placate the child from halfway down the corridor.
‘Sure.’ Will nodded. ‘In my spare time I’m Captain Incredible.’
Josh’s crying had stopped, and he watched the two men’s magic discussion solemnly. Lou felt a lump rise in her throat. Will was so good with kids. His doctoring method was incredibly unique. He was the kind of doctor who really understood how kids ticked. Maybe it was having a child of his own? But he always had a magic trick up his sleeve, and a dozen different jokes on the tip of his tongue. And it worked—his patients loved him. And so did their parents.
‘Ohhhh. You’re Captain Incredible? I heard he hung around the hospital a lot.’
‘Shh,’ said Will, and winked at Josh. ‘It’s a secret. Can you keep a secret, Josh?’
The little boy looked at Will with starstruck eyes and nodded seriously. ‘Can you really do magic?’ he asked, his voice hushed with awe.
Will grinned at him and moved closer to the little boy. ‘I sure can,’ he said, and pulled a coin out from behind Josh’s ear.
The little boy gasped, and looked at Will as if he was Santa Claus. Lou stifled a laugh at the look of complete hero-worship on Josh’s face as Will made the coin disappear into thin air. Then he held out his two downwards-facing fists and got Josh to choose one, and the coin was miraculously back again.
‘Cool!’ said an excited Josh.
Will laughed. ‘Hey, you want to come over here with me and help me with this computer thing? Captain Incredible isn’t so good with computers. My magic computer wand broke.’
Josh giggled and went eagerly, jumping off Pete’s lap and launching himself onto Will’s. Will swivelled his chair back to the screen and showed Josh a few different things to try. He did have a vaguely horrible thought that if Josh pushed the wrong button the entire hospital computer system could go down, but what were the chances? Josh was happy. And Lynne wasn’t here to mind.
Lou watched Will a little longer. He’d taken a crying, fretting child and turned his fears around in minutes. If ever there was someone born to their field it was him. Josh obviously thought he was the bee’s knees. She remembered a time when she’d thought that too.
‘Hey, Lou,’ said Stuart Myers, coming up behind her and almost scaring her half to death. She noticed Will turn and spot her as she greeted the registrar.
‘Hi, Stu,’ she said, ‘what brings you down to Ward Two?’ She tried to keep her voice casual, and not betray the fact that she’d been spying on Will.
‘The boss,’ he said, and nodded towards Will.
Lou glanced over at Will as he nodded back. She looked back at Stu, ignoring Will’s heavy gaze. ‘You’re doing the paed rotation now?’ she asked. Lou had spoken with Stuart quite frequently not long after she and Will had split regarding surrogacy, as he’d been working an IVF rotation at the time.
‘Yep. More my cup of tea,’ he said.
‘I agree.’ She grinned. Stu was up there with Will as far as rapport with kids went.
‘I just wanted to say that I’m really happy you went ahead with the surrogacy idea. I’m pleased it was successful. It was such a marvellous gift for your sister,’ he said, placing his hand on her stomach. ‘I’m so sorry to hear that she’s since died.’
Lou saw Will out of the corner of her eye and knew instantly he had heard the conversation. Hell. Damn Stu! She monitored Will’s reaction as if it was happening in slow motion. His back stiffened, he stopped swivelling idly on the chair and his eyes narrowed.
‘Pete,’ Will said, ‘can you keep on eye on Josh, please? Lou and I need to talk.’
Pete looked at Lou, then back at Will, then at Lou again. She sighed and nodded at him.
‘Come on, matey,’ Pete said, hauling Josh off Will’s lap. ‘Mummy will be back soon.’ The boy didn’t protest, waving at Will as Pete walked him back to his bed.
‘Stuart. Would you mind if I spoke to Lou before we get to our business?’ he asked.
‘Not at all,’ said Stu. ‘I have to go to Accident and Emergency to insert an IV. Can you page me when you’re ready?’
Will nodded, and they both watched Stu leave the ward. He brushed past her, opened the door to her office and indicated for her to precede him. Will waited for the door to click shut behind him before he said a word.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
Lou wasn’t fooled by his calmly delivered question. He was mad. She could tell by the whiteness of his knuckles as he leant against the desk, and the rigidity of his facial muscles, and the way a little nerve jumped spasmodically near his left eye.
She sighed. ‘Will—’
‘Why, Lou? Why lead me to believe that you’d been involved with someone else?’
‘Actually, Will, I didn’t. If you remember correctly, you jumped to a certain conclusion because my pregnancy came as a shock and you were angry that I’d replaced you.’
He
