she noted, instead of heading out to the desk, was sitting on a couch in the corner of the room, finishing his notes—a quiet, unobtrusive presence that was welcome.
Maria and Tony set the tone, but Bridgette’s heart did go out to the family. They were trying to be brave, to not be upset, but there was so much tension, so many questions as they all peered at the newest member of the clan. Then Maria’s three-year-old, Roman, climbed up on the bed and gazed at his sister, kissing her on the forehead, and the old abuela laughed.
Dominic came over and checked the baby briefly again, more for the family’s benefit, or rather Maria’s, Bridgette rightly guessed, because the questions they had been asking Maria were aimed at him now.
‘She’s doing very, very well,’ he said, and answered more of their questions and told them that, yes, the prenatal diagnosis was correct. Yes, shortly there would be further testing, but for now she was doing perfectly. And then Bridgette blinked as he chatted with the abuela in what appeared to be fluid Spanish for a moment. ‘Sí, ella es perfecta…’
‘We’re going to move her up now.’ Kelly from NICU had come down just as all the cameras came out.
‘Photo with el medico,’ the abuela said.
‘We really ought to get moving.’ Dominic was reluctant, but then obliged, and it struck Bridgette that though of course he held babies in the course of examining them, he wasn’t the type to steal a cuddle.
He held the new infant and gave a smile for the camera and then he looked down at her.
‘She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?’ Maria said.
‘Oh, I don’t do the cute-baby thing,’ Dominic answered, ‘but, yes, I think I have to agree in this case. You have a very cute baby. Has she got a name?’
‘Esperanza,’ Maria said.
‘Hope!’ Dominic smiled.
He popped her back in her cot and at the last minute Tony asked if he might be able to stay with the baby during her tests. When Dominic agreed, the family all followed Dominic, Kelly and the porters in a little procession down the hall.
‘He’s lovely, isn’t he?’ Maria said. ‘Dominic, I mean. He sort of tells you like it is.’
‘He’s very good,’ Bridgette said, and gave Maria a wink. ‘Speaks Spanish too.’
‘Abuela was very impressed.’ Maria grinned. ‘Dominic’s mother is Spanish apparently.’ She had to find out about him from a patient! ‘He’s been great. We went to him when we got the amnio back and he told us what to expect. Well, I guess he’d know as his brother has Down’s.’ She must have seen Bridgette’s eyes widen. ‘Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have said—it was just that Tony was crying and so was I and it seemed like a disaster when we first found out, but Dominic was terribly patient. He told us what we were feeling was completely normal. We saw him again a couple of weeks ago and we were embarrassed about the scene we’d made, but he said not to give it another thought. It was all very normal, that his mother had been the same.’
They knew nothing about each other, Bridgette realised.
Which had been the point, she remembered.
She really was lousy at one-night stands.
Still, she didn’t have time to dwell on it. L and D was busy and she was soon looking after another birth, a first-time mum called Jessica, who was very nervous, as well as keeping an eye on Maria.
Esperanza was gone for about an hour, and her heart test was clear, which was brilliant news, and by the time she was back, Bridgette had just transferred Maria to the ward. Having checked on her next patient, Bridgette was more than ready for lunch.
‘What’s all this?’ Bridgette tried not to care that Dominic was sitting in the staffroom. After all, if he didn’t care, why should she? Anyway, Rita was there too and there were other distractions this lunchtime. Instead of plain biscuits the table was heaving with fruit platters, small filled rolls and a spread of cheese.
‘Leftovers from the obstetricians’ meeting.’ Rita gave a wry smile. ‘I rescued some for the workers. Enjoy.’
Bridgette selected a roll and a few slivers of fruit. She glanced at the cheese—even though that would usually be her first option, even if it seemed stupid, with Dominic there she chose to give it a miss.
‘How’s Harry?’ Rita asked.
‘Better,’ Bridgette answered. ‘He was just having a bit of a tantrum. He’s not in the best of moods today. I’m sorry I had to dash off.’
As annoying and inflexible as she could be, Rita could, Bridgette conceded, also be very nice. ‘No problem. It’s to be expected in the first weeks at daycare. He’ll soon get used to it. The real question is, how is his aunt doing?’
‘Trying to get used to it too,’ Bridgette admitted. ‘But we’re getting there.’
Unfortunately Rita’s break was soon over and word couldn’t yet have got around about the spread on in the staffroom because only Dominic and Bridgette remained. Well, she wasn’t going to give up a single minute of the precious break by going back early. Her feet were killing her and she was hungry too, and Jessica, her new patient, was progressing steadily. If Dominic wasn’t feeling awkward then why on earth should she be? And if she wanted cheese, why not?
Bridgette stood and refilled her plate with some Cheddar and Brie and a few crackers and went to sit back down, selecting a magazine to read as she did so.
‘I thought you liked blue cheese.’
‘Maybe.’ Bridgette refused to look up, just carried on reading the magazine. She was not going to jump to make conversation just because he suddenly deigned to do so.
‘How’s Maria?’
‘Marvellous.’ She refused to be chatty, just because he suddenly was.
‘The baby I saw you with yesterday…’ Still she did not fill in the spaces. ‘He’s your nephew?’ When still he was met with silence, Dominic pushed a little further. ‘Why didn’t you just say so?’
‘I don’t really see that it’s relevant,’ Bridgette answered, still reading her magazine. ‘Had our one-night stand been two years ago and you’d seen me walking out of daycare carrying a mini-Dominic, then, yes, perhaps I’d have had some explaining to do. But I don’t.’ She smirked with mild pleasure at her choice of words and looked up. She was rather surprised to see that he was smiling—not the Dr Mansfield smile that she had seen occasionally since her return to work but the Dominic smile she had once been privy to.
‘I’m sorry about yesterday. I just jumped to conclusions. I saw you with—’ he paused for a brief second ‘—Harry, and I thought that was the reason…’ He really felt awkward, Bridgette realised. Despite insisting how easy this was, Dominic seemed to be struggling.
‘The reason?’ She frowned, because he’d done this to her too, made her blush as she’d revealed that she thought about that night—but Dominic didn’t blush in the same way Bridgette had.
‘The reason that you went home
