window ledge and the final hands were arranging flowers. It was a little overwhelming and she suspected they were all making judgement calls on the laser surgery that had brought about the early arrival of the quads. And they had every right. While she’d known it was risky, she had forged ahead and in their eyes that was probably not the right decision.
‘So you’re the Australian doctor who performed Georgina’s surgery?’ one of the two older men said.
Juliet nodded and lifted her chin. The outcome was not perfect but Juliet still believed she had made the correct decision. The only correct decision she had made that day.
‘Yes, I am. And I stand by my advice to operate. Despite the outcome, I believed then, and still believe now, that it was the best option, however—’
‘Then we all owe you a huge debt of gratitude for saving our grandchildren.’
Juliet was taken aback. She’d thought both sets of parents, along with Georgina and Leo, would have been upset with her. Not grateful.
‘Please take a seat. You must be exhausted after the day you had yesterday,’ the taller of the two women said. ‘We heard you stayed back to check on the babies. Have you seen them today? They’re so tiny but the neonatologist is very hopeful they’ll all pull through. They’re tiny little Italian fighters.’
‘You should have called Rupert Rocky instead!’ Georgina’s father suggested with a grin. ‘It’s not too late to change his name.’
‘Rocky as in Rocky Balboa?’ Leo asked, looking more than a little embarrassed.
‘The greatest Italian fighter ever!’ his father-in-law replied happily.
‘Dad,’ Georgina cut in, ‘Rocky is a fictional character in a movie.’
‘I know,’ the older man replied. ‘But Rupert’s a fighter and the other three are just as strong. I know in my heart our grandchildren will pull through. And that’s thanks to you, Dr Turner.’
‘I’m not sure where this is all coming from,’ Juliet admitted.
‘Charlie was in early this morning to see me and check my stitches,’ Georgina continued. ‘He told me that, even though he was against the laser surgery, and despite it not going to plan yesterday, it saved Rupert’s life because it brought on my labour early and he was born just before his heart stopped. A day longer and he would not have survived. You saved our baby’s life, Dr Turner.’
* * *
‘Charlie, is everything all right with Juliet?’ Ella asked as she caught up with Charlie scrubbing in before visiting with the quads.
‘Why? What makes you ask that?’ His tone was defensive. He didn’t want to be questioned by the midwife. They had been friends for a long time but he didn’t want to feel forced to justify his behaviour to anyone. There was no other choice but to push Juliet away. He had to be cruel to be kind. While he regretted hurting Juliet, he knew if he led her on he would hurt her more. It would just take her longer to feel the hurt. She was looking for a happily ever after and he was not that man. He had a debt to pay. And it wouldn’t allow him to love someone. Particularly the way he knew he wanted to love Juliet. With every fibre of his being.
But he wouldn’t.
‘She rushed past me this morning, and snubbed me. Well, almost, I mean she waved at me but it wasn’t like her. And I asked about you and she just shrugged her shoulders. She and Bea are always so lovely and she seemed upset today.’
‘Perhaps she’s drained after yesterday,’ he suggested to deflect from the real reason.
‘No, she’s a pro,’ Ella responded. ‘She wouldn’t react that way.’
‘Just leave it alone.’
‘You know, Juliet would be perfect for you, Charlie. I know you may not have thought about her that way, but she’s beautiful, sweet and intelligent. You’re both single. I think she could be the one, Charlie.’
‘I like it on my own. It’s been that way for a long time. I had the one, and I lost her. I don’t need to hurt another woman.’ It was true that it had been a long time but it was a lie that he liked being alone. It was a penance he made himself pay for the accident.
‘It’s been over two years since the accident—that’s long enough for someone as young as you to mourn. Your wife wouldn’t want you to go on punishing yourself.’
‘I guess we’ll never know what she wanted, because I killed her.’
‘It was an accident—a stupid accident that no one could have averted. It’s lucky you lived through it.’
‘I’m not so sure I’d call myself lucky. I lost Alice.’
Ella shook her head. ‘It was a tragic accident that you survived. You are not the first person to lose their partner. It’s awful, but it happens and people have to go on and rebuild their lives.’
‘It was stupid and reckless. I’ve no right to a happy life when my wife died with my hands on the steering wheel. I’ll never forgive myself for that.’
‘Charlie, I hope you know from the way Juliet and little Bea look at you, you might just be punishing more than yourself by pushing them away.’
* * *
Juliet saw Charlie around the hospital when she popped in to check on the quads over the next couple of days but he said nothing to her. He had every opportunity to try to make amends. To apologise. But he didn’t try. She felt as if the world were crashing in. A world she’d dreamed she might possibly begin to build with Charlie. She knew it was too soon to have been thinking for ever, but she had. For the first time in a very long time. They had shared his bed for one night and after she’d left, they did not even acknowledge each other.
She had no idea how he could be so cold but she made a promise to herself as she heard his office door close.
She would never trust her instincts where men were concerned.
And she would never speak to Charlie Warren again. Although she doubted she would ever stop thinking about him.
IT WAS EARLY Monday morning when Juliet awoke. The sky was overcast and threatening to rain down on the still-damp earth. While she knew she had so much to be grateful for, it still didn’t lessen the pain in her heart. But just like the dismal weather, it too would subside in time, she reminded herself. But how much time that would take she didn’t know. Sitting in bed with Bea still sound asleep beside her, she thought back over the week since they’d arrived. So much had happened. The rushed journey over was probably the least eventful.
Bea’s pink cast took her attention and she remembered the sinking feeling when she saw her fall to the snow. Instinctively, sitting in the warmth of her bed, with her little girl safely beside her, she still dropped her head into her hands. That fleeting but very real fear that something had happened to her daughter had been the worst feeling in the world.
And how she felt as she thought about Charlie,
