worst of it,’ the nurse responded. ‘He was the legal guardian of his baby niece—her only living relative—and he just walked away...’
‘No way...’
They had their backs to her so they hadn’t noticed Emma approaching. Maybe the nurse was carried away by having something that had captured an attractive new doctor’s attention so completely. She leaned in closer.
‘Nobody’s heard a peep from him since and that was nearly a year ago.’
‘So why has he come back now?’
‘Who knows? Maybe he’s come back to claim her finally.’
Emma stopped in her tracks. She could feel the blood draining out of her head, leaving a nasty spinning sensation.
She’d thought he might have come back to see Lily.
To see her, even.
Or even that he might have been planning to work here again.
But to have come back to claim guardianship of the only living member of his family?
It made sense.
Sickening, terrifying sense, because it wouldn’t be the first time...
She could actually hear those furious words. ‘She’s my brother’s child. Now she’s mine.’
It also made her angry.
‘I hate to break up the party,’ she snapped, ‘but I’m sure you’ve both noticed how busy this department is at the moment. Let’s get on with doing the jobs we’re being paid to do, shall we?’
The pair jumped apart, the nurse’s face reddening as she fled. Emma ignored Pete’s muttered apology. The anger was still there. They wouldn’t be the only people gossiping in corners tonight after the dramatic reappearance of Jack Reynolds and no doubt they’d be picking over her own part as one of the major players in what had been a series of events worthy of a soap opera’s plotline.
Most of the anger was directed elsewhere, however, and it came from a place of fear.
Everybody knew she was Lily’s mother in every way it was possible to be a mother, other than having given birth to her precious little girl. But legally she was no more than a godparent. No formal adoption process had ever been initiated. How could it have been when her legal guardian had simply vanished?
Would she have enough grounds to fight if Jack really had come back to claim Lily?
Relocating a shoulder was the perfect task for Emma right now. With her patient well sedated, it needed careful positioning and then an intense physical effort to pull the arm hard enough to create the space for the ball of the joint to slip back into its socket. She had been going to ask Pete to do it but instead she had him stabilise the patient’s body while she did it.
There was always satisfaction in hearing the joint click back into place but this time what was even better was the release of that angry tension that had settled in Emma’s belly like a stone. By the time she headed back to the computer to check the rest of Jack’s images, she was feeling a great deal calmer.
For a moment, though, the images on the screen were blurry.
She was back in time again. Sitting beside the bed of someone she loved so dearly and they had both known that they had very little time.
‘Promise me, Em. Promise me that you’ll take care of her.’
Sarah’s breathing had been becoming rapidly more laboured and there had been nothing they could do.
‘Jack would be a disaster. He’s irresponsible... He’s never even wanted a family...’
‘I promise...’
How hard had it been to hold back her tears?
‘Cross your heart and hope to die?’
The old childhood vow. The one that could never be broken.
Not that Emma had been able to repeat the words. She had only been able to nod. And smile. And squeeze Sarah’s hand so hard it would have hurt if she hadn’t already been beyond feeling pain...
It took a huge effort to shake off the distressing flashback. To focus on the images in front of her. Amazingly, Jack hadn’t broken any bones, probably thanks to the well-padded leather gear with its built-in body armour. All that was needed was treatment of the soft-tissue injuries and observation for long enough to be sure that there was no head injury being missed.
Taking a deep breath, Emma went back to Jack’s room. The radiographers had gone and the nurse who had stayed with Jack was peering wide-eyed around the door as stretchers surrounded by police officers as well as paramedics came through the ambulance bay doors. That the patients on the stretchers were in red and white Santa suits only made the spectacle even more riveting. Alistair and the small team he had gathered were waiting in front of the other resuscitation area.
‘You go,’ Emma told the nurse. ‘They’ll need extra hands. And call me if I’m needed.’
‘What’s going on out there?’ Jack had a pillow under his head now but he was trying to prop himself further up on the elbow of his uninjured arm. ‘Sounds like something major.’
Emma stepped closer. The fear—and the anger—had resurfaced on seeing Jack’s face. It made no difference how much she loved this man. She would fight to the death if she had to, to protect what was most important.
‘I won’t let you do it,’ she said quietly. ‘Not this time.’
Jack looked bewildered. ‘Do what?’
Emma swallowed hard. ‘I won’t let you take Lily away from me.’
YOU’D HAVE TO know Emma well to see the fear beneath the fury of the words she had just bitten out.
Jack knew Emma very well.
He could see the fear and he hated himself for having been the person who’d caused it. He had to put this right. Fast.
‘I wouldn’t do that,’ he said quietly. ‘Do you really think that’s why I’ve come back?’
The shake of her head was sharp enough for another curl to escape its clip. Emma took a step closer to the bed. Because the wide door of this area was ajar, the noises of the department were still there, but they were no more than a background buzz. It wouldn’t matter how quietly Emma spoke, he would still be able to hear every word because that was all that mattered in this moment.
‘How would I know?’
Jack could hear the edge of tears roughening her words and could see the way she was fighting for control by the ragged breath she sucked in. He could also see that she had something else to say, so he remained silent.
He watched the way Emma composed
