‘Kittens! I love kittens,’ Penny said with a beaming smile. ‘Thank you so much. Look, Mummy.’
‘They’re lovely,’ Julia said, but Rosie could see the strain and weariness behind her smile. She understood only too well how it felt to worry about your children; being helpless to do anything to fix the problems must be sheer hell.
‘Thank you, Rosie,’ Julia added.
‘Pleasure.’ Rosie winked at Penny. ‘Hopefully these new drugs will have you back on your feet soon.’ The little girl was desperate to be a ballerina, and wore a pink tutu even when she was bed-bound. And Rosie really, really hoped that the little girl would have time for her dreams to come true. ‘Call me if you need anything,’ Rosie added to Julia.
‘I will. Thanks.’
Rosie checked on the rest of the children in her bay, and was writing up the notes when her colleague Kathleen came over to the desk.
‘So have you met the Duke, yet?’ Kathleen fanned herself. ‘Talk about film-star good looks.’
Rosie rolled her eyes. ‘Handsome is as handsome does.’ And never again would she let a handsome, charming man treat her as a second-class citizen.
‘Give the guy a break,’ Kathleen said. ‘He seems a real sweetie. And his picture is already all over the Internet, with the “Save Our Hospital” placards in full view. I think Robyn’s right and he’s really going to help.’
Rosie forced herself to smile. ‘Good.’
Kathleen gave her a curious look. ‘Are you all right, Rosie?’
‘Sure. I had a bit of a broken night,’ Rosie fibbed. ‘Lexi had a bad dream and it was a while before I got back to sleep again.’
‘I really don’t know how you do it,’ Kathleen said. ‘It’s tough enough, being a single mum—but having twins must make it twice as hard.’
‘I get double the joy and double the love,’ Rosie said. ‘I wouldn’t miss a single minute. And my parents and my sister are great—I know I can call on them if I get stuck.’
‘Even so. You must miss your husband so much.’
Rosie had found that it was much easier to let people think that she was a grieving widow than to tell them the truth—that she’d been planning to divorce Michael Duncan before his death, and after his death she’d reverted back to her maiden name, changing the children’s names along with hers. ‘Yes,’ Rosie agreed. And it wasn’t a total lie. She missed the man she’d thought she’d married—not the one behind the mask, the one who put money before his babies and his wife.
* * *
She was busy on the ward for the rest of the morning and didn’t see Leo again until lunchtime.
‘I believe we’ll be working closely together,’ the Duke said.
She rather hoped he was wrong.
‘So I thought maybe we could have lunch together and get to know each other a bit better,’ he added.
‘Sorry,’ Rosie said. ‘I’m afraid I have a previous engagement.’ Just as she did every Monday, Wednesday and Friday when Penny was in the hospital.
He looked as if he hoped she’d be polite and invite him to join her in whatever she was doing. Well, tough. This wasn’t about him. It was about her patient. ‘I’m sure Kathleen or one of the others would be very happy for you to join them in the canteen,’ she said.
‘Thank you. Then I’ll go and find them,’ he said, with that same charming smile.
And Rosie felt thoroughly in the wrong.
But Leo had already turned away and it was too late to call him back and explain.
* * *
Why was Rosie Hobbes so prickly with him? Leo wondered. Everyone else at Paddington Children’s Hospital had seemed pleased that he’d joined the team and had welcomed him warmly. Everyone except Rosie.
Did she hate all men?
Possibly not, because earlier he’d seen her talking to Thomas Wolfe, the cardiology specialist, and she’d seemed perfectly relaxed.
And why was he so bothered when she was just one member of the team? Wherever you worked, there was always a spectrum: people you got on really well with, people you liked and people you had to grit your teeth and put up with. He was obviously one of the latter, where Rosie was concerned, even though today was the first time they’d met. He knew he ought to just treat her with the calm professionalism he reserved for people who rubbed him up the wrong way. But he couldn’t help asking about her when he was sitting in the canteen with a couple of the junior doctors and two of the nurses.
‘So Rosie doesn’t usually join you?’ he asked.
‘Not when Penny’s in,’ Kathleen said.
‘Penny?’
‘You must’ve seen her when Robyn took you round,’ Kathleen said. ‘One of our patients. Six years old, brown hair in plaits and the most amazing eyes—grey, with this really distinctive rim?’
Leo shook his head. ‘Sorry. It doesn’t ring a bell.’
‘Well, you’ll definitely get to know her while you’re here. She has heart failure, and she’s been in and out of here for months,’ Kathleen explained. ‘She’s a total sweetheart. Rosie’s one of the nurses who always looks after her. When she’s in on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, Rosie spends her lunch break reading her ballet stories.’
‘Because the little girl likes ballet, I presume?’ Leo asked.
‘Lives and breathes it. And also it gives her mum or dad a break, depending on who’s taken the time off to be with her,’ Kathleen explained.
‘So Penny’s special to Rosie?’
‘She’s special to all of us,’ Kathleen said. ‘If you’ve seen any drawings pinned up in the staff room or the office, nine times out of ten it’ll be one of Penny’s.’
‘Right.’ Leo wondered why Rosie hadn’t told him that herself. Or maybe she’d thought he’d have a go at her for being unprofessional and showing too much favouritism to a patient.
He chatted easily with the others until the end of their lunch break, then headed back to the ward. The first person he saw was Rosie, who he guessed had just left her little patient.
‘So did Penny enjoy her story?’ he asked.
Colour flooded into her cheeks. ‘How do you know about that?’
‘Kathleen said you have a regular lunch date with her when you’re in.’
‘It gives Julia and Peter—her parents—a chance to get out of here for a few minutes to get some fresh air,’ she said. ‘And it isn’t a problem with Robyn.’
So
