in her stride.
‘Abbey’s an experienced manager,’ he said, and made his escape before the emotion on her face and the emotions of the afternoon made him say something else he’d regret.
Bella stared after him and bit her lip. The man was insufferable, always had been, and she didn’t know how Abbey had put up with him all these years.
Scott had been giving her, Bella, a difficult time since she’d started part-time orientation on the ward the previous month but it had never been as blatant as today. He’d almost vibrated with some inner rage and Bella hoped she was out of range when the eruption occurred.
He must be at least forty-two now, she supposed, though he looked much younger and as annoyingly handsome as he’d always been. Bella winced at the memory of the teenage infatuation she’d had for the gorgeous young doctor and, more painfully, his disclosure of her crush to Abbey after their mother had died. Even now, when she saw him, he flustered her just being there.
She really had been useless at love. There had been Scott, when she’d been eighteen. He’d seemed to return her feelings for an idyllic few months until she’d been mortified by his sudden change of heart.
Nursing had carried her through that rejection until she’d completed her midwifery.
Then she’d been pursued and won by the obstetrician she’d worked with in the birthing centre in Sydney. After three years of vague promises by Jason, he’d eventually admitted he’d been unfaithful from the start of their relationship and she’d run home. She certainly could pick them.
Finally, last year, she’d been drugged and the victim of a loathsome sexual attack by a vengeful old flame of Abbey’s, which had almost destroyed the last vestiges of her self-worth. She’d wished the drug he’d slipped her had erased her memory of the attack and not just the strength to fight him off. That attack had been hard to come to terms with but out of the ashes of that experience had come her rebirth.
Somehow she’d conquered her fear and helped extricate them all when her attacker had returned to destroy Abbey. Dropping a plant pot on someone’s head from upstairs didn’t make Bella a heroine but it had had the desired effect! When the police had taken the man, Harrows, away, she’d felt the balance of power swing back her way.
She’d felt cleansed of the irrational but sapping guilt the attack had left her with. Instead of the usual scenario of big sister Abbey saving Bella—something Abbey had always done—Bella had saved Abbey! There was salvation in that thought and Bella had used it to drive herself to a new life.
She’d never be the champion her sister was, but she was learning to hold her own. And she would refuse to rely on a man for her happiness. So what Scott Rainford thought of her shouldn’t matter.
Bella kicked a linen bag and the automatic kickboxing hand posture that went with the kick made her laugh at herself. Her year of self-defence classes had turned out to be an absorbing challenge. She’d achieved many things in the last twelve months and Scott Rainford was not going to undermine her success with his bitterness.
She used that thought to insulate herself against the pricking pain she shouldn’t be feeling from mere words. Furiously she cleaned the instruments and wiped the trolley down. He had no idea what she was capable of.
When Bella unlocked her front door it seemed a year since she’d left the house that morning. As she put down her bag, she realised that with all the excitement of Lachlan’s arrival she’d forgotten she had to drive the youth bus tonight.
She stifled a sigh and hung her house keys on the hallstand. The chortling sound of a baby’s laugh made her smile as she wandered into the kitchen.
‘Your meal is on the stove, Bella.’ Vivie, Bella’s nineteen-year-old housekeeper, looked up from the last spoonful of vegetables she was trying to coax into her son’s mouth. She grinned at Bella’s appreciate sniff. ‘I made your favourite. Pumpkin and macadamia soup. And congratulations on being an auntie.’
Bella ruffled the baby’s hair and the little boy gurgled up at her. ‘Thank you, Vivie. You’re a treasure. I’ve just remembered I have two hours before my first bus trip. Do you want to slip up to see Abbey and baby Lachlan while I mind young Ro?’
Vivie’s baby had been named after Abbey’s husband, Rohan. They all shortened the baby’s name to prevent confusion. Bella lifted the lid on the pot and closed her eyes as the soup’s aroma filled the room. ‘You should be a chef, Vivie. Your meals are fabulous.’
Vivie shook her head vehemently. ‘I’m happy here, thank you. And I’d love to see Abbey and the baby for a few minutes if I could.’ Vivie put the spoon down and wiped her son’s mouth with his bib before she lifted him out and onto his play mat in the corner. ‘We saw Rohan. He dropped in to see Aunt Sophie after he left the hospital. He looked pretty blown away by being a father.’
Bella smiled as she ladled soup into a bowl Vivie had left out for her. Rohan had a soft spot for Bella’s elderly maiden aunt who resided in the front rooms of Bella’s big house. An avid punter, Aunt Sophie’s world revolved around her television set and penny-gambling on horse races via telephone.
‘I’ll take Aunt Sophie over to see them when they come home. She hates going out.’ Bella smiled as she imagined her aunt’s visit to Abbey and her baby in a few days. ‘Who’s home?’
Bella’s family home had grown into a self-sufficient refuge for young women in crisis, something Abbey had unintentionally started before she’d moved next door with her new husband. Bella had expanded that aim when she’d taken over the house.
Vivie ticked off the people on her fingers. ‘Melissa is still here, but she wants to go with you in the bus to the bowling club and needs to talk to you about a friend who wants to board.’
Bella looked up and mentally reviewed the rooms. There were three left. ‘We’ll see.’
Vivie nodded and went on. ‘Lisa is still feeling unwell from morning sickness and is lying down, and Aunt Sophie said she’s staying in her rooms until the last race. The twins have gone out but they did bring the washing in and put it away before they went.’ She pushed the high chair back against the wall.
‘Oh, and Dr Rainford rang and said he wanted to come on the bus with you tonight.’
The spoonful of soup on the way to Bella’s mouth stopped in mid-air. ‘Now, how the heck did he find out I was driving tonight?’
Vivie looked uncomfortable. ‘He said he’d ring back when you got home and I mentioned you’d be in and out after seven. And it went on from there. Sorry.’
Bella put the untouched spoon back into the bowl and forced a smile. ‘No problem. You go and see Abbey. Young Ro and I will stay here until you get back, then I’ll get organised.’
Vivie smiled her thanks and dashed off to change. Bella lifted the spoon again. She did not understand how Scott Rainford thought he could barge into her private life uninvited. Why would he want to when he was obviously unhappy about her presence in his professional orbit?
It was five to seven and Bella had backed the cumbersome bus out of the garage into the driveway to allow her first passenger to board.
Melissa, at eighteen, was thirty-four weeks pregnant, and her yellow chenille trousers made Bella blink. Melissa’s wrists jangled every time she moved her hands and her
