style="font-size:15px;"> And that it was all right for Jasmine to stand there and be so compassionate and understanding when she didn’t actually have a clue how it felt to not even be able to get pregnant. Except it was a bit worse than that because Penny used the F word and then asked her sister to get out.
‘Penny, please!’
‘No!’
She was back to being a bitch.
THERE WERE DISADVANTAGES to being a consultant, as Ethan was finding out, because when he came back from his long-awaited days off, which had actually turned into more of an extended wake, half his colleagues were sulking because he’d been out of range and they’d been called in to work.
‘Penny’s sick?’ Ethan frowned when Lisa told him.
That Penny might be ill wasn’t the problem apparently, though it was the problem for Ethan. ‘We had a locum for two nights and Mr Dean came in, but he wasn’t too pleased.’ Lisa brought him up to speed.
‘But if she’s sick, she can’t help it,’ Ethan pointed out as a knot tightened in his stomach. ‘When did she ring in?’
‘Saturday morning.’ Lisa sighed. ‘At the beginning of a long weekend. It’s been a bit grim here, to say the least.’
But it wasn’t just Penny they were annoyed at.
‘Did you have a good break?’ Mr Dean gave a tight, mirthless smile as he walked past, but Ethan just rolled his eyes. He didn’t give a damn about things like that—he worked hard when he was here and was entitled to his days off. The only person Ethan was worried about now was Penny.
Except when he tried to call her, she didn’t pick up her phone.
‘How’s Penny?’ Ethan asked a worried-looking Jasmine when she arrived for her late shift.
Jasmine’s cheeks flushed and she just gave a brief shake of her head.
‘Did she lose it?’
Ethan grimaced when Jasmine gave a reluctant nod.
Ethan headed to his office and rang Kate and told her the little he knew.
‘Don’t call it it,’ Kate suggested.
‘I didn’t mean it like that.’
‘I know,’ Kate said. ‘Poor thing.’
‘I don’t know what to do.’ Ethan didn’t even know how he felt. He was gutted for Penny as he thought of all she had been through.
But there was guilt there as well.
‘I don’t know what you can do either,’ Kate admitted, because Carl had been as invested in the procedures as she had and had been right there beside her when on many occasions the news hadn’t been good. But though she utterly understood where her brother was coming from, he wasn’t going to react as Carl had.
‘Do I just not mention it? I mean …’
‘No,’ Kate said, but then halted. ‘I don’t know. You said she hadn’t told you she was pregnant?’
‘I can’t just ignore it,’ Ethan said. ‘She won’t pick up the phone.’
‘You really like her?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then I think you ought to go over there and just be ready.’
‘For what?’
‘For anything.’
Even as he rang the bell, Ethan had absolutely no idea if he was doing the right thing.
It just couldn’t go past without being noted.
That was all he knew.
She opened the door in her dressing gown, except it was undone and underneath she had on a short nightdress. Ethan hadn’t known many woman who wore silky nightdresses and matching dressing gowns, but this was Penny, he reminded himself, and even if she was a bit washed out, she still looked stunning.
‘I’m so sorry, Penny.’
She looked at him, all brown and healthy and brimming with energy from nearly a week off, and she felt drab and pale in comparison. ‘How do you know?’ Penny asked. ‘Did Jasmine say something?’
Ethan hadn’t even made it through the door and he’d already put his foot in it. ‘No,’ Ethan said. ‘I asked her when I heard you’d called in sick.’
‘She shouldn’t have said anything.’
‘She didn’t say a word,’ Ethan said. ‘I asked if you’d …’ He breathed out. ‘Penny, I knew before you went away that you were pregnant.’
‘How?’
How? Because she was buried so deep in his skull, he’d been on IVF sites and working out dates and watching her unseen, constantly tuned in to her, though she didn’t need to hear that. ‘I just knew,’ Ethan said. ‘Jasmine didn’t say a word.’
Penny opened the door further and let him in.
‘I didn’t know what to bring.’ He was very honest with his discomfort and it helped that he didn’t try to hide it. It helped that he had come too.
‘Wine would have been nice.’
‘I can go out and get some.’
‘I’ve got some open.’ Penny looked at him warily. ‘I’m not very good company.’
‘I’m not here for a party.’
‘Well, you won’t get one. I’m boring even me now in my quest for a baby, so I’d run for the beach now if I were you. I know it’s not your thing. I’ll be back to normal soon.’
‘Come here,’ he said, and he gave her a cuddle. She wriggled a bit as she had the first day he’d held her and then she gave in; it felt really nice to be held by him.
‘Do you want me to go out and get a bottle?’
‘No. I’m drinking alone. Well, not alone, I’ve got my cat.’
And an ugly cat it was too, Ethan thought as feline eyes narrowed in suspicion at a big male stomping through the room. He followed Penny to where she was retrieving her glass and bottle from her bedside table and hovered at the door.
‘I’m a cliché,’ Penny said. ‘I’ll be the mad aunt, if Jasmine ever lets me see them again.’ She closed her eyes. ‘I had a terrible argument with her when I found out. I’m a horrible sister.’
‘I’m
