by Annie O'Neil
“Hey!” Theo nodded at the table, brow creased. “You’d better apologize.”
“What?” Disbelief flashed across Finn’s features then a smile. “You want me to say sorry to the table? Sorry, table. I don’t know what got into me.” He held his hands out wide. Happy now? the gesture read.
Theo closed the handful of meters between them with a few long-legged strides, crossed his arms over his chest and looked Finn square in the eyes. “Are you all right to handle this?”
His hospital. His terms.
Fair enough.
“’Course.” Finn said. “But if you think I’m not up to it? Take me off. Bear in mind you’ll have to drag me out of here and nurse the black eyes of whoever you think can operate on Adao better than me.”
No point in saying he’d have to deliver the punches from a wheelchair if his knee carried on mimicking a welding iron.
He ground his back teeth together and waited. Theo knew as well as he did that the last thing he’d do was punch someone. But it was Theo’s hospital. Theo’s call.
Theo feigned giving Finn a quick one-two set of boxing punches, making contact with his midsection as he did.
Finn didn’t budge. He had a slight edge on Theo in height, weight and age. The Grand Poo-bah of Limb Specialists, they’d once joked.
“Look at that.” Finn’s tone was as dry as the Sahara. “I’m turning the other cheek.”
Theo widened the space between them and whistled. “Have you been working out again?”
Finn smiled. Always had. Always would.
Pushing himself to the physical limit was one of the things that kept the demons at bay.
Theo gave Finn’s shoulder a solid clap. “You’re the one I want on this. The only one.” He didn’t need to spell out to Finn how his time in the military had prepared him more than most for the injuries Adao had sustained. “Just want to make sure you’re on top form when the little guy arrives.”
“What? Nah.” Finn waved away his concerns, gritting his teeth against the grinding of his knee against his prosthesis. “I just save this curmudgeon act for you. Someone’s gotta be the grumpy old man around here.”
“I thought that was Dr. Riley.”
They both laughed. Dr. Riley had yet to be seen without an ear-to-ear grin on his face. The man had sunbeams and rainbows shooting out of his ears. The children adored him. Most people called him Dr Smiley.
Finn nodded toward the Christmas tree twinkling away in the dimly lit reception area where they stood. “A bit early, isn’t it?”
“Not if you’re Evie.”
Finn grunted. Evie was the resident Mrs. Claus around Hope Children’s Hospital. Especially now she was all loved up. Just being around her and Ryan made him...well...suffice it to say it brought up one too many memories he’d rather not confront. Love. Marriage. They’d never got as far as the baby carriage, he and Caroline. Now he supposed he never would.
Guess that made him the resident Scrooge. Not that he had anything against Christmas in particular, it was just...seeing these poor kids in hospital over the holidays always bugged him. He may not want to hang out with his own family, but he was damn sure these kids wanted nothing more than their mums and dads at the end of their beds on Christmas morning.
“Anyone else about for Adao’s arrival?”
Finn shook his head. “Not that I know about. I’ve got the usual suspects lined up for tomorrow so we can give him a proper assessment.” He listed a few names. “Right.” He clapped his hands together. “I’m going to get on up to the roof, if you don’t mind. Clear the cobwebs before Adao arrives.” He stood his ground. Theo was smart enough to take the absence of movement as his cue to leave and turned toward the bank of elevators.
“Hey,” Theo called over his shoulder as he was entering the elevator. “You know we have a team of experts who look after that sort of thing.”
Theo didn’t have to look at Finn’s knee for Finn to know what he was talking about. He knew the offer was there. He just didn’t want to take it. Pain equaled penance. And he had a helluva lot of making up to do. Parents. Brother. Ex-wife. Friends. And the list went on.
“Good to know.” He waited until the elevator doors closed before he moved.
A string of silent expletives crossed his lips as he hobbled over to a sofa, pulled up his trouser leg and undid the straps to ease the ache in his knee, not even caring when the whole contraption clattered to the floor.
One breath in...one breath out...and a silent prayer of thanks that he had this moment alone. He didn’t do weak.
Not in public anyway.
The handful of moments he’d let himself slide into self-pity over the years...those would remain buried in his chest as bitter reminders of the paths he shouldn’t have taken. The lessons he should’ve learned.
He gave his prosthesis a bit of a kick.
“It’s just you and me, mate. Guess we’d better start finding a way to make nice.”
CHAPTER TWO
“ARE YOU HANGING about for a meet-and-greet with Adao?”
Naomi went wide-eyed at Evie’s question. She hadn’t said anything, but that had definitely been her plan. A volley of responses ricocheted round her chest and lodged in her throat because she didn’t want Evie to hear any of them.
I know how he feels.
He’s probably as scared as I was.
I wanted him to know there’s someone here who understands what it’s like to live in a world ruled by guns and fear.
But Evie knew nothing of Naomi’s past. Having Adao here would be the biggest emotional challenge she’d faced since arriving in Britain at the ripe age of fifteen. Scared. Utterly alone.
Two things she never wanted Adao to feel.
At least he knew his family was waiting at home for him.
Naomi pinned on her bright smile—the one she ensured her patients and colleagues knew her by—and asked, “How’d you guess?”
Evie shrugged in her elfin way. She just did.
Naomi liked to think of Evie as the entire hospital’s resident Christmas faerie. She had a canny knack for intuiting things. That and a heart the size of Britain. She smiled as Evie shifted Grace on her hip, the baby who’d been abandoned at the hospital a few months ago and who was to be adopted by Evie and her soon-to-be husband, Ryan.
“I have a really ridiculous question.” Evie looked at her a bit bashfully.
“Shoot.”
“I’m not exactly sure where Kambela is.”
“Adao’s home?” Naomi knew what Evie was really asking. Is it anywhere near where you’re from? Her English, no matter how hard she tried, was still lightly accented. “It’s on the coast of Africa. Near the Horn.”
Right next door to her country. Zemara.
“Hey...is everything all right with you?”
Uh-oh. Evie’s emotional intuition radar was beep-beep-beeping like a metal detector in her direction...not so good.
“Fine! Great.” Naomi tipped her head toward the glass doors leading out of the front of the hospital and grinned. “Did you see that?”
“Violet being discharged early? Amazing. You did such good work with her.” Evie grinned and shifted Grace from one arm to the other. “Oof! This little girl’s putting on weight at a rate of knots! I’ll have ‘mom arms’ soon.”
Naomi smiled and gave the tip of the baby’s nose a tickle. Hope Hospital had hit the headlines with this little girl and would again soon with Adao...if the surgery went well and the rehab was successful. So much of recovery had to do with a patient’s will. The will to fight. The desire to survive. The stamina to confront what had happened to them head on.
She crossed her fingers behind her back for Adao, ignoring the tight twist of nerves constricting the oxygen in her lungs.
“Are you waiting for Ryan?”
E
vie nodded, her smile hitting the ear-to-ear register. If a couple of red-breasted robins flew in the front door and began adorning her with mistletoe, she could easily be the poster girl for Cupid’s arrow. “He’s just come out of surgery. I’m swotting up for nursing college in the new term and he’s promised to talk me through all the signs, symptoms and early treatment for scarlet fever if I make him an early Christmas dinner.”
“Turkey and all the trimmings?” Naomi couldn’t hide her shock. She knew they were in love, but Christmas dinner on a “school night”?
“Giant prawn cocktails and pavlova.” Evie shrugged and shifted Grace in her arms again. Whatever her Australian-born fiancé wanted...
Naomi giggled. “You are well and truly loved up, aren’t you?”
Evie blushed in response. Her whole world had changed. “It’s not just me, is it? Have you seen Alice lately? Sunbeams. Everywhere she goes. And Marco can’t stop humming opera during surgery these days.” She drummed her free fingers on her chin and gave Naomi a mischievous sideways look. “I wonder who’s next?”
Naomi put up her hands and laughed. “Not me!” That ship of possibility had sailed long ago.
“Why not? You’re beautiful. Amazing at your job. You’d be a real catch.”
If cowardice was something a man could ever love, sure. But it wasn’t. Which was precisely why she kept herself just out of love’s reach.
She was just about say “Finn Morgan” to be contrary, but stopped herself. The man had scowling down to a fine art. At least around her. But the season of good cheer was upon them so she stuck to what had served her best when her past pounded at that locked door at the back of her mind: a positive attitude. “I reckon Mr. Holkham down in the cafeteria could do with a bit of a love buzz.”
Evie threw back her head and laughed. “A love buzz? I don’t know if that’s a bit too energetic for him. What is he? Around seventy?”
“I think so. I love that Theo hired retirees who wanted to keep active, but...if anyone needs a love buzz it’s him.” She made a silly face. “Anything to make him chirpier when he serves up the lasagna. Who wants garlic bread with a side of gloom?”
“Good point.”
Naomi could almost see the wheels turning in Evie’s mind...already trying to figure out who she could couple with the sweet, if not relatively forlorn, older gentleman. She’d tried to tease a smile from him every day since the hospital had opened, to no avail. Perhaps she should ask him for a coffee one day. Maybe he was just lonely. A widower.
She knew more than most that with love came loss and that’s why being cheerful, efficient and professional was her chosen modus operandi.
“Ooh, Gracie, look. It’s Daddy!” Evie took her daughter’s teensy hand and made it do a little wave as Ryan approached with a broad smile and open arms.
Naomi gave Evie’s arm a quick squeeze and smiled. “I’d better get up there.”
“All right. I’ll leave you to it, then,” Evie said distractedly, her eyes firmly fixed on her future husband.
Naomi took the stairs two at a time all the way up to the fifth floor, as she usually did. She put on the “feel good” blinkers and refocused her thoughts. She was feeling genuinely buoyed by her last session. A cheer-worthy set of results for her patient followed by a discharge. What a way to end a work day!
Watching a little girl skip—skip!—hand in hand with her parents straight out of the hospital doors and away home, where she would be able to spend Christmas with her family. A Christmas miracle for sure. Four months ago, when Violet had been helicoptered in from a near-fatal car accident, Naomi had had her doubts.
It was on days like this her job was the perfect salve to her past. Little girl power at its finest. And knowing she was playing a role in it made it that much better.
If she could keep her thoughts trained on the future, she could hopefully harness some of that same drive and determination in Adao. This was definitely not the time to let her own fears and insecurities bubble to the surface.
Then again, when was it the time?
Never. That was when.
So! Eyes on the prize and all would be well.
She hit the landing for the fifth floor and did a little twirl before pushing the door open.
Happy, happy, happy—Oh.
Not so happy.
The doctor’s hunched shoulders and pained expression spoke volumes.
And not just any doctor.
Finn Morgan.
Of all the doctors at Hope, he was the one she had yet to exchange a genuine smile with. Well...him and the cafeteria chap, but she had to work with Mr. Morgan and he made her feel edgy. The man didn’t do cheery. Not with her anyway.
Some days she had half a mind to tell him to snap out of it. He was a top surgeon at an elite private hospital. He worked on cases only the most talented of surgeons could approach with any hope of success. And still... King of the Grumps.
It wasn’t as if he wasn’t surrounded by people doing their best to create a warm, loving environment at Hope Hospital, no matter what was going on in their personal lives.
Not that she’d ever admit it, but most days she woke up in a cold sweat, her heart racing and arms reaching out for a family she would never see again.
If she could endure that and show up to work with a smile on her face, then whatever was eating away at him could be left at home as well.
She pushed the door open wider, took a step forward then froze. Her breath caught in her throat at the sound of the low moan coming from his direction. As silently as she could, she let the door from the stairwell close in front of her so that all she could see of him through the small glass window was his rounded back moving back and forth as he kneaded at something. His knee? His foot? She’d noticed a slight limp just the once but the look he’d shot her when he’d realized she’d seen it had been enough to send her scuttling off in the other direction.
Even so...
He was sitting all alone in the top floor’s central reception area, his back to her, the twinkling lights of the city beyond him outlining his broad-shouldered physique.
Her gut instinct was to go to Finn... Mr. Morgan, she silently corrected herself...but the powerful “back off” vibes emanating from him kept her frozen at the stairwell door.
She’d been flying so high after finishing with Violet she’d thought she’d put her extra energy to use helping Adao settle in. She’d already been assigned as his physiotherapist—work that wouldn’t begin until after his surgery with Finn Morgan—but she thought meeting him today might help him know there was someone who understood his world. His fears.
She pressed her hand against the glass as another low moan traveled across from the sofa where Finn remained resolutely hunched over his leg.
Something about his body language pierced straight through to her heart. A fellow lost soul trying to navigate a complicated world the best he could?
Or just a grump?
From what she’d seen, the man wouldn’t know a good mood if it bit him on the nose.
She pulled her gaze away from him and searched the skyline for Adao’s helicopter. She’d come here to find her patient, not snoop on a doctor clearly having a private moment.
She had little doubt the little boy was experiencing so many things that she had all those years ago when she’d arrived in the UK from Zemara. The language barrier. The strange faces. No family.
She swallowed against the lump forming in her throat and squeezed her eyes tight.
It was a long time ago.
Eleven years, two months and a day, to be exact.
Long enough to have moved on.
At least that’s what logic told her. But how did you ever forget the day you saw everyone you loved herded into a truck and driven away off to the mountains? Mountains rumored to be scarred with pre-dug mass graves for anyone t
he rebels deemed unfit for their indiscriminatingly cruel army.
Blinking back the inevitable sting of tears, she gave herself a sharp shake and forced herself to paste on a smile. Her life was a good one. She was doing her dream job. In one of the most beautiful cities in the world, no less. Every day she was able to help and nurture children who, against the odds, always found a way to see the good in things.
So that’s what she did, too. Focusing on the future was the only way she had survived those early days. And the only way she could live with herself now.
She pressed her forehead to the small, cool window in the door. In the dimly lit reception area—the lights were always lowered after seven at night—Finn had turned his face so that she could clearly see his profile.
He was a handsome man. Not storybook English—blond and blue-eyed, the way she’d once imagined everyone looked before she’d arrived in the UK. More...rugged, as if he’d just stepped off a plane from a long, arduous trek across the Alps rather than a doctor who had taken the elevator up from the surgical ward where he could usually be found. Not that she’d been stalking him or anything. Far from it. He was an arm’s-length kind of guy judging by the handful of terse encounters they’d had.
Come to think of it, every time their paths had crossed since the hospital had opened—either going into or coming out of a session—he’d bristled.
Physically bristled.
Not the usual effect she had on people but, hey...she didn’t need to be his bestie, she just needed a quality working relationship. That...and a bit of professional respect would be nice. Having seen his work on a near enough daily basis, she knew he respected her work...it would just be nice if that respect included the occasional smile or “Thank you.”
His hair was a rich, dark brown. A tangled mess of waves that could easily turn to curls if it grew out. He was a big man. Not fat. No. Tall and solidly built. A “proper” man, as her birth mother would have said. A real man.
She swallowed back the sting of tears that inevitably followed when she thought of her mother. Her beautiful mother, who had worked so hard to pay for her extra lessons from any of the aid workers who had been based out of her hometown for as long as she could remember.
