by Nell Dixon
“What do you think? This house is great, a real family home. It’s a place to grow into. Polly will love it.”
Nathalie turned and walked into the hall. She didn’t even know why she’d been getting excited. The house was for Evan and Polly, for a family. Evan’s family. There were enough bedrooms to expand if he had more children.
“Are you okay?” Evan stood behind her and placed his hand on her waist.
“I’m fine. It’s gone a little cold in here.” She rubbed her hands on the tops of her arms, stepping out of Evan’s reach. She did her best to ignore the little stab of pain in her heart.
He checked his watch. “You’re right. It’s getting late, and we should head back.” He opened the front door for her before switching off the light and securing the house.
“It looks as if my big brother has finally done something good by finding you this place.” Nathalie forced a smile.
“I’m glad you came with me.”
“I’ve enjoyed it.” She was sincere. She had enjoyed being with Evan and looking at the properties. She squashed the sad, sorry-for-herself feeling back down into her stomach.
“I’m grateful. It’s so much better having someone else with me. Two people notice things that someone on their own doesn’t.”
“I think you’d better make sure you call the owners as soon as possible. A house as nice as this won’t stay on the market for long.”
Evan pulled his phone from his jacket pocket. “No time like the present.”
Nathalie gave him a thumbs-up before strolling a little way off so he could talk in privacy. She crossed the gravel driveway to the side of the house and leaned on the wooden fence to admire the view across the field. There were buildings at the bottom of the paddock. It looked as if there might even be a ready-made stable for Polly’s pony.
“They’ve accepted the offer.” Evan’s voice next to her startled her out of her reverie. Lost in her own thoughts, she hadn’t heard him approach.
“That’s fantastic! I assume everything will move quite quickly, as the house is empty and you haven’t a property to sell.” She straightened up from where she had been resting her arms on the top rail of the fence and thrust her hands into her pockets.
“I hope so. The sooner Polly is settled, the better. Mum has been very good letting us stay with her, but Polly needs her own room with her own things. She’s been very insecure since the divorce was settled.”
“Have you heard from Laurel?” Nathalie wished she hadn’t asked. It wasn’t any of her business if Evan kept in touch with his ex-wife. Any questions she asked would make him think she was being nosy. Or worse, jealous.
“I expect she’ll be in touch when she wants something.” Evan sounded resigned rather than bitter.
“You know you’ll have to let Polly have her pony, now that you’re buying a house with all this land.” Nathalie gestured toward the field. She wanted to get off the subject of Laurel.
“I expect you’re right. Come on. I’ll run you home. You look half frozen.”
Nathalie took a step toward the car and felt her boot slide on a patch of loose gravel.
Evan swiftly cupped her elbow as she wobbled off-balance. “Hey, better be careful.”
Nathalie steadied herself against him. Her pulse raced as Evan continued to hold her arm while they made their way to the car.
“Did you hurt yourself?”
“No, you caught me before I fell on my bum.” Nathalie tried to make a joke and hoped Evan wouldn’t notice the heat that had flared in her cheeks.
“It’s a very cute bum.”
She flushed even more.
“Tali, I know we said we’d just be friends, but I can’t help the way I feel when I’m around you.” His eyes were serious as he studied her face.
She pulled her arm away from his hand. Her body trembled with emotion. “Don’t do this to me. You’ve only been back here two minutes, and you’re turning my life upside-down.”
“I’ve spent the last six years wishing I’d done things differently, hoping at some point I could make things right with you and maybe get a second chance.”
Nathalie turned away and tried to blink back the tears in her eyes. “Tell me honestly, Evan — what do you want for your future?”
He spun her back around to face him. “We had something very special together. We wanted the same things in life.”
“That was then. I’ve had enough of today.” She wrenched open the door of the car and climbed inside.
Evan stalked around to the other door and got into the driver’s seat. “I wish you’d tell me what’s wrong. It’s more than just what happened between us in the past. I know you too well, Tali. You were upset when I called to pick you up today.”
She pulled a tissue from her coat pocket and dabbed at her eyes. “Please, just take me home. I don’t want to discuss it. I can’t.”
He started the engine and flicked a quick glance at her. Nathalie kept her eyes fixed straight ahead, determined not to look at him.
“Are you going to tell me?”
She ignored him. Her private life was none of his business. And what if she did tell him about her problem? He would either tell her the doctors could be wrong or start suggesting folk cures, just like anyone else she had ever entrusted her secret to. Worse still, he might look at her with a pitying expression in his eyes and treat her like some fragile piece of china to be protected from the harsher things in life.
At least this way, she kept her pride. It saved her the hurt of being rejected because she could never have children. She’d be the one to reject him first.
Evan’s mobile phone rang on the tray of the dashboard. “Can you get that for me? It might be the vendors calling back.”
She hesitated for a second before she picked it up. At first she didn’t quite take in what the agitated woman on the other end of the line said. Then the words made sense. “Evan, it’s the school calling about Polly. She’s at the hospital.”
He checked the traffic behind him and swung off the road onto a grass verge. Nathalie handed him the phone, her heart thumping with fear for his little girl.
Evan listened intently, and his face paled. “Okay, thank you. We’re on our way. Tell Polly I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
He disconnected the call and threw the phone onto Nathalie’s lap. “Polly’s in the paediatric emergency room at the hospital. She had an asthma attack at the after school club.” His jaw was taut as he pulled back out into the traffic and gunned the engine.
“Is she all right?” Nathalie forgot her own worries.
“That was the woman who runs the club. She called an ambulance when Polly didn’t respond to her inhalers, and she’s with her at the hospital now. So are the doctors. Curse this traffic!” He thumped the steering wheel with frustration as they got caught up in the early evening traffic of the city centre.
“It’s a good hospital. The paediatricians have a great reputation. Here, take this next left turn. I know a shortcut.” She directed him through a maze of narrow back streets behind the hospital until they reached the car park. Evan pulled into the first available space.
“I know the way to the emergency rooms. I’ve been here often enough.” She linked her arm through his in reassurance, resting her hand firmly on his forearm. He placed his other hand on top of hers, as if taking strength from her presence.
“I just hope she’s okay. I shouldn’t have sent her to school today. She’s still got a nasty cough.”
“If you kept her home every time she had a cough, she would never go out. You can’t blame yourself. Dad always says asthma is very unpredictable, especially in children. Come on. Let’s go find her.” Nathalie longed to hold him close to her and reassure him.
He allowed her to steer him through the different departments. His rapid pace was almost a run in his hurry to reach his child. When they reached the paediatric emergency reception desk, Evan stepped up to the counter. “I’m looking for my daughter, Po
lly Davies.”
The woman behind the desk checked her monitor. “She’s in cubicle three, Mr. Davies. Doctor Chen is with her at the moment. If you could just sign this form for me, then you can go through.”
Nathalie hung back a little from the desk. She longed to know if Polly was all right, but felt as if she were intruding somewhere she had no right to be.
Evan, however, finished signing the hospital paperwork and looked round for her. “Come on.”
She accompanied him through the swing doors and down the corridor, until they came to a curtained-off area. Polly looked so small and frail on the big metal trolley bed. A green oxygen mask covered her face, and a drip was attached to her arm. The male doctor listening to her chest straightened up as Evan and Nathalie entered the room. A young woman with an anxious expression rose from her seat in the corner.
“Oh, Mr. Davies, I’m so glad you’re here,” she said as she stepped forward. “I’m Mrs. James from the four o’clock club. I came with Polly in the ambulance.”
“How is she?” Evan’s gaze was fixed on his daughter. Polly’s big blue eyes opened at the sound of her father’s voice, but she was clearly too exhausted from the asthma attack to attempt to talk.
The doctor rushed to reassure him. “She’s okay now. We’ve stabilised her and given her some steroids. The IV is a precaution for shock, and the oxygen will help her lungs to recover.”
“She looks much better since we got here,” Mrs. James added.
Evan stooped to kiss Polly’s blonde hair. “I got here as fast as I could. Thank goodness you’re all right.”
Nathalie’s eyes filled with tears of relief for both of them. The journey to the hospital had brought back unhappy memories of when Nate had been involved in a bad car accident a few years earlier.
“If I might have a quick word with you, Mr. Davies?” The doctor opened the curtain and motioned to Evan to step outside.
The school supervisor moved to leave. “I have to go home, if you don’t mind. Normally I’d stay, but it’s my son’s cub night, and I’m already late.” The woman smiled an apology at Nathalie and Evan, squeezed Polly’s hand in farewell, and slipped out of the cubicle.
“I’ll stay here with her.” Nathalie took Polly’s other hand in hers. Evan looked at her for reassurance then stepped out into the corridor to talk to the doctor.
“Hi, Polly. You gave us all a bit of a fright, there.” Nathalie smoothed the little girl’s tangled curls, her heart filled with tenderness for the sick child who still struggled to breathe. Polly managed a feeble half smile in reply from under her mask.
Her school bag sat next to the chair where the after-school supervisor had been. Nathalie saw a small piece of familiar pink fabric poking out of the top. She released Polly’s hand for a moment and opened the bag. “Look who I’ve found in here.” She lifted Polly’s favourite doll out from among the schoolbooks and placed it in the little girl’s arms. Polly hugged the battered toy close to her.
“You’re being so brave. I hope I’ll be brave like you when I have to stay in hospital for my operation to make me better.” Nathalie smiled at her.
Polly relaxed back against her pillows, and Nathalie pulled them into position so she was still upright. “When you’re back at home and feeling better I’ll come and see you, then you can show me those dolls of yours.”
Evan stepped back through the curtains into the cubicle, carrying two Styrofoam cups of tea. “I thought you might like a drink.” He handed Nathalie one of the cups. “Thanks for staying with Polly. I gave Mrs. James the money for a taxi home. It seemed the least I could do.”
“Thanks for the tea.” She accepted the drink gratefully. Her throat felt dry from stress and from the long afternoon of property hunting.
“I see Pookie went to school with you again.” Evan touched his daughter’s face with a tender finger and smiled at her.
“She looks a little better,” Nathalie ventured. Polly’s lips seemed to be regaining some of their colour, and the unnatural pallor had begun to lift from her face.
“The doctor wants you to stay here overnight, Poll,” Evan explained. “I’ve phoned Nanny, and she’s going to bring us a bag. The doctor says I can stay with you.”
A tear slid down the side of Polly’s face.
Nathalie wiped the tear from the child’s cheek with the edge of a clean tissue from her pocket. “It’s just for tonight, darling. The sooner you get better, the sooner I’ll come to your house to see you. I’ll bring you a present, something very special and princess-y from my shop. I promise.”
Polly lifted her hand to hold Nathalie’s.
“That’ll be something to look forward to.” There were strain lines around Evan’s eyes, but his expression was warm with gratitude.
A nurse bustled into the cubicle, clipboard in hand. “Miss Polly Davies? I’d better check you over before the porter comes to move you up to the children’s ward.” She wheeled over a blood pressure machine and began to attach a cuff to Polly’s arm.
“I should go.” Nathalie put down her half-drunk cup of tea on top of the locker and edged toward the curtain. Suddenly she felt awkward and in the way.
“Polly and I are really glad you came.” Evan glanced at his daughter.
“If I go over to the post-grad now, I can get a lift home from Daddy. It’s his teaching afternoon with the medical students.” She hitched her bag higher onto her shoulder. “Will you call me and let me know how she is?”
“Of course.” He took both her hands in his. “Thanks again, Tali. For everything.” His lips brushed her forehead, and a shiver of delight ran through her body from her head right down to her feet.
She opened her eyes and pulled her hands free. “Bye. Polly, I’ll see you soon.” Polly gave a weak wave with her fingers as the nurse undid the cuff from her arm. Seizing her chance, Nathalie slipped out of the cubicle and walked swiftly away along the corridor toward the exit.
****
Nathalie popped her head around the half-open door of the office. “Hello, Daddy. Any chance of a lift home?”
“Nathalie! What a pleasant surprise. I was just about to leave.” Her father looked up from the pile of case notes on his desk. “Are you coming back for supper? You know your mother wants to find out how your appointment went.”
Nathalie grimaced. “Supper would be lovely.”
“I take it from the look on your face that you’re going to go ahead with the surgery.” He lifted off his glasses and placed them in his spectacle case.
“I’ve a provisional date for the autumn.”
Her father stood up and gathered her in his arms as if she were no bigger than Polly. “I’m sorry, my dear, but I can’t say I’m surprised. I think you’re doing the right thing.”
Nathalie closed her eyes and hugged her father, revelling in the feeling of security. “Thanks, Daddy. It’s a big step, but no matter how I look at things, it seems that having my womb removed is the only sensible solution.”
Chapter Eight
Gemma had a cup of tea waiting for her when she arrived at the shop the next morning. “How did your appointment go at the hospital?”
“I’ll need some time off in the autumn. I’m having my surgery then.” Nathalie shrugged.
“I’m sorry.” Her assistant’s expression was sympathetic. “At least you won’t be in so much pain, though, and you spend a fortune on tampons. Hey, think of the money you’ll save!” she joked in a clear attempt to lift Nathalie’s spirits.
Nathalie smiled at her friend. “Trust you to turn a negative into a positive.” She took a sip of tea.
“More to the point, how did you get on with Mr. Hunky yesterday?” Gemma leaned across the counter, her eyes alight with curiosity.
“You are so nosey! He’s put an offer in for a house.”
The other girl raised an eyebrow. “So, he’ll be looking for a housekeeper then?” she hinted.
“Gemma! Actually, he’s got other things on his mind at th
e moment. His little girl was taken ill yesterday afternoon while we were out. He’s spent the night at the hospital with her.”
“Oh, that’s awful! Is she all right?”
“I rang the ward this morning before I left home, and they might let her go home later. She has asthma. I think this sort of thing has happened before.” Nathalie cradled her mug in her hands.
“You’re very fond of that little girl, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am. She’s a lovely child.”
“Her dad’s not so bad, either.” Gemma winked.
“You are hopeless! Stop trying to play matchmaker.”
“That’s rich, coming from you. How many times did you try to set Nate up with someone before he fell in love with Jenni?”
Nathalie grinned. “Okay, you might have a point,” she conceded.
After a few minutes’ pause, Gemma asked, “Have you told Evan about your illness?”’
She drank the last of her tea and went to the sink to wash her mug. “No.”
Nathalie heard her friend cross the small room to stand beside her, then felt a comforting arm across her shoulders, hugging her. “Don’t you think you should?” Her voice sounded gentle.
She thought about it. Perhaps she should tell Evan about her problem. It wasn’t fair to prejudge his reactions, and he seemed worried about her. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
“It’s not the end of the world, not being able to have children. If he loves you — and I, for one, think he does — he’ll understand.” Gemma tightened the hug for a moment.
“I’ll think about it.” Nathalie moved away to place her mug back in the cupboard.
She left Gemma on the shop floor while she cocooned herself in her office. She opened her ledger, ready to start the paperwork, but her thoughts kept wandering away from invoices and payments and back onto Polly and Evan.
When she’d rung the children’s ward at breakfast time, she’d expected to speak to a nurse, but instead they had put Evan himself on the line to talk to her. He had sounded weary as he’d answered her questions. Nathalie guessed he hadn’t had much sleep, having spent the night lying on a camp bed at Polly’s bedside.
