The Single Dad’s New-Year Bride

by Amy Andrews

  ‘Or I could pick you up,’ Callum said, exasperated. ‘Your choice.’

  ‘You’d better be prepared to get your fingers broken if you do,’ she threatened, looking all the way up into his face.

  ‘Taught you that in your self-defence class too, huh?’

  She nodded. ‘That, and how to break planks with my bare hands.’

  Callum threw back his head and laughed. ‘I’ll bear that in mind. Come on, just lean on me. Think of it as neighbourly.’

  Except it didn’t feel neighbourly as she acquiesced. She was excruciatingly aware of the rub of his hip against her side, the brush of his arm around her waist. It even managed to obliterate the slow, steady throb in her ankle.

  Tom followed them, laden with the shopping bags, and Hailey’s handbag. He fished through it for Hailey’s keys and passed them to his father. Within a minute Hailey was ensconced on her lounge.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said, looking up at Callum. From her reclining position he looked even further up. He was wearing his work clothes but his tie had been removed and his top buttons undone and his sleeves rolled up to his elbow. He looked relaxed and utterly at home in her unit.

  Leave now.

  ‘Have you got a first-aid kit? I’ll strap it. And put ice on it. That should reduce the swelling. What about painkillers? I have some at my place if you haven’t got anything.’

  ‘That won’t be necessary,’ Hailey dismissed, smiling at Tom as he shone his torch on the inflammation around her ankle. It didn’t look too awful and the pain had settled to a dull throb. It didn’t look like a bad sprain.

  Leave now.

  But Callum was already poking around in her kitchen, opening her freezer, helping himself to its contents.

  ‘Here, we’ll use this,’ Callum said, brandishing a bag of frozen veg. ‘Tom, can you grab those cushions off the other lounges?’ he asked as he knelt down and moulded the freezing cold bag to the contours of her ankle.

  Hailey opened her mouth to protest but his fingers felt gentle against her throbbing joint and she knew it needed ice. She winced as the cold enveloped her inflamed joint. Tom helped Callum lift her foot and settle it on top of a pile of cushions.

  ‘R.I.C.E.,’ Callum said, satisfied. ‘Rest, ice, compression and elevation. I’ll leave that on for about ten minutes and then strap it for you. Do you have some paracetamol?’

  He was looking at her and his hand was on her shin, shooting heat right up to her thigh. In her mind’s eye she could see him running it up higher, under the hem of her dress. Higher.

  Leave now.

  ‘That’s really not necessary,’ she said. ‘You’ve done more than enough and—’

  ‘Hailey!’ Callum interrupted. What was it with women these days? Why didn’t they want a man to take care of them? Annie had been like that. ‘I’m a doctor. I’m not leaving here until your ankle’s strapped and I’ve got you something to dull the pain. It’s the least I can do. So just tell me where the damn painkillers are.’

  Hailey blinked at Callum’s exasperated tone. She looked at Tom. Tom looked at Hailey. ‘Bathroom cupboard,’ she sighed.

  ‘Boy,’ Tom said in awe. ‘You made my daddy really cranky.’

  ‘Doesn’t he get cranky usually?’

  Tom thought about it. ‘Only with Grandma sometimes.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘She doesn’t think I should do stuff like climb trees.’

  ‘Oh, I see,’ Hailey said, not really seeing at all.

  Callum strode back into the lounge room, a glass of water and a packet of pills in his hand. ‘Take these.’

  His voice brooked no argument and Hailey swallowed two, knowing that the less it hurt, the more she’d be able to gently exercise it, the quicker it would recover.

  ‘Bandage?’ he asked.

  Hailey didn’t bother with protesting. The sooner he did what he felt was his professional duty, the sooner he could leave. ‘First-aid box under the sink.’

  She returned her gaze to Tom, who gave her a grin. ‘You like television?’ she asked. ‘I have cable.’

  Tom nodded enthusiastically and she got him to pass her the remote control and she surfed until she found a suitable kids’ show.

  Callum returned and knelt by her foot again. He lifted the frozen veg away and inspected the swelling. ‘It doesn’t look too serious,’ he mused, prodding gently, and proceeded to wrap it firmly.

  The feel of her cool skin beneath his fingers was stupidly sensual. He blinked. ‘Nice place you have here.’ Not that he’d noticed a damn thing about it as having her body pressed against his on the way in had totally removed all his cognitive powers.

  ‘Er, yes,’ she said, gathering her wits. The light slide of his fingers as he wound the bandage around her ankle feathered her skin with goose-bumps. ‘It’s Rilla’s. My sister. She bought it after her separation from Luca but now they’re back together again and I needed to be on my own and Beth, my other sister, suggested I rent it so it worked out quite well really.’

  Callum’s fingers stilled. She’d needed to be on her own? Intriguing. He’d known something wasn’t right with her.

  ‘There’s a great view of the river and it’s so close to everything.’

  Of course, he would know that, given that he lived here as well. Shut up, damn it! She was babbling. But, honestly, how could something as asexual as applying a bandage to a disgustingly puffy ankle be so erotic?

  Callum nodded absently, searching for a topic that would distract him from the insane urge to bend his head to her injury and a drop a kiss against it. He’d been a dad for too long. Hell, he’d been single too long.

  ‘I’m glad I got a chance to see you again today, actually. I wanted to check if you were OK this afternoon but you’d already left.’

  The touch of his hand was terribly distracting and she frowned at him, trying to make sense of what he’d said. ‘OK?’

  ‘The thing with Henry…’ he prompted.

  ‘Hmm? Oh, right. Sure, sure.’ She nodded her head for proper emphasis and pointed to the discarded shopping bags. ‘Retail therapy. Works every time. You?’ she asked.

  He lifted his gaze to her face and shrugged. ‘Tom is a pretty good antidote to most things.’

  Tom chose that moment to giggle at something funny on television and they both glanced at him and smiled. ‘Yeah, I bet he is,’ she said softly.

  Callum heard the wistful note in her voice and glanced back at her sharply. Her voice was pregnant with longing yet her eyes seemed muddied with confusion. ‘Family’s good for that,’ he murmured gently.

  Hailey flicked her gaze back to Callum, aware again of his hand on her leg. This had to stop. ‘Speaking of which, my sisters have obviously heard about our 2B emergency and are going to be here in about…’ she checked her watch ‘…ten minutes to coddle me for the night.’

  ‘That’s nice of them,’ Callum murmured.

  Hailey nodded. Yes, it was. But she’d been coddled to death when she’d first arrived back from the UK and she was over it a little. It’s why she’d struck out on her own. To show them she was fine. ‘This place is a mess, though,’ she groaned, looking around quickly and shifting her leg to get up.

  Callum kept his hand firmly on her shin. He gave her apartment a quick visual once-over. It wasn’t too bad. ‘Looks OK to me.’

  ‘The kitchen has two days’ worth of dirty dishes piled on the sink and I haven’t vacuumed in for ever,’ she protested.

  ‘Would your sisters care about that?’

  ‘Well, no. But it is Rilla’s place and she’s a bit of a neat freak, and I’d hate her to think I wasn’t looking after it.’

  Callum shook his head. He remembered the complete and utter wasteland he’d lived in for those first six months after Annie had died when he’d barely been able to put one foot in front of the other and had been desperately tired from a baby who had just never seemed to sleep. He was relatively immune to mess.

  ‘Well, I don’t think eithe
r of them would want you hobbling around on a freshly sprained ankle, making the place pretty for them.’ The doorbell rang and he saw Hailey start. ‘And it appears they’re early. Too late now.’

  ‘Great,’ Hailey grumbled, moving to push herself up again.

  Callum restrained her gently, his hand pushing firmly against her leg. He stood. ‘I’ll get the door.’

  Hailey opened her mouth to protest. Her sisters would get totally the wrong idea. But Callum was almost at the door so she shut her eyes and wished herself anywhere but there.

  Callum opened the door to two women and a baby. The shorter one, who looked quite similar to Hailey, was laden with three mouth-wateringly aromatic pizza boxes. ‘Hi,’ he said to their startled faces.

  ‘Er, hi.’ Rilla frowned, looking around the man in her sister’s doorway trying to locate Hailey. Her gaze came back to rest on the stranger. She clicked her fingers. ‘Tuxedo man.’

  It was Callum’s turn to frown. ‘Callum,’ he said, holding out his hand. ‘Callum Craig.’

  ‘You’re Callum Craig?’ Rilla asked, shaking the proffered hand.

  Beth turned to her sister for clarification. ‘The one who helped her today? The paediatrician?’

  Rilla nodded. ‘Apparently.’

  They turned to look at him and he felt like he was a specimen placed under a microscope. He shook the other sister’s hand, mindful not to wake the sleeping baby as they introduced themselves. ‘Hailey had a little accident on the stairs. I was just getting her settled.’

  Rilla and Beth didn’t wait for him to step aside, brushing past him in a hurry at his news.

  ‘Hailey!’ Beth called.

  ‘It’s OK,’ Hailey said from the lounge, having been privy to the excruciatingly embarrassing doorway introductions. ‘I’m fine. It’s just a mild sprain.’

  There was much bluster and fussing for five minutes as Callum and Hailey filled them in on what had happened. Bridie woke up with all the noise and Beth sat on the lounge opposite her sister to feed the baby. Tom was utterly fascinated and sat next to Beth with rapt attention, gently stroking Bridie’s forehead as she nursed.

  ‘Anyway, we should be going,’ Callum said when he could get a word in edgeways. ‘Come on, Tom.’

  ‘Oh, no, Daddy, please, not yet,’ he begged.

  Beth smiled at the earnest expression on Tom’s face. ‘Stay,’ she urged. ‘Let us feed you. It’s the least we can do for the assistance you rendered our sister. We have plenty. We always buy more—Hailey’s favourite food is cold pizza,’ she teased.

  ‘It is not,’ Hailey protested, blushing. Although it was up there.

  ‘Please, Daddy.’

  Callum could feel himself weakening. It had been a long time since he’d been enveloped in such family hospitality. And he still found it hard to say no to Tom. He glanced at Hailey.

  Hailey wanted Beth to take back the invitation. She didn’t want to dine with him. She didn’t want him to be privy to the intimacy of her family. She wanted him to leave. But her sisters were right. He had been terrifically helpful and it seemed churlish to kick him out when they had enough food to feed an army. ‘Join us,’ she said, forcing a welcoming smile to her lips. ‘Please.’

  Callum fought temptation for a few seconds and then succumbed. ‘Sure. Thanks. Tom loves pizza too.’

  Tom cheered and startled Bridie, who protested the loss of her food supply before she found the nipple again.

  ‘How can I help?’ Callum asked Rilla.

  ‘You can grab some plates,’ she replied.

  Hailey watched in dismay as Callum and Rilla disappeared into the kitchen, the feeling that things were spinning out of her control taking a firm hold. ‘So, Callum, you do house calls?’ she heard Rilla ask, and she groaned out loud.

  Hailey didn’t taste a single morsel of the delicious gourmet pizza that was served. The conversation eddied and flowed around her and she felt as if she was in the middle of a whirlpool, sucked along, buffeted by the ripples everyone else was making with no control over their direction.

  She nodded in the right places, murmured words that seemed to be required of her but inside her head her brain was spinning, sloshing from one side to the other, always a few seconds behind. She felt a slight headache take up residence and she massaged her forehead to relieve the building pressure.

  ‘Are you OK?’ Callum murmured, noticing the movement.

  Hailey started a little at his deep voice so close to her ear and wished again that he’d decided to sit on the other side of the lounge. With her taking up one sofa and Rilla and Beth taking up the other, Callum had opted for the floor. He was currently propped up against the arm of her chair, his long legs stretched out in front, crossed at the ankles.

  ‘I’m fine,’ she dismissed quickly.

  Callum didn’t think she looked fine at all but took that as his cue to rejoin the conversation. He glanced over at Tom, lying in front of the television, and then returned his attention to the women. It was fascinating stuff, trying to work out the dynamics of Hailey’s family. The sisters’ interactions were interesting, their verbal and non-verbal communication telling of a very close relationship.

  Beth and Rilla teased Hailey mercilessly. They joked about her shopping addiction, her fondness for eighties disco music, her party-girl existence and her string of short-lived boyfriends. Hailey seemed distracted, responding automatically, but neither sister seemed to notice, the routine obviously familiar to them all.

  Callum was surprised. The fun-loving Hailey that Beth and Rilla obviously knew and loved was not the Hailey he had seen. He remembered the New Year’s Eve party. She’d been serious—solemn even. And she’d most certainly been alone. The picture her sisters painted just didn’t fit in with the first impressions he had already formed.

  What had happened to her?

  His musings were interrupted by a cry of distress from Tom. He looked up to find his son wild-eyed in front of him, tears trekking down his cheeks.

  ‘My orchie, Daddy. I’ve lost orchie.’

  Callum felt his gut clench at the distress in his son’s voice. He pulled him down onto his lap and cuddled him close. ‘It’s OK, Tommy, it was just here—it can’t be too far away.’

  Hailey saw the look in Tom’s eyes and was surprised to see something akin to panic. She’d wondered about the connection to the rather austere object. Was it some kind of comfort toy? Like a favourite teddy or a soft blanket? She glanced at Rilla and Beth, who looked equally bewildered.

  She’d been aware of a hard object pressing into her good foot for a while and suddenly it clicked as to what it was. Tom’s torch. He must have dropped it there when he’d been shining it on her injury earlier.

  She bent at the waist to retrieve it. ‘Ahh! Look what I’ve found!’ Hailey exclaimed.

  ‘Orchie! Orchie!’ Tom beamed, grabbing it from Hailey and hugging it close.

  ‘Tom,’ Callum chided gently. ‘It’s not polite to snatch. Say thank you to Hailey.’

  ‘Oh, thank you, Hailey. Thank you!’ Tom said, and flung his arms around her neck.

  The torch was squashed into her chest and Hailey wondered if there would be a bruise there in the morning, but Tom’s high little voice, full of gratitude, overrode any discomfort. His little skinny arms trembled as they clung to her and Hailey held him tight.

  ‘OK, Tom.’ Callum laughed, pulling him off Hailey’s neck. ‘You’ve got orchie, now go back and watch the telly.’

  Tom nodded and skipped away happily. No one would have ever guessed that a minute ago he’d looked on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Callum apologised to Hailey. ‘He’s very attached to it.’

  Hailey rubbed absently at the spot just below her shoulder where the imprint of the torch was still making itself felt. ‘Like a security blanket?’ she murmured.

  Callum nodded. He looked up, seeing the curious looks over Tom’s attachment to something as non-cuddly as a torch. He glanced over at h
is son again to check that he was too absorbed in the show to be listening.

  ‘Tom was diagnosed with ALL two years ago. He had a lot of complications and spent quite a bit of time in hospital. At night, on the ward, it was dark and he’d wake up really frightened. One of the nurses suggested I buy him a torch, give him back some control. I’m afraid they still can’t be parted.’

  Hailey felt as if the walls were closing in. Acute lymphocytic leukaemia? She heard the gasps and the sympathetic murmurs from her sisters but was too frozen to respond. Tom was sick?

  ‘Is his treatment complete?’ Rilla asked.

  ‘Six months now,’ Callum confirmed. He didn’t say what the three nurses would have already known. Tom needed five years in remission to be given the all-clear. He could relapse at any moment.

  Hailey stared at him unblinkingly. Tom was sick? It felt like déjà vu. She remembered Eric. How his meningitis had developed out of the blue and he’d been dead within two days. How the love she’d once felt for Paul, Eric’s father, had been mangled by the vortex of grief, guilt and blame.

  Hailey vaguely heard Callum mentioning his wife’s battle with cancer but was still too stunned over the information on Tom to really compute this latest tidbit. Callum had certainly been through a harrowing six years. If it had been anything like this last year for her, she was amazed he was still standing.

  Oh, dear God. She was doing it again. Becoming attracted to a man with a sick child. A sick, motherless child. Becoming? Who was she kidding? There was no becoming about it. She was. She’d arrived. She was attracted to him. But this was worse than with Paul. Much worse. She’d known Callum for a week and she could barely think about anything else.

  For heaven’s sake, he’d sat beside her all evening and she couldn’t recall a thing anyone had said. This was no friendship evolving into something else, no slow burn, as it had been with Paul. This was a raging bush fire set to explode out of control. Last time had crushed her and already she knew this wasn’t in the same league. She couldn’t survive another doomed attraction.

  ‘Isn’t that right, Hailey?’

  ‘Wh-what?’ Hailey spun around, Beth’s voice intruding into her seething thoughts.