Children’s Doctor, Christmas Bride

by Lucy Clark

  ‘Oh?’ Summer immediately looked at Jason and was not only surprised to note that she didn’t feel at all self-conscious, given that they’d previously been caught kissing, but that the look which crossed his face was one of absolute delight at her son’s request. ‘Sure. If that’s all right with Jason.’

  Tommy turned to face him, taking in a deep breath to ask his earnest question, even though he had all but edged behind Summer in case he should be rejected. ‘JD, would you mind—’

  ‘Reading you a story?’ Jason finished as he rushed forward to scoop the boy up into his arms and then sling him around so that Tommy now rode on his back. Both Summer and Tommy were taken by surprise at the sudden movement, but a split second later Tommy was laughing, his arms securely around Jason’s neck.

  ‘Say “Giddy-up” and we’ll be on our way to a magical land created by our imaginations.’

  ‘Giddy-up,’ Tommy called, and Summer could only shake her head and smile. How was she supposed to get him to sleep when he was hyped up like this? Thank goodness it wasn’t a school night.

  Summer decided to give them a bit of privacy and took the opportunity to go and freshen up. When she looked at herself in the mirror, she was surprised to find her cheeks were still warm with colour and her eyes bright with excited anticipation. How could such a transformation have occurred by just a few amazingly tantalising kisses from a man she couldn’t stop thinking about?

  ‘Very easily,’ she answered with a grin, although it slowly faded as her mind started ticking over with a thousand other questions. What happened now? Were they a couple? Dating? Would he want more? Was she capable of giving it? How would Tommy react if she did start dating Jason? How would they spend time together? Would anybody else know? Would anybody else be able to tell that she’d been kissed with such promise just by looking at her?

  She closed her eyes and tipped her head back, not wanting to think about such things at the moment. Instead, she went and stood in the doorway to Tommy’s room. It was so incredibly strange to see Jason in there. He was sitting up against the headboard on top of the covers while Tommy snuggled down beneath. He held the book open, pointing out different things in the pictures. It was a book about different fighter jets and where Summer often frustrated her son by not fully comprehending the absolute importance of not getting an F1-11 and an F15 mixed up, Jason appeared to understand everything with perfect clarity.

  ‘It’s the Rolls Royce of fighter jets,’ Tommy was saying, and Jason agreed.

  ‘I have always been partial to the old Spitfires.’

  ‘Aw, they’re awesome.’

  ‘Totally buzzin’,’ Jason said with a smile. ‘I went up in one once.’

  ‘No way.’

  ‘Way. A Spitfire. My dad arranged it with one of his buddies. I was a teenager and old enough to fly but it was…’ He thought back and Summer watched as a far away look came into his eyes. ‘It was like I was flying.’

  Tommy laughed. ‘Yeah, but you were.’

  ‘No. I meant the feeling that absolutely nothing could go wrong. That all was right with life and the world. It was freedom and happiness all mixed into one with a large helping of adrenaline.’

  ‘Have you ever felt like that again?’

  Jason pondered that question for a moment and, without turning his head, he lifted his eyes and met Summer’s and she realised he’d known she was there all along. ‘Once—and quite recently, too. It was just as scary. Just as exhilarating. Just as confusing.’

  She stared at him, trying to figure out if he meant what she thought he meant. Was he equating the kiss they’d just shared to the euphoria he’d felt at being up, no doubt looping the loop, in a Spitfire? Summer wasn’t at all experienced in reading expressions, especially not where it pertained to her. She much preferred it if people just said what they thought, even if it brought pain. At least that way she knew exactly where she stood and could try to figure out a way to deal with things. Such as the time Cameron had brutally told her the truth about the origins of their marriage. Where she’d always thought he’d truly loved her, he’d blatantly told her otherwise. The truth had been hard to swallow but she’d pulled her life together and got on with it. That’s what she seemed to have been doing for so long.

  Now there was Jason, looking at her as though she were someone special. Was she someone special to him or did he want something else from her? It was clear there was an attraction between the two of them but attractions faded, people changed and hearts were broken.

  No one moved. Jason stayed where he was and Summer found it impossible to get her mind to work at all. Tommy was oblivious to the two of them as he continued to study the pictures in the book. So much seemed to be being said but no words were spoken out loud. Jason’s gaze dipped momentarily to her parted lips and the action caused a blush to wash over her from head to toe. When he looked at her like that, she was tempted to forget all about the sensible things of life and let herself go. She couldn’t remember a man ever making her feel this way and that was surely something to think on further.

  When Tommy yawned, it was enough to break the moment and both Jason and Summer moved at once. He stood from Tommy’s bed as Summer bustled in.

  ‘It’s time to turn out the light,’ she told her son. ‘Say goodnight to Jason.’

  ‘Why do you call him Jason, Mum? He told me he likes JD.’

  ‘It’s a nickname,’ Jason told him. ‘Just like your name is Thomas but everyone calls you Tommy.’

  ‘Not everyone. Well, everyone here does,’ he added. ‘But back in Sydney I was always called Thomas. Mum’s the only one who called me Tommy but now I like it all the time because we came here for a new start, didn’t we, Mum?’

  ‘We did, darling. Now…’ she took the book from him ‘…say goodnight and I’ll turn out the light.’

  ‘Goodnight,’ he murmured, smothering another yawn. Summer bent down and brushed a kiss across his forehead.

  ‘Goodnight, Tommy. Dream you can fly,’ Jason instructed.

  ‘Sleep well.’ Summer headed to the door and switched out the light, the room still being illuminated by a small nightlight plugged into the socket by the bed.

  ‘Don’t close the door,’ he reminded her.

  ‘I won’t.’ Summer and Jason headed into the lounge room.

  ‘Is he afraid of the dark?’

  ‘Not really, but most children his age like a nightlight.’

  ‘Was his bedroom door closed at your place in Sydney?’

  ‘Cameron would close it. He said that all people needed privacy.’

  ‘Summer, I’m sorry if this is out of line but it doesn’t sound as though your husband liked his son all that much.’

  She shrugged and crossed to the lounge. ‘He didn’t. As far as Cameron was concerned, Tommy’s whole purpose for being on this earth was to be heir to the family fortune. In having a son, Cameron had done his duty. That was it.’

  ‘Carrying on the family name?’

  ‘Exactly. It wasn’t Cameron’s fault that he was the way he was. It was how he’d been raised. He didn’t know any different. To Cameron, money was the greatest commodity and with it all things were possible. That’s exactly how it used to be with Cameron’s father and grandfather as well.’

  ‘Why do you defend him?’

  Summer pondered the question, not answering right away. ‘Habit, I guess. Needing to justify to myself why he is the way he is…or was.’ She looked away.

  ‘So Tommy is the heir to the Hoyts throne?’

  Summer sighed a very heavy sigh. ‘You could say that.’

  ‘I’m surprised you were able to take him away from Sydney, then. What about Cameron’s parents? Didn’t they object?’

  ‘They did. They objected so much they took me to court.’

  ‘What?’

  She shrugged. ‘It’s over with now. The judge gave me sole custody.’

  ‘And rightly so.’

  ‘He said that Tommy had been through eno
ugh trauma and until he was eighteen years old he would remain in my care. All the money is tied up in trust funds for Tommy and that’s where it’ll stay. I was offered all sorts of incentives but I wasn’t going to take anything from Cameron’s parents, especially after they tried to take my son from me.’

  ‘Trauma?’ Jason had stuck on the word, only half listening to everything else she’d said.

  Summer looked down at her hands and was surprised to find them clenched tightly together.

  ‘If it’s too painful or I’m intruding too much, just tell me to back off.’ Jason crossed to her side and sat next to her but made no effort to touch her. It was as though he needed to be close but not too close.

  ‘I want to tell you, Jason.’ Summer looked into his eyes and knew this was the right thing to do. She’d seen how Tommy had bonded with Jason, she’d seen how Jason had taken an interest in her son, and for that reason alone she wanted him to know why her son was the way he was. She owed it to Tommy to do everything she could to ensure he had a fantastic future but first a lot of healing needed to take place. Taking a deep breath, she slowly let it out then said softly, ‘In a nutshell, Tommy saw Cameron die.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘He was five and a half and he saw it all. Cameron had taken him out to the family’s riding ranch and only then because half of our staff were off with flu and I was at work.’ She shook her head. ‘I knew I should have stayed home or just taken Tommy to work with me.’

  ‘Hindsight.’

  Summer nodded her agreement. ‘Cameron reluctantly agreed to take Tommy with him which wasn’t as big a deal as he made out as Tommy went to the ranch twice a week for his riding lesson. All Cameron had to do was to arrange for Tommy to have an extra lesson with the instructor. Instead, he forgot Tommy was there and so Tommy simply followed wherever his father went. They were at the lunging yards where the foreman was breaking in a very feisty stallion. The horse was on the lunging rope, the foreman had everything under control but, of course, that wasn’t good enough for Cameron’s ego.’

  She closed her eyes and shook her head. ‘Cameron took over from the foreman. Tommy was leaning against the corral fence and could see everything quite clearly. Cameron…he lost control of the horse. The beast was still wild. He shouldn’t have taken over. He should have left it to the foreman who was trained to deal with such an animal.’

  As she spoke, Jason noted that there wasn’t any panic or hysteria in her voice. The words were spoken matter-of-factly, as though she were simply telling him a story about something that had happened long, long ago.

  ‘He was trampled. Tommy watched everything, from the accident to his father being taken away by ambulance. No one noticed him until about ten minutes after the ambulance had left. He was sitting on the ground, hugging his knees, his face buried in them, rocking slightly and whimpering.’ A tear ran down Summer’s cheek and Jason swallowed over the lump in his own throat before brushing it away with the backs of his fingers.

  ‘Cameron died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. I was notified by a police officer at the end of my shift. His parents insisted the stallion be put down. They sold the ranch.’ She closed her eyes and shook her head. ‘I was only told about everything when I returned from the hospital at the end of my shift. Tommy had been left with the housekeeper at the ranch who had then managed to get in contact with the cook who had been sent by the staffing agency to fill the void while everyone else was off sick. My son was transferred from one person to the next like a sack of flour.’

  Jason found he was speechless but the need to protect this woman, to show her that not all people were so callous or unthinking, was overwhelming. He shifted and pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly against him, stroking her hair. She buried her face into his shoulder and for the first time in eighteen months the tears began to fall.

  She hadn’t realised just how much she’d needed to get it out of her system, to talk to someone about it, someone who wasn’t a psychiatrist paid for by the Hoyts family. Jason had listened. Just listened, and she realised that it had been a long time since anyone had actually just listened to her. Now he was holding her, murmuring reassuring words. It wasn’t sympathy. It wasn’t empathy. It was just honest-to-goodness, old-fashioned caring, and Summer found it hard to remember the last time someone had held her like this, had cared like this. Cared about her.

  ‘No wonder you needed to get out of Dodge.’

  She smiled at his words and then found herself chuckling a little. ‘You’re not wrong.’ He reached forward to the tissue box on the coffee-table and tenderly dabbed at her eyes, before giving her another one so she could blow her nose.

  ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cry all over you.’

  ‘Hey. I’m sitting on a lounge with a beautiful woman in my arms, being a hero. Do you think I’m going to complain about you soaking my shirt?’

  Her smile broadened at his words. ‘How do you always seem to know exactly the right thing to say?’

  ‘It’s a gift,’ he said with a wink and a smile. ‘I’ve tried to bottle it, sell it, register it on the stock market, but it appears to be a gift only for me, and only to be taken out and used on very special occasions.’

  She giggled. ‘I’m glad this qualifies as one of them.’ She withdrew another tissue and dabbed at her eyes. ‘I must look a mess.’

  ‘Quite the contrary.’ He tenderly brushed her hair back from her face, tucking a stray strand behind her ear.

  ‘How can you say that? I’ve just been blubbering all over you.’

  ‘First I’d like to point out that that was hardly blubbering and, second, don’t you get it by now? I think you look sexy no matter how you’re dressed or how much make-up you’re wearing.’

  He thought she was sexy? ‘Even if it’s a big red clown face?’

  ‘Even if it’s a big red clown face,’ he agreed.

  ‘What do we do now?’

  ‘I’m not sure. We like being with each other. Right?’

  She was surprised, when she looked into his eyes, to find a hint of uncertainty. He’d told her that he and his ex-wife hadn’t had the best of marriages and she was beginning to realise that when it came to affairs of the heart, he was as wary as she was. ‘Right,’ she confirmed, and received a sexy smile, mixed with a hint of relief, as a reward.

  ‘Good. So, I’d like to suggest that we spend some time together. Talk. Really get to know each other. And Tommy, too,’ he added quickly. ‘I don’t want you to think that I’m brushing him aside. I’m not. I think your son is quite amazing and definitely unique.’

  ‘No argument from me. He’s come along in leaps and bounds since we arrived and today, especially, was good for him.’ She nodded as she mentally ran through their day. ‘It was good for me, too.’

  ‘You were amazing.’

  ‘I think we covered this topic before.’

  ‘And I seem to remember that I enjoyed the outcome of that conversation so I have no problem going over old ground.’ He waggled his eyebrows up and down at her and she laughed again. ‘I like the way you laugh.’

  ‘I like the way you make me laugh.’

  ‘Seems to me that you deserve it.’

  ‘And what about you? Don’t you deserve to find a little bit of laughter in your life?’

  ‘Me? I’ve got tons. Regular clown I am.’

  ‘Hmm. Tomorrow it’s your turn.’

  ‘Turn for what?’

  ‘The post-mortem of your life. We’ll get together—you can cook us dinner and then after Tommy’s gone to bed, you can spill the beans about your life. In turn, I promise to comfort you, to stroke your hair and murmur soothing words.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘It’s a deal.’

  Summer stopped for a second, her eyes widening. ‘So we’re going to do this?’

  ‘Rehash my bad marriage?’

  ‘No. I mean this. Us.’

  ‘We’re going to get to kn
ow each other, yes. Take a step back into the ring of relationships, put our hearts out on the line and hope and pray they don’t get trampled in the process.’

  ‘I’ll walk with a very light tread,’ she promised.

  ‘Dr Hoyts, I’m very pleased to hear that.’

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  WHEN Jason lay in bed that night, hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling, he reflected on the events of the day. House calls were usually good fun, especially Monica’s, but today, having Summer and Tommy along had made everything bright and vibrant. It was something Jason realised had been missing from his life since Amanda had walked out to pursue a life without him in it.

  When they’d first started going out, Amanda had been happy with her life and they’d fallen in love quickly, marrying just as speedily. She’d seemed happy living in Ballarat, while going to Melbourne to do the occasional fashion show. For their first year of marriage everything had been perfect.

  ‘Too perfect,’ he muttered into the darkness. Amanda had wanted to wait a few years before they started their family to at least give her time to secure some regular modelling assignments. Then she’d been discovered. When she’d changed agents, it had been as though she’d changed lives. Her career had become her focus, not him, not the family they’d one day planned to have. It hadn’t been until after their move to Melbourne, when he’d begun to see things as they really were, that he’d realised this wasn’t the life he wanted to lead.

  ‘Come with me,’ she’d squealed happily after delivering the news that she’d been accepted for the European fashion show season.

  ‘I can’t, Amanda. I have a job. Patients.’

  ‘Oh, tush. You can get a job anywhere in the world, Jason. We can base ourselves in Milan, you can work there and I can get to all the shows I need to.’

  ‘And children? What about the family we’ve been planning to have?’

  ‘You’ve been planning. Not me. Children would wreck my figure.’ She’d brushed his words aside, then added, ‘I suppose if you’re that desperate to have a child, we could always adopt one, but it has to be a really cute one. Oh, I know.’ She’d clapped her hands excitedly. ‘One of those children from China or Vietnam or something like that. It’s all the rage. Oh, and a cute little moppet would look amazing in the photographs. We could do a big spread about how we’ve adopted a child and the media would love it.’ She’d danced excitedly around the apartment, not caring that he’d been completely appalled at these suggestions.