‘Yes—and please, call me Brie. Only the school kids call me Mrs Owen. Or Miss, which I can’t stand!’
‘OK, Brie it is,’ she said with a laugh. ‘Just lie back and relax for me, Brie. This won’t take long.’
* * *
Fifteen minutes later she had the result, and she rang Jake from another room.
‘Hi. I’ve just seen Brianna Owen, she’s had a few contractions, so I took a swab to check for infection and I also did an fFN test and the results are back and it’s slightly elevated, so I want to admit her and do a cervical scan and put her on steroids while we wait for the swab results to come back. Her urine was clear so it’s not a UTI.’
‘What’s her gestation now?’
‘Twenty-nine plus three.’
‘Right. Ouch, Tilly, don’t climb on me, darling. Yes, do admit her and I’ll see her first thing tomorrow. If she’s got an infection it might be triggering contractions. But definitely go with the steroids—ow, Tilly, no. Get down, that’s enough. And can you put her on nifedipine, please, to suppress the contractions, just in case?’
‘Sure. I was going to do that. Are you all right there?’
He gave a strangled laugh. ‘I’m fine, but I’m being trampled by my daughter and I’m not convinced it’s doing anything for my fertility.’
‘Oh, dear. Well, have fun,’ she said, trying not to laugh, and she went back to Brie to report her findings and break the news that she was going to be admitted.
* * *
By the time she got home it was after six, and as she walked in she could hear the children splashing in the bath, so she kicked off her shoes, ran upstairs and changed into jeans and a comfy T-shirt and went in to join the fun.
‘Em, Em, I got bubbles!’ Matilda squealed, and Zach slapped his hands down on the water in excitement and drenched Jake. Not that it mattered. Judging by the look of the floor it wasn’t the first time.
He swiped the water off his face and gave her a searching look. ‘So how did it go?’
‘Fine. I want to talk to you about Brie, but that can keep. How’ve you been?’
‘We’ve had a good day, haven’t we, kids? Tilly, why don’t you tell Em what you did today?’
‘We saw baby ducks,’ she said, bouncing in the water and threatening to slosh it over the side of the bath and capsize Zach. ‘And I got bubbles!’ She scooped some up and dumped them on Zach’s head, and she’d hardly opened her mouth before Jake chipped in.
‘Don’t worry, they won’t hurt his eyes. Right, time to get out now.’
‘No!’
‘Yes, if you want a bedtime story.’
‘No! I not getting out!’
‘Oh, yes, you are,’ he said with a laugh, and scooped her out, kicking and giggling, while Emily rescued Zach from the tidal wave of bubbles, a long-forgotten warm sensation curling round her heart...
CHAPTER FIVE
HE TUCKED MATILDA up in bed and read her a story, then another one, then sang ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ three whole times before he was allowed to leave her. Not that it was anything unusual, far from it, but because they were putting the children to bed simultaneously his attention wasn’t divided, and she took full advantage of that.
‘Again.’
‘No, that’s enough now. Come on, snuggle down with Teddy and go to sleep.’
‘I not tired,’ she lied, yawning, and he kissed her cheek and tucked her duvet round her and her teddy as her eyes drifted shut.
She was asleep before he reached the door, and when he came out of her room Emily was still busy with Zach, so he went down to the kitchen and finished off cooking their meal while she settled him for the night.
He could hear her singing softly overhead, and the gentle, homely sound brought a lump to his throat.
Somehow, out of the chaos of Pete’s untimely death and Jo’s defection, they’d come together and created a little makeshift family, and against all the odds, it seemed to be working.
Far from hating Zach and being jealous, it seemed as if Matilda was enjoying the baby’s company. Jake was, too. Zach was a sweet baby, full of sunny smiles and incredibly easygoing, and for the first time in years he felt truly happy.
Happy for himself, happy for Matilda and happy for Emily and Zach, too. Sure, he didn’t have everything he wanted, but he’d settle for this any day. Now all he had to do was make sure it lasted.
The floor creaked overhead, and when he heard Emily’s soft tread on the stairs he dished up and took the plates over to the table.
‘All settled?’
‘Yes, he went down like a lamb. I thought he’d be really clingy, but he wasn’t. How did you get on today?’
‘Great. Tilly seems to love having him around and they were both as good as gold. It’s probably a one-off, mind you, but I’ll take it for now,’ he added with a grin.
She smiled back at him. ‘Well, we’ll see how I get on tomorrow. I’m not holding my breath,’ she said, then pulled out a chair and pointed to the plate in front of it. ‘Is this mine?’
‘Whatever, they’re both the same.’ He put two glasses of water down on the table and sat down opposite her. ‘So, what about your day? And most specifically, how was Brie?’
‘OK. I went up to the ward to check on her before I left, and she seemed all right. Resigned, I think, but happy that I was taking it seriously.’
‘Yes, I am, too. I’ve been worrying about her. Did she tell you she’d had shingles a few weeks ago?’
‘Yes, and I saw it in the notes. It must have been the icing on the cake for her.’
‘Absolutely, but she had an antiviral early on from her GP so it wasn’t too bad, I don’t think, and it shouldn’t affect her pregnancy, it just made the situation even more miserable for her. It could well have been brought on by stress. She’s found this very hard to deal with, and she’s been terrified she’s going to lose the baby.’
‘Well, I don’t think she’s about to do that imminently. Her cervix is still nicely closed and I only felt one contraction and it wasn’t anything to worry about, so they might just be Braxton–Hicks’, but with the raised foetal fibronectin I think her chances of going to term are slim to none.’
‘Did you tell her that?’
‘Not in so many words, I thought I’d leave that to you. I explained that the nifedipine was to calm her contractions and could be quite effective, and we were giving her steroids to mature the baby’s lungs as a precaution, but I didn’t want to worry her unduly and she didn’t seem surprised. I told her you’d be in tomorrow and would come and see her first thing and talk it through.’
‘Yes, I will, she’s top of my list. Did she mind seeing you instead of me?’
Emily shrugged. ‘I’m not sure. I explained about the job share and told her she could see you at your Wednesday antenatal clinic in future if she’d prefer, but she didn’t say any more about it. It may not be relevant anyway if we can’t stall her contractions. You might want to repeat the fFN test and see if the level’s gone up overnight.’
She ate a forkful of food and made an appreciative noise. ‘Oh, wow, this is really tasty. How did you make it?’
He grinned. ‘Well, I could lie, but actually it’s a supermarket dine in for a tenner job because I thought the day might be complicated enough without cooking from scratch. And yes, I set the timer,’ he added, his grin turning into a wry smile.
She bit her lip, but laughter was bubbling in her clear blue eyes and there was nothing she could do to hide it.
‘So is there a pud?’ she asked, finally regaining control of her mouth.
‘Uh-huh. And wine, if you want it.’
‘No. Not on a school night,’ she said.
‘It’s not a school night for you, you’re not at work tomorrow. I am.’
‘But that’s not fair, and I don’t
want to drink alone.’
He shrugged. ‘Suit yourself. It’ll keep. So, was it a good day, all in all?’
She nodded and put her fork down for a moment. ‘Great day. I saw Liv and met her cute little baby, and you know, she even remembered Zach’s name.’
‘She would. She’s amazing—such a good midwife and we really didn’t need to lose her, but I’m very pleased she and Nick got back together and they’ve got a baby now. She’s so much happier, and so is Nick. They’re a great couple and I think they’ve had quite a tough time, although they don’t talk about it.’
‘Maybe we could have them round for dinner,’ she suggested, and he nodded.
‘Yeah, we should. There are all sorts of people I ought to have for dinner, people who’ve been amazing to me since I started here. Ben and Daisy, especially. We should have the four of them together.’
‘Really? You guys will just talk shop.’
‘And you girls won’t? Liv’s a midwife and Daisy’s an obstetrician, too, you know.’
‘Is she? So why didn’t Ben ask her to do the extra sessions they were looking for?’
He laughed. ‘He did. She said no. They have four young children and I think she likes being a stay-at-home mum.’
‘I can understand that, but I have to say I really enjoyed today, even though it was exhausting. Using my brain, interacting with adults, being in a professional environment—I didn’t realise how much I’d missed it.’
He laughed again, a little wryly. ‘I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear you say that. I was worried something would go wrong and you’d hate it and want out.’
Her eyes widened in surprise. ‘Why would I hate it?
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I just thought you might.’
‘No. No, Jake, I love it. Relax. Actually, no, don’t relax, not yet. Dish up the pud and let’s take it through to the sitting room and slump in front of the TV and chill. My feet are killing me.’
* * *
She heard him moving around before six the next morning, and crept downstairs to get a cup of tea to start the day just as he emerged from the downstairs shower room, damp hair on end and his robe hanging open, giving her a perfect view of his naked body.
‘Well, good morning. Trying to impress me?’ she teased, and she wasn’t sure but he might have coloured slightly as he snatched the sides together.
‘Sorry. I wasn’t expecting you to be up yet. Is everything OK?’
‘Yes, of course it is,’ she said, trying to drag her mind out of the gutter and wondering how red she’d gone. ‘I’m just thirsty. I didn’t get much time to drink yesterday and I woke up with a bit of a headache. Are you off shortly?’
‘If that’s OK. I want to check on Brie Owen before I do anything else.’
She nodded. ‘Of course it is. I hope she’s all right. Can you let me know?’
‘Sure. Are you putting the kettle on? I could murder a coffee.’
‘Was that an order?’ she asked, and he gave a soft laugh and rumpled her hair on the way past.
‘Take it however you like. I’ll have it in the travel mug,’ he said over his shoulder, leaving her in a disturbing waft of soap and man that she’d come to associate with him.
She heard the stairs creak as he went up, and shut her eyes, but the image was still there, tantalising her. He’d filled out since she’d found him handcuffed to the railings outside halls. Well, he would have done, of course he would, in twenty-odd years, but that unexpected glimpse of his fit, toned and very masculine adult body had caught her with her guard right down and she was shocked by her response.
It was almost visceral, a clench of need in her gut, a longing to reach out and touch—and that was never going to happen! Not now, at least, with so much at stake, and she’d had her chance and lost it years ago after Kat’s wedding when they’d ended up in a clinch in his hotel room and backed away from the precipice in the nick of time.
It was just after she’d started dating Pete and he’d sent her a text that had slammed the brakes on both her and Jake, and then a year later Pete had been diagnosed with cancer and she’d ended up marrying him because she couldn’t bring herself to leave him. Not then, with the odds stacked against him when he’d needed her support. But that didn’t make her blind...
She pressed her hands to her scalding cheeks for a moment, downed a glass of water to rehydrate her clearly addled brain and gave herself a stern lecture while she put the kettle on, found the ground coffee and warmed the cafetière.
People joked all the time about sex-crazed widows, and there was no way—no way—she was turning into one! This was Jake, for heaven’s sake! Her friend. Not her lover. Not her boyfriend. And certainly not someone for a casual one-nighter.
Although they’d almost gone there that once, and the memory of the awkwardness that had followed when they’d come to their senses and pulled away from the brink had never left her, although it had long been buried.
Until now...
She heard the stairs creak again, and pressed down the plunger and slid the pot towards him as he came into the room.
‘Here, your coffee.’
‘Aren’t you having any?’
She shook her head, but she couldn’t quite meet his eyes, and she realised he wasn’t looking at her, either. ‘I’ll go back up in case Zach cries and wakes Matilda. Don’t forget to ring me when you’ve seen Brie.’
‘OK. Thanks for making the coffee.’
‘You’re welcome. Have a good day.’
She tiptoed up the stairs, listened for the sound of the front door closing and watched him from his bedroom window as he walked briskly down the road towards the hospital, travel mug in hand.
He turned the corner and went out of sight, and she sat down on the edge of his bed, her fingers knotting in a handful of rumpled bedding. What was she doing? With a stifled scream of frustration, she fell sideways onto the mattress and buried her face in his duvet.
Mistake. She could smell the scent of him on the sheets, warm and familiar and strangely exciting, could picture that glorious nakedness stretched out against the stark white linen, a beautiful specimen of masculinity in its prime—
She jack-knifed to her feet. This was crazy. What on earth had happened to her? They’d been friends for years, and now all of a sudden this uncontrollable urge to sniff his sheets?
She stripped the bed, took the bedding downstairs and put it in the washing machine before she could be any more ridiculous. Then she topped up the cafetière, poured herself a coffee and sat with it cradled in her hands while she tried to talk sense into herself.
They had to keep this platonic. So much was riding on it—their mutual careers, if nothing else! They had to be able to work together, both at home and in the hospital, and there was no way anything could be allowed to derail that.
And the children—they had to make this work for the children, especially Matilda. Poor little girl, losing her mother so abruptly. The last thing she needed—any of them needed—was this fragile status quo disrupted for anything as trivial as primitive, adolescent lust.
It wasn’t fair on any of them, and she’d embarrassed herself enough fifteen years ago. She wasn’t doing it again.
No way.
* * *
She was standing at the kitchen sink with her back to him when he came down from changing out of his work clothes.
‘You made my bed.’
He couldn’t read her face but he thought she stiffened a little.
‘I thought it was time I did something useful around the house, and your room was such a mess, so I did your washing.’
He frowned. It wasn’t that much of a mess, and she’d been there for three weeks now and she’d never felt the urge to do it before.
And anyway, he’d only changed the sheets a few days ago. Still, he wasn’t goin
g to argue with her. Instead he thanked her and picked up a tea towel and dried the saucepan she’d been washing up.
‘You don’t have to do that,’ she protested without looking at him.
‘It’s not going to kill me,’ he said calmly. ‘So how was your day? I’m sorry I was so late back.’
‘That’s all right. We had a good day. We went for a walk along the prom as the tide was going out, and they puggled about in the damp sand and got messy and had fun, and then I cleaned them up and we walked home and made rock buns.’
‘Did you save me one?’
‘Matilda did. It’s in that cake tin there.’ She pointed with a sudsy finger, and he dried the last things she’d washed up and opened the tin.
‘Yup, that looks like one of hers.’
‘What, squashed and overworked?’
He chuckled. ‘That would be the one. So where are the ones you made? They might be safer.’
She tipped out the water, dried her hands and reached for another tin. ‘Here—but don’t spoil your appetite. I’ve cooked us a curry.’
‘Nothing will spoil my appetite. I’m starving. I haven’t stopped all day.’
‘How’s Brie?’ she asked, finally turning to look at him. ‘I got your text earlier. Has anything changed?’
He shook his head, his mouth full of Matilda’s rock bun—eaten out of duty. He was looking forward to one of Em’s.
‘No, she’s fine. She did have an infection so I’ve kept her in. She on clindamycin now and she’s still having the nifedipine to suppress the contractions, and we can review her tomorrow, but at least she’s finished the course of steroids and there’s been no change in the fFN level. Shall I put some rice on?’
‘No, it’s done, it’s all ready. I did it while you were changing. Let’s eat. I’m starving, too. You can have the rock buns later.’
* * *
By some sort of tacit agreement, they got through the evening without any of their usual teasing and banter, and she wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, but he didn’t seem as inclined to hug or touch her.
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