All looked good.
Anton nudged his head towards the corridor and Louise stepped outside and they went into the small kitchenette where all the flower vases were stored and spoke for a while.
‘She’s still got back pain,’ Louise said, and Anton nodded.
‘We’ll keep her in Delivery tonight but, hopefully, if things continue to improve we can get her onto the ward tomorrow morning.’
‘Good.’
‘You were right,’ Anton said. ‘There was something going on with her last night.’ He saw the sparkle of tears in Louise’s eyes because, despite positive appearances, Anton knew she was very worried for her friend.
‘I’d love to have been wrong.’
‘I know.’
‘Anton …’ Louise spilled what was on her mind. ‘I bought a crib for the baby a few days ago.’
‘Okay.’
‘It was in a sale and I couldn’t resist it. I didn’t tell Emily in case she thought it bad luck …’
‘Louise!’ Anton’s firm use of her name told her to let that thought go.
She took a breath.
‘Louise,’ he said again, and she met his eye. ‘That’s crazy. I’ve got Mrs Adams in room two, who’s forty-one weeks. She’s done everything, the nursery is ready …’
‘I know, I know.’
‘Just put that out of your mind.’
Louise did. She blew it away then but a tear did sneak out because Louise cared so much about Emily and she was also pretty exhausted. ‘Why did it have to be now?’ she asked.
‘I would love to know that answer,’ Anton said, and Louise gave a small smile as he continued. ‘It would save me many sleepless nights.’
‘I wasn’t asking a medical question.’
‘I know you weren’t.’
Anton stood in the small annexe and looked at Louise. Today she had been amazing, though it wasn’t just because she was Emily’s friend. Every mother got Louise’s full attention. It was wrong of him to compare her to Dahnya, Anton realised. It was futile to keep going back to that terrible day.
Louise was too worried about Emily to notice his silence and she rattled on with her fears.
‘I know twenty-eight weeks isn’t tiny tiny but …’
‘It is far too soon,’ Anton agreed. ‘She’s just into her third trimester but we’ll do all we can to prolong it. It looks like we’ve just bought her another day and those steroids are in. The night staff have arrived, Evie is on and she is very good.’
Louise nodded. ‘I know she is but I’m going to sleep here tonight.’
‘Go home,’ Anton said, because Louise really did look pale, but she shook her head at his suggestion. ‘Louise, you have been here since six.’
‘And so have you,’ Louise pointed out. ‘I didn’t think you were on call tonight, Anton, so what’s your excuse for being here?’
‘I’ll be a lot happier by morning. I just want to be close if something occurs.’
‘Well, I’m the same. If something happens tonight then I want to be here with Emily.’
‘I get that but—Louise, I never thought I’d say this to you, but you look awful.’
It was a rather backhanded compliment but it did make her smile. ‘I’ll go and lie down soon,’ Louise said, and looked over as Hugh came out.
‘Is she awake?’
‘Yes, they’re just doing her obs. Thanks for today,’ Hugh said to them both. ‘I’m going to text and ring five thousand people now. Emily told her mum and, honestly, it’s spread like wildfire …’
‘I get it,’ Louise said, because she knew about Emily’s very complex family and the last thing she needed now was the hordes arriving. ‘I’ve put her down as no visitors.’
‘Thanks for that,’ Hugh said. ‘I’m going to ring for pizza—do you want some?’
‘No, thanks.’ Louise shook her head and yawned. ‘I’m going to go and sleep.’
‘Anton?’
‘Sounds good.’
Louise handed over to Evie, the night nurse who would be taking care of Emily. ‘Promise, promise, promise that you’ll come and get me if anything happens.’
‘Promise.’
‘I’m going to take a pager,’ Louise said, ‘just in case you’re too busy, so if you page him … she nodded to Anton ‘… page me too.’
Louise went to the hotbox and took out one of the warm blankets that they covered newly delivered mums in. Brenda would freak if she knew the damage that Louise singlehandedly did to the laundry budget but she was too cold and tired to care about that right now.
‘I’ll be in the store cupboard if anything happens.’
‘Store cupboard?’ Anton said.
‘Where all the night nurses sleep.’ Louise nodded to the end of the corridor. ‘‘Night, guys. ‘Night, Hugh. I’ll just go and say night to Emily if she’s awake.’
She popped in and there was Emily half-awake as Evie fiddled with her IV.
‘You’ve done so well today.’ Louise smiled, standing wrapped in her blanket. ‘I’m just going to get some shut-eye but I’m just down the hall, though I have a feeling I shan’t be needed.’
‘Thanks so much for staying,’ Emily said.
‘Please.’ Louise gave her a kiss goodnight on her forehead. ‘Hopefully we’ll move you to a room tomorrow. I’m going to have a jiggle with the beds in the morning and give you one of the nice ones.’ She spoke then in a loud whisper. ‘One of the private ones!’
‘You’re such a bad girl.’ Evie smiled.
‘I know.’ Louise grinned. ‘Sleep!’ Louise said to Emily and then stroked her stomach. ‘And you, little one, stay in there.’
‘Do you know what I’m having?’ Emily asked, and Louise just smiled as Emily spoke on. ‘Hugh knows and when I said that I didn’t want to find out, he said that he wouldn’t tell me even if I begged him.’
‘Do you want to know?’ Louise asked.
‘No, yes, no,’ Emily admitted. ‘But I want to know if you know.’
‘I do,’ Louise said, and then burst into Abba. ‘“I do, I do, I do, I do, I do,”‘ Louise sang, just as Anton and Hugh walked in. ‘But I’m not telling. If you want to know you can speak to Anton.’
‘She’s mad,’ Emily said, when Louise had gone but she said it in the nicest way.
‘Completely mad,’ Anton agreed. ‘How are you feeling now?’
‘A bit better.’
‘Any questions?’ Anton checked, but Emily shook her head.
‘I think you’ve answered them all. Presumably you know what I’m having?’
‘Of course I do,’ Anton said. ‘You know you are allowed to change your mind and find out if you want to.’
‘I want it to be a surprise.’
‘Then a surprise it will be.’
‘Are you going home now?’ Emily asked, because she had been told he was only here till six and she felt both guilty and relieved when Anton shook his head.
‘Stephanie is the on-call obstetrician tonight and she will be keeping an eye on you so that I can get some rest as I am working tomorrow. I am staying here tonight, though, and if anything changes, I have asked her to discuss it with me.’
‘Thank you.’
The store cupboard was actually an empty four-bedded ward at the front of the unit and was used to store beds, trolleys, stirrups, birth balls and all that sort of stuff. Louise curled up on one of the beds and lay there with her eyes closed, hoping that they would stay that way till morning.
She was exhausted, she’d barely had any sleep last night, but now that she finally could sleep, Louise simply could not relax. There was that knot of worry about Emily and another knot between her legs when she thought about Anton and the fact that he actually liked her.
In that way!
After half an hour spent growing more awake by the minute Louise padded out with her blanket around her.
Anton gave her a smile and she couldn’t really remember him smiling like that, unless to a patient. In fact
, he didn’t smile like that to the patients.
‘Food should be here soon,’ Anton said.
Louise shook her head and instead of waiting for the pizza to arrive she had a bowl of cornflakes in the kitchen. Anton looked up as she returned with a bottle of sparkling water and a heat pack for her cramping stomach and then took two painkillers.
She tossed her now cold blanket into the linen skip and took out a newly warm one.
‘If Brenda knew …’ Anton warned, because the cost of laundering a blanket was posted on many walls, warning staff to use them sparingly.
‘I like to be warm at night,’ Louise said, and, no, she hadn’t meant it to be provocative but from the look that burnt between them it was.
She headed back to the storeroom but sleep still would not come.
Then she heard the slam of the door. Louise climbed out of the bed to tell whoever it was off for doing that but then a delicious scent reached her nose.
Pizza.
OMG.
She could almost taste the pepperoni.
Louise hadn’t said no to Anton because of some diet, she had said no because …
Well.
Because.
No, she did not want to be huddled up at the desk with him—she might, the way she was feeling this moment, very possibly end up licking his face.
God, he was hot.
Her stomach was growling, though, and it was the scent of pizza that was at fault, not her, Louise decided as she smiled and pulled out her phone.
Anton had two phones and one of the numbers she was privy to. It was his work phone and she’d call him on it at times if one of his patients weren’t well while he was off duty, or she might text him sometimes for advice.
She wondered if he’d tell her off for using it for something so trivial.
Or if he’d ignore her request, perhaps?
Anton sat eating pizza as Hugh fired off texts to family to let them know that Emily was doing well.
When his work phone buzzed, indicating a text, Anton read it and decided it might be best to ignore it.
For months he had done his best to ignore her yet since he’d see her up that stepladder it had been a futile effort at best.
He did try to ignore it. In fact, he said goodnight to Hugh and then went into the on-call room, grimly determined to sleep.
Then he read her text again and gave up fighting. He went back to the desk, picked up two slices of pizza and headed off to where perhaps he shouldn’t.
CHAPTER SIX
‘PIZZA MAN!’ ANTON said, as he came into the dark room.
‘Oh, my, and an authentic Italian one too!’ Louise smiled in the dark and sat up and then took out her light from her pocket and shone it up at him. ‘And so good looking.’
‘You changed your mind about the pizza?’
‘I did,’ Louise said. ‘A bowl of cornflakes wasn’t going to cut it tonight.’
‘I could have told you that half an hour ago—you need to eat more.’
‘I do eat.’
Anton shook his head very slowly. ‘With my sister’s line of work I know all the tricks, all of them,’ Anton said. ‘Tell me the truth.’
‘Okay, I do watch my weight,’ Louise admitted, ‘a lot! But I am not anorexic.’
‘I can see that you’re not anorexic but you do seem to live off salad.’
‘Ah, so you notice what I eat, Anton, how sweet!’ Louise teased, and then she answered him properly. ‘I love my modelling work,’ Louise said. ‘I mean I love it and it is my job to present at a certain weight but I don’t do the dangerously thin stuff. Yes, for the most part I have to watch what I eat but, in saying that, I eat very well. I’m nearly thirty. I can’t believe I’m still working …’
‘I can.’ Anton smiled.
‘Anyway, I’ve got a huge photo shoot on Christmas Eve,’ Louise explained, as she ate warm pizza. ‘It’s for Valentine’s Day and I’m going to pay a small fortune to get dressed up to the nines and have my hair and make-up done so, yes, I’m being careful.’ Her slice of pizza was finished and he handed her the other one. ‘I’m just not being very careful tonight.’
‘If you are looking at trying for a baby …’
‘I would never jeopardise that for work, Anton. I’m just eating healthily. What happened this morning is unrelated to that.’
‘Good to know.’
He glanced at the stirrups over the bed. ‘You really sleep here?’
‘Of course,’ Louise said, and then she looked to where his gaze fell. ‘Do you want me in stirrups, Anton?’
He actually laughed. ‘No. It is that I don’t want you in stirrups that means you can’t be my patient.’ He explained as best he could. ‘Louise, I know I have given mixed messages. Yes, I like you but I never wanted to get involved with someone at work.’
‘We’re not at work.’ Louise smiled a provocative smile. ‘Officially we’re both off duty.’
‘Louise, the thing is—’
‘Please, please, don’t,’ Louise said. ‘Please spare me the lecture, because, guess what, I’m the same. The last thing I want now is a full-on relationship, particularly with you.’
Anton frowned in slight surprise. He’d come in having finally given in and deciding that they should perhaps give it a go, only to find out that a relationship with him was far from her mind.
‘Why particularly not with me?’
‘Okay, I think you’re as sexy as hell and occasionally funny but I think you’d be very controlling, and that’s fine in the bedroom perhaps—’
‘I am not controlling,’ Anton immediately interrupted. ‘Well, I know that I am at work but not when I’m in a relationship.’
‘Oh, they all say that.’ Louise put on an Italian accent. ‘I do not want my woman posing in her underwear …’
‘That is the worst Italian accent ever.’ He frowned at her opinion of him. ‘I happen to think your work is very beautiful.’
‘Really?’
‘Of course it is.’ He was still frowning. ‘Have you had trouble in the past—?’
‘I have,’ Louise said quickly, hurrying over that part of her life, ‘and so I keep things on my terms. The only thing I want to focus on right now is myself and becoming a mum. I’m not on a husband shop.’
A flirt, some fun, was all she was prepared to give to a man right now.
Though she had fancied Anton for ages.
Ages.
Pizza done, Louise went into her pocket, peeled off some baby wipes from a small packet she carried and wiped her hands. Then she went into her pockets again and pulled out a breath spray.
‘What the hell have you got in those pockets?’
‘Many, many things—basically my pockets are designed so that I don’t have to get up if I’m comfy.’ Louise smiled and settled back on the pillow. ‘The breath spay is so that I don’t submit a labouring woman to my pizza breath, and,’ she added, ‘it’s also terribly convenient if you want to kiss me goodnight.’
‘Louise,’ Anton warned. ‘We’re not going to be skulking around in the shadows.’
‘I know,’ Louise sighed regretfully. ‘How come you left fertility?’ She yawned, but was pleased when Anton sat on the edge of the bed.
‘I missed obstetrics,’ Anton admitted, though he too chose to avoid the dark stuff.
‘Is it nice to be back doing it?’
‘Some days,’ Anton said, ‘like yesterday with Hannah’s son—that was a really good day. Today …’ He thought for a moment. ‘Yes, it is still good. Thanks for your help today, you were right to stay—it is good for Emily to have you nearby.’
‘You’re making me nervous, Anton—you’re being too nice.’
Anton smiled and watched as she put her hand under the blanket and turned the hot pack on her stomach.
‘Still hurt?’
‘Yep.’
He wanted his hand there.
Louise wanted the same thing.
She wanted him to lean forward a
nd Anton actually felt as if her hand were at the back of his head, dragging him down, but it wasn’t her hand that was pressuring him, it was want.
‘I’m going to go,’ Anton said. ‘I just wanted to clear the air.’
‘It doesn’t feel very clear,’ Louise said, because it was thick with sexual tension, a tension that had come to a head last night but had had no outlet for either of them.
‘You’re right, it doesn’t,’ Anton agreed. ‘You are such a flirt, Louise,’ he said, his mouth approaching hers.
‘I know.’ She smiled then asked a question as his lovely mouth approached. ‘If you were intending to just pop in to clear the air, why did you brush your teeth before you came in?’
‘I was hoping to clear the air but you have worn me down.’
They were far from worn down as their mouths finally met. It was supposed to break the tension but instead it upped it as, in the dark, Louise found out how lovely that sulky mouth could be.
The mixture of soft lips and rough stubble had her break on contact.
Anton had decided on one small kiss to chase away a wretched day but small was relative, Anton told himself as he slipped in his tongue and met the caress of hers, for it was still a small kiss if he compared it to the one he really wanted to give.
For Louise, it was bliss. She could not remember a kiss that had been nicer, and her hands moved up to his head and their kiss deepened from intimate to provocative. As he moved to remove her hands and halt things he changed his mind as his thumb grazed her breast. Anton heard the purr and the nudge of her body into his palm, like a cat demanding attention, and so he stroked her through the fabric, until for both of them he had to feel her.
Anton went to lift her top, just to get to her breast, but the heat pack slipped off and she willed his hand to change direction, her tongue urging him on as Anton obliged.
He could feel the ball of tension of her uterus as his hand slipped down instead of up, stroking her tense stomach as he kissed her more deeply.
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