One Baby Step at a Time

by Meredith Webber

  And hadn’t he always turned to Bill when he had a problem, or needed help?

  Letting himself into the penthouse, he set aside his tumbling thoughts and sighed with pleasure. The familiar view out across the island-dotted sea still took his breath away. And tired though he was, a part of him wanting nothing more than to slip into bed, he had to walk out onto the balcony and breathe in the fresh sea air.

  He was home.

  * * *

  Second night on duty. No life-threatening emergencies and he’d heard from the hospital in Brisbane that his patient from the previous night was doing well.

  ‘It has to be the night for the bizarre,’ Bill said, slumping down beside him in the tea room during a lull in proceedings. ‘I suppose dog bites are common enough, but the bite usually doesn’t come with a couple of dog teeth in the wounds. The dog must have been a hundred and five for its teeth to have come out so easily.’

  Nick shook his head.

  ‘I can’t believe I nearly missed the second one. It was weird enough discovering one tooth in a puncture wound, but it was only when you were putting on the dressing that I realised I hadn’t probed the second hole and, sure enough, another tooth.’

  ‘Perhaps someone wrenched the dog off and that’s why it lost the teeth.’

  Nick considered this for a moment.

  ‘No, there’d have been tearing around the wounds and there was no sign of that—just bite holes and teeth.’

  ‘From an ancient dog or one with a gum problem.’

  ‘And the kid with his head stuck in the bars of his cot,’ Nick recalled. ‘You’d have thought his father would have had a hacksaw to cut through a bar and release him instead of taking the cot to pieces to bring it in for us to do it.’

  ‘It did look funny.’ Bill smiled at the memory of the two parents arriving with the side of the cot held between them, and the grandmother carrying the perfectly contented baby, which had been looking around with wide-eyed curiosity and doubtless wondering about all the fuss.

  ‘Cute baby, though,’ Bill added, although she knew she should dodge baby conversations altogether because even after more than a year it hurt to see other people’s babies.

  ‘Very cute,’ Nick agreed, rising to his feet as his pager buzzed.

  ‘Drunk in cubicle three,’ the duty manager told Bill as she returned to work. ‘There’s a nurse in there with Nick but they might need more help.’

  Bill closed her eyes for a moment. Babies were upsetting enough, but if there was one thing she hated, it was handling drunks. They came in all shapes and sizes, and varied from angry and abusive, through straight obstreperous, to wildly happy, laughing hilariously as they threw up on your uniform and shoes.

  ‘Obstreperous,’ Nick said under his breath as Bill entered the cubicle. ‘He’s had a fall, I’d say into a bougainvillea as he has multiple abrasions, a dislocated finger and some very nasty thorns sticking out of his legs.’

  The man in question was insisting he was perfectly all right, if Bill was translating his drunk speech correctly, but whenever he moved on the examination table the thorns dug in and he’d yelp with pain.

  ‘I’m going to give him a local anaesthetic then fix the finger,’ Nick continued. ‘If you two can hold him still for a minute, I’d be grateful.’

  The finger joint went back into place, and the young nurse cleaned and bandaged the man’s hand so the finger would be supported while the joint healed.

  ‘We’ll start on the thorns,’ Nick told Bill, but it was easier said than done when the man kept insisting he was fine and trying to climb off the table.

  ‘Who brought him in?’ Nick asked the young nurse.

  ‘His wife. She’s out in the waiting area.’

  ‘Could you ask her to come in?’ Nick smiled as he made the request and Bill couldn’t help but notice the nurse’s blush.

  Still winning women over wherever he goes, she thought, but though she’d thought it a thousand times before, this time it didn’t prompt a smile.

  ‘Being a nuisance, is he?’ the woman who entered demanded, before turning to her husband. ‘Now, listen, you, sit still and let the doctor do his job or I’ll take you home and throw you back into the bougainvillea myself, and don’t think I wouldn’t do it.’

  The man on the table quietened immediately and looking from him, a bulky six-footer, to the small slim wife, Bill had to smile.

  ‘Thank you, madam.’ Nick gave the wife a small bow. ‘It’s good to know who’s the boss in the household.’

  She smiled at Nick.

  ‘It probably wouldn’t work if he was a habitual drunk, but as it is, he can’t hold his grog so mostly he doesn’t drink, but we’ve just had our first grandchild and he went out with his mates to wet the baby’s head—they insisted, and now look at him. Fine example for the kid he’ll be!’

  She spoke fondly and even smiled at her husband, settling into a chair beside the wall to make sure he behaved.

  Bill worked beside Nick, swabbing each scratch and wound as he pulled out the thorns.

  ‘I can do this,’ she said to him, but he shrugged away her offer and continued working until they had the now sleeping drunk patched up and able to be released to his wife.

  ‘Just watch the wounds in case they begin to fester. There’s no point starting antibiotics if he doesn’t need them, but come back or go to see your own GP if they worry him,’ Nick told her as he helped her take the man out to the waiting room where an aide would help her out to the car.

  ‘Babies do keep cropping up,’ he said to Bill as she came out of the cubicle, a bag of debris in her hand.

  I’m glad he said that, Bill decided, setting aside her own feelings and thinking just of Nick. It must mean he’s over or getting over the loss of what he’d thought would be his very own family.

  ‘Some nights are like that,’ she reminded him. ‘I’d far prefer a run of babies, as long as they’re not too sick, to a run of drunks.’

  ‘Hear, hear!’

  This from the nurse who had followed Bill out of the cubicle, although she’d spoken to Nick rather than Bill. The nurse was from an agency—distinctive in the agency uniform—someone Bill didn’t know. But studying her now, as the nurse continued to chat to Nick, Bill realised she was exactly his type—tall, curvy, blonde.

  And, no, that wasn’t a stab of jealousy. Her and Nick’s friendship had survived a long stream of blondes, some, like Serena, Bill had seen in photos, and some she’d only heard about through emails and texts.

  The agency nurse was now suggesting she and Nick have a coffee and as the ER was virtually deserted, it was only natural he should accept, although he did turn his head to ask, ‘Want another coffee, Bill?’

  Bill shook her head and headed off to dispose of the rubbish, hearing the agency nurse question the name Bill and Nick explaining.

  This had to stop! she told herself as she hurled the bag of rubbish down the chute. Her friendship with Nick had survived because neither of them had ever had the slightest interest in the other in a romantic way. Growing up, she’d have as soon considered falling in love with one of her brothers.

  It had to be that she hadn’t seen him for so long that she was suddenly seeing him as a man.

  Reacting to him as a man!

  When had she last seen him?

  He’d been in New York, proposing to Serena, when she’d broken off her engagement to Nigel, and although Nick had promised faithfully he’d be home for her wedding, once that was off, he’d headed for foreign parts, doing his bit for the army once again.

  Oh!

  It all fell into place now. There’d been no mention of a second deployment overseas prior to all that happening, but obviously he’d been sufficiently upset to want to get as far away as possible from everyone and everything.
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br />   Poor Nick!

  * * *

  Nick chatted to the nurse—Amanda—and wondered why Bill hadn’t joined them.

  Not that it mattered. Amanda was amusing and obviously happy to keep both sides of the conversation going so he could brood a little over the reactions he was feeling towards Bill.

  Physical reactions!

  Disturbing, because at the same time it felt a little like incest—this was Bill, his friend...

  ‘So, you’ll come?’ he heard Amanda ask.

  Unwilling to admit he had no idea what she was talking about, he said, ‘Of course!’

  ‘Great. The boat will leave from the City Marina, gangway four, at ten.’

  ‘Ten today?’ Dead giveaway, that question, but it had just burst out.

  ‘No, Saturday, silly,’ Amanda said, giggling and cuffing him lightly on the arm, moving close enough on the settee for him to know he should have been following the conversation.

  Oh, well, some time between now and Saturday he’d have to sort out an excuse. Except going out on a boat with Amanda, and presumably her friends, might get his mind off Bill.

  And wasn’t he here to meet women—maybe the one woman with whom he could plan his family?

  The shift ended and he was pleased to see Bill’s ageing car still in the car park. He wouldn’t be tempted to follow her to the beach, which was good as he didn’t think his libido could handle the sight of her in a bikini again. Not just yet, anyway.

  Perhaps after Saturday...

  Tired enough to sleep without the swim and run on the beach, he drove to his apartment, pulling up at the security panel at the entrance to the building’s basement, staring in shock at what looked like a derelict’s collection of junk on the footpath beside the big doors.

  Except it wasn’t a derelict but Serena rising from the pile of belongings. Serena with a doll in her arms.

  Obviously he was losing his mind—hallucinating...

  What drugs had he handled during the night?

  Shock had him riveted to his seat as the mirage that possibly was Serena walked towards the car. Now he could hear the words she was saying clearly enough, he just couldn’t make sense of them.

  ‘Came in on an early flight, no one answering the bell, thought you’d be home eventually, and as you’d never walk if you can drive, I thought this was the best place to catch you, but now you’re here I really need to hand Steffi and all her gear over, and I’m terribly sorry to do this, Nick, I really am, and I know you’re going to be mad as hell, and I’ll explain when we get to your apartment, but we’ll have to hurry because I’m booked to fly out again at midday to catch the evening flight to New York.’

  New York!

  It was in New York he’d last seen Serena, heard her tell him she didn’t want a baby, yet here she was, not with a doll but a baby in her arms...

  He leapt out of the car, straight over the door, looming over her.

  ‘What will you explain?’ he roared.

  Then a voice behind him said, ‘Hush, Nick, you’ll upset the baby.’

  Bill!

  Unable to get into the car park with him blocking the road, she must have pulled up behind him and got out to see what was happening.

  ‘You must be Serena,’ she added politely, and he remembered sending Bill a glamour shot of Serena some years before. ‘You don’t know me but I’m Nick’s friend Bill. We grew up together and now we both live in this apartment block my brother built. And as our cars are blocking the entrance, what if we put all the gear into my car and you and the baby get in with Nick and we’ll get the stuff up to his apartment and the two of you can take it from there?’

  Nick watched in total bemusement as Bill efficiently loaded what looked like a truckload of baby paraphernalia into her car and Serena, plus baby, slid into his.

  ‘Drive through!’ Bill ordered, and he recovered sufficient composure to do as she told him, sliding the car into his parking space and watching as Bill stopped beside the lift and unloaded Serena’s belongings.

  But Serena was flying to New York this evening—so why had she flown a couple of thousand miles north to leave the stuff here?

  And the baby?

  No, he couldn’t think about the baby.

  By now Serena had joined Bill at the lift and together they were stacking the gear inside, Bill’s voice echoed around the basement—Bill’s voice finally bringing him out of his daze.

  ‘You’re saying this little girl is Nick’s baby?’ Bill’s outrage was clear and the words sank through his bewildered brain.

  This is where you get out of the car and demand an explanation, Nick told himself, but his legs had turned to jelly.

  He had a child.

  A daughter!

  Nick saw Bill take the baby and turn his way. She obviously felt it was time he emerged from his car and took control of the situation.

  Would his legs work?

  Of course they would.

  He had a child—

  He leapt out of the car.

  ‘This is my baby?’ he demanded, coming close to Serena and echoing Bill’s words. ‘You didn’t have an abortion and you didn’t bother telling me? Why would you do that? And now what? You’ve decided kids are more trouble than they’re worth and you want to hand her over, as if she’s a bit of furniture you no longer need?’

  Bill had moved a little away, cradling the little head protectively against her chest, one hand over the baby’s other ear so it couldn’t hear him yelling at its mother.

  ‘Look,’ Serena muttered, holding up her hand as if she needed to ward off further attack. ‘I know this is inconvenient, Nick. When I had the baby Mum looked after her, with nannies to help out, but Mum’s just got married again and I’ve got this huge offer for a special show in New York and Mum had a nanny lined up—Mum always vetted the nannies—but the nanny walked out and so I thought, well, it’s not as if you haven’t got family up there—with Gran and all those de Grootes you talk about all the time—you’ll find someone to take care of her.

  ‘She’s a good little thing and she’s used to strangers minding her and she’s been to day care as well. I’ve brought all her things and the last nanny wrote down her schedule so I’m sure with a bit of help you can sort things out.’

  At least Serena was right about family. At last count Bill had about twenty-two nieces and nephews, so someone in the family would be happy to take care of one more baby.

  The thought brought anger in its train—a hot, deep, burning fury!

  ‘I can’t believe that even you—’ he began, before Bill arrived and put her hand on his chest, pushing him back a step.

  ‘You cannot murder her here—not in front of Steffi,’ she said firmly. ‘Besides, don’t you think it’s time you met your family?’

  Bill’s smile was forced but it worked, dousing his anger just a little, and when she put the little curly-haired girl into his arms it disappeared altogether.

  Bill said, ‘Steffi, meet your daddy.’

  And Nick understood that love wasn’t something you could explain or analyse, it was something you felt...

  CHAPTER FOUR

  NOW HE TOOK control of the situation, ordering—yes, it definitely was an order—the two women to take the stuff up to his apartment.

  ‘And you’ll be?’ Serena demanded huffily.

  ‘Coming in the next lift—I’m certainly not going to overload it with a baby in my arms.’

  And with that he turned his back on them and looked down at the warm scrap of humanity snuggled against his chest.

  He had a baby!

  Or did he?

  Serena had been adamant about the abortion, so was this little girl really his?

  He held her out and had to smile. A fluff of
soft brown curls, wide blue eyes—Gran’s eyes—and a dimple, now she smiled at him, in her left cheek, just where his annoying dimple was.

  His heart jolted in his chest then hammered furiously and he held the baby close again because he knew he was shaking with the sheer enormity of this revelation.

  He pressed kisses on her head and murmured nothings until his heart resumed its normal beat and he felt confident enough to hold her out again and look into her face.

  ‘Hi, there,’ he said softly. ‘I’m your dad!’

  Serious eyes studied him, taking him in.

  Judging him?

  No smile, but who could blame her?

  ‘We’ll be all right,’ he assured her, and hugged her closer.

  The lift returned and he got in, taking it to the top floor and striding out, ready to face whatever lay ahead, but knowing, already, that the baby was here to stay.

  * * *

  Bill had heard the word ‘besotted’, and probably even used it herself to describe a teenager’s crush, but she’d never seen besotting happen—not as quickly and completely as it must have happened for Nick to walk into the apartment looking as he did.

  Oh, dear, she thought, absolutely thrilled for Nick but worried over what might lie ahead.

  She’d helped Serena take all Steffi’s belongings up to Nick’s penthouse, mentally listing all the things he’d need if he intended keeping the baby here—a cot to begin with and probably a playpen so she’d be safe if he was called to the phone.

  Baby bath?

  ‘Bill?’

  Nick’s voice brought her out of her mental listing.

  ‘I asked if you’d mind taking Steffi down to your place for half an hour while I have a talk to Serena?’

  Bill smiled as she took the baby, although the smile was forced.

  But this was for Nick and she was pleased he didn’t want the little one to hear her parents yelling at each other, because some yelling was sure to happen, although as ever when she held a baby she had very mixed emotions—reminders of what might have been.