‘It was an accident, Doctor. I didn’t mean to do it!’
‘What happened?’
‘I was walking behind her with the trolley, in case she needed to sit down. Her legs haven’t been too good lately. There was a bump in the grass and I pushed too hard to get over it—the trolley went into the back of her leg.’
Lane could see that the lady had frail, friable skin. It must have been ripped open by the metal of the trolley.
Cole had the handkerchief pressed tightly against the wound, but blood was coming through. They would need a pressure bandage quickly if she wasn’t to lose too much.
‘What’s your name?’ Cole asked the lady.
‘Freda. Freda Mallard. Like the duck.’
Cole smiled. ‘Well, you’re bleeding, Freda, so I’m going to keep my hand tight here to try and stop it—okay? Are you on any blood thinners?’
‘Warfarin.’
Lane’s heart sank slightly. Warfarin meant her blood wouldn’t clot as fast as normal and she could potentially lose more volume. If she fainted or went into shock...
This was hardly the best place for this sort of thing to happen.
Lane knelt beside her, one hand clutching Tori’s buggy, the other reaching out for Freda’s hand. ‘I’m Lane. I work with Dr Branagh, here, and we’re going to look after you—all right? Tell me about yourself and your husband. When did you meet?’
It was important to try and make Freda focus on other matters than her leg. If she was right, this elderly lady would have a bit of the Blighty spirit and not panic.
‘At a dance. He took my hand when Elvis came on and we jitterbugged to one of his songs.’
‘A jitterbug? You must have had loads of energy.’ Lane smiled.
‘Well, in those days we did. Not so much now.’
Lane could hear sirens in the distance and began to relax slightly. Freda looked pale, but not too bad. And of course she had no way of knowing if this was Freda’s natural colouring.
‘Do you hear that, Freda?’ Cole asked. ‘Help is on its way.’
‘Help is already here,’ Freda insisted. ‘I’ve got a fairy doctor, of all things! What do you think you’ve been doing?’
He smiled. ‘I mean proper help. With the right equipment. The only thing I’ve got on me is fairy dust.’
‘Well, a sprinkle of magic might help, Doctor—you never know!’ Freda chuckled.
‘Once we’ve got you in that ambulance I’ll make a wish for you. To have a speedy recovery.’
‘All right.’ Freda smiled at him, clearly comforted by his good nature. ‘Maybe just wash those hands of yours first, eh?’
Cole laughed. ‘Definitely.’
‘Will you come and visit me? It’s been a long time since a young man held my leg so wonderfully, and I’m not sure I can let you go.’ She chuckled as her husband clicked his tongue.
‘She always was a flirt, Doctor. Watch your husband, young lady, before she makes off with him!’
Again people thought they were together! She made eye contact with Cole and smiled at him, but he looked away and her smile dropped. Had he not heard? Or did the thought of the two of them being together upset him that much? Yes, he was a recent widower, but she’d thought that they were getting along. Perhaps he still felt loyal to the memory of his wife? She couldn’t possibly compete with the woman who’d once been the love of his life. Or perhaps he was just pretending to like her so he could get her onside? Men had always used her, or let her down, and right now Cole had it made—a daughter with a ready-made mother.
The thought chilled her, and she let go of Freda’s hand so she could get out of the way as the paramedics arrived with their overstuffed green bags and began to get their equipment ready.
She stood holding Tori’s buggy—thankfully she’d slept through the whole thing—and watched as Cole gave his analysis of what had happened to the paramedics.
He was good—she had to give him that. Calm. Collected. And he built a rapport with his patients immediately. Had even done so with her.
But to what end?
What was his endgame? To try and claim his rights as a father? To go to court? To fight her for custody? Was that possible? She didn’t know. Had all she’d done—all the sacrifice, all the upset—been for nothing? What rights did she have?
I don’t actually know. I should!
Would he give her an ultimatum one day? The way Simon had?
Give me my daughter or...
A bystander gave Cole a bottle of water to rinse his hands with, and once the blood was gone he wiped them dry on his trousers.
‘I’m just going to see Freda into the ambulance,’ he told her.
She smiled and nodded, watching as he walked behind the paramedics, fairy wings glinting in the sunshine, with Freda in a chair and Freda’s husband walking by his wife’s side.
Look at him. So caring. So dedicated! I’m being awful, doubting him in this way.
What had he actually done to make her think so badly of him? Nothing! Absolutely nothing. He’d just given her a look that she might or might not have misread. That was all. If anything, this overreaction of hers was Simon’s fault—for making her feel this way about anyone who seemed to want to get to know her. For always thinking that men were only out for themselves.
Lane had quiet words with herself as she waited with Tori for Cole to get out of the ambulance once he’d helped Freda’s husband in and made sure he was seated safely in the back. He closed the door and waved through the blacked-out window, knowing that those inside could see him even if he couldn’t see them.
He’s a good man. He’s given me no reason to doubt him.
Yes, he was a very good man, and his wife had been lucky to have him. He clearly cared deeply.
She wondered how long it would be before a guy like Cole cared about her the way she wanted to be cared for. She wanted to be loved intently. Genuinely? But how would she ever trust anyone to let them try?
The words of the fortune-teller came back to her—‘You’ve found true love.’
Had she? Where? Perhaps she’d already lost it?
Or was it Cole?
Everyone they met seemed to think they were a family already—and maybe they were in their own little way. It was a different kind of family, but did it make them any less than any other? It was just a bit broken. In pieces. Maybe they were like a patchwork? Separate pieces being sewn together? And wouldn’t that be perfect? The three of them together?
Perhaps Cole would take her overseas, like the fortune-teller had said. Maybe a trip somewhere with Tori—something like that.
Because surely it couldn’t be anything else?
What was real?
And what was just fantasy and fake fairy glitter?
CHAPTER SIX
‘YOU’VE BEEN QUIET the last few days. Are you all right?’ Cole had noticed a change in Lane since the Faery Fayre. She was still her usual smiley self with patients and their colleagues at the surgery, but at other times, in quieter moments, he’d noticed that she seemed quite subdued.
‘I’m fine,’ she answered, nodding her head, before turning back to vacantly waft through the pages of a magazine during their lunch break.
He wasn’t sure he believed her. But he didn’t want to say so outright. ‘Everything all right with Tori?’
Again the nod. ‘Fine!’
Waft. Waft. Waft.
He tried to think of what this could be about. Not the fayre That had been a good day—medical emergency included! He’d checked up on Freda and discovered that she’d been bandaged up and returned home. He’d thought he and Tori had had a good day out—even if one or two people had thought they were a family!
It had been bittersweet each time that had happened. He’d wanted to be part of a family for so long! To be a good father. A good husba
nd. He’d failed the last woman he’d promised his life to. He’d not kept her safe. He’d not immediately noticed when she’d fallen behind, and when he had it had been impossible for him to stop and go back. The first rule of attending any medical emergency was to check that it was safe to approach, and with the blizzard and the avalanche he would have died himself by going back.
Perhaps he ought to have gone? If he’d loved Andrea as much as he thought he had, then surely...
No. Stop it. You’ve been through this. It wasn’t your fault. You did what you could.
He looked at Lane. She was telling him she was fine but clearly she wasn’t, and perhaps this was the moment for him to make sure she was all right in every way? To go back and check? Because fate had taught him one thing so far: that a happy future was not guaranteed.
She’d been through a lot in the last year, hadn’t she? Losing her best friend to cancer. Taking on a daughter. Fulfilling the wish of a dying woman to seek him out and share the baby she had come to love.
But sharing meant sharing with him. Perhaps she didn’t want another man in her life. ‘I understand this is difficult for you.’
She stopped wafting, looked straight ahead. ‘What?’
‘Tori. She knows you. You’re her world. I appreciate that by being her mother you also have to put up with me. And you never asked for that.’
She glanced at him.
‘Tori trusts you. Loves you. One day, I’d like her to feel the same way about me.’
Lane put down the magazine. ‘Of course I want you to have that.’
He wanted to reach out. Lay his hand upon hers to emphasise that her friendship meant the world to him. But he couldn’t. Because he knew that if he did, he’d want to do more. He’d want to move closer to her. To squeeze her hand tight and look deep into her eyes until she smiled at him. And then he would lose himself in that smile, and he wasn’t sure if he was ready, if he was brave enough, to lose himself like that again.
Instead he managed a brisk smile, because that was safer, and because with the adrenaline rushing through his body he couldn’t just sit there and—
‘It’s my birthday this weekend,’ she said.
He turned. ‘Is it? I didn’t know that.’
‘Skye and I would always go to the seaside on my birthday. We’d walk down the pier and play amusement arcade games, eat fish and chips and come home with armfuls of the cuddly toys we’d won on those silly grabby machines.’
She looked wistful, and he realised this would be the first birthday she’d spend without her best friend. That must be why she’d been so subdued lately. Birthdays and anniversaries after the death of a close loved one were always hard. He knew that.
‘I’m sorry she’s not here to do those things with you.’
‘I knew it was coming, though. I’ve been trying not to think about it and telling myself it doesn’t matter, but... It’ll be strange not to go.’
‘I’ll take you,’ he blurted out, and then he felt hot. Because he hadn’t realised those words were going to come out of his mouth, and now that they were out, he couldn’t go back on them.
Of course it would be fun to spend the day with Lane—he couldn’t think of anything better—but the more time he spent with her, the more he wanted to touch her and hold her in a way that went far beyond them being just colleagues.
‘You can say no,’ he said.
But he’d seen her eyes light up at the idea, at the hope of going. ‘You’d really take me?’
‘I can’t think of a better way to spend the weekend. We could take Tori.’
She grimaced. ‘My mum’s taking her for the day, to go and visit my aunt and uncle in Cirencester. She wanted to give me the day off. It was arranged ages ago.’
All that time alone. Just him and Lane. Without the distraction of Tori. The chaperonage of Tori.
‘Oh, right...’
She looked disappointed. ‘You only wanted to go if Tori was with us, didn’t you? Of course. I should have realised—’
‘I’d love to take you to the seaside.’
She stared at him as if trying to read him. To see if he was telling the truth. ‘Are you sure?’
No, he wasn’t sure. He’d never thought he’d feel attracted to another woman the way he’d felt attracted to Lane—not after his wife died—but here he was! Agreeing to a day-long date.
But how hard can it be? I’ve got self-control, and Lane doesn’t see us as anything but colleagues, so...
‘I’m absolutely sure.’
He smiled and nodded.
Just to prove it.
* * *
Lane had butterflies in her belly when she heard the doorbell, wondering how she was going to get through a whole day with Cole, without the distraction of Tori, and also how it might feel to be at the beach without Skye for the first time in years.
But when she answered the door she burst into laughter, because Cole stood there holding a massive bunch of helium balloons that he had to fight through, just to see her face.
‘Good morning! Happy birthday!’
He thrust the balloons towards her, and she was smiling so much her cheeks hurt.
Just moments before she’d been crying, because her mother had given her a birthday card that Skye had written before she’d died. It had been unexpected, and it had reopened the door to all the grief she’d been stamping down on over the last few months.
‘Let me put these somewhere.’ She took them through into the living room and placed them in the corner by the window.
When she turned to face him her heart stuttered. He looked gorgeous today, dressed in dark jeans and a slim-fit black shirt that showed off his trim waist and broad shoulders perfectly. But that wasn’t her main focus. Her main focus was his smile.
‘And I got you this.’ He passed over a small gift bag.
‘Oh, you didn’t have to get me anything.’
‘Are you kidding me? Of course I did. We’re...friends.’
Friends. She noted he hadn’t said family. But then again, they weren’t family, were they? She was Tori’s guardian, her godmother, but the two of them weren’t blood-related, like Tori and Cole were. They were father and daughter. Lane was an outsider to that. No matter what the paperwork said, he and Tori would be closer in some ways than she could ever be.
‘Should I open it now?’
He nodded.
She opened the bag and reached in, pulling out a small square box. Jewellery? With shaking hands she slowly opened it, and gasped in surprise.
Inside was a beautiful silver bracelet with three charms on it. One charm was the letter S, the second, the letter T, and the third charm the letter L. Skye. Tori. Lane. Her beautiful goddaughter sandwiched between her and her real mother.
‘This is beautiful!’
‘You like it? I wasn’t sure what to get you.’
‘I love it.’
She went to put it on, but couldn’t do it with one hand, so Cole came forward to do it for her. She stood there, heart pounding with Cole so close to her, breathing in his scent and his nearness, watching the way his fingers so deftly and easily fastened the bracelet around her wrist.
‘Thank you. But where’s your initial?’
He smiled. ‘It seemed a bit presumptuous to put that on there.’
‘You’re Tori’s father!’
‘Yes, but the bracelet is about the special relationship the three of you had. What you forged together. I’m not a part of that.’
She looked up at him with awe and wonder at his thoughtfulness, and she just wanted to kiss him right there and then. Then she realised what she’d just thought of doing and felt her cheeks flush with heat.
‘Well, I’m going to get the letter C put on as soon as I can.’
‘Isn’t it bad luck to buy charms for your own bracelet
?’
She laughed. ‘I don’t believe in that nonsense. Besides, the worst things in life have already happened, haven’t they? And we didn’t buy any charms for our own bracelets before any of those happened.’
He laughed. ‘I guess not. So, are you ready to get going? We’ve got a long drive if we want to get to Weston before lunch.’
‘Let me just grab my bag and we can go.’
She looked at him then. Truly looked at him. He was giving her everything. Reassuring her. Treating her right. He was so kind, and she doubted she would ever meet another man like him.
‘Thank you, Cole. I mean it.’ And she reached up on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek.
Her lips brushed his skin, feather-light, but enough to feel the hint of bristles on his jaw and to feel her own skin against his. It was the briefest of moments but it would be etched into her memory for ever.
‘It was my pleasure,’ he said, his voice rough.
* * *
He was thankful to be driving. It gave him something to think about other than that kiss she’d given him.
Oh, who am I kidding? It’s all I can think about!
He’d wanted to get her a gift she could treasure, but when he’d thought about what to get he’d realised he knew almost nothing about her! Apart from Tori, what else had they talked about? Skye, obviously. His wife, Andrea. But had they ever talked about Lane?
He didn’t know her favourite anything. He didn’t know what she’d been like when she was at school, if she’d ever had anyone special, what she’d wanted from life before cancer had taken Skye and given her Tori and changed the direction of her life for ever.
All he really knew was how special their relationship had been, so he’d got her something that would commemorate that for ever.
And she’d kissed him.
It had been a quick peck on the cheek, but when she’d leaned in the way she had, on tiptoe, pressing one hand to his chest, he’d wondered if she’d felt his heartbeat quicken, if she’d noticed the longing in his eyes and the disappointment that he’d felt when she’d drawn away.
Healed by His Secret Baby Page 7
