Twins for Christmas (2 page)

Yes, she told him silently. I’m just over six months pregnant.

And you’re the father.

S
HE WAS
 
PREGNANT
 
.

No wonder she had looked different when he’d seen her sitting at the desk. Rounder. Softer. The soft waves of her hair that almost touched her shoulders had been catching the light and shining like a golden halo. If it was true that pregnancy gave all women a special glow, then Kate had turned it up a notch. She shone as brightly as the light at the end of a very long tunnel.

The way he had remembered her being anyway—but she was
 
pregnant
.

Enormously pregnant. Way more than six months along, so she must have already been pregnant that night.

And that hurt, dammit, because the memory of that night had been the single bright note in those first dark weeks.

Rory had to help hold his mother’s arm still while blood was drawn for the necessary tests. And the in ser tion of a catheter was the only way they’d be able to obtain a urine specimen from a patient who couldn’t co-operate because she had no understanding of where she was. Or why. It was a miserable but mercifully short period of time.

‘It’s all right, Mamma. It’ll be over soon. You’re being brave.’

He managed to keep up a stream of soothing words, in both English and his mother’s native Italian, even as he reeled from the shock of seeing Kate’s condition—as unexpected as it had been to be bringing his only living relative here tonight.

He hadn’t questioned the destination. He’d already made the demand for extra medical attention for his mother and, given that he no longer carried any authority within this medical hierarchy, it had seemed prudent to put up with what might be a difficult time revisiting St Bethel’s. If he was honest, part of him really wanted the opportunity to see Kate Simpson again, but he’d been wary. He knew quite well he might have made her into something she wasn’t.

A life-saver.

Some kind of saint. An angel, even.

He’d known he’d have to face the probability that she wasn’t all that he had built her up to be in his head—and his heart. But not like this. Not this slap in the face that told him she’d been already pregnant by another man that night. That her words and her touch and the…
love
 
he’d felt had not been genuine.

As if it wasn’t bad enough to have his mother’s illness tipping her to a place where she was convinced that her prayers had been answered and she had her precious Jamie with her again. Now Rory also had to deal with the most precious thing
 
he’d
 
had in his life for the last six months being exposed as a fraud. As a dream that had no basis in reality.

The tiny Christmas tree on the central desk, beside a donation box for some worthy cause, caught Rory’s eye as he slumped farther into the chair beside his mother’s bed when the blood test had been completed. He closed his eyes for a moment as he put a hand to his forehead and pressed on both temples—his thumb on one side of his head, his middle finger on the other side.

Merry Christmas, he told himself bitterly.

Merry bloody Christmas!

H
E LOOKED AS THOUGH
 
he was wishing himself a million miles away from this place.

Why? Because he had to face the prospect of fatherhood? Of
 
her
 
being the mother of his children?

Well, tough! Kate’s face tightened as she moved swiftly past the cubicle the McCullochs were in, making her way to join Judy as she spotted the arrival of the first ambulance from the scene of the accident involving the mini-bus full of children. Two stretchers and some ambulatory patients were being ushered into the department by paramedics and police officers.

It was probably all for the best that she had no choice but to ignore Rory and his distress right now. He needed time. She’d had more than enough to get her head around the new direction her life was going in, and she’d come to terms with it. More than accepted it. She already loved these babies. Passionately.

That love was comforting to remember. Empowering. And for the first time Kate realised
 
she
 
actually had the advantage. In a neat twist of fate, she wasn’t going to be in the background, watching other women claim Rory’s attention. Eventually he was going to have to seek her out so that they could talk about this. Or she would find him. It didn’t matter, because she was in control.

It was something that might have thrown her completely six months ago, but Lord knows she’d had more than enough practice in discriminating between fantasy and reality. She was an expert. There was no danger of having that control undermined by any hope that her situation would magically change.

Hope got crushed.

It was only when you removed the fuel from unrequited love that it had any chance of burning out.

And the easiest way to remove it was to focus on something else entirely.

Like the teenaged girl on one of the stretchers. Her lower leg was splinted and propped up on a pillow. One arm was also splinted and in a sling. She was sobbing hysterically.

‘This is Helen,’ a paramedic informed them. ‘She’s sixteen years old and has a fractured right tib and fib and a Colles’ fracture of her right wrist.’

‘Vital signs?’

‘All within normal limits.’

‘Resus 3,’ Judy directed.

‘Noooo,’ the girl sobbed. ‘Don’t take me away from Danni.’

Judy was already moving to the second stretcher as she did her job of triage.

‘Who’s Danni?’ Kate queried.

‘This is. Danielle.’ An older woman was standing beside a policewoman. She had a pale face and a bloodstained bandage on her head. She was holding a wailing toddler. ‘She’s Helen’s baby.’

‘Is she injured?’

‘They didn’t think so at the scene,’ the police woman responded. ‘And Florence insisted she was OK to come with her.’

Kate eyed the older woman. ‘You know these children?’

‘Yes. I’m the housekeeper up at the Castle.’

‘Great. You’ll be able to help me with the information I’ll need.’ Kate was all too aware of the need to start gathering that information and filling in paperwork before it got out of hand with this influx of new arrivals.

Another paramedic was handing a new case to Judy, just behind her.

‘Wally’s twelve and he was KO’ed. Unconscious for possibly ten minutes. Responsive, but his GCS is down to thirteen. Repetitive speech pattern and some nausea.’

‘Wally?’ Judy crouched beside the boy, who lay flat on his back with a hard collar protecting his neck. ‘Do you know where you are, love?’

‘We’ve been at a party.’ A white grin appeared in a very dark small face. ‘Christmas. Da-da-da… Da-da-da…’

It was a tuneless ren di tion of what sounded like ‘Jingle Bells’. Judy caught Kate’s glance and they smiled.

‘Resus 4,’ Judy directed, with another glance at Kate, who nodded. Resus 1 needed to be kept free in case more seriously injured victims arrived.

Helen was still sobbing, and the ambulance crew were unsure of whether to increase her distress by separating her from her child.

Kate crouched down, which was no easy task these days. She had to catch the bar on the side of the stretcher to keep her balance.

‘The doctors need to take care of you,’ she told the girl. ‘And we’re going to take very good care of Danni for you.’

‘Is she all right?’ Helen grabbed Kate with her un injured hand. ‘Oh…
God
! I couldn’t hold onto her, and I tried… I really tried…’

‘I know, sweetheart,’ Kate said. ‘We’ll check her out thoroughly. Try not to worry. You need to trust us.’ She squeezed Helen’s hand. ‘Can you do that, do you think?’

There was anguish in the girl’s eyes, but she nodded. What choice did she have? The poor girl was hardly more than a child herself, but the bond she had with her baby was palpable. It wasn’t helping either of them to be hearing the other sobbing so miserably.

‘Good girl.’ Kate smiled. ‘Now, take a deep breath for me. And another one.’

Helen complied, controlling her sobs with difficulty. ‘I—I’m sorry.’

‘You don’t have anything to be sorry for.’ Kate gave her hand another squeeze before heaving herself upright again. ‘Let the doctors take care of you, and we’ll have you back together with your little girl just as soon as we can, OK?’

Helen nodded again, her lips clamped shut on another sob as she was wheeled away. Wally was still singing as he was taken to the team waiting to assess and treat him.

‘Could you put Florence and Danni into a cubicle, please, Kate?’ Judy was writing furiously on the big white-board, putting the names of the patients into boxes that would track where they were and what treatment was underway. ‘I’ll find a doctor to come and see them. Oh, and could you check on Mrs McCulloch? Do her vitals if you get a chance. I think her nurse is caught up in resus now. I’ll try and get someone in to cover the paperwork.’

An empty stretcher was on its way back to the desk. ‘You can expect the next ambulance in about ten minutes,’ a paramedic said. ‘Possibly longer. The driver and another child were still trapped when we left. The fire service is working on getting them out.’

I
T WASN’T SO MUCH
 
of a shock being close to Rory this time. Her skin still prickled, and there was that odd feeling deep inside her belly that had nothing to do with any movement from all those tiny limbs in there, but Kate could cope.

She had to.

She fitted a clean earpiece to the tympanic thermometer. ‘So, your mother’s Italian?’

‘Yes.’

‘I never knew that.’

‘Why would you?’

Why indeed? But the curt response was unnecessary. Unkind. Kate concentrated on her task and inserted the earpiece as gently as she could, but Marcella stirred and moaned.

Rory said something to his mother in Italian. Something so soothing that Kate could feel the words rumbling into her bones. No wonder his mother’s eyes drifted shut again.

‘Temperature’s thirty-eight point four.’ Kate reached for the chart on the end of the bed. ‘It’s coming down.’

‘Good.’

Kate carefully wrapped a blood pressure cuff around the elderly woman’s arm, trying not to wake her. She felt for a pulse, keeping her eyes firmly on what she was doing, because she really didn’t want eye contact with Rory. He was giving the impression that he considered this to be
 
her
 
fault.

Fair enough—to a point—but, unlike many, she had never chased this man. Never let him know even by a glance how she felt about him. She’d certainly never, ever expected to share her bed with him. And, yes, it was her fault as much as his that they hadn’t used any protection, but the possibility of pregnancy had seemed as unreal as everything else about that night.

Kate pumped up the cuff and let it down slowly, listening for a pulse to reappear. She took her time, because she would have to look up when she’d finished and she could feel Rory staring at her.

Sounds from the adjacent cubicle were muffled, but still audible. A junior doctor was talking to Florence.

‘How old is she?’

‘Nearly two.’

‘And she lives at the Castle?’

‘Yes. Her mum, Helen, came when she was fourteen and pregnant. She’s still living there. She helps with the other kids and gives me a hand with the cleaning and so forth.’

Kate unhooked the stethoscope and wrote down the blood pressure. Then she put her fingers back on Marcella’s wrist to time her heart rate.

‘How many children at the home at present?’ the doctor was asking Florence.

‘Nine—if you count Danni, here. Ten if you count Helen—and she’s still a child, really, poor lamb.’

‘And you were at a Christmas party?’

‘Yes. Big charity do where they give us sacks of gifts for the children. They’re still in the back of the bus. Oh, no! You don’t think someone will steal them, do you?’

‘I’m sure the police will take care of that. Danni seems fine. Let’s have a look at that head of yours.’

Kate could hear the noise level in the department increasing, pre sum ably due to a new wave of arrivals, but that wasn’t what made her brow furrow in concern.

‘Is your mother’s pulse normally irregular?’

‘Yes. She has chronic atrial fibrillation.’

‘I might see if I can find a twelve-lead ECG machine that’s free. I’ll check to see if any results are back on those tests as well.’

‘You might be needed more urgently elsewhere.’

‘Help!’ someone was shouting. ‘
Help
 
me…’

‘It
 
hurts
!’ a child’s voice cried. ‘It really,
 
really
 
hurts!’

It was a cry that would have torn anybody’s heart. Kate looked up deliberately to catch Rory’s gaze.

‘You could help,’ she heard herself suggesting. ‘While your mum’s asleep.’

‘No.’ The word was a harsh dismissal. ‘I’m no longer a doctor, Kate. It’s out of the question.’

She stared at him. This wasn’t the man she knew. Or thought she knew. The brilliant doctor who’d never missed a beat, no matter how much pressure he was under. The leader who had thrived on coping and still being fanatically careful with his treatment of every patient. The physician whose diagnostic abilities were a legend and his skills with highly invasive procedures even more so. The man colleagues had admired and respected. That patients had adored. That women had fallen in love with.

Like Kate had.

And to ignore a child like the one who had just cried out! She’d seen him with children in the past. He’d always gone to whatever lengths were necessary to help a child.

Who was this man? The lines on his face were as uncompromising as his tone had been. The topic was clearly not open for discussion, but surely Kate had the right to know?

‘You left medicine? Just walked away?’

‘That’s exactly what I did.’

‘What have you been doing?’

‘Not that it’s any of your business,’ Rory said coldly, ‘but I’ve been building roads. New mining development in the south of Australia.’

No wonder he looked so tanned and lean. Toughened by a harsh climate and physically demanding work.

‘But…
why
?’ The word came out as a whisper. It just didn’t make sense.

Marcella stirred, probably disturbed by the now chaotic noise level in the department.

‘Jamie?’

The change in Rory was subtle, but Kate didn’t miss any of it. She’d had too much practice watching this man in the past. She saw what amounted to physical pain at hearing the wrong name. She could see the instant tension in his body, the shadow in his eyes, and it reminded her so strongly of the trouble he’d been in that night.

She was no closer to understanding what it was all about, but—stupidly—she still wanted to help. She almost reached out to touch him. To convey that desire. What stopped her was seeing the fierce determination in his face. Confidence. So something
 
had
 
changed in the months he’d been gone. Whatever it was, and however hard it might be, Rory could deal with this by himself this time. He didn’t need her comfort.

‘Leave it, Kate,’ he said wearily. ‘It really is none of your business.’

‘Oh?’ The tension had been contagious, and Kate didn’t have access to whatever inner strength Rory had just tapped into.

And, yes, the fantasy of seeing the dawning joy in his face on learning he was soon to be the father of twins was over-the-top, to say the least, but to reject her like this was unfair.

Unacceptable, really.

Maybe it
 
wasn’t
 
any of her business, but Kate could at least live up to her responsibilities. She could do what should have been done a long time ago.

‘It might be helpful if you could leave some kind of forwarding address the next time you decide to vanish,’ she said.

‘Why?’

Kate’s smile was wry. ‘So that I can let you know when your children are born.’