Valentino's Pregnancy Bombshell (6 page)

A rush of emotion swamped her chest and she could feel her eyes filling with tears. ‘Thank you,' she whispered.

‘Hey,' Valentino crooned as tears spilled down her cheeks. Her face crumpled and he pulled her head onto his shoulder. ‘It's okay.'

Paige nodded as a sob escaped. Then another. For the first time in years she actually felt as if it was really, actually okay.

And she had him to thank for it.

T
ODAY
was the big day.

It was totally surreal for Paige. She walked into St Auburn's, McKenzie in tow, pressed the lift button for the fourth floor, stepped out, turned right and walked through the open doors marked Audiology.

It wasn't any different from what she'd done three days a week for the past couple of years.

Except it was. Everything was different.

Today was the day they'd know whether the operation had been a success or not. Today was the day McKenzie would hear.

A week ago Valentino had seen McKenzie for her routine two week post-op check. He'd been pleased with her progress and they'd set this date for the activation of the device.

‘Hi, Paige. Hello, McKenzie.' Greg Palmer, the team's social worker, was first to greet them. He grinned at McKenzie as he signed. ‘Today's the day, huh?' he said to Paige.

Paige gave him a tight smile as McKenzie went
straight to the corner of the large entrance lounge to where she knew the puzzles were kept. ‘Yes.'

He squeezed her arm. ‘It'll be fine.'

Paige nodded as she pressed a trembling palm against her stomach. Of course it would be okay. ‘I'm a little early. Is Ellen in yet?'

Greg frowned. ‘I think Valentino's going to do the honours.'

‘Oh.' She hadn't counted on that. Ellen was one of the two audiologists in the department and today was her day on, so Paige had just assumed…Valentino must have made room in his schedule to be there for McKenzie.

The knot of nerves in her belly twisted even tighter.

Today, if all went according to plan, was probably going to be quite emotional. And she'd cried in front of Valentino once too many times as it was.

‘I think he's already in his office.'

Paige shot a nervous look towards Harry's office.
Valentino's office.
She wanted to go in, was eager and excited on one hand but scared and nervous too. What if they got no result?

‘Go,' Greg urged, squeezing her arm again. ‘It'll be fine.'

Paige took a deep breath and nodded. ‘Come on, McKenzie,' she said, crossing the room to her daughter and crouching down next to her. ‘Let's go and see Dr Valentino,' she said as she signed.

McKenzie smiled at her and took her hand and they headed for the door behind which lay a whole new life. Paige knocked lightly and entered at Valentino's command.

Valentino looked up from a pile of charts on his desk as Paige's deer-in-headlights eyes sought his. He knew all about the squall of emotions going on inside her. Had seen it on hundreds of parents' faces as the big moment arrived.

She looked tired, dark shadows beneath her incredibly huge eyes making them appear even more stark in her face. Her clothes, as usual, were two sizes too big, skimming the bony angles of her body, hanging instead of hugging. Had she eaten any of the goodies he'd had delivered to her house every day for the last few weeks?

‘Paige,' he said, standing, denying the dictates of his body urging him to go to her. He transferred his attention to McKenzie instead. ‘Hello, there.' He grinned. ‘Are you ready?' She nodded and he signed, ‘Come in.'

Paige held fast to her daughter's hand and didn't move. ‘You don't have to do this. Ellen will be in soon. You have surgery.'

She didn't know why she was so resistant to Valentino switching on the implant. A few weeks ago she wouldn't have cared less had it been a trained monkey. But this man, this sexy Italian playboy surgeon, was different. There was more than a professional connection between them, no matter how they tried to avoid it.

There was intimacy. And Paige knew from bitter experience that intimacy left you vulnerable. Something she swore she'd never be again when it came to men.

She doubted it would have mattered had she not slept with him. But she had. And while he was obviously a pro at separating himself from that, standing before him now, she knew she couldn't.

Valentino shrugged. ‘I had a cancellation.'

Paige frowned as she searched her memory for this week's theatre cases. ‘Who?'

‘Paige.' The reproach in his voice was heavy. ‘You're off duty, remember?'

‘I know. It's just…' Paige didn't understand why she just couldn't let it go. Why she was resisting. ‘That's why we have two audiologists so the surgeon is free to operate.'

‘And miss the pay-off? This is the best part of my job, Paige. That moment when my patient hears something for the first time. It's what makes it all worthwhile.'

Paige felt humbled by his response. And petty for equivocating. Every day since McKenzie's surgery tempting edible treats had arrived on her doorstep. From flaky pastries to scrumptious pizzas to the richest of chocolates. All from Valentino.

She'd been trying to dismiss him as a charming, love-them-and-leave-them pretty boy but how could she when confronted not only with his gifts but his heartfelt words? He was a great surgeon, good with his patients, excellent with their mothers and obviously emotionally invested in the gift he gave.

After everything he'd done for her, could she really deny him the rewards?

McKenzie spied the low kiddy table strewn with puzzles and tugged on Paige's hand, dragging her into the office. Paige let an eager McKenzie go and shut the door behind her.

‘Why don't you sit down with McKenzie while I get set up?'

Paige nodded and walked on wobbly legs to the table, sitting on the child-size chair beside her daughter.

‘Has she had any repetition of those earlier dizzy episodes?' Valentino asked as he tapped away at his computer.

‘No.' The first few days post-op Paige had noticed McKenzie would stagger a little on standing. She hadn't been concerned, knowing it was directly attributable to the disruption of the inner ear and they'd settled quickly.

Valentino pressed one last key on the laptop and glanced at Paige. ‘Okay. Ready. Let me check how the wound's doing first.'

He got up from his desk and took the seat on the other side of McKenzie. He tapped her hand and when she turned to him he signed and said, ‘How is your ear, McKenzie? Can I have a look, please?'

McKenzie nodded her agreement and cocked her head to allow him access. He lifted the angelic curls that covered her right ear out of the way to expose the small shaved area where he'd operated. Two weeks ago there'd been some slight swelling over the bony area behind her ear but now it looked normal. ‘It's healed beautifully,' he murmured.

He let her hair flop back over the site. ‘Okay, then,' he said to Paige, but signed for McKenzie's benefit. ‘Let's fit the external component.'

Paige nodded, apprehension swirling in her gut. ‘Dr Valentino is going to fit your new hearing aid,' Paige signed.

Not that it was the type of hearing aid that McKenzie
was used to but having worn them most of her life it was the simplest way to explain it to a three-year-old.

McKenzie kept playing as Valentino fiddled with the external component, fixing it directly over the area where he'd implanted the internal part. It was a small circular unit that consisted of a microphone, a speech processor and a transmitter. It linked magnetically to the internal mechanism, which consisted of a receiver and a stimulator.

He then retrieved his laptop from his desk, and set it up at a smaller desk directly behind where McKenzie was sitting. He fiddled some more, plugging the external component into the laptop via a long cord.

‘Okay, you know the drill now,' Valentino said. ‘I'm going to run the neural response telemetry first. It should take about ten minutes. She won't be able to hear this.'

Paige nodded. She knew that Valentino would pick a few of the electrodes now implanted into McKenzie's cochlear to stimulate via the computer. He would get a reading back which told him that the auditory nerves had responded.

Unlike hearing aids that magnified sound, the cochlear implant directly stimulated the auditory nerves inside the inner ear.

The minutes seemed like hours as the silence in the room built. The urge to drum her fingers on the table was like an itch and she deliberately tucked her hands in her lap.

Valentino nodded. ‘
Buon
. Good,' he murmured.
‘The nerve is responding perfectly so we know the implant's working.'

A rush of adrenaline kicked in at Valentino's confirmation and Paige gripped the table as she gave him a tight smile. She'd been having nightmares that they'd get to this point only to find the implant was a dud.

The first hurdle had been surpassed!

Valentino saw the slight sag to her shoulders and a flicker of relief light her profile, and despite the battle raging inside over professional distance he reached out and gave her shoulder a quick squeeze before returning his hand to the keyboard.

‘Okay, I'll switch it on now. Yes?'

Paige nodded. This was it. This was the moment. One or two clicks of the mouse and her daughter should be able to hear sound.

Paige looked so tense Valentino wondered how much longer she could go before she snapped in two. ‘It's important not to expect miracles,' he murmured gently. ‘A lot of children don't react—'

‘I know that,' Paige interrupted.
Just do it!

‘I know.' He nodded. ‘But I'm going to go through it anyway. It's different when it's your own child.' He waited for her to protest and when she didn't he continued. ‘McKenzie may not do anything at all once it's switched on. That's common. It's hard to know with little ones what they're hearing, particularly if they're pre-verbal or have been deaf all their lives as McKenzie has. They don't even know what sound is.'

He stopped and checked that Paige was with him
and then continued. ‘I have it on very low so sudden noise doesn't frighten her, but she could cry. That's quite a common reaction.'

Paige nodded again, pleased suddenly that Valentino had taken the time to mentally prepare her for the range of possibilities, even though she knew them back to front. The fantasy in her head was very different from what would probably happen so it was a good reminder.

‘Yep. Okay.'

‘This is just the first step. It's going to need several mapping sessions as well as intensive speech therapy to train McKenzie's brain to recognise the sounds she'll hear as speech and to learn to talk herself.'

Paige nodded again. ‘I know.' She was prepared for the long haul.

‘Why don't you sit opposite her and then we'll start.'

Paige rose and moved to the other side of the table. McKenzie, engrossed in her puzzle, didn't even notice.

Valentino clicked the mouse a couple of times. ‘It's on. Why don't you try calling her?'

For a few seconds Paige wasn't capable of speech. Of anything. She'd been looking forward to this moment for the last two years and now it was here she was totally overwhelmed. Just like that. One click and a whole new world for McKenzie. It seemed like such an anticlimax. Surely it should at least be heralded by trumpets. Or angels?

A swell of emotion rose in her throat and stuck there, her heart beat like an epileptic metronome, her lungs couldn't drag air in and out fast enough.

‘It's okay, Paige,' Val murmured as he watched her emotional struggle. ‘Take your time.'

Paige glanced at him. He was smiling at her encouragingly and she swallowed hard. He was obviously well used to the raw emotion of the moment.

‘M-McKenzie.' Her voice shook and she cleared her throat. ‘McKenzie, darling, can you hear me?'

McKenzie played on, blissfully ignorant to sound or to her mother's turmoil. Paige flicked her gaze to Valentino.

‘It's okay,' he said. ‘Keep on going. I'll keep adjusting it louder.'

A part of Paige was desperate to gesture to McKenzie, gain her attention. This was the biggest test of both of their lives and Paige couldn't believe how much she wanted her daughter to pass. But pre-empting the process by letting McKenzie know she was speaking to her was pointless—they were after an uncoached reaction.

‘McKenzie? I love that puzzle you're doing, sweetie. It's just like that one we have at home with the koalas, isn't it?'

The silence in the room reached a screeching crescendo. She raised her eyes to Valentino, her heart beating so loudly now in the utter silence she thought it might explode out of her chest. ‘Nothing.'

The air of helplessness in the word was heartbreaking and surprisingly Val felt Paige's anguish deep in his gut. When had this little girl and her mother become so personal?

He shot her his most comforting smile. ‘The telemetry is telling me her nerves are being stimulated. You
know sometimes it can take a few weeks for kids to recognise any useful sound.'

Paige nodded, her lips pressed tightly together. She did know. But still she felt gutted.

‘I'm going to try clapping.'

‘Okay.' Paige tried to keep the dejection out of her voice and failed.

Valentino gave three loud claps. Paige watched as her daughter startled and swiftly turned her head in the direction of the offending noise. She gasped as tears rushed to her eyes.

She'd heard! McKenzie had really heard.

After three years of living in a world where no noise existed, McKenzie could actually hear.

If someone had asked Paige to describe the emotion threatening to suffocate every cell in her body she wouldn't have been able to. She was totally overwhelmed. It was a miracle.

A miracle!

Valentino grinned at McKenzie. ‘Hello. Did you hear that?' he signed, and clapped again. ‘Clapping,' he said, and did it once more.

McKenzie swivelled her head to look at her mother. The expression on her face was one of pure wonderment. She pointed to Valentino and clapped.

Paige laughed through her tears, dashing them away with the backs of her hands. Her daughter looked like she'd just invented clapping. Like she was the only person on earth who could hear! And Paige knew exactly how she felt.