Special Deliveries: Her Gift, His Baby: Secrets of a Career Girl / For the Baby's Sake / A Very Special Delivery. Carol Marinelli

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СКАЧАТЬ who’d just had a remote control bounce off his skull?’

      She had no idea what he was talking about. ‘Well, maybe you weren’t working that day, but he said the same. “She’s never moaned, we’ve been married for years.” ‘His eyes flashed at Penny. ‘People will put up with so much, Penny, but not for ever.’

      ‘I get that!’ Penny screwed her eyes closed on tears. ‘I’ve always been strict with observations, I’ve always been tough.’

      ‘There’s another word to describe you that’s doing the rounds right now, Penny.’

      ‘I know that. It’s just been so intense.’

      ‘I know that,’ Ethan said, ‘but the staff don’t. I’m not going to stand back and let you take it out on them, Penny. Please.’ He was trying to pull her up, trying to talk her down; he just wanted to take her home, but she didn’t want him to and as he tried to take her in his arms Penny was backing off.

      ‘I know it’s been hell for you,’ Ethan said.

      ‘Well, it’s over.’ Penny swallowed down her pain. ‘I just want to get back to my life, back to my career. I can’t believe that I turned down a prom …’ She stopped herself.

      ‘Say it.’

      Penny looked at him.

      ‘It doesn’t matter.’

      ‘You know how I really hate that.’ And so he waited.

      ‘I turned down a promotion so that I could concentrate on IVF.’

      ‘You mean you turned down my job?’ Ethan checked, and she gave a tight shrug. Then he was on side with the masses—Penny could be such a bitch at times. ‘Thanks a lot, Penny.’

      She wanted to call him back, except he walked out, and if that wasn’t enough to be dealing with, a moment later there was a knock at her door.

      ‘Hi, Lisa.’ Penny gave a tight smile. ‘It’s not really a good time.’

      ‘No, it isn’t a good time,’ Lisa said. ‘My nurses work hard, Penny, and they put up with a lot and they do many extra things to help you that you probably don’t even notice.’ Penny swallowed as Lisa continued. ‘But you might start to notice just how much extra they did for you when they stop.’

      ‘It will be okay,’ Jasmine said.

      Penny had left work early, to Mr Dean’s obvious displeasure, and the second she had got home she had rung her sister and said sorry, and Jasmine had come round. They’d had a cuddle when Jasmine had arrived at her door and, this time, when Penny had felt the swell in her sister’s stomach, while it had hurt, overriding that Penny was happy for her sister and just so pleased to see her that she told Jasmine about work.

      ‘I’ve upset all the nurses.’

      ‘Penny!’ Jasmine flailed between divided loyalties. ‘You haven’t been that bad. Lisa can be a cow at times—and Vanessa’s always forgetting to write things down, but if you were more friendly, if people knew more what was going on in your life …’

      ‘I don’t know how to tell people.’

      And Jasmine got that, because since she had been a little girl it had been Penny who had taken care of things, who had let her little sister open up to her about all the scary stuff going on with their parents and had said nothing about her own fears.

      ‘You told Ethan.’

      ‘Because I had to.’

      ‘So how did the Neanderthal do?’ Jasmine asked.

      ‘He was great,’ Penny said, and she let out a sigh as she remembered that day, how he’d stepped in when she’d broken down, how he’d actually said all the right things. ‘Not just with the injections.’

      ‘You like him?’

      Penny nodded. ‘And I just hurt him,’ she said. ‘I let it slip about the promotion.’

      ‘You didn’t just let it slip,’ Jasmine said. ‘You did what you always do whenever anyone gets close.’

      ‘Probably,’ Penny admitted.

      ‘Try talking to him,’ Jasmine said.

      ‘I don’t want to talk to him about this, though,’ Penny said. ‘It’s all we talk about and I’m tired of it. I wish I’d met him without this damn IVF hanging over me. I want us to have a chance at normal.’

      ‘Tell him, then,’ Jasmine urged.

      ‘I can’t yet,’ Penny admitted. ‘I need to sort out myself first, work out how I feel about other things.’ Penny took a deep breath. ‘I’ve just been going round in circles and I can’t anymore and I’m not going to dump on Ethan. I need to think of myself.’

      When Jasmine had gone she rang Mr Dean.

      Told him she was struggling with some personal issues and that she was taking some time off.

      Just let him put a word wrong now, Penny thought.

      ‘That’s fine, Penny.’ Mr Dean must have heard the unvoiced warning in her tone, because he told her to take the two weeks of annual leave she had left and more if she needed it, and even though he could be very insensitive, for once he was incredibly careful not to say the wrong thing.

      Unlike a certain someone, Penny thought as she stripped off her work clothes and headed for the shower.

      Unlike Ethan.

      Penny’s eyes filled with tears then because part of what she liked about Ethan was that he did say the wrong thing and wasn’t always careful at times, wasn’t tentative and constantly wearing kid gloves around her, which she hated.

      He’d never deliberately hurt her, he’d just been trying to say how he felt about her losing … Penny screwed her eyes closed, tried to block the pain, but she couldn’t do it anymore. There wasn’t a needle in sight but she let it all out then, folded up on the shower floor, crying and sobbing as she mourned. Because it wasn’t just a failed IVF, she hadn’t just got her period that horrible time. For a little while there she had thought she’d got her baby.

      While she might feel better after a really good cry, Penny thought, she certainly didn’t look better.

      Huddled on the sofa in her nightdress, watching but not watching the news, Penny surveyed the damage. Yes, IVF was expensive, and she wasn’t just talking dollars.

      Penny rang her mum and had a nice talk with her, a really nice talk, because her mum told Bradley she was taking the call upstairs and they spoke for a good hour. Louise offered to come over but Penny didn’t want her to.

      Next.

      Unable to say it, she fired off Ethan a text saying she was sorry for being such a bitch about his job.

      And then he sent her a text with a photo attached—a big bear with a tiny dart in it.

      Just СКАЧАТЬ