Paddington Children's Hospital Complete Collection. Kate Hardy

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      * * *

      He brought his parents back to the hospital where they fretted for a while, and then somehow the MacBrides did what families do in an emergency—they put differences aside and dealt as best they could with the new hand they had rapidly been dealt.

      Most families.

      He understood that look now from Victoria.

      That brief look where she clearly hadn’t understood what he was saying, but he wanted her to understand.

      More than that, he wanted to see her.

      It was late, he was tired and, yes, he had been told by her to stay back, but instead he found himself at her door.

      Victoria opened it and she was wearing the same short white robe that she had been wearing the last time he was here.

      She rolled her eyes when she saw him. ‘It didn’t go well, then?’

      ‘What?’ Dominic frowned.

      ‘The family reunion.’

      ‘It went very well, Victoria. I’m just here to see you.’

      ‘Why?’ she asked, and then she laughed. ‘Stupid question.’

      Sex was the last thing on his mind. Well, not quite, but with those three words he knew her a little bit more.

      She didn’t get relationships.

      Not in the least.

      ‘I’m actually here because I’ve had a crap day and I wanted to see you at the end of it. Are you going to let me in?’

      Her flat was dark; clearly she had been about to go to bed but she let him in and turned on a side light.

      He took a seat on the sofa and she sat on a chair as if they were in a waiting room.

      ‘How are your parents?’ she asked.

      ‘Worried, but they feel better now that they’ve seen him. They’re back at mine.’

      ‘How’s the baby?’

      ‘He’s on the cardiac unit and he’s settled for the night. Lorna’s staying with him.’

      ‘Is Jamie back at the hotel?’

      ‘No, he’s staying at mine too.’ He saw her eyes widen a fraction and chose to explain how it had come about. ‘Jamie didn’t know the way to the underground, nor about Oyster cards and things, so I offered to drop him off at the hotel. In the end I said to just check out and to come and stay at mine.’

      ‘Are you two talking, then?’

      ‘A bit,’ he said, and then admitted more. ‘Not really.’

      ‘Then how come he’s staying at yours?’

      ‘Because he’s my brother and his baby is sick, and right now the baby is the priority. The rest will have to wait.’

      His voice was brusque, though he hadn’t meant it to be. ‘Sorry.’

      ‘No, no...’ Victoria said.

      It really had been a difficult day.

      ‘Thomas seems to think he might need surgery.’

      ‘Thomas?’ Victoria checked.

      ‘Thomas Wolfe. He’s a new cardiologist.’

      ‘He’s not new,’ Victoria said, and shook her head.

      ‘Yes, he is. He only just started at Paddington’s the other day.’

      ‘No, he used to work there years ago when I first started. He’s a lovely guy.’

      Dominic didn’t comment; lovely wasn’t how he’d describe any guy, but certainly it was not a word he’d expect to hear to describe Thomas, who he had found rather stand-offish.

      Still, he didn’t dwell on it.

      He took in a breath and closed his eyes. It was the first time he had properly paused since he had looked up and seen Victoria walking towards him with Jamie by her side and Lorna and William on the stretcher.

      ‘Jamie was going to call and ask me to take a look at him this afternoon...’

      ‘I know that.’

      And it was then she knew for certain that she loved him.

      She didn’t even have to ask what his response to that phone call would have been.

      And yes, while she wanted happy reunions and for him to say that his family was fine, she was starting to understand that Dominic did not say what you wanted him to. He spoke the truth.

      Having seen Lorna and Jamie for herself, she was starting to comprehend the magnitude of the betrayal.

      It was a miracle, really, that Dominic had followed her into the underground that night when she had first told him she was pregnant, and that he kept coming back when so many men would have turned away.

      She wanted to ask him about Lorna, how it had felt to see her today after all this time, but she knew that wasn’t needed now.

      ‘Jamie tried to talk about it,’ Dominic admitted. ‘But I told him that for now he has to focus on the baby. I am trying to work on things with my family, Victoria,’ he said. ‘But I need to do it at my own pace, not theirs.’

      ‘I know that,’ she said. ‘But how can you sort it out living so far apart?’

      ‘Because I couldn’t work on it from there. Victoria, families fall out. You yourself said you’ve had words with your father...’

      ‘Your family wants you to be in their lives though.’

      ‘Doesn’t he?’

      ‘He wants me there to attend functions when he’s between wives.’

      ‘What was the row about between you?’

      ‘I told you,’ she said, but she knew she hadn’t properly. ‘I said I could see why my mother left him.’

      ‘And what did he say to that?’

      She shrugged.

      Victoria simply wasn’t ready to go there.

      ‘Do you want a drink?’ she offered.

      ‘I do, but I have to drive.’

      ‘I meant tea.’

      ‘No thanks, then.’

      She stood up to get him a Scotch СКАЧАТЬ