A Special Kind Of Family

‘If I moved here…’

‘You really are interested?’ He frowned. ‘Miss…Doc…if you don’t mind me saying, I’m hearing you’ve only been here for two days. It’s your car that’s at the bottom of the Boulder Creek Road. Maybe you hit your head on the way down. I don’t think you should make your mind up quite yet.’

‘That’s generous of you.’

‘It is, isn’t it?’ he said cheerfully, and drew the truck into the hospital yard. ‘Okay, I’ve given you my obligatory warning. Now let’s introduce you to your new home. That dog of yours is going to love this yard.’

‘Right.’

He pulled to a halt. She thought he was about to get out but instead he hesitated again. ‘You know, I shouldn’t say this but I have daughters of my own. You and Dom…’

‘What about me and Dom?’

‘He’s a really attractive man, miss,’ he said cautiously. ‘My daughters tell me he’s what they call a hunk. You’re not imagining yourself in love with him after two days.’

‘No!’ Yes.

‘That’s alright, then,’ he said, glad to have that cleared up. ‘My daughters say there’s Tansy and only Tansy. The local lasses have thrown everything they can at him but no one succeeds. And now you…’ He shook his head. ‘Okay, I’m talking out of turn. I know it. I’ve said my piece and now I’ll shut up. Now, let’s go show you your new home.’

They were at the kitchen table eating cornflakes when she got back. And Easter eggs.

‘Happy Easter,’ Dom said. ‘The Easter Bunny’s been.’

They all had an egg in front of them. Or half an egg. There’d obviously been considerable egg consumption in her absence.

But at the end of the table was an empty place, neatly set. In the middle of the place-mat was a shiny, pink- foiled egg.

A tiny white flag was stuck in the top. ‘Erin,’ it said.

Erin. It was her egg.

Weirdly it made tears prick at the back of her eyes. In all this chaos, Dom had still found time to play Easter Bunny.

And he’d remembered her. This very girly pink egg must have been deliberately organised. For her.

‘The Easter Bunny’s more reliable than the chap who cooks the Easter buns,’ he said, and smiled at her with that drop-dead smile that had her heart doing back flips.

‘You bought me an egg.’ Dammit, her bottom lip was quivering.

‘The bunny brought you the egg,’ Nathan corrected her. ‘They were on the table when we woke up this morning.’

‘The bunny’s good,’ she managed.

‘How do you think he knew you were here?’ Nathan asked.

‘Magic,’ she said, and sat down because she needed to. They were gorgeous-the three of them. Her boys…

Now, that was a dumb, possessive thing to think. These guys had nothing to do with her. Though Dom might end up being her partner.

Her medical associate. Nothing more.

She had to get her bottom lip under control.

‘Where have you been?’ Dom asked, passing the cornflakes. ‘The fire guys said you had a call.’

‘Can I eat my egg before I tell you?’

‘If you must.’

‘Of course I must,’ she said, and unwrapped her egg-quite a big egg actually. She bit a very satisfactory hole in the pointy end, munched for a bit, then placed her egg, hole-side down, in front of her cereal bowl. Then she poured her cornflakes.

‘That looks like a ritual,’ Dom said.

She nodded. ‘I’ve done it every Easter Sunday for as long as I can remember. One year the Easter Bunny brought me a chocolate rabbit instead of an egg. It messed with my psyche all year.’

‘I imagine it did,’ Dom said faintly. ‘So where have you been?’

‘Out to the Mathesons’.’

He was half way through handing her the milk jug. His hand froze in mid-air.

‘What-?’

‘A lovely peaceful ending,’ she said, and smiled across the table at him. ‘Thanks to you. Well done, Dr Spencer.’

‘Hughie rang?’

‘At six. Graham drove me out there.’

‘You should have woken me.’ There was no mistaking the anger-a flash of fury.

‘Right,’ she said. ‘You copped more smoke than me last night. I decided this morning that you’re my patient and it was me making the decisions.’

‘You had no right.’

‘I know,’ she said softly. ‘And, indeed, if there was anything you could have done I would have woken you. But there was nothing.’

‘Can we talk about it later?’ he said, tightly.

She thought, Uh-oh, she’d acted unprofessionally. She’d stepped in and acted in his stead without a by-your- leave.

‘Of course we can.’

But then she looked at the little boys oscillating between egg and cornflakes and she knew she’d done the right thing. They’d woken to find Dom beside them. They needed him today.

Dom had made the decision to be a foster-parent. He had to accept the consequences.

What she was thinking must have been obvious. The tight lines of anger changed to something else- confusion?

‘What, not prepared to take an official reprimand?’ he asked, but his heart didn’t sound like it was in it.

‘Not for Enid,’ she said, and tilted her chin. ‘Or for anything else I may have done this morning.’

His voice grew apprehensive. ‘What the hell else have you done this morning?’

She peeped a smile at him. It was Easter Sunday after all, a good day, a day for celebration. Dom looked grim and tired and he was getting help whether he needed it or not.

‘I’ve found a home for Marilyn,’ she told him. ‘But discussion’s for after breakfast. If you’ll excuse me, I have an Easter egg to concentrate on.’

He needed to get his head in order.

The drama of the night was still close to overwhelming. He’d nearly lost Martin.

He’d taken his mind off the game, he thought grimly. These boys needed so much attention. He couldn’t afford to be distracted. And Erin was definitely…distracting.

She was lovely. And that kiss last night…

He’d gone to sleep with that kiss lingering in his senses. He felt it still. She’d kissed him as if she’d meant it, as if she wanted to be a part of him.

Well, that was a crazy thought.

Or maybe not so crazy. He had a great home, a great job, and he had…Yeah, okay, he had enough going in the testosterone stakes to make him interesting. Ruby had told him that over and over. ‘You’ll make some lucky girl a lovely husband. Just because your parents were a disaster it doesn’t mean the rest of the world’s damaged. Relationships do work. Open yourself up and some nice girl will slip right in.’

While he wasn’t looking. That’s what this felt like-as if Erin had slipped in while his back had been turned. And now she was in and he couldn’t take his mind off her. If she hadn’t been here maybe he’d have sensed that Martin had been troubled last night.

He couldn’t stay this preoccupied. He had to get her out of here.

He’d promised she could stay over Easter.

‘You needn’t worry. I’m organising myself alternative accommodation,’ she said, and smiled sweetly. He