CJ.
‘Yes. For me.’
He frowned. ‘Does Cal know you’re diabetic?’
‘Cal doesn’t know the first thing about me,’ she told him. ‘But that’s irrelevant. I had my main supply of insulin in my second suitcase, which still seems to be lost. I carry enough for two or three days in my hand luggage but I’ll be needing more by tomorrow.’
‘I’ll organise it for you,’ he told her. ‘Is there anything else you need?’
‘An air ticket home?’
‘I’ll organise that, too,’ he told her, but then he hesitated. ‘Gina, can you give us another forty-eight hours? I’d like to have Lucky really out of the woods before you go.’
‘With Hamish and Emily, you hardly need me.’
‘I know I hardly need you,’ he growled. ‘But it’s the
‘No.’
‘So you’ll stay two more days?’
‘I guess.’ There was a lot to be sorted, she thought. She had to come to some arrangement with Cal by then. She had to figure out what sort of father he was prepared to be.
Then there was the added complication of Rudolph.
She sighed.
‘I do need another couple of nights,’ she told him.
‘A couple of years would be good.’
‘Don’t push it.’
Next on her list was Lucky. Gina walked into the nursery and found not one but two doctors clucking over him. Hamish was checking a drip and Em was consulting patient notes, but both of them looked up with such guilty starts as she walked in that she smiled.
‘Don’t tell me. Both of you should be somewhere else.’
‘We’re just looking,’ Hamish told her, and smiled. His smile was a bit forced, though, and Gina knew exactly what was happening. After a night like last night, there was a huge need for at least one happy ending and she had a feeling that she wasn’t the only one to have an urge to hug. Babies were excellent therapy. As if he was reading her thoughts, Hamish continued. ‘You’ve just missed Cal.’
‘And Charles before him,’ Emily said ruefully. ‘Anyone who’s anyone has been in to check on our little Lucky this morning.’ She moved aside. ‘Now it’s your turn. Go right ahead. Do your checking.’
She did.
He looked different today, Gina thought. A little…fuller? Yesterday he’d been barely alive. Now, even though he was still a tiny scrap of crumpled babyhood, Lucky’s eyes were wide, his tiny fists were flailing, and she had the strongest urge to pick him up and gather him to her.
She couldn’t. Hamish had him wired for everything-the technology surrounding this baby was far, far bulkier than the baby himself. It almost seemed ridiculous. So much technology on something so small.
Her hands slid into the incubator port and she stroked the little one’s cheek, and then she slid her little finger into the palm of the tiny hand. His fingers curled around and held, and Gina had to fight back a sudden, stupid surge of tears.
‘You don’t need me here,’ she said blindly, gently releasing her finger and starting to turn away.
But Hamish caught her shoulder and turned her back.
‘We do need you, Gina,’ he said softly. ‘You did a wonderful job here. I’ve only read of the operation you did on Lucky yesterday. I haven’t even seen it. I rang the paediatric cardiologist in Sydney this morning and he’s stunned it’s gone so well.’
‘That’s…good. I was lucky.’
‘Lucky was lucky,’ Hamish told her, and smiled. ‘And last night we were lucky to have you again. And Cal… Cal’s lucky that he met you.’
‘We think he loves you,’ Emily said, and Gina blinked.
‘Um…excuse me?’
‘He’s been faithful for years.’
‘Sure.’
‘He has.’
‘Because I’m an excuse.’
‘Yes, but you’re more than an excuse,’ Emily told her. ‘He really fell hard. Charles said-’
‘You’ve all been talking about me.’
‘It’s the doctors’ house,’ Hamish said, as if that explained everything. ‘We all talk about everyone. And we worry about Cal.’
‘He’s big enough to worry about himself.’
‘But if he had a son-’ Em started, but Gina had had enough.
‘Look, leave it,’ she said, more roughly than she’d intended, but Hamish looked at Emily as if for confirmation and then went in anyway.
‘Gina, you fought for Lucky,’ he said gently. ‘Emily and Charles and I think you should fight for Cal. He’s worth fighting for.’
‘I’ve been fighting for years,’ she said bitterly. ‘I’m past fighting.’
‘But Cal-’
‘Sure, Cal’s had it hard,’ she snapped. ‘But I haven’t exactly had it easy. I’ve been fighting for my husband’s life, for my son’s welfare and for my own health.’ She caught herself and bit her lip, angry with herself more than them. These were Cal’s friends. Sure, they were interfering more than she liked-a lot more than she liked-but she wasn’t in familiar territory and what she should do now was back out.
So she backed out. Fast. Letting her eyes drop again to Lucky as she did.
He was so perfect.
‘I’m going out to the settlement with Cal,’ she said, and Emily smiled.
‘That’s great.’
‘It’s not great. But…keep Lucky safe for me while I’m away.’
‘We will, that,’ Hamish told her softly. ‘Of course we will. And in return, can we ask that you keep an open mind?’
‘An open mind and an open heart?’ she demanded, meeting his look head on. ‘Is that what you mean? If it is, I tried that five years ago and it didn’t work. What makes you think it’ll work now?’
